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How Many Gods do Christians Have? And how many gods the Muslims?
A Muslim Dawagandist Asks: How Many Gods do Christians Have?
The Christians Answer: Fewer than the Muslims do!
Exposing Islam’s Pentagonity
Sam Shamoun
Jalal Abualrub is quite angry at the fact that we published a series of replies to his
distortions of truth. In order to give the impression that he is capable of providing a
rational and coherent rebuttal to our points Jalal has written a "reply"
to some of my claims concerning the Trinity and the Deity of the Lord Jesus
(*).
Not being able to mask his venom and hatred of God’s true religion Jalal begins
his parody by mocking Christians and their faith:
Christianity is very
confusing. Christians admit that Christianity is a mystery. Christians are
even more confusing than Christianity.
Jalal has a habit of referring to our articles without bothering to provide links to
them, and the reason is obvious (to us anyway). He is afraid that Muslims will read these
papers for themselves and discover who their true God and Savior is, e.g. the Lord Jesus
Christ. It seems that deep down inside Jalal is scared to have Muslims compare the
teachings of God’s true Word, the Holy Bible, with the Quran since the light of
Christ that shines forth from the inspired pages of the Holy Scriptures exposes the
darkness of Islam and Muhammad. Jalal seems to be aware that the truth of the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus utterly vanquishes and exposes the falsehood of his Islamic beliefs.
Otherwise, why doesn’t he bother linking to our articles which he is supposedly
responding to?
Moreover, Christians and Christianity are not as confusing as Salafi Muslims who are
more confused than the Quran itself. These Muslims believe that their deity actually has
eyes, hands, a waist, shins, legs, and ascends and descends during the third part of the
night even though these "attributes" and actions are supposed to be unlike
anything in creation:
And the Face of your Lord full of Majesty and Honour will abide forever. S. 55:27
So wait patiently (O Muhammad SAW) for the Decision of your Lord, for verily, you are
under Our Eyes, and glorify the Praises of your Lord when you get up from sleep.
S. 52:48
They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of
Resurrection the whole of the earth will be grasped by His Hand and the heavens
will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He, and High is He above all that
they associate as partners with Him! S. 39:67
Narrated ‘Abdullah:
A Jew came to the Prophet and said, "O Muhammad! Allah will hold the heavens on a
Finger, and the mountains on a Finger, and the trees on a Finger, and all the creation on
a Finger, and then He will say, ‘I am the King.’" On that Allah’s
Apostle smiled till his premolar teeth became visible, and then recited:–
‘No just estimate have they made of Allah such as due to him… (39.67)
‘Abdullah added: Allah’s Apostle smiled (at the Jew’s statement) expressing
his wonder and believe in what was said. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93,
Number 510)
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "Paradise and the Fire (Hell) argued, and the Fire (Hell) said,
"I have been given the privilege of receiving the arrogant and the tyrants.’
Paradise said, ‘What is the matter with me? Why do only the weak and the humble among
the people enter me?’ On that, Allah said to Paradise. ‘You are My Mercy which I
bestow on whoever I wish of my servants.’ Then Allah said to the (Hell) Fire,
‘You are my (means of) punishment by which I punish whoever I wish of my slaves. And
each of you will have its fill.’ As for the Fire (Hell), it will not be filled till Allah
puts His Foot over it whereupon it will say, ‘Qati! Qati!’ At that time it
will be filled, and its different parts will come closer to each other; and Allah will not
wrong any of His created beings. As regards Paradise, Allah will create a new creation to
fill it with." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60,
Number 373)
Narrated Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri…
Then the Almighty will come to them in a shape other than the one which they saw the first
time, and He will say, ‘I am your Lord,’ and they will say, ‘You are not
our Lord.’ And none will speak: to Him then but the Prophets, and then it will be
said to them, ‘Do you know any sign by which you can recognize Him?’ They will
say. ‘The Shin,’ and so Allah will then uncover His Shin whereupon
every believer will prostrate before Him and there will remain those who used to prostrate
before Him just for showing off and for gaining good reputation. These people will try to
prostrate but their backs will be rigid like one piece of a wood (and they will not be
able to prostrate). (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 93,
Number 532s)
Hadith 34:
Abu Hurayra narrated that the Prophet said: Allah created mankind and when He had
finished, the womb stood up and took hold of Allah's waist. Allah: Stop! The
womb said: I seek Thy refuge from being severed. Allah said: Would you not be happy if I
do good to one who does good to you and sever links with one who severs links with you.
