Muhammad or Jesus: The Prophet Like Unto Moses

"The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken."  — Deuteronomy 18:15

For Islam to be a religion, Muhammad must be a prophet of God. The message of Muhammad as recorded in the Koran is the foundation of Islam. This is seen in the confession to be a Muslim. This is called the Sha-hadatain. The second part of the Shahadatain follows: "... that Muhammad is His messenger to all human beings till the Day of Judgment."

By Messenger, the Koran means prophet. According to Islam, he is the final prophet or seal of the prophets: "Muhammad... [he is] the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things" (Sura 33:40).

Islam teaches not only is Muhammad the seal of the prophets but he is the greatest of the prophets. He is equal to or greater than Moses. Islam believes that Muhammad is the special prophet the Bible mentions will be like Moses. This verse from the Bible follows: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him" (Deut. 18:18).

The Koran states that Muhammad is the Prophet who will be like unto Moses. Muhammad came with the final message which everyone has to obey: "Say: I am not the first of the apostles, and I do not know what will be done with me or with you: I do not follow anything but that which is revealed to me, and I am nothing but a plain warner. Say: Have you considered if it is from Allah, and you disbelieve in it, and a witness from among the children of Israel has borne witness of one like him, so he believed, while you are big with pride; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people" (Sura 46:9-10).

What It Means To Be Prophet Like Unto Moses

There are five outstanding characteristics that have to be met. The Bible teaches that Moses is different than all the other Old Testament prophets. To be the prophet like Moses of Deuteronomy 18, these five characteristics have to be met. These requirements follow:

1. God spoke directly to Moses. All other prophets received their revelation by visions or dreams. Moses' revelation was directly from the mouth of God. "And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" (Num. 12:6-8).
2. Moses was in the direct presence of God. He saw the similitude or form of the LORD. Moses glowed from being in direct presence of God's glory. "And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him" (Exod. 34:29-30).
3. Moses brought in a blood covenant relationship with God. The other prophets built upon this covenant, but no other Old Testament prophet brought in a different covenant. "And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God
of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness" (Exod. 24:8-10).
4. Moses did mighty signs and wonders. God used Moses to split the Red Sea. " And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left" (Exod. 14:21-22).
5. Moses prophesied of the future. Moses gave entire chapters of prophecy. His prophecy centered on the people and nation of Israel. "Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. ... And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD" (Lev. 26:42,44-45).
6. The prophet has to be a Jew. The Prophet like Moses will have to come from one of the tribes of Israel. The context of Deutromony 18 makes it clear that the brethren means someone from one of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Deuteronomy 18:1,2,7,15 The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel... 2 Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them. 7 Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD.   15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Using the five criteria of Moses being a special prophet, let's test the Muslim's claim that Muhammad is the special prophet like Moses which the Koran claims.
1. God spoke directly with Moses. Muhammad fails because the Koran shows he received his message from an angel. "Then I swear by the angels who bring down the revelation" (Sura 77:5). "Say: Whoever is the enemy of Jibreel— for surely he revealed it to your heart by Allah's command, verifying that which is before it and guidance and good news for the believers" (Sura 2:97).
2. The Koran never reported that Muhammad was literally in the direct presence of God.
3. Muhammad never brought in a blood covenant with God, but his message went directly against the revealed word of God. Muhammad denied the basis for the New Testament covenant which is the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross. "And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa (Jesus) son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so" (Sura 4:157).
4. The Koran reports no signs and wonders of Muhammad.
5. Muhammad made no prophecies in the Koran. The Muslims call Sura 30 the Great Prophecy: This Sura is often used as proof Muhammad was a prophet. "The Romans are vanquished, In a near land, and they, after being vanquished, shall overcome, Within a few years. Allah's is the command before and after; and on that day the believers shall rejoice" (Sura 30:2-4).

Sura 30 is not a valid prophecy: The Romans, who were the Byzantines, were always at war. A near land is not identified. The location to judge the near land is not identified in the Koran. Is it Jerusalem, Mecca, or Medina etc.?  What is a few years?  No date is give for this prophecy so within a few years can be identified. The fulfillment is not recorded in the Koran. It is impossible to verify that Sura 30:2-4 is a valid prophecy.

6. Muhammad was not a Jew. This just by itself eliminates Muhammad from being the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18.

Muhammad fails the test of prophet in general and specifically he is not the prophet like unto Moses. Therefore his message as written in the Koran is to be totally rejected. He cannot be classified as a prophet because he made no prophecy which could be tested. The Muslim's claim that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets has no authority as there is no proof in the Koran that Muhammad was a true prophet of God.

The Lord Jesus Meets the Criteria To Be the Prophet Like Unto Moses

The Bible says that the Lord Jesus is the Prophet like unto Moses. "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: . . . For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people (Acts 3:20,22-23).

1. God spoke directly to Moses. God spoke directly through the Lord Jesus. "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10).
2. Moses was in the direct presence of God and glowed from God's presence. Jesus was the direct presence of God, and He manifested the glory of God! "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light" (Matt. 17:1-2).
3. Moses brought in a blood covenant relationship with God. The Lord Jesus brought in a better blood covenant with God. The better covenant gives the assurance of eternal life to all that believe. "For this is my blood of the new testament [covenant],
which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28). "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises" (Heb. 8:6).
4. Moses did mighty signs and wonders. Jesus did mighty signs and wonders. The Lord Jesus raised a man from the dead after he was four days in the grave. The Bible reported only a few of the awesome miracles that the Lord Jesus did. These miracles were a sign of Him being the Son of God. "Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. ... And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:39,43-44).
5. Moses prophesied of the future, as did Jesus. Like Moses, the Lord Jesus focused His prophecy on the Jews and their dispersion and restoration. The restoration of Israel and Jerusalem would occur just before His second coming. Just as the Lord prophesied, exactly happened to the Jews. Israel is once again a nation with Jerusalem as its capital. "And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? . . . But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land [Israel], and wrath upon this people [Jews]. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:7,23-24).
6. Moses was a Jew and the Lord Jesus was a Jew.
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. The Lord Jesus qualifies to be the Prophet because He is the Son of David from the tribe of Judah.

The Lord Jesus not only met the requirements of being the Prophet like unto Moses, but he exceeded them in all points. Moses was the servant of God, but the Lord Jesus was the Son of God; therefore, He was greater than Moses. "[Christ] Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. . . . And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house ..." (Heb. 3:2-3,5-6).

The Bible shows that the Lord Jesus is greater than Moses as He is the Son of God. God sent His Son into the world to die for our sin. Because of the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, you can be forgiven of all sin and have assurance of eternal life with God.

When you trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior, God makes an eternal blood covenant with you. Please repent of sin and trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Eternal life is only through faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He is the Prophet like unto Moses and those that do not listen to His message, God will require it of them. "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:9-12).

John McTernan
Branch of David Ministries
PO Box 444 • Liverpool, PA 17045
Email: McT911@aol.com • http://www.branchofdavid.org