JESUS: First, Last, and Best
1. Introduction
There was a man named Muhammad. And there was a man named Jesus Christ. These two men call for your allegiance, one out of the history books, one by His ever-living Spirit.
Their sayings and their lives are in total contradiction to one another. If one is correct, the other cannot be. May the Holy Spirit point out to you, confirm to you, the One Who has been anointed of God to save you and the world.
I do not doubt the claims of Jesus Christ to be the Son of the Living God, and intimately related to the Father so much that He is Himself God. Nor do I personally accept the claim of Muhammad, of seventh-century Arabia, to be the last prophet, or in the Biblical sense, a prophet at all. I certainly do not want my work to be seen as a lowering of the Son of God or an elevation of Muhammad.
Yet, nearly one of four people on this planet, the Muslims, believe that Jesus and Muhammad are equals. For nearly 1,400 years this has been Muslim belief. Christians must continue to meet this challenge to the Truth, just as in the political arena a rival needs to be answered in the eyes of men, not because there is any truth to the rival's claims, but for the very opposite reason.
It is not because we take Muhammad's claims seriously, as possibly true, that we must continue to compare Him to Jesus Christ, and Christ to him. It is because we take Islam seriously. It is because many in Christendom continue to defect to Muhammad as a modern-day Saviour for the world's ills.
Such was the case of one Martin Lings in the last century. On the jacket of the book he wrote about the Arabian prophet, it is said,
"Martin Lings was a renowned British scholar [who] studied English under [the great Christian apologist] C.S. Lewis, who later became a close friend... his friendship and similar beliefs with philosophers Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon inspired Lings to convert to Islam."
Actually, he and his friends converted to Sufism, Islamic in origin but a minority group in that religion, focusing on the inner life and not the political turmoil created by pure Islam. Not being in the political arena of Islam he was able to pick and choose from his sources those things that make Muhammad look like a good and fair man. Almost no mention is made of the Koran's startling differences from Christianity, and not all that much about religious differences with the Jews.
Nevertheless, he was a follower of Muhammad, and his book reads as a heroic tale of one he considered to be the last of prophets and the best of men. I chose his biography to study Muhammad, because it was stated that he had used the oldest sources for the study of Muhammad's life, and because it was hailed as the "best biography of the Prophet in English." The reviews I read confirmed this opinion.
So why read a book so blessed by Muslims when trying to find a way to compare the man to the very Son of God? My thought was simply that by using Lings, no one could accuse me of prejudice when I showed point by point that Jesus is far better in every way, and deserving of a hearing that Muhammad does not deserve. If I take the best that Islam has to offer, lionized by the best English biographer he ever had, and Jesus still shines greater than Muhammad, then surely Jesus is to be followed, and Muhammad refused.
So it must be understood that Lings is my Muhammadan source throughout, and his sources are the oldest and most reliable. Names like Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, Waqidi, Azraqi, Tabari, Suhayli, and eight traditionists of the ninth century, are quoted with reverence by the skilled author.
My source for the life and message of Jesus is far simpler. I will refer only to the writings of apostles and their associates, as recorded in the New King James version of the Holy Bible. Occasional references to the Old Covenant prophets will be in order also.
So, our word against theirs? Not really, though at the human level it will seem so to some. But in addition, it is our faith that the sheep of Jesus hear His Voice. That Voice is echoed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who guides His true disciples into all the truth. In the Divine sense, it is their word against God Himself.
"He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us," says John. It's that simple. Yet the apostles took it seriously, this defending of the faith. Though they believed in the inner working of the Spirit of God to guide them, they continued to teach in real words, messages, sermons, letters, to people who took in those words and evaluated, discerned, believed them.
That is what I do here. I merely repeat what we have most surely believed about this Jesus for these thousands of years, and place next to His spotless life and wondrous love the person of a man, Muhammad.
It's not a fair comparison really. Jesus is God. Muhammad was a man. Jesus is alive forevermore. Muhammad was born as we all are, lived 63 years, and died as we all must, and he is dead to us still. For some, this alone is enough of a comparison! But for those who wish to go deeper, walk with me through the various categories I have delineated, and see just how vast is the difference between these two.
Through it all we aim at one conclusion in particular. On the Prophet comparison, to which Muhammad forces us, we say that Jesus is the final Word from the Father, therefore the last prophet. Prophecies still come, some failing, some not, but the prophet "like Moses" predicted by that ancient saint, has come in the first century. By His Spirit he is still with us, visible by faith to His own. There shall never be a prophet to take His place, follow Him in importance or chronology.
