JESUS CHRIST THE ONLY LAW GIVER
1). INTRODUCTION
The Muslim Ibrahim Dantata said on another thread: “Yeshua did not give laws as he is just subordinate prophet to Mosaic law, But Moses and Muhammad do gives law as both they were law given prophets, John 5:30-31 its against Your delusional claims that “Yeshua did give laws as he and the father,,,”
This post is going to debunk the delusions of the above comment. But first just for the record here is what John 5:30-31 says:
“I can do nothing on My own. I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. [31] “If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.” (John 5:30‭-‬31 HCSB)
What Ibrahim ignores in his comment and selective reference from John 5, is how Jesus then goes on to validate His testimony, but we shan’t ignore it, this post has to first address exactly how multiple testimony validated exactly who Jesus was (the absence of such testimony condemns Islam), before we can address the primary blasphemous claim that He was a “subordinate prophet not a lawgiver”.
2). JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD – A FOURFOLD AUTHENTICATION
This is the framework set out in the second half of John chapter 5 which all Muslims, not only Ibrahim, ignore to their peril:
(a) Jesus does His Father’s work (John 5.19-20).
(b) He does His Father’s will (John 5.22-30).
(c) He shares the Father’s worth (John 5.22-23, 26-30).
(d) He speaks the Father’s word (John 5.24-25).
(e) He has a fourfold witness.
I hate having to mention them in the same sentence, but since our Muslim friend has, I am left no choice. When comparing the figures of Jesus and Muhammad, how stark is the contrast between them in terms of witnesses. It is as stark as the contrast between them in the authority they held, how they lived and the example they set and the doctrine they taught.
On the one hand by his own admission Muhammad had no witnesses, and his first reaction to being assaulted at Hira was to become traumatised and suicidal, believing that he had been possessed ¹. For which rather than offer validation, the Quran is lamely forced to issue blank denials, and worse provides no testimony to validate him as a prophet of God, and being not all sufficient, resorts to a baseless appeal to the Bible as prophesying him.
#Make_no_mistake: the pagan worshipping Muhammad never heard from God, was never commanded by God, was never corroborated and never received any laws from God. Period.
Jesus by contrast, is not only the giver of the Law but He fulfilled it perfectly. Unlike Islam’s only claimed prophet, Jesus can also claim witnesses from four different sources in the very same chapter our Muslim polemicist refers to. These are set out in the second half of chapter 5 of John’s gospel. Here is a summary.
Jesus’ fourfold witness, John 5.31-47:
(i). First we have the witness of the prophet (John 5.31-35, John 10.39-42).
In John 5.30 Jesus had already said … “I can of My own Self do nothing …”. Simply put, Jesus does nothing independent of God, because He came as the Son of God to do the will of God. But He also realized that the Jews were not about to take Him at His own word. In fact, they had a right to expect competent testimony from others who could prove Jesus’ claim to be Who He is. Jesus never exempted Himself from the Biblical foundation for matters to be settled upon the testimony of multiple witnesses.²
Now John the Baptist had become popular very quickly, and he was widely known and accepted as a prophet. In fact, he can be referred to as the last of the Old Testament-style prophets. He had become a local phenomenon, but he had no ego or personal ambitions. In fact, he turned his own followers over to Jesus …”the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1.29). He testified of the supremacy of Jesus as the only cure for the sin problem. He knew that Jesus was on a spiritual mission that somehow involved the salvation of mankind from a lost eternity, and he knew, and testified, that Jesus was the Son of God, (John 1.33-34). He was a good and trustworthy witness. But John was not the only witness for of course there are many Old Testament prophecies heralding the coming Messiah, from Moses onwards. Sufficient for this purpose are the words Jesus spoke at John 5.38-47:
“You don’t have His word living in you, because you don’t believe the One He sent. [39] You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me. [40] And you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life. [41] “I do not accept glory from men, [42] but I know you — that you have no love for God within you. [43] I have come in My Father’s name, yet you don’t accept Me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. [44] How can you believe? While accepting glory from one another, you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God. [45] Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. [46] For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me. [47] But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:38‭-‬47 HCSB)
(ii). Secondly we see the proof of His works (John 5.36; John 10.36-38; John 14:10-11).
