Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 45
45 The followers of Jesus went so far as to declare: 17 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law……. Thus Jesus laid no claim to giving a new Law, and his disciples regard the Law as a curse. Hence by their own admission, Jesus and his followers deny the fact that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy in Deuteronomy. Secondly, the Promised Prophet was to be raised not from among Israel but from among their brethren and Jesus was an Israelite. Christian exponents, confronted with this fact, are wont to say that Jesus had no earthly father, so he can be said to be one of the brethren of Israel. But such a construction would be untenable. The prophecy speaks of brethren, which means that they were to constitute a race or a people from among whom the Promised Prophet was to rise. According to Christian belief, Jesus stands alone as God’s Son. If there were other Sons of God, then one could argue that Jesus may fit the description of the prophecy. To the contrary, the Bible specifies that Christ was to be of the seed of David. 18, 19 Jesus may shed his Israelite origin because he had no earthly father, but he will not then remain a son of David, so the Biblical prophecy will not apply to him. Either way, Jesus does not comply with the requirements set forth in this prophecy. Thirdly, the prophecy says I will put my words in his mouth. To the contrary, the Gospels do not consist of words, which God may have put in Jesus’ mouth. They only narrate stories about Jesus and what he may have said or done on different occasions covering a period of no more than three years. Fourthly, the Promised One was to be a Prophet, while the Christian view is that Jesus was not a Prophet, but the Son of God. Again, Jesus fails to comply with the description of the prophecy. Fifthly, the prophecy states: Words which he shall speak in my name. Strange as it may seem, the Gospels do not contain a single example of words that Jesus may be said to have received from God with the command to pass them on to his followers. Sixthly, the prophecy stipulates: He shall speak unto them all that I shall command. The Promised Prophet thus, was to give to the world complete and comprehensive teachings. Jesus himself denied that this was his mission. He regarded himself as the forerunner of a greater Teacher yet to come; thus the Biblical confirmation: 20 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. From these verses it appears that the prophecy in Deuteronomy was not fulfilled in Jesus. The obvious conclusion then is that both the Old and the New Testaments foretold the coming of a Prophet after Jesus who was to guide the world unto all truth , and who was to establish the name of God on earth for all time. If the search for the promised Prophet is continued beyond Jesus' era