CHRISTMAS INTERLUDE

The Messages Of The Biblical Gabriel Versus Islam's "Gabriel"

Part IV: The Biblical Gabriel's Word Of Jesus' Eternal Rule Of Israel And All Men Versus Islam's "Gabriel"

(Luke 1:26-37)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

(1) Ever since the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on America, the Islamic faith has been a key issue in world affairs: as a recent example, The Economist (December 21st, 2013, p. 76, "Where are the good guys?") reported: "(R)elatively moderate [Islamist] groups have been losing out to other factions [in Syria], particularly the jihadist ones . . . As the jihadists grow in strength, some Western officials are starting quietly to advocate re-engagement with Bashar Assad, Syria's president, while others think the only course left is to work with devout Islamists who reject the extremists but who nonetheless refuse to be part of the coalition hitherto backed by the West . . . The immediate cause of this mess is the growth of al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria." (brackets ours)

(2) However, Islam affects not only world affairs, but also society. Over the next 20 years, the world Muslim population will increase by 35%. (perforum.org, "The Future of the Global Muslim Population," January 27, 2011)

(3) We must thus be able to answer questions Muslims raise about our Christian faith (1 Peter 3:15), and one place to start is the contrast between the words of Islam's angel "Gabriel" and the words of the Bible's angel Gabriel:

(a) The Qur'an that Muslims hold is divinely inspired allegedly "was delivered piecemeal through Gabriel to Muhammad during his twenty-three-year prophetic career." (Robert Spencer, The Truth About Muhammad, 2006, p. 20) (b) Then, "Islam teaches that the Torah [the five books of Moses] was Allah's first revelation and the [New Testament] gospel was second. But both became corrupted, so Allah gave the Qur'an to Muhammad to put people back on the right path." (Richard Wendling and Daniel Shayesteh, "Reaching Muslims, Part 1," Answers, July-Sept. 2011, p. 38; brackets ours) (c) However, Surah 9:30 of the Qur'an asserts, "'(T)hose who consider Jesus to be the Son of God are under the 'curse of Allah,''" (Ibid.) and the Muslim Haddith, the authoritative traditions of the "Prophet Muhammad" that were written by his early followers to explain the Qur'an's teachings (Ibid., Spencer, p. 24), claims, "'The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them.'" (Mishkat al Masabih Sh. M. Ashraf, 1990, p. 147, 721, 810-811, 1130, etc. as cited in Dave Hunt, The Berean Call, February, 2000, p. 3)

Need: So, we ask, "If Islam claims the Bible is corrupted and the Qur'an that 'Gabriel' spoke to Muhammad is inspired, and if the Qur'an and Islam's Haddith that authoritatively explains the Qur'an claim one is cursed for believing that Jesus is God's Son, and that Muslims will annihilate the Jews before the end, how do we reply?!"

I. First, we note that Islam's claim that the Christian Bible is corrupt is incorrect via empirical evidence:

A. The Third Council of Carthage in A. D. 397 forbade the reading of any uninspired books of the Bible, so by then, the 66-book Bible canon was set. (Rene Pache, The Insp. And Auth. Of Scrip., 1971, p. 178-179)

B. On Islam's charge that the Bible was corrupted so that the Qur'an was later needed to restore the true divine revelation, (1) Gleason L. Archer wrote: "'A careful study of the variants [different readings] of the various earliest manuscripts [of the Bible] reveals that none of them affects a single doctrine of Scripture.'" (Gleason L. Archer, A Survey of the O. T., 1964, p. 25, cited in J. McDowell, A Ready Defense, 1991, p. 46; brackets ours) and (2) Sir Frederic G. Kenyon wrote: "(T)he general result of all these discoveries [Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.] . . . [is] our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God." (Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, The Story of the Bible, 1967, p. 113, cited in McDowell, op. cit., p. 47; brackets ours)

C. The alleged angel Gabriel of Islam began to give his messages to Muhammad in A. D. 611 ("The Man From Mecca," SIM NOW, July-Aug. 1989, p. 2) 214 years after the Bible's canon has been shown not only to have been universally set, but from the finding of ancient manuscripts, not to have been doctrinally corrupted.

D. So, it is the Qur'an's teachings that differ from the Bible's teachings that are the real corruption of the truth!

II. Second, the Bible's Gabriel in Luke 1:26-37 announced that Jesus as the divine Son of God would one day reign over Israel and all men in an eternal kingdom OPPOSITE the teachings of Islam's "Gabriel":

A. In contrast to the Muslim Qur'an's claim to the contrary, the angel Gabriel in his announcement to Mary of the birth of Jesus twice referred to Jesus as the Son of God, Luke 1:31-32, 35:

1. Announcing Mary's firstborn son was to be named "Jesus" (Luke 1:31), the angel Gabriel said Jesus would be great and be called the "Son of the Most High" (hypsistou, Luke 1:32 NIV; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 205), a term in the Greek New Testament that translates the Old Testament Hebrew term, 'elyon (Ibid.), a reference to "the Most High God," Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, footnote to Genesis 14:19.