The womb said: Yes my Lord. Allah said: And so shall it be.
Abu Hurayra said: Read if you like the following verse:
Would ye then, if ye were given the command, work corruption in the land sever your
ties of kinship?
Qur'an: 47.22
[Bukhari] (Al-Ahadith Al-Qudsiyyah - Divine Narratives translated by Dr.
Abdul Khaliq Kazi & Dr. Alan B. Day [Dar Al Kitab Arabi - USA, 1995], Chapter 12.
Allah Addresses The Womb, p. 65; bold emphasis ours)
What perplexes the thinking, rational mind is how can Allah literally have all of these
"qualities" when he is supposed to have created time, space, matter, which
includes all the various shapes and forms that exist? After all, if Allah is the maker of
the entire creation then he must have existed before there was time, space, place, matter,
shapes etc., which means that he must be a shapeless, formless, immaterial, spaceless
entity.
How, then, can he have such "characteristics" without having a shape of some
kind? And how can he have any kind of form or shape if he existed before the creation of
space and matter? But, then again, Allah is a mystery!
In light of Allah being a rather confused and disoriented being who can’t figure
out whether he did create every thing or whether some aspects which we all thought were
part of creation are really eternal, i.e. Allah’s body with its distinct parts is
uncreated which presupposes that some aspect of space and matter have always existed, we
suggest that Jalal write an article titled,
‘The Incomprehensible Nature of Salafyism
And its Irrational doctrine of Allah’s Bodyparts!
For more on Jalal’s confused conception of deity we suggest the following papers:
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allah_as_man.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allah_location.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Osama/zawadi_allahs_face.htm
http://khalas.wordpress.com/2007/03/02/allah-evidence-of-an-anthropomorphic-deity/
http://www.islam-watch.org/AbulKasem/BismiAllah/1a.htm
http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allahs_selfannihilation.htm
Jalal appeals to the Holy Bible to prove his case concerning God being one, as if
orthodox Christians somehow deny this fact!
The Old Testament
and the New Testament both state that God is one, "I am the first, and I am
the last; and beside me there is no God … Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no
God; I know not any" (Isaiah 44:6 & 8); "There is but one
God, the Father" (1 Corinthians 8:6). But, when
Christians read ‘One’ they see ‘Three.’ Most of mankind sees
‘One’ when they read ‘One.’ But Christians see ‘Three’
when they read ‘One’.
The problem with Muslims like Jalal is that they never bother explaining what exactly
they mean when they says that his god is one. Do they mean that he is one community, one
person, one essence having one attribute? Jalal also doesn’t ever quote the Holy
Bible to show what God’s true messengers said concerning the unity of God, i.e. did
these inspired spokespersons teach that Yahweh is a single Being with a single essence
that encompasses a plurality of attributes and/or Persons? Or did they believe that
Yahweh’s essence preclude him from having multiple attributes and/or Persons?
To put it simply, Jalal needs to tell us what exactly does he mean when he says that
God is one. To keep repeating that God is one, as Jalal does, really doesn’t mean
much unless he starts explaining what he means by it.
Secondly, Isaiah is a witness against Jalal since this blessed prophet confirmed that
God is a multi-Personal Being, e.g. there is one God who exists as more than one Person.
In fact, Isaiah believed that the Messiah is the Mighty God who rules on David’s
throne forever:
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government
will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there
will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing
and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this." Isaiah 9:6-7
Lest Jalal claim that this is not a Messianic text and appeal to orthodox Jews to prove
that it isn’t here are a couple of rabbinic quotes for good measure:
The prophet saith to the house of David, A child has been born to us, a son has been
given to us; and he has taken the law upon himself to keep it, and his name has been
called from of old, Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, He who lives forever, the
Anointed One (or Messiah), in whose days peace shall increase upon us.
(The Targum of Isaiah, J.F. Stenning, Editor and Translator [Oxford: Clarendon], p. 32;
bold emphasis ours)
Another explanation: He said to him: ‘I have yet to raise up the Messiah’ of
whom it is written, For a child is born to us (Isa. IX, 5). (Midrash Rabbah
Deuteronomy, Rabbi H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, Editors; Rev. Dr. J. Rabbinowitz,
Translator [London: Soncino Press], I.20, p. 20)
What makes this so amazing is that Isaiah applies every one of these titles to the one
true God Yahweh!
"In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no
longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of
Israel. A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God."