Yes, Jesus is the Last Prophet. He is still here and He will return in bodily form to finish what He started. His is the ongoing final word.
Popes have tried to speak for Him. They desired earthly power for themselves. Today's "apostles" trend that way also. Railing against denominations and religion in general, they often seek to form a new alignment of power with themselves at the top. How easily the political spirit enters the people of God.
Muhammad appeared at a time when the church's passion for souls was becoming a passion for power. His understanding of the Christian faith and its predecessor, the Jewish nation, was in terms of military and political might.
His revelations convinced him and his followers that a new prophet was here. But he spoke while Jesus was still speaking, though not so loudly in Arabia, as many had already tuned out His Voice. Be that as it may, Muhammad interrupted the Son of God. Jesus' Word, Jesus the Word, still speaks. That Word is eternal. Better than Moses. Better even than angels. Better than Muhammad. He is the Last. And as you will see, by far the best. That is the Truth.
I hereby acknowledge the unwitting assistance of many men in the creating of this study. Usama Dakdok is the Egyptian Christian who translated the Koran into a readable and literal English, and who goes about the country warning believers about the Islamic threat. It was his teaching, "Muhammad or Christ?" that inspired my own work.
And as stated, Martin Lings' exhaustive research added to that of Islamic scholars down through the centuries is the source I have drawn from extensively. They have done all the hard work, and all I had to do was read one volume to glean it for myself and for you.
2. From eternity.
As I indicated earlier, it's not really a fair comparison, Jesus and Muhammad. Nowhere is this inequality greater than in the Jesus Who has lived for all time. How can I compare Jesus, this eternal one, to Muhammad, the mortal?
Since I have no resources by which to share Muhammad's eternal nature (there are none), I can only share with you from the multitude of Scriptural wealth on this subject regarding Jesus. Where to begin?
Micah 5:2 talks of one who is to be born in Bethlehem Who will be a ruler in Israel. This one, it is said, has been "going forth" not only from ancient times, but from "everlasting."
Isaiah speaks of a Child (9:6-7) Who will grow to rule Israel, when the government is placed on His shoulders. One of His many names will be "Everlasting Father."
Jesus Himself said that He and His Father are one (John 10:30).
John 1:1 declares that Jesus, the Word, is God. No one will argue the eternality of God, I think.
Pretty plain speech. Whether in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, and all the translations thereof into English, Jesus is the Eternal One.
I have written a book you may well want to obtain entitled Jehovah's True Witnesses Agree, Jesus is God.
I think it is important to note here that Jesus claims to be, not only the "last", as we will discuss later, but also the "first." The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. The One Who was. The One Who is. the One Who is to come (Revelation 1:8).
So we not only make the case that He spoke long after Muhammad, that He still speaks, that He will speak forever, but in the office of "Word", he has been forever speaking. Long before Moses. Long before Abraham. In fact, "Before Abraham was, Jesus IS" (John 8:58).
Also before Adam, before Lucifer, before the angels. Jesus is and is and is. Always speaking the Word of the Father, always representing the Father, along with the Spirit of God, to the creation and beyond. Eternal Word. Eternal Prophet, the One Who was to come, the One Who came, the One Who will come again.
Words fail. But I think the message is clear. Muhammad, if he be prophet at all, was not the last prophet. Not by far. The Last Prophet was still speaking when Muhammad came along. He spoke all during Muhammad's life. And after Muhammad left us in the seventh century, he continued to speak in His living breathing body called the church, through whom His actions and His very words are communicated to the planet day after day.
3. The prophesied one.
Once more the Muhammad side of this comparison is sadly lacking. It is true that there were rumors floating around Arabia of a coming prophet. Israel in particular had been expecting a prophet to come for many years. Those who rejected Jesus to their eternal loss continued to look for "the Prophet" of Deuteronomy, and certain Jewish tribes in Muhammad's Arabia were open to the possibility that Muhammad might be the one they sought.
The Church was weak in its knowledge of the Scriptures, had begun spiraling down into compromise and unbelief, and was also susceptible to deceivers.
In Arabia there were splinter groups of Christians that had evolved into factions far removed from the orthodoxy of Scripture. The Ebionites were such a group. They believed that people such as Paul were anti-semitic, so they scissored out all his writings from the New Testament.
Imagine a New Testament without Paul!
They believed that the law was still in effect. Yet they called themselves Christian, and looked for a Prophet. Waraquah, who figures largely in the early days of Muhammad's revelations, was of this group. He early jumped on the bandwagon of Koranic inspiration and encouraged Muhammad to continue on in a series of utterances that even Muhammad at first believed to be demonic.
