Prophet @ MindSay 
Isaiah was a prophet who spoke of rebuking evil ways and turning to the Lord, the only one who can save us. He spoke in terms of what I think of as History, but can it be translated into something else, YES! We know it can. He prophesied of the coming of Jesus!!
The text for this inside look is Isaiah 1:15-18
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
16 wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed. [a]
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
18 "Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
These words strike a hard chord with me. Every day we are filled with sin, and evil. Our hands are full of blood because of the sins we have committed against our Lord, our God!!
Isaiah was telling the people to turn from their sins, because God would not hear their prayers, no matter how many they prayed, if they did not turn from their ways.
This is one of my favorite passages. I often pray parts of this passage in my morning prayers. I say, "Father, please make me clean, like snow and wool wash away the crimson I have." This is an important concept because, not only because of the images it gives us that help us to understand, but because of what it is telling us to do!!!
"Stop doing wrong!!" Not because it will get you to heaven, but because He said so...
Encourage one another, not because it will get you to heaven, because it is the right thing to do....!!!!
"Defend the cause of the fatherless," not only because He told you to, but because they have no one else to defend them!
"Plead the case of the widow" not because it is right, but because the Lord has asked us to!!
Brothers and sisters, these things I have said 'because' and 'not because' about are things that will bring others to the Lord, because they are things the Lord would do Himself!!
Isaiah had it all right...He was telling us to do things that Jesus would soon be doing on the earth, and things that we should continue to do in Jesus' name, because it is right, Holy and good!!
We are sinners, just like Israel was. Israel stands for God's people, and Isaiah is talking to Israel!! God used Isaiah to tell His people then, and now, about what would happen after Jesus came. If we don't change our ways, repent and turn to Jesus, God will not hear our prayers. What a sad day that would be, a day that God would no longer listen to His children.
Dearest Heavenly Father, I come before you humbly, as a sinner. I have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, but I know that through your son, Jesus Christ, you will have mercy on me. Please Father, forgive my sins against you, wash me, make me clean, let me be as white as snow. Father, I thank you for the sacrificial Lamb you sent for us, and for our sins, the sins of the world. And, in His Glorious name we pray, Amen.
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http://www.upperroom.org/methodx/thelife/test.asp?act=test
Resable asked me about a book I was reading and the woman who worte said book is a mystic. So when I looked up the daily Bible verse from www.upperroom.org and saw this test I just knew I had to take it and post the results with the link! Happy Monday!
The Prophet, The Paraclete, Is Muhammad :
Up to the time of Jesus (peace be upon him), the Jews were still awaiting for the prophet like Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:18. When John the Baptist came, they asked him if he was Christ and he said, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him if he was Elijah, and he said, “I am not.” Then, in apparent reference to Deuteronomy 18:18, they asked him, “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” (John 1:19-21).
In the Gospel according to John (Chapters 14, 15, 16 KJV), Jesus spoke of the “Paraclete” or comforter who will come after him, who will be sent by God, who will teach new things which the contemporaries of Jesus could not bear. While the Paraclete is described as the spirit of truth, (the meaning of which resembles Muhammad’s famous title al-amin, the trustworthy), he is identified in one verse as the Holy Ghost (John 14:26 KJV). Such a designation is however inconsistent with the profile of that Paraclete. In the words of the Dictionary of the Bible (Ed. J. Mackenzie), “These items, it must be admitted do not give an entirely coherent picture.”
Indeed history tells us that many early Christians understood the Paraclete to be a man and not a spirit. This might explain the followers who responded to some who claimed, without meeting the criteria stipulated by Jesus, to be the awaited “Paraclete.”