Isaiah 10:20-21
"O LORD, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are
faithfulness and truth." Isaiah 25:1 NKJV
"All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel
and magnificent in wisdom." Isaiah 28:29
"For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose
name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who
has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the
heart of the contrite ones.’" Isaiah 57:15 NKJV
"But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us;
you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name."
Isaiah 63:16
Isaiah further believed that the Messianic King would bear the sins of the people by
dying as a sacrifice to God:
"See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and
highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his
appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human
likeness— so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths
because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard,
they will understand. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD
been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root
out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he
was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried
our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the
LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet
he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was
taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land
of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned
a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to
suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his
offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After
the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by
his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with
the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Isaiah 52:13-15, 53:1-12
There are two indications that this Servant is the Messiah. First, the Servant will be
highly exalted and lifted up, implying that God will enthrone him next to himself since
this is the same language that Isaiah uses for Yahweh’s exaltation:
"The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low;
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. The LORD Almighty has a day
in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled)
… The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD
alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear."
Isaiah 2:11-12, 17-18
Interestingly, the Quran itself teaches that Allah exalted Jesus to himself:
And (remember) when Allah said: "O 'Iesa (Jesus)! I will take you and
raise you to Myself and clear you [of the forged statement that 'Iesa (Jesus)
is Allah's son] of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you
(Monotheists, who worship none but Allah) superior to those who disbelieve … till the
Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the
matters in which you used to dispute." S. 3:55 Hilal-Khan
But Allah raised him ['Iesa (Jesus)] up (with his body and soul)
unto Himself (and he is in the heavens). And Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise.
S. 4:158 Hilali-Khan
Seeing that Isaiah has already mentioned that the Messiah rules forever as the Mighty
God this seems to strongly support that he is this very Servant who is exalted with Yahweh.
Second, the Servant is said come out of dry root in 53:2, a term used by Isaiah
elsewhere in reference to the Branch from Jesse, the father of David:
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch
will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear
of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he
sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness
he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He
will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay
the wicked… In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the
peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be
glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant
that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush,
from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea." Isaiah 11:1-4, 10
The Branch and Root of Jesse is the One who rules on David’s throne, i.e. the Messiah,
indicating that the Root of Isaiah 53:2 is none other than the Messianic Ruler.
Once again, here is how some of the ancient Jewish sources interpreted Isaiah 53:
Behold my servant. Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high, and increase, and be
exceeding strong: as the house of Israel looked to him through many days, because their
countenance was darkened among the peopled, and their complexion beyond the sons of men.
(Targum Jonathan, 2nd Century A.D.)
The Messiah--what is his name? … The rabbis say, the leprous one; those of the
house of Rabbi say, the sick one, as it is said, "Surely he hath borne our
sickness."
(The Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b, 500 A.D.)
He is speaking of King Messiah: "Come hither" draw near to the throne
"and dip thy morsel in the vinegar," this refers to the chastisements, as it is
said, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities."
(Ruth 2:14 commentary from The Midrash Rabbah, 6th Century A.D.)
Source: 1,
2
With the foregoing in perspective how can Muhammad be a messenger of the one true God
who spoke through Isaiah when the former denied that the Messiah is the Mighty God who
rules on David’s throne forever and contradicted what the prophets said concerning
the Messiah dying on behalf of sinners?
Third, one of the names that Isaiah ascribes to Yahweh in Isaiah 44:6 is the First and
the Last:
"This is what the LORD says — Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God." cf. 41:4; 48:12
A title which the Lord Jesus applies to his own Person:
"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand
on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living
One; I WAS DEAD, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of
death and Hades.’" Revelation 1:17-18
"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to
everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and
the Last, the Beginning and the End…. He who testifies to these things says,
‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.’"
Revelation 22:12-13, 20
In light of Jalal’s theology which states that no true prophet of God can ever
ascribe to himself the exclusive names and attributes of Deity how can Jalal continue to
spread the lie that Jesus was a Muslim who never claimed to be God?
Fourth, let us see what Jalal conveniently left out from Paul’s statement
in 1 Corinthians 8:
"So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing
at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called
gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many
‘lords’), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came
and for whom we live; and there is but ONE Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all
things came and through whom we live." 1 Corinthians 8:4-6
The blessed and holy Apostle identifies Jesus as the One Lord through whom all created
things came into being and are kept together, a point he repeats in another epistle:
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For
in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were
created THROUGH him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together." Colossians 1:15-17
In fact, many Biblical scholars believe that, by