In Muhammad's life, per Lings, there were from time to time persons who pointed him out as the prophet. One, Nestor, a monk, tied him to the "Shiloh" prophecy of Genesis 49. But Shiloh means "rest", a word used specifically by Jesus to describe the effect He has on the human heart when He enters it. Muhammad certainly has not brought us rest. Jesus does, for the individual, and will one day, to the world.
As to Biblical prophecies regarding Muhammad, there are none. But Islam through the years has played a double-sided game in terms of referencing Scripture. If a Biblical verse seems to serve the cause of Muhammad, it is accepted without wavering. If the text is decidedly different than the Koran, the Biblical text is considered corrupted, and the argument ends. Very difficult to reason with persons who are convinced of their position without even a search into the records.
But since there are no trustworthy Islamic records of a prophecy of Muhammad's coming, Muslims rely heavily on their less than worthy interpretations of our Biblical texts that seem to say their prophet was foreknown. Before I share with you the clear predictions of Jesus' coming, let me deal with the supposed Scriptures promising the coming of Muhammad.
Among the favorite is Deuteronomy 18:15-18. Ironically, this passage is also the most easily answered. It is amazing that a thinking Muslim would still cling to this set of verses.
God here declares that one day He is going to raise up in Israel a Prophet "like Moses" from among their brothers. Since Muhammad was not Jewish, nor did he find himself raised up among the Jews, the prophecy in no way connects to him.
It does connect to Jesus, though. After He had fed the 5,000, the Jewish recipients of that miracle meal declared that Jesus was indeed the Prophet that Moses was talking about. In this, they were correct. Forcing Him to take His Kingdom immediately was not the plan for the first century, but for the last.
For the record here, Jesus was indeed called a prophet. The men who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus described Him as a "Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people." The Jewish multitudes who witnessed His triumphal entry into Jerusalem concurred. Those who saw the son of a widow in Nain raised from the dead likewise agreed that He was a prophet. The woman at the well used the title. As did the man born blind, made to see by Jesus.
Another passage used by Muslim scholars to show that the Bible predicts a coming Prophet in Arabia is of a much more serious nature. Not serious, true, but serious as in dangerous application.
Since it is clear that John 14:16 refers to the Holy Spirit's coming, the wrenching away of it to fit a supposed prediction of a Gentile political leader is most distressing, and bordering on the blasphemous.
You see, there is a passage in the Koran that contains the word periclytos, which means "praised one." Since this word is so close to the Greek paraclete, Muslims rush in to claim this verse for their leader. How preposterous the claim is, is borne out in the rest of the verse. Let me demonstrate.
John 14:16: [Jesus said] "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another paraclete , that He may abide with you forever [Muhammad is to abide with the apostles forever?], even the Spirit of truth [absurd, yet there are devotional works that do indeed call Muhammad "Spirit of Truth"! ]whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him [ the world never saw Muhammad?] or knows him [the world never knew Muhammad?], but you know Him [the apostles knew Muhammad?], for He dwells with you [Muhammad lived with the apostles?] and will be in you [Muhammad will live inside the apostles?]."
Pretty difficult fit. Like a size twelve trying to work its way into a size five.
But a perfect fit, if the Holy Spirit of God is considered the fulfillment. Jesus went on to say, "I will not leave you without help. I will come to you." Blasted away in this statement is not only the notion of Muhammad as the Comforter or Paraclete, but also the anti-Trinitarian bias of Islam and so many others. Jesus is leaving the disciples. But the Father is sending a Helper. Clue: The Helper is someone they know right now. Someone who will return in a different form. Someone who is the speaker!
No, Muhammad is not predicted in Christian Scripture nor in any other, except in those places where Jesus Christ Himself or inside His surrogates warns us of the viciousness of the wolf who will come to destroy sheep that are not on guard. The false prophet. Certainly there have been a whole host of such men. None of them have been singled out by name, but by their fruits we shall know them. Blood, confusion, anti-Christ, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, political strength, immorality. We'll know.
But Jesus was foreknown, from the foundation of the world and before.
He was prefigured in Genesis 3:15 as the seed of a woman. He was to be the one who would bless all nations through the seed of Abraham.
He is Shiloh, the rest of the people of God in the last words of Genesis.
He is the Lamb and the sin offerings of Exodus and Leviticus,
He is the star of Balaam's vision,
He is "that prophet" of Deuteronomy,
He is of the seed of David, the Psalmist's King on Mt Zion, He is the awful sufferer forsaken by God Himself,
He is the One betrayed by His best friend,
Yet He is seen breaking the nations with a rod of iron.