It was the Prophet Muhammad who was the Paraclete, Comforter, helper, and admonisher sent by God after Jesus. He testified of Jesus, taught new things which could not be borne at Jesus’ time, he spoke what he heard (the Holy Quran), he dwells with the believers (through his well-preserved teachings). Such teachings will remain forever because he was the last messenger of God, the only Universal Messenger to unite the whole of humanity under God, upon the path of preserved truth. He told of many things to come which came to pass in the minutest detail, meeting the criterion given by Moses to distinguish between the true prophet and the false prophets (Deuteronomy 18:22 KJV). He did “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” (John 16:8).
Blessings of Ishmael And Isaac:
Abraham is widely regarded as the Patriarch of monotheism and the common father of the Jews, Christians and Muslims. Through His second son, Isaac, came all Israelite prophets including such towering figures as Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus. May peace and blessings be upon them all. The advent of these great prophets was in partial fulfillment of God’s promises to bless the nations of earth through the descendants of Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3).(1) Such fulfillment is wholeheartedly accepted by Muslims whose faith considers the belief in and respect of all prophets an article of faith.
Was the first born son of Abraham (Ishmael) and his descendants included in God’s covenant and promise? A few verses from the Bible may help shed some light on this question:
1) Genesis 12:2-3 speaks of God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants before any child was born to him.
2) Genesis 17:4 reiterates God’s promise after the birth of Ishmael and before the birth of Isaac.
3) In Genesis, ch. 21, Isaac is specifically blessed, but Ishmael was also specifically blessed and promised by God to become “a great nation,” especially in Genesis 21:13, 18.
4) According to Deuteronomy 21:15-17, the traditional rights and privileges of the first born son are not to be affected by the social status of his mother (being a free woman such as Sarah, Isaac’s mother, or a “maidservant” as Hagar, Ishmael’s mother). This is only consistent with the moral and humanitarian principles of all revealed faiths.
5) The full legitimacy of Ishmael as Abraham’s son and “offspring” and the full legitimacy of his mother, Hagar, as Abraham’s wife, are clearly stated in Genesis 21:13 and 16:3.
After Jesus, the last Israelite messenger and prophet, it was time that God’s promise to bless Ishmael and his descendants be fulfilled. Less than 600 years after Jesus, came the last messenger of God, Muhammad , from the progeny of Abraham through Ishmael. God’s blessings for both of the main branches of Abraham’s family tree were now fulfilled.
Was The Shift of Religious Leadership Prophesied:
Following the rejection of the last Israelite prophet, Jesus, it was about time that God’s promise to make Ishmael a great nation be fulfilled (Genesis 21:13, 18).
Jesus said: “Therefore I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43). Those people among Ishmael’s descendants (the rejected stone in Matthew 21:42) who were victorious against all superpowers of their time as prophesied by Jesus: “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:44).
Muhammad’s Migration Prophesied in the Bible:
Indeed the incident of the migration of the Prophet and his persecuted followers is vividly described in Isaiah 21:13-17. That section foretold as well about the battle of Badr, in which the few ill-armed faithful miraculously defeated the men of Kedar, who sought to destroy Islam and intimidate their own folks who turned to Islam.
Out of Context Coincidence:
Is it possible that the numerous prophecies cited here are, individually and combined, all out of context misinterpretations? Is the opposite true, that such infrequently studied verses support each other consistently and clearly, pointing to the advent of the man who changed the course of human history, the Prophet Muhammad ? Is it reasonable to conclude that all of these prophecies, appearing in different books of the Bible and spoken by various prophets at different times, were all coincidence?
As was mentioned before, God has said about the prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18, who is Muhammad : “If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” (Deuteronomy 18:19).(2)
Note: Please print and distribute.
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Footnotes:
(1) All of the verses on this page have been taken from The NIV Study Bible, New International Version, except where noted as being KJV which means King James Version.
(2) This article has been taken from the pamphlet entitled, “Muhammad in the Bible” by Dr. Jamal Badawi, with some editing.
Muhammad , the Prophet of Islam
The Biblical prophecies on the advent of the Prophet Muhammad are evidence of the truth of Islam for people who believe in the Bible.
