Continues From Pt. 4/I
The Divine Son of Man
Isaiah wasn’t the only prophet who spoke of another Person ruling alongside Yahweh since the prophet Daniel did as well. According to Daniel there is actually more than one throne in heaven, one of which is occupied by a Being whom all the nations are required to worship and serve as he rules over them forever. Moreover, this specific Person has the appearance of a human being:
“As I looked, THRONES were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his SEAT. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His THRONE was flaming with fire, and ITS wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened… In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led INTO HIS PRESENCE. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Notice how Daniel sees thrones being set in place even though the Ancient of Days (who is obviously God) occupies only one of them. It is clear from the context that the One whom Daniel describes as a Son of Man occupies the other throne since Daniel expressly says that this specific individual reigns forever.
Furthermore, the phrase Son of Man implies that this particular figure whom Daniel saw coming with the clouds of heaven had a human appearance. This means that Daniel actually saw a Man in his vision, One whom all human beings are required to worship and serve forever.
Moreover, it is certain that this human figure was more than a man, even more than an angel, since he rides the clouds like God does, reigns forever like God does, and is worshiped in the same way that God is.
For example, according to the OT it is Yahweh who rides the clouds,
“An oracle concerning Egypt: See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.” Isaiah 19:1
“The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,and clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:3 – cf. Exodus 13:21-22; 14:24; 24:9-18; 33:7-11; 40:34-38; Numbers 10:34; Psalm 68:33-34; 104:3
The Hebrew Bible also teaches that Yahweh is the King of heaven who has his throne there:
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” Daniel 4:37
“The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.” Psalm 11:4
“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.” Psalm 123:1
The inspired prophets further bore witness to the fact that Yahweh is eternally exalted as King over all the nations and that these nations are required to worship and serve him:
“Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.” Daniel 7:27 – cf. 2:44-45; 3:16-18, 28; 4:34-35; 6:16, 20, 26
“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him. For the kingdom is the LORD'S And He rules over the nations.” Psalm 22:27-28
“Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.’ Selah” Psalm 66:1-4
“All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.” Psalm 86:9
“But you, O LORD, are exalted forever.” Psalm 92:8
“Thus says the LORD, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool Where then is a house you could build for Me?… And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,’ says the LORD. Isaiah 66:1, 23
“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.’” Daniel 6:26
“Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.” Daniel 7:27 – cf. 3:16-18, 28; 6:16, 20
“I will make the lame a remnant And the outcasts a strong nation, And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on and forever.” Micah 4:7
“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, they will have no rain.” Zechariah 14:16-17
In fact, just as we saw in our discussion of Isaiah, the Scriptures testify that only Yahweh is exalted as King over the entire creation:
“How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth! … For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham, For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.” Psalm 47:2, 7-9
“Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—that you ALONE are the Most High over all the earth.” Psalm 83:18
“For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” Psalm 95:3
“For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.” Psalm 97:9
“The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted (we’ram) over all the peoples.” Psalm 99:1-2
“The LORD is high (ram) above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high (hammagebihi), Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?” Psalm 113:4-6
Thus, if Yahweh is exalted over all created reality as sovereign King this means that there is no one who is as highly exalted as he. However, Isaiah’s Suffering Servant and Daniel’s Son of Man share in Yahweh’s exaltation over all creation.
Here is a brief summary of Daniel’s testimony in light of the overall teachings of the inspired OT writings:
- Yahweh is the king of heaven.
- Yahweh’s throne is in heaven.
- Yahweh is exalted above all creation as king.
- Yahweh is exalted as ruler forever.
- Yahweh rides the clouds.
- All the nations that Yahweh has made shall worship and serve him.
- At the same time there is another throne in heaven which the Son of Man occupies.
- This Son of Man reigns forever.
- This Son of Man rides the clouds.
- All the nations shall worship and serve this Son of Man.