Jesus had His own works to prove He was Who He said He was, starting with His turning the water into wine, raising the dead including His own resurrection, right up to His eventual physical return to glory. But his miracles don’t just result in healing, they prove Jesus’ true heritage; they give His spiritual qualifications; at the same time as physical healing He forgives sins and gives spiritual healing; thus his miracles identify Him as The Son of God, with unlimited power and boundless love!
Jesus saw His works as a testimony to His identity as these verses demonstrate:
“If I am not doing My Father’s works, don’t believe Me. [38] But if I am doing them and you don’t believe Me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father”(John 10:37‭-‬38 HCSB).
“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own. The Father who lives in Me does His works. [11] Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves” (John 14:10‭-‬11 HCSB).
(iii). Next we have the witness of the Father Himself (John 5.37-38).
“The Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me” (John 5:37a HCSB)
and
Matthew 3.16 -17…”This is My Beloved Son, in whom I Am well pleased!”
and
Matthew 17:5 (repeating Deuteronomy 18:15), spoken in the presence of the glorified Moses:
“While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him. LISTEN TO HIM!” (Matthew 17:5 HCSB).
This is clear, isn’t it? But here is the irony…Jesus Is the Son of God in the flesh; and the voice of God, confirming Who He is; and the Jews and Pharisees of His day, (a straight read across to latter-day Muslims), not only refusing to believe, but falsely accusing the Very One they claimed to worship and to serve. How’s that for spiritual ignorance?
(iv). Finally, we have the prophecy of the word of God itself (John 5.38-40)
We see in these next few verses, three things that need to be noted …
(a) First, there is the main Figure of scripture, and that is, of course, Jesus Himself, (5.39). Page after page, starting in Genesis, bears witness to Jesus. He may not be mentioned by name but He’s there, and we need to connect with Him through that written word. If not, then we might as well chuck our bibles out because they don’t mean a thing without our acceptance, belief and obedience!
(b) Secondly, we see the main focus of scripture, (John 5.39-40)…eternal life! The second birth! Moving from the state of being adrift and cut off to the state of salvation, rich and free! From a state of spiritual sickness to a state of spiritual health!
“You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me. [40] And you are not willing to come to Me so that you may have life” (John 5:39‭-‬40 HCSB)
Scripture can be studied through a microscope and still the meaning can elude us. Those Jews knew how many letters were in all the Hebrew Law, and yet they wouldn’t allow that same word to generate faith in their hearts. They knew the word of God, but they were completely ignorant of the God of the word! In fact, just like a lot of people today, those Jews were determined to disbelieve, no matter how much evidence was presented. And that brings us to the last detail of this section…
(c) Thirdly, human failure, John 5.40-47; the will nots’, the have nots’ and the believe nots’.
…you will not come, (John 5.40);
…you will not honour, (John5.41);
…you do not have the love of God, (John 5.42);
…you do not receive, (John 5.43); and
…you do not believe, (John 5.44, 46 and 47).
It’s a sad reflection of human nature that we prefer rebellion and denial to truth and obedience. We prefer to do things in our strength by our own devices and strivings. In place of God we have substituted our own rules for life. We worship idols rather than the True God. It is no surprise therefore that when Muhammad appears in the AD 600’s he attempts to supplant the Word of God with the words of the Quran, removing the doctrine of Grace, Enlightenment and Forgiveness of the gospels and replacing it with the dark satanic verses of paganism, bondage, fear and warmongering, that is Islam. It should be no surprise that it caught on. Jesus predicted that “if another comes in his own name him you will receive” (John 5.43). It’s as close a reference to Muhammad as Jesus gets but it is never a commendation or endorsement.