In Deuteronomy 18, Moses stated that God told him: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).1
From these verses we conclude that the prophet in this prophecy must have the following three characteristics:
1) That he will be like Moses.
2) That he will come from the brothers of the Israelites, i.e. the Ishmaelites.
3) That God will put His words in to the mouth of this prophet and that he will declare what God commands him.
Let us examine these three characteristics in more depth:
1) A prophet like Moses:
There were hardly any two prophets who were so much alike as Moses and Muhammad . Both were given a comprehensive law and code of life. Both encountered their enemies and were victorious in miraculous ways. Both were accepted as prophets and statesmen. Both migrated following conspiracies to assassinate them. Analogies between Moses and Jesus overlook not only the above similarities but other crucial ones as well. These include the natural birth, the family life, and death of Moses and Muhammad but not of Jesus. Moreover Jesus was regarded by his followers as the Son of God and not exclusively as a prophet of God, as Moses and Muhammad were and as Muslims believe Jesus was. So, this prophecy refers to the Prophet Muhammad and not to Jesus, because Muhammad is more like Moses than Jesus.
Also, one notices from the Gospel of John that the Jews were waiting for the fulfillment of three distinct prophecies. The first was the coming of Christ. The second was the coming of Elijah. The third was the coming of the Prophet. This is obvious from the three questions that were posed to John the Baptist: “Now this was John’s testimony, when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.” They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” (John 1:19-21). If we look in a Bible with cross-references, we will find in the marginal notes where the words “the Prophet” occur in John 1:21, that these words refer to the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18:18.2 We conclude from this that Jesus Christ is not the prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:18.
2) From the brothers of the Israelites:
Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac (Genesis 21). Ishmael became the grandfather of the Arab nation, and Isaac became the grandfather of the Jewish nation. The prophet spoken of was not to come from among the Jews themselves, but from among their brothers, i.e. the Ishmaelites. Muhammad , a descendant of Ishmael, is indeed this prophet.
Also, Isaiah 42:1-13 speaks of the servant of God, His “chosen one” and “messenger” who will bring down a law. “He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.” (Isaiah 42:4). Verse 11, connects that awaited one with the descendants of Kedar. Who is Kedar? According to Genesis 25:13, Kedar was the second son of Ishmael, the ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad .
3) God will put His words in the mouth of this prophet:
The words of God (the Holy Quran) were truly put into Muhammad’s mouth. God sent the Angel Gabriel to teach Muhammad the exact words of God (the Holy Quran) and asked him to dictate them to the people as he heard them. The words are therefore not his own. They did not come from his own thoughts, but were put into his mouth by the Angel Gabriel. During the life time of Muhammad , and under his supervision, these words were then memorized and written by his companions.
Also, this prophecy in Deuteronomy mentioned that this prophet will speak the words of God in the name of God. If we looked to the Holy Quran, we will find that all its chapters, except Chapter 9, are preceded or begin with the phrase, “In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Another indication (other than the prophecy in Deuteronomy) is that Isaiah ties the messenger connected with Kedar with a new song (a scripture in a new language) to be sung to the Lord (Isaiah 42:10-11). This is mentioned more clearly in the prophecy of Isaiah: “and another tongue, will he speak to this people” (Isaiah 28:11 KJV). Another related point, is that the Quran was revealed in sections over a span of twenty-three years. It is interesting to compare this with Isaiah 28 which speaks of the same thing, “For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there.” (Isaiah 28:10).
Note that God has said in the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18, “If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” (Deuteronomy, 18:19). This means that whoever believes in the Bible must believe in what this prophet says, and this prophet is the Prophet Muhammad .
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Footnotes:
(1) All of the verses on this page have been taken from The NIV Study Bible, New International Version, except where noted as being KJV which means King James Version.
(2) See the marginal notes in The NIV Study Bible, New International Version on verse 1:21, p. 1594.
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