- Therefore, according to the inspired testimony of Daniel, Yahweh (whom the prophet identifies as the Ancient of Days/Most High) and the Son of Man are both God.
Concluding Remarks
It is evident from our discussion and examination of the OT writings that the inspired prophets did not view God as a singular Person. God’s emissaries believed and taught that the God of Israel is a singular Being who is multi-personal in nature.
According to the prophetic writings there are at least two distinct Persons who are God. For instance, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the Mighty God being born as a Child in order to reign on David’s throne forever.
This Child is also said to be the Root of Jesse and the Servant of Yahweh upon whom Yahweh places his Spirit.
This is the Servant who offers his life as a sacrifice for the sins of God’s people.
After laying his life down as a guilt offering Yahweh exalts the Servant to share in Yahweh’s exalted status and rule over all creation.
David refers to his Lord being enthroned at Yahweh’s right hand.
David’s Lord is also an eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek.
One of the functions of a priest is to offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.
Daniel sees a fully Divine figure with a human appearance that all the nations worship and serve forever since he is their King.
By piecing all of these passages together it seems reasonably certain that David’s Lord is the Divine Son of Man who is the Child that is born as a human being to reign over David’s throne as the Mighty God forever and who also shares in Yahweh’s own unique rule over all creation.
We also briefly saw how the NT writings confirm the binitarian nature of God since they take OT texts which speak of Yahweh coming to dwell with his people and apply them to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing this the inspired NT writers affirm that Jesus is God even though they also maintain that Christ is personally distinct from God the Father. Since both the Father and the Son are God according to the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures this means that the NT authors believed that the Godhead consists of at least two Divine Persons thereby perfectly comporting with the witness of the OT prophets.
However, there is a lot more evidence from the NT which we have to examine. Lord willing, that will come in the next installments which will be appearing soon.
Source: http://answering-islam.org/authors/shamoun/binity_shema4.html
IHS
Muhammad and Islam in Sirat Ibn Hesham: Muhammad in
the Gospel of John The Divine Son of Man
Isaiah wasn’t the only prophet who spoke of another Person ruling alongside Yahweh since the prophet Daniel did as well. According to Daniel there is actually more than one throne in heaven, one of which is occupied by a Being whom all the nations are required to worship and serve as he rules over them forever. Moreover, this specific Person has the appearance of a human being:
“As I looked, THRONES were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his SEAT. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His THRONE was flaming with fire, and ITS wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened… In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led INTO HIS PRESENCE. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Notice how Daniel sees thrones being set in place even though the Ancient of Days (who is obviously God) occupies only one of them. It is clear from the context that the One whom Daniel describes as a Son of Man occupies the other throne since Daniel expressly says that this specific individual reigns forever.
Furthermore, the phrase Son of Man implies that this particular figure whom Daniel saw coming with the clouds of heaven had a human appearance. This means that Daniel actually saw a Man in his vision, One whom all human beings are required to worship and serve forever.
Moreover, it is certain that this human figure was more than a man, even more than an angel, since he rides the clouds like God does, reigns forever like God does, and is worshiped in the same way that God is.