The prophets saw Him as suffering servant, yet Everlasting Father, founder of a New Covenant, born in Bethlehem, dying on a tree, buried in a rich man's tomb, but not allowed to see corruption in His body, the King of the Kingdom that shall never be destroyed, during the time when the earth shall be filled with knowledge about Him.
Never has there been a man known in advance as much as this Man.
4. Genealogy.
Jesus entered the human family through the Promised Son of Abraham, Isaac. The Scriptures are painfully clear about this, showing how Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar tried to manipulate the plan of God, and help God keep His promise by creating an alternate plan.
By Abraham's relationship to the servant of his wife, Ishmael came into the world. First indeed, but not the promised son. Not the one who would bring Messiah and bless all nations. All of those blessings would devolve upon Isaac.
But in Koranic teaching, it was Ishmael who was offered on the Mt. Moriah altar, and in reward for this heroic act, God gave Isaac to Abraham. Christians recall that the Scriptures indicate that the offered son was Isaac.
Muhammad claims, perhaps rightly so, a family connection to Ishmael. Genealogies offered by a number of Muslim scholars have differed from one another. Numbers and names don't match up. It is impossible to tell at this point which one is correct. Here is my series of lists to add, hopefully, to the resolution of some of the chaos. First I offer the list given by Lings and continued by Wikipedia.
A. From Muhammad to the early tribal leader of his people, Quraish, is as follows: (Per Lings)
Muhammad ,Abd Allah, Abdul Mutallib (who was called Shaiba), Hashim (named ‘Amr, after whom the Banu Hashim clan was named), Abd-e-Manaf (called Al-Mugheera), Qusai (Qusayy) (also called Zaid), Kilab, Murra, Ka'b, Luwai (Lo’i), Ghalib, Fihr (known as Quraish and whose tribe was called after him).
B. Thus far does Lings dare to go in his work. From Wikipedia I glean the continuation of the line between Fihr (Quraish) and Ishmael. No one swears by this line, but there is possibly some validity to it:
Malik, an-Nadr (also called Qais), Kinana (founder of the largest Adnanite tribe of western Saudi Arabia in Hijjaz), Khuzaima (Khuzaiman), Mudrika (who was called ‘Amir), Ilyas (Elias), Mudhar (Muzar) (patriarch of one of the two main branches of the "North Arabian" Adnanite tribes), Nazar (Nizar), Ma'ad, Adnan (ancestor of the Adnani Arabs of northern, central and western Arabia), Udad (Awwad), Al-Muqawwim, Al-Yas'a, Al-Hamis (Al-Humaisa), Nibt (Nobet), Salaman (Sulayman), Hamal (Haml), Qidar (Qaidar) (father of the North Arabian Qedarite tribe that controlled the region between the Persian Gulf and the Sinai Peninsula), Isma'il (Ishmael).
C. Both of these last names, Quidar (Kedar in NKJV) and Ishmael, are quite Biblical, as is the rest of the line, from Abraham to Adam, which matches clearly the genealogies in Chronicles 1:1-27 and Luke 3:34-38, though spelling variants do not make this obviously clear at first.
Ibrahim Khalil-Ullah (Abraham), Ta'rikh (Azar), Tahur, Shahru, Abraghu (Ra‘u), Taligh (Falikh), Abir, Shale' (Shalikh), Arfakhad , Arfakhshad), Sam - the Semitic family/race, which encompass a large group of families, Nuh (Noah), Lumuk (Lamik), Mutu Shalkh (Mutwashlack), Akhnukh (who is said to be Prophet Idris), Yarad (Yarid), Mahla'il, Qinan (Qainan), Anush (Anusha), Sheeth, Adam Abu'l-Bashar (Adam).
D. Here is a line-up of this part of the genealogy, from the three faiths, also borrowed from Wikipedia but also from the Scriptures.
Jewish(Chronicles)
1. Adam
2. Shet
3. Enosh
4. Kenan
5. Mahalalel
6. Yered
7. Chanokh
8. Metushelach
9. Lamekh
10. Noach
11. Shem
12. Arpakhshad
13. Shelach
14. Ever
15. Peleg
16. Re'u
17. Serug
18. Nachor
19. Terach
20. Avraham
Christian (Luke)
1. Adam
2. Seth
3. Enos
4. Cainan
5. Mahalalel
6. Jared
7. Enoch
8. Methuselah
9. Lamech
10. Noah
11. Shem
12. Arphaxad
13. Cainan
14. Shelah
15. Eber
16. Peleg
17. Reu
18. Serug
19. Nahor
20. Terah
21. Abraham
Islamic (Ibn Ishaaq)
1. Adam
2. Sheeth
3. Yaanish
4. Qaynan
5. Mahlil
6. Yard
7. Akhnookh
8. Mattooshalakh
9. Lamk
10. Nooh
11. Saam
12. Arfakhshadh
13. Shaalikh
14. Aybar
15. Faalikh
16. Raa'oo
17. Saaroogh
18. Naahoor
19. Tarih
20. Ibraheem
The line of Jesus is simpler, although many have struggled with these genealogies in the Bible. You will see above the direction Muhammad takes from Abraham, namely through Ishmael.