The disbelief of the Jews of Jesus’s day and of the generations since, is its own testimony and affirmation of the Truth of what Jesus taught and prophesied.
3). CHRIST THE LAWGIVER
“For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. He will save us” (Isaiah 33:22 HCSB).
Against the preceding background, we are now able to consider Christ in another of His divine functions. It is one that naturally results from His position as Creator, for the One who creates must certainly have authority to guide and control. Referring back to John 5 briefly in verses 22-23 the words of Christ declare that “the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.” As Christ is the manifestation of the Father in creation, so is He the manifestation of the Father in giving and executing the law. A few texts of Scripture will suffice to prove this.
In Numbers 21:4-6 we have the partial record of an incident that took place while the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, as follows:
“Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. [5] The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food! ” [6] Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died” (Numbers 21:4‭-‬6 HCSB).
The people spoke against God and against Moses. They found fault with their Leader and paid a heavy price. This is why snakes destroyed them. Now compare the words of the apostle Paul concerning this same event:
“Let us not test Christ as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes” (1 Corinthians 10:9 HCSB).
What does this prove? Who was being tested and questioned? The Leader against whom they were murmuring was Christ. This is further proved by the fact that when Moses cast in his lot with Israel, refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt:
“For he [Moses] considered the reproach because of the Messiah to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since his attention was on the reward” (Hebrews 11:26 HCSB)
[The fathers] all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4 HCSB).
So, then, Christ was the Leader of Israel from Egypt.
The third chapter of Hebrews makes clear the same fact. Here we are told to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful in all His house, not as a servant, but as a Son over His own house.
“Therefore, holy brothers and companions in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession; [2] He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. [3] For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. [4] Now every house is built by someone, but the One who built everything is God. [5] Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. [6] But Christ was faithful as a Son over His household. And we are that household if we hold on to the courage and the confidence of our hope” (Hebrews 3:1‭-‬6 HCSB).
In these verses we are told that Jesus, as builder of the house is superior to, and deseving of greater glory than Moses who was merely the custodian of it. We are His house if we hold fast our confidence to the end.
“For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. [15] As it is said: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. [16] For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses? [17] And who was He provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?” (Hebrews 3:14‭-‬17 HCSB)
Here again Christ is set forth as the Leader and Commander of Israel in their forty years’ sojourn in the wilderness.
The same thing is shown in Joshua 5:13-15, where we find that the man who Joshua saw by Jericho, having a sword drawn in his hand is a theophany of the preincarnate Christ:
“When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?” [14] “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in worship and asked Him, “What does my Lord want to say to His servant?” [15] The commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so” (Joshua 5:13‭-‬15 HCSB)
Time and again in the Old Testament it’s undeniable that Christ was the real Leader of Israel, although invisible. Moses, the visible leader of Israel perceived He who is invisible;
“By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27 HCSB)
Only the above can explain:
“Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, [10] and they SAW THE GOD OF ISRAEL. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. [11] God did not harm the Israelite nobles; THEY SAW HIM, AND THEY ATE AND DRANK. [12] The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay there so that I MAY GIVE YOU THE STONE TABLETS WITH THE LAW AND COMMANDMENTS I HAVE WRITTEN FOR THEIR INSTRUCTION” (Exodus 24:9‭-‬12 HCSB).
This can ONLY be describing another pre incarnate appearance of Christ. Earlier in Exodus we find:
“Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. [19] As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder. [20] The Lord came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain. Then the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up” (Exodus 19:18‭-‬20 HCSB).
“Then God spoke all these words: [2] I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. [3] Do not have other gods besides Me. [4] Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. [5] You must not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, [6] but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands” (Exodus 20:1‭-‬6 HCSB).