For example, according to the OT it is Yahweh who rides the clouds,
“An oracle concerning Egypt: See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.” Isaiah 19:1
“The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,and clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:3 – cf. Exodus 13:21-22; 14:24; 24:9-18; 33:7-11; 40:34-38; Numbers 10:34; Psalm 68:33-34; 104:3
The Hebrew Bible also teaches that Yahweh is the King of heaven who has his throne there:
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” Daniel 4:37
“The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.” Psalm 11:4
“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.” Psalm 123:1
The inspired prophets further bore witness to the fact that Yahweh is eternally exalted as King over all the nations and that these nations are required to worship and serve him:
“Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.” Daniel 7:27 – cf. 2:44-45; 3:16-18, 28; 4:34-35; 6:16, 20, 26
“All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him. For the kingdom is the LORD'S And He rules over the nations.” Psalm 22:27-28
“Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.’ Selah” Psalm 66:1-4
“All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.” Psalm 86:9
“But you, O LORD, are exalted forever.” Psalm 92:8
“Thus says the LORD, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool Where then is a house you could build for Me?… And it shall be from new moon to new moon And from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,’ says the LORD. Isaiah 66:1, 23
“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.’” Daniel 6:26
“Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.” Daniel 7:27 – cf. 3:16-18, 28; 6:16, 20
“I will make the lame a remnant And the outcasts a strong nation, And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on and forever.” Micah 4:7
“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, they will have no rain.” Zechariah 14:16-17
In fact, just as we saw in our discussion of Isaiah, the Scriptures testify that only Yahweh is exalted as King over the entire creation:
“How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth! … For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham, For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.” Psalm 47:2, 7-9
“Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—that you ALONE are the Most High over all the earth.” Psalm 83:18
“For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” Psalm 95:3
“For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.” Psalm 97:9
“The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted (we’ram) over all the peoples.” Psalm 99:1-2
“The LORD is high (ram) above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high (hammagebihi), Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?” Psalm 113:4-6
Thus, if Yahweh is exalted over all created reality as sovereign King this means that there is no one who is as highly exalted as he. However, Isaiah’s Suffering Servant and Daniel’s Son of Man share in Yahweh’s exaltation over all creation.
Here is a brief summary of Daniel’s testimony in light of the overall teachings of the inspired OT writings:
- Yahweh is the king of heaven.
- Yahweh’s throne is in heaven.
- Yahweh is exalted above all creation as king.
- Yahweh is exalted as ruler forever.
- Yahweh rides the clouds.
- All the nations that Yahweh has made shall worship and serve him.
- At the same time there is another throne in heaven which the Son of Man occupies.
- This Son of Man reigns forever.
- This Son of Man rides the clouds.
- All the nations shall worship and serve this Son of Man.
- Therefore, according to the inspired testimony of Daniel, Yahweh (whom the prophet identifies as the Ancient of Days/Most High) and the Son of Man are both God.
Concluding Remarks
It is evident from our discussion and examination of the OT writings that the inspired prophets did not view God as a singular Person. God’s emissaries believed and taught that the God of Israel is a singular Being who is multi-personal in nature.
According to the prophetic writings there are at least two distinct Persons who are God. For instance, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the Mighty God being born as a Child in order to reign on David’s throne forever.
This Child is also said to be the Root of Jesse and the Servant of Yahweh upon whom Yahweh places his Spirit.
This is the Servant who offers his life as a sacrifice for the sins of God’s people.
After laying his life down as a guilt offering Yahweh exalts the Servant to share in Yahweh’s exalted status and rule over all creation.
David refers to his Lord being enthroned at Yahweh’s right hand.
David’s Lord is also an eternal priest in the order of Melchizedek.
One of the functions of a priest is to offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.
Daniel sees a fully Divine figure with a human appearance that all the nations worship and serve forever since he is their King.
By piecing all of these passages together it seems reasonably certain that David’s Lord is the Divine Son of Man who is the Child that is born as a human being to reign over David’s throne as the Mighty God forever and who also shares in Yahweh’s own unique rule over all creation.
We also briefly saw how the NT writings confirm the binitarian nature of God since they take OT texts which speak of Yahweh coming to dwell with his people and apply them to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing this the inspired NT writers affirm that Jesus is God even though they also maintain that Christ is personally distinct from God the Father. Since both the Father and the Son are God according to the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures this means that the NT authors believed that the Godhead consists of at least two Divine Persons thereby perfectly comporting with the witness of the OT prophets.
However, there is a lot more evidence from the NT which we have to examine. Lord willing, that will come in the next installments which will be appearing soon.