The Biblical text traces the Christ through Isaac, as follows: (Luke 3, Matthew 1)
A. Luke 3:
Jesus ... the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, the son of Jesus, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Symeon, the son of Judas, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham...
Luke knew the truth of the matter. It was only "supposed" that Jesus' Father was Joseph. That's what people thought. Luke knew that Jesus is the Son of God. He gave this genealogy of Mary's line to show that in His flesh He was indeed also the "Son of David" long prophesied to come into the world.
Why do the scholar's say that Luke's list is "Mary's" line? Well, Matthew has already established that Joseph's father was one named Jacob. See below. Here he is called "Heli." Not only is Heli different, but all the names from here back to David are likewise changed.
The answer seems relatively simple. Matthew traces through Solomon a legal lineage. Jesus is the Son of David in both lines, but Solomon was told that the Kingdom would be taken from him, and eventually the Jewish Kings were told that no one in that line would rule again. So how to have a Ruling Messiah from David without coming against the revealed word of God? You have Him come from another son of David. You'll see his name in Luke: Nathan (not to be confused with the prophet by that name).
So both genealogies are valid and true. One shows his legal rights, the other His blood rights. And He shall rule the Throne of David on the basis of the promise, not the human line of the Throne of Israel. It's all in these two genealogies, along with a lot more, had we the time.
B. Here's Matthew's version:
Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren; and Judah begat Perez and Zerah of Tamar; and Perez begat Hezron; and Hezron begat Ram; and Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon; and Nahshon begat Salmon; and Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab; and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat David the king. And David begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah; and Solon of her that had been the wife of Uriah; and Solomon begat Rehoboam; and Rehoboam begat Abijah; and Abijah begat Asa; and Asa begat Jehoshaphat; and Jehoshaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Uzziah; and Uzziah begat Jotham; and Jotham begat Ahaz; and Ahaz begat Hezekiah; and Hezekiah begat Manasseh; and Manasseh begat Amon; and Amon begat Josiah; and Josiah begat Jechoniah and his brethren, at the time of the carrying away to Babylon. And after the carrying away to Babylon, Jechoniah begat Shealtiel; and Shealtiel begat Zerubbabel; and Zerubbabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; and Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; and Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
So how do Muhammad and Jesus the Christ compare in genealogy? First, the genealogies of Islam are not certain. We believe that it was through the Spirit of God that we were given Luke and Matthew.
Second, giving Islam the benefit of the doubt, and allowing that Muhammad was the descendant of Ishmael, and given that Jesus is the descendant of the Promised Son, Isaac, we are left with the very real distinction suggested.
While Muhammad is never hinted at in Scripture, still we see in the people that were to come from Ishmael a glimpse into their future state:
Ishmael himself was to be a "wild man; his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."
Also, God says, "I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly..." We can't forget that part.
"But my covenant," He says in the next breath, "I will establish with Isaac..."
The promise of the land. The promise of incredible blessing. And a great people. In fact, in Abraham, and then in Isaac (Genesis 26:4) all the families of the earth are to be blessed. The promise was not fulfilled in Abraham or Isaac, or any sons of that era. The world has yet to see what this shall fully mean. But it is clear that Jesus Christ, Isaac's descendant, is poised and ready to fulfill this promise upon His return. Already this one Man has brought incredible blessing to untold millions through the years. But the best is yet to come, and it's in Jesus.
Isaac is a man of peace, who is looked after by the Father in the Father's desire that he be given a proper bride, namely Rebekkah. In all of this he is a picture of the coming Christ.
Muhammad has been given material blessing. But the price for that blessing to the rest of the world has been horrendous. God may be using "Ishmael's" greatness to purge the earth somewhat before Jesus comes with the final purge, but when Jesus comes, after that initial judgment, there shall be no more sin, no more sickness, eventually no more death. Then shall it truly be said that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.
Genealogies are important! Jesus is the true Son of the Promise. As great as Isaac is over Ishmael so Jesus is over Muhammad, and infinitely more, since He is God Almighty in addition!