2. Then, in Luke 1:35, Gabriel called Jesus "the Son of God," a reference to His deity, Ibid., ftn. to Lk. 1:35.

B. Also, in contrast to the Muslim Haddith's claim to the contrary, the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:32-33 with Old Testament prophecy Daniel 7:13-14 taught that Jesus will forever rule over believing Jews and Gentiles in a worldwide kingdom that will never be destroyed by any entity (as follows):

1. Gabriel said that Mary's firstborn, Jesus (Luke 1:26-31), the Savior of the world according to John 1:29, would be granted by God the Father the throne of His earthly ancestor, Israel's king David, Luke 1:32c.

2. Also, Gabriel said Jesus would rule over the house of Jacob, that is, over the Jewish people of Israel who descended from their forefather Jacob (Genesis 32:28), and that this kingdom will last forever, Lk. 1:33a,b.

3. From the Old Testament book of Daniel 7:13-14b [a section in Daniel that is written in Aramaic] in view of New Testament passages, we see this kingdom will be a worldwide rule over all men on the earth:

a. From Jesus' ascension in a cloud to heaven in Acts 1:9-10, we know that He is the "Son of man" Who ascends to the "Ancient of days," to God the Father, in the Daniel 7:13 prophecy. Acts 1:11 reveals Jesus will also return the way He ascended, so Jesus fulfilled Daniel 7:13 at His ascension, and will return to rule the world in His Second Coming as described in Daniel 7:14, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1351.

b. Thus, at His Second Coming, Daniel 7:14 claims Jesus will be given dominion by God the Father so that ALL peoples ('amamya' [Aramaic] plural emphatic, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 1107), nations ('umaya' [Aramaic] plural emphatic, Ibid., p. 1081) and languages (lishanaya' [Aramaic] plural emphatic, Ibid., p. 1099) will "pay reverence as deity" (pelah [Aramaic], Ibid., p. 1108) to Him. Thus, the repeat plural emphatic nouns in the Aramaic at Daniel 7:14 reveal that all Jews, all Gentiles, all nations and all language groups in all of the world will pay homage Jesus as God in His coming kingdom!

4. Then, from Daniel 7:14c, we also know that this kingdom of Jesus will not "be destroyed or hurt" (habal [Aramaic], Ibid., p. 1091). Accordingly, nothing will hurt or destroy the everlasting kingdom of Jesus over all saved Hebrews and over all saved Gentiles throughout the entire world!

Lesson: Though Islam holds the Bible is corrupt and the Qur'an that its angel "Gabriel" spoke to Muhammad is divinely inspired, and though the Qur'an and Islam's Haddith that authoritatively explains the Qur'an teach one is cursed in believing Jesus is God's Son, and that Muslims will annihilate the Jews before the end, (1) manuscript evidence shows the Bible is fully doctrinally credible, and (2) Luke 1:26-37 with Daniel 7:13-14 teach the angel Gabriel predicted that Jesus as God's Son would rule all Jews and Gentiles, all nations and all language groups in an eternal kingdom that would not be hurt or destroyed, and that all men will pay homage to Jesus as God!

Application: May we (1) trust in Christ as Savior for eternal life, John 3:16. (2) May we then answer Muslims who ask us a reason for our hope on the issues mentioned in this sermon, and lead them to trust in Christ, 1 Peter 3:15.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In witnessing to Muslims, a key issue to address is the Qur'an's great inconsistency on the way of salvation:

"On the one hand, the Quran teaches that salvation is based on purification by good deeds (Quran 7:6-9) . . . Yet the Quran also teaches that Allah has predetermined every person's destiny, and one's righteous acts may or may not affect Allah's decision (Quran 57:22). It teaches that everyone, both the righteous and the unrighteous, will be led into hell by Allah, before the righteous will enter heaven (Quran 19:67-72) . . . Even Muhammad himself was unsure of his salvation (Quran 31:34; 46:9). Today, whenever Muslims mention the name of Muhammad, they . . . add the phrase, 'Peace be upon him,' because Muhammad's eternal destiny is uncertain, and the Muslim must ask Allah to be merciful to him." (Ibid., Wendling and Shayesteh, "Reaching Muslims, Part 2," Answers, Oct.-Dec. 2011, p. 27-28)

In contrast to the Qur'an, the Christian Bible (1) at 1 John 5:13 asserts: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God: that ye may know that ye have (echete = present tense of echo, or "you are having, possessing," U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 825; The Analy. Grk. Lex. (Zond.), 1972, p. 179) eternal life . . ." (emphases ours) (2) Then, at John 5:24, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is 'once-for-all passed' (perfect of metabaino, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 511-512) from death unto life."

In other words, the Bible asserts that one who trusts in Christ for salvation from sin and hell unto eternal life can be ASSURED both NOW and THROUGHOUT his EARTHLY LIFE and BEYOND into ALL ETERNITY that he UNCONDITIONALLY POSSESSES ETERNAL LIFE!

May we thus heed the Bible as God's Word and trust in Christ as it directs. May we then answer Muslims, giving them the reasons for our faith in meekness and respect that they might be saved! (1 Peter 3:15)