In this post I will cite the texts where it is clearly stated that Jesus is the One whom Moses, as well as the rest of the prophets, spoke and wrote of. This will refute any attempt of claiming that Muhammad was the prophet that Moses predicted.

We start off with John’s Gospel:

“Philip found Nathan′a-el, and said to him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’” John 1:45

“After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tibe′ri-as. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’ This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?’ Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.’ Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!’ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” John 6:1-15

Pay close attention that after the miraculous feeding of the multitude with a few fish and loaves, the people correctly reasoned that Jesus is that Prophet was to come into the world.

This then caused the Jews to bring up the issue of Moses and the manna that God fed Israel for the forty years they remained in the wilderness:

“When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.’Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’So they said to him, ‘Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.’They said to him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me;and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day.For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.’ The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, ‘I am the bread which came down from heaven.’They said, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’Jesus answered them, ‘Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.’” John 6:25-44

Christ himself affirmed that Moses and the entirety of the Old Testament bears witness to him:

“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” Matthew 5:17-18

“And taking the twelve, he said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of the Son of man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’ But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” Luke 18:31-34  

“And he said to them, ‘O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:25-27

“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’” Luke 24:44-47

“You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” John 5:39-40

“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” John 5:45-47  

Other NT passages include:

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul that does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came afterwards, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God gave to your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your posterity shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you in turning every one of you from your wickedness.” Acts 3:19-26  

“To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles.” Acts 26:22-23

“When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers. And he expounded the matter to them from morning till evening, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, while others disbelieved. So, as they disagreed among themselves, they departed, after Paul had made one statement: ‘The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: “Go to this people, and say, You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.” Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.’ And he lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ quite openly and unhindered.” Acts 28:23-31

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 1:1-4

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26

“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—” Romans 16:25-26

The Scriptures even go as far as to claim that Moses personally saw Jesus in his prehuman existence when Christ came down to deliver Israel out of Egypt:

“I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-5

“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.” Hebrews 11:24-28 (NIV)

MUSLIM SCHOLARS

What makes this all the more intriguing is that Muslim expositors and historians have candidly admitted that Moses in the Law prophesied the coming of Christ!

Razi then raises the following question: ‘It may be argued that latter statement contradicts the one before it. This is because it clearly indicates that he came to make lawful some of the things which were unlawful in the Torah. This would mean that his legislation was contrary to that of the Torah, which would contradict his saying, “I shall confirm the Torah which was before me.”’ Razi, however, holds that ‘there is actually no contradiction between the two statements because confirming the Torah can only signify the belief that ALL THAT IS IN IT is true and right. If, moreover, the second purpose [of Jesus’ apostleship] is not mentioned in the Torah, his making lawful some of the things which are unlawful in it would not contradict his having confirmed the Torah. Furthermore, SINCE THE TORAH CONTAINS PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE COMING OF JESUS, then neither his coming nor his law would be contrary to the Torah.’ (Mahmoud M Ayoub, Q. 3:50, The Quran and Its Interpreters: The House of Imran [State University of New York Press (SUNY), Albany, NY 1992], Volume II, p. 150; bold and capital emphasis mine)

The Jews say ‘The Christians stand on nothing’ that can be used as support for their claims and they rejected Jesus; and the Christians say ‘The Jews stand on nothing’ that can be used as support for their claims and they rejected Moses; yet they both groups recite the Scripture revealed to them in the Scripture of the Jews there is the confirmation of Jesus and in that of the Christians there is the confirmation of Moses yatlūna’l-kitāba ‘they recite the Scripture’ the sentence is a circumstantial qualifier. Thus in the way that these have said the ignorant from among the Arabs and others say the like of what these say this last phrase mithla qawlihim ‘the like of what they say’ is the explication of dhālika ‘that way’ that is to say to every person of religion they would say ‘You have no basis’; God shall decide between them on the Day of Resurrection regarding their differences in religion and will admit the confirmer into Paradise and the falsifier into the Fire. (Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Q. 2:113 https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=2&tAyahNo=113&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis mine)

Allah explained the disputes, hatred and stubbornness that the People of the Book have towards each other. Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn `Abbas said, “When a delegation of Christians from Najran came to the Messenger of Allah, the Jewish rabbis came and began arguing with them before the Messenger of Allah. Rafi` bin Huraymilah said, ‘You do not follow anything,’ and he reiterated his disbelief in Jesus and the Injil. Then a Christian man from Najran’s delegation said to the Jews, `Rather, you do not follow anything,’ and he reiterated his rejection of Musa’s prophethood and his disbelief in the Torah. So Allah revealed the Ayah…

(The Jews said that the Christians follow nothing (i.e. are not on the right religion); and the Christians said that the Jews follow nothing (i.e. are not on the right religion); though they both recite the Scripture.)”

Allah made it clear that each party read the affirmation of what they claimed to reject in their Book. Consequently, the Jews disbelieve in Jesus, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE THE TORAH in which Allah took their Covenant BY THE TONGUE OF MOSES TO BELIEVE IN JESUS. Also, the Gospel contains Jesus’ assertion that Moses’ prophethood and the Torah came from Allah. Yet, each party disbelieved in what the other party had. (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Q. 2:113 http://www.alim.org/library/quran/AlQuran-tafsir/TIK/2/111; bold and capital emphasis mine)

Isa said, “The Tawrah CONVEYED THE GLAD TIDINGS OF MY COMING, and my coming confirms the truth of the Tawrah. I convey the glad tidings of the Prophet who will come after me. He is the unlettered, Makkan, Arab Prophet and Messenger, Ahmad.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Q. 61:6 https://www.alim.org/quran/tafsir/ibn-kathir/surah/61/5/; bold and capital emphasis mine)

Elsewhere Ibn Kathir admitted that Jesus is indeed similar to Moses even though he still argued for Muhammad being the prophet of Deut. 18:

In Book four[sic] of the existing Torah, there is a verse which says: <A prophet was set for them from their close relations, and brothers like you Musa (Moses), and I will put my word in his mouth.> It is clear to them and to everyone that Allah … did not send a prophet from the offspring of Isma’el except Muhammad … In fact, there was no prophet from the Children of Isra’el similar to Musa … EXCEPT ‘Issa … but the Jews do not accept his prophethood, and he is not the offspring of their brothers; instead, he is related to them through his mother, therefore, the meaning of the above verse focuses on Prophet Muhammad… (The Seerah of Prophet of Muhammad, abridged by Muhammad Ali Al-Halabi Al-Athari [Al-Firdous Ltd, London, 2001: First Edition], part II, p. 24; bold and capital emphasis mine)

The foregoing should put an end to the desperate nonsense of Muhammadans to convince folks that Muhammad was the prophet like Moses.

Unless indicated otherwise, biblical references taken from the Revised Standard Version (RSV).

FURTHER READING

JESUS CHRIST – THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES

Messianic Prophecy and the Quran: Another Muhammadan Dilemma

Jesus Christ: The Living Bread From Heaven

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