The True Confession of Faith Pt. 1
The time has come to once again put a dawagandist in his place. Muslim Christophobe and taqiyyist Jalal Abualrub has obviously not learned his lesson, since he has taken up his old slanderous and lying ways again. He recently published a book where he records his answers to a Christian concerning the revelation of the glorious Trinity versus Muhammad’s perversion of the true Abrahamic concept of monotheism. All throughout this booklet, Abualrub shamefully twists the text of God’s Word, the Holy Bible, and commits virtually every logical fallacy in order to defend the false teachings of Muhammad. We have therefore decided to start a series exposing these gross distortions and shameful misinterpretations of God’s true guidance that is found only in God’s Word, the Holy Bible. We start off by responding to Abualrub’s appeal to Jesus to prove that even the Lord affirmed the Islamic Kalimah or creed that there is no god besides Allah.
Abualrub writes:
“The words reported from Jesus also use the Islamic Kalimah as the one and only correct creed, ‘The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our god is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.’ (Mark 12:29-30)
“This is not Trinity. This is the Islamic Tau’heed, and as such, constitutes clear proof against Christianity. Jesus never said, ‘I created you; worship me like you worship God; I am one in three and three in one; I am God, really.’ All what Christians have are vague statements that they gather together then fight with each other –endlessly– as to what they truly mean.
“Therefore, the conflict here is not between the Islamic Tau’heed which is mentioned in one or multiple versus [sic] in the Bible. The conflict is between Quranic statements that establish its creed versus a creed that is not mentioned in the Bible in individual or multiple verses.” (Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Islamic Monotheism vs. Trinity, by Jalal Abualrub, edited by Alaa Mencke [Madinah Publishers & Distributors, First edition 2012], pp. 8-9)
David’s exalted Lord and divine Son of Man
Abualrub conveniently, and shamefully, doesn’t bother to quote the verses which follow immediately afterwards:
“And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord (ho kyrios) said to my Lord (to kyrio mou), Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore himself calleth him Lord (kyrion); and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.” Mark 12:35-37
“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord (kyrios) our God is one Lord (kyrios heis estin):” Mark 12:29
It is no coincidence that Jesus went on to quote Psalm 110:1 immediately after having cited the affirmation of Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (known as the Shema) that Israel is to profess and worship no other Lord besides their God. Jesus therefore used the inspired Scriptures to prove that the Holy Spirit had already revealed to prophets like David that Israel’s Lord is actually multi-Personal, and that one of these divine Persons happens to be the Messiah himself!
In fact, the Holy Spirit revealed quite a lot to David since he not only made known to the latter that the Christ who is Jesus is his Lord, God’s Spirit also inspired him to know that the Messiah would reign from God’s own heavenly throne. After all, to be seated at God’s right is to be a co-occupant of God’s throne in heaven where the Lord reigns as sovereign King over the entire creation:
“The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Psalm 103:19
As the blessed Apostle Peter explained:
“Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.” Acts 2: 29-35
Peter further shows here that the Spirit even went as far as to announce to David that the Messiah would die and that God would preserve his physical, flesh body from decaying by raising him from the dead.
This means that David was saved in the same way that the NT teaches that all believers are saved, namely, by confessing with their mouths the Lord Jesus and believing from/in their hearts that God has raised him from the dead!
“that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:9-13
There’s more to the picture. Elsewhere, Christ combined the language of Psalm 110:1 with another OT prophecy:
“But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:61-62
Here, the Lord alludes to the prophet Daniel’s vision where the latter sees a human like figure approaching God:
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that ALL people, nations, and languages, should SERVE (yip’lachun) him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14
It is obvious that this particular individual is no creature since he rides the clouds like God does,
“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” Nahum 1:3 – cf. Exodus 13:21-22; 14:19-20, 24-26; 33:7-11; 40:34-38; Numbers 10:34; Deuteronomy 33:26; Psalm 68:4, 33-34; 104:3; Isaiah 19:1
Rules forever like God does, and receives the same worship or service that God receives from all the nations!
“And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall SERVE (yip’lachun) and obey him.” Daniel 7:27
“I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.” Daniel 6:26 – cf. 3:12, 14, 17-18, 28; Psalm 22:27-30; 86:9; 145:13; Isaiah 66:23; Zechariah 14:9, 16-17
Therefore, this Son of man is God manifesting as a human being who, at the same time, is personally distinct from another divine entity called the Ancient of Days.
This not only proves that the prophets were anything but Muslims, since they did not hold to Muhammad’s perverted conception of the deity, it also shows that Jesus was basically claiming to be God in the flesh when he identified himself as the Son of man whom Daniel saw.
God’s Unique Son and Heir
Another thing that Abualrub conveniently failed to mention is that earlier in the same chapter the Lord Jesus distinguished himself from all of God’s prophets, showing that he is vastly superior to all of them:
“And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, THIS IS THE HEIR; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.” Mark 12:1-12
Here, the owner of the vineyard is supposed to be God, whereas the vineyard symbolizes Israel, with the tenants or husbandmen referring to the Jewish elders, and the servants representing the prophets that God consistently sent to his people but to no avail:
“Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.” Jeremiah 7:25-26 – cf. 26:4-5; 29:19; 44:4
“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Revelation 11:18
In the parable, the beloved Son and Heir whom the husbandmen kill is meant to be Jesus, which therefore shows that Christ didn’t view himself as a mere prophet or servant of God. Rather, Jesus saw himself as God’s unique Son who possesses everything that the Father owns. And since the prophets are God’s servants, this means that they are Christ’s servants as well since, as God’s Son and Heir, he is greater than all of them and owns them. This explains why Jesus could say that David by the Holy Spirit called the Messiah his Lord in Psalm 110:1.
The Divine Cornerstone
But that’s not all. The Lord Jesus ends his parable by quoting from Psalm 118:22-23 in order to identify himself as the corner stone which the builders rejected. Here is that passage in question:
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”
What makes this text rather interesting is that the prophet Isaiah picks up on this same theme in his inspired writing:
“therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isaiah 28:16
The reason this is interesting is because elsewhere the prophet informs us that this specific stone is none than Yahweh God himself!
“Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let HIM be your fear, and let HIM be your dread. And HE shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isaiah 8:12-14
Thus, by identifying himself as the cornerstone that Israel rejected, Jesus was again claiming to be the divine Son of God in the flesh!
This brings me to my next point which I will pick up in the next part.