Who spoke these words? The One who brought them from Egypt. And who was the Leader of Israel from Egypt? It was Christ. Then who spoke the law from Mt. Sinai? It was Christ, the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His Person, who is the manifestation of God to man. It was the Creator of all created things and the One to whom all judgment has been committed.³
This point may be proved in another way. When the Lord comes, it will be with a shout (1 Thessalonians 4:16), which will pierce the tombs and arouse the dead (John 5:28-29).
The prophet Jeremiah said:
“As for you, you are to prophesy all these things to them, and say to them: The Lord roars from heaven; He raises His voice from His holy dwelling. He roars loudly over His grazing land; He calls out with a shout, like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. [33] Those slain by the Lord on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like manure on the surface of the ground” (Jeremiah 25:30‭, ‬33 HCSB).
Now compare this with Revelation 19:11-21, where Christ as the Leader of the armies of heaven, the Word of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, goes forth to tread the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, destroying all the wicked, we find that it is Christ who roars from His habitation against all the inhabitants of the earth, when He has His controversy with the nations. Joel adds another point, when he says:
“The Lord will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the Israelites” (Joel 3:16 HCSB).
From these sample texts, amongst others, we learn that in connection with the coming of the Lord to deliver His people, He speaks with a voice that shakes the earth and the heavens:
“The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a hut. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again. [21] On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven above and kings of the earth below. [22] They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon; after many days they will be punished. [23] The moon will be put to shame and the sun disgraced, because the Lord of Hosts will reign as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and He will display His glory in the presence of His elders” (Isaiah 24:20‭-‬23 HCSB).
“But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed” (2 Peter 3:10 HCSB).
“Make sure that you do not reject the One who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected Him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. [26] His voice shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven” (Hebrews 12:25‭-‬26 HCSB).
The time when the Voice speaking on earth shook the earth was when the law was spoken from Sinai (Exodus 19:18-20; Hebrews 12:18- 20), an event that for awfulness has never had a parallel and never will have until the Lord comes with all the angels of heaven to save His people. But note: The same voice that then shook the earth will, in the coming time, shake not only earth, but heaven also, and we have seen that it is the voice of Christ that will sound with such volume as to shake heaven and earth when He has His controversy with the nations. Therefore it is demonstrated that it was the voice of Christ that was heard from Sinai, proclaiming the Ten Commandments.
This is no more than would naturally be concluded from what we can learn concerning Christ as Creator and the Maker (and Lord – see Section 4) of the Sabbath.
Indeed, the fact that Christ is a part of the Godhead, possessing all the attributes of Divinity, being the equal of the Father in all respects, as Creator and Lawgiver, is the only force there is in the atonement. It is this, and this alone which makes redemption a possibility. Christ died “that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18), but if He lacked one iota of being equal to God, He could not bring us to Him. Divinity means having the attributes of Deity. If Christ were not Divine, then we should have only a human sacrifice. It matters not, even if it were granted that Christ was the highest created intelligence in the universe; in that case He would be a subject, owing allegiance to the law, without ability to do any more than His own duty. He could have no righteousness to impart to others. There is an infinite distance between the highest angel ever created and God; therefore, the highest angel could not lift fallen man up and make him partaker of the Divine nature. Angels can minister; but only God can redeem. Thanks be to God that we are saved “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and who is, therefore, able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.
4). THE LORD OF THE SABBATH IS MAKER OF IT AND THE LAW
□ “What does it mean that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath? (Caps for emphasis)
The phrase “the Lord of the Sabbath” is found in Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, and Luke 6:5. In all three instances Jesus is referring to Himself as the Lord of the Sabbath or, as Mark records it, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). In these verses, Jesus is proclaiming that He is the One who exercises authority even over the rules and regulations that govern the Sabbath day.
As such, Jesus was proclaiming to the world, especially to the legalistic Pharisees, that HE WAS GREATER THAN THE LAW and ABOVE THE LAWS OF THE MOSAIC COVENANT BECAUSE, AS GOD IN FLESH, HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THOSE LAWS. Unable to keep the Law, however, the Pharisees had instituted a complex and confusing system of Sabbath laws of their own that was oppressive and legalistic. They had set up strict laws regarding how to observe the Sabbath, which included 39 categories of forbidden activities. In essence, these religious leaders had made themselves lords of the Sabbath, thus making themselves lords over the people.