Source: http://answering-islam.org/authors/shamoun/binity_shema4.html
IHS
(I rely on “The Prophet’s Biography of Ibn Hesham” translated by Mohammad Mahdi al-Shariff, published in Lebanon by Dar Al-kotob Al-Ilmiyah in 2006 – 2nd edition. Page numbers references used refer to this edition of the book)
Muhammad was foretold in the gospel of John
On page 39 of Sirat Ibn Hesham, Ibn Ishaq is claimed to have said that Muhammad had been found in the gospel according to John:
“ … ; but, when the Moonhamena (The Syriac citation form of the Arabic Mohammad and the Latin Barkalitus) comes to existence as sent from God, he will be a witness on me and you;..” (page 39)
This claim is parroted and expanded by “Answering Christianity” Team:
In the Bible we can find the following four passages wherein Jesus (peace be upon him) predicts a great event:
John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever”
John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me”
John 14:26 “But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
John 16:7-14 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you.”
In these four verses, the word “comforter” is translated from the word “Paraclete” (“Ho Parakletos” in Greek). Parakletos in Greek is interpreted as “an advocate”, one who pleads the cause of another, one who councils or advises another from deep concern for the other’s welfare (Beacon Bible commentary volume VII, p.168). In these verses we are told that once Jesus (peace be upon him) departs, a Paraclete will come. He will glorify Jesus (peace be upon him), and he will guide mankind into all truth. This “Paraclete” is identified in John 14:26 as the Holy Ghost. (http://www.answering-christianity.com/prediction.htm)
Now, when I read the gospel of John, and the reader is invited to read it, I see no prophecy about Muhammad. In addition, the above claims are mere lies. Below, I provide quotes from the “Answering Islam” team to show that the above claims are bogus:
Since a quick reading of the Gospel does not reveal such a prophecy in any obvious form, a more detailed search has continued over the years; and many Muslims now claim that Jesus’ promise of the Counselor or Paraclete in John 14 is that very prophecy. Professor Katkat claims this in an article on the subject in Manr Al-Islm, and Yusuf Ali expresses the same idea in the following note on Sura 61:6,
“Ahmad”, or “Muhammad”, the Praised one, is almost a translation of the Greek word periclytos. In the present Gospel of John, 14:16, 15:26, and 16:7, the word “Comforter” in the English version is for the Greek word “Paracletos“…Our doctors contend that Paracletos is a corrupt reading for Periclytos, and that in the original saying of Jesus there was a prophecy of our holy Prophet Ahmad by name.
The first thing to be understood is that in Greek, unlike Arabic, the vowels are written into the text. Thus to change from pErIclYtos to pArAclEtos would require the alteration of three written letters.
Secondly there is absolutely no textual evidence for such a reading. Not one copy of the Gospel of John, from the oldest Greek copy of 200 AD until now shows periclytos in place of paracletos. Photograph 7 of Papyrus p75 from 200 AD shows John 14:9-26a. The last word on the page clearly shows “PARACLETOS” from verse 26. Verse 16 has been partly destroyed, but in the middle of the line marked by the two arrows one can still see “PARACL – N” for paracleton. (“ON” signifies a direct object.) In the first case the whole word is visible and in the second, two of the three letters under discussion can be clearly seen.
Also,
Thirdly, although periclytos, which means famous or renowned, was used by Homer when he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey in the classical Greek of the 10th century B.C., there is not one instance where this word, or any of the other members of its word group, are used in the Koine Greek of the New Testament or the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.
Thus there is neither textual or linguistic support for “periclytos“. (http://www.answering-islam.org/Campbell/s6c1.html#paraclete)
For a more thorough analysis of this matter, the reader is advised to go to “Answering Islam” site. The claim that Muhammad was mentioned in the Bible is a mirage. Christians are the people we need to ask when we want to understand their holy book. They certainly don’t go around claiming that a desert thief is foretold in their book.
Why should we believe Muslims’ claims about a book that is not theirs to start with?
Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/wordpress/?p=9451
IHS
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