As Creator, Christ was the original Lord of the Sabbath (John 1:3; Hebrews 1:10). He had the authority to overrule the Pharisees’ traditions and regulations because He had created the Sabbath—and the Creator is always greater than the creation. Furthermore, Jesus claimed the authority to correctly interpret the meaning of the Sabbath and all the laws pertaining to it. Because Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, He is free to do on it and with it whatever He pleases.
AS LORD OF THE SABBATH, JESUS HAD THE RIGHT, POWER, AND AUTHORITY TO DISPENSE IT IN ANY WAY HE PLEASED. The Lord of the Sabbath had come, and with His death and resurrection He became the fulfillment of our “Sabbath rest.” The salvation we have in Christ has made the old law of the Sabbath no longer needed or binding. When Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), Jesus was attesting to the fact that, just as the Sabbath day was originally instituted to give man rest from his labors, so did He come to provide us rest from laboring to achieve our own salvation by our works. Because of His sacrifice on the cross, we can now forever cease laboring to attain God’s favor and rest in His mercy and grace.”
Source: www.gotquestions.org/Lord-of-the-Sabbath.html
5). CONCLUSIONS
This post has demonstrated that Christ is the Leader and Commander of Israel, who appeared to Moses and Joshua amongst others and who gave the law to Moses (Exodus 24:9-12). But that was just the start, for look how He reappears incarnate in the New Testament …
What manifestation of love is this? The Innocent suffered for the guilty; the Just for the unjust; the Creator for the creature; the Maker of the law for the transgressor against the law; the King for his rebellious subjects.
Since God spared not His own Son but freely delivered Him up for us all — Since Christ voluntarily gave Himself for us — how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Infinite Love could find no greater manifestation of itself. Well may the Lord say, “What could have been done more to My vineyard that I have not done in it?” (Isaiah 5:4)
Notes
¹ Following his encounter, Muhammad thought he was demon possessed. This according to Sahih Bukhari 9:111 where it states that he was twitching with terror, asking what was wrong with him whilst demanding to be covered, fearing that something BAD may happen to him.
Also from Ibn Ishaq’s “Sirat Rasul Allah” Muhammad didn’t think this was Gabriel at first, but that he was demon possessed. (pp. 106-107). It was only until people convinced him that he was met by an angel of the Lord that he slowly came to believe that he was called to prophethood.
As a matter of fact, even people during Muhammad’s time believed that he was demon possessed and was met, NOT by Gabriel, but by a demon. How embarrassing that the Quran even had to issue denials on his behalf :
Surah 81:22-25: “No, your compatriot [Muhammad] is not mad. He saw him [Gabriel] on the clear horizon. He does not grudge the secrets of the unseen, nor is this the utterance of an accursed devil.”
Surah 69:41, 42: “It [the Quran] is no poet’s speech: scant is your faith! It is no soothsayer’s divination: how little you reflect! It is revelation from the Lord of the Universe.”
Christians are not surprised that Muhammad displayed demonic signs. Paul warns of false apostles:
“For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great thing if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their destiny will be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13‭-‬15 HCSB)
“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!” (Galatians 1:8‭-‬9 HCSB)
² See this Post for more on the Biblical principle of multiple attestation found nowhere in Islam:
□ THE BIBLE TESTIFIES TO GOD BEING MULTI-PERSONAL, APPEARING IN DIFFERENT FORMS AND REQUIRING MULTIPLE WITNESSES 24 March 2021
www.facebook.com/100063590342443/posts/131355072327504/
³ See this Post for more on preincarnate appearances of God including appearing as a man:
□ GOD HAS ALWAYS APPEARED IN HUMAN FORM SINCE THE DAYS OF CREATION 16 May 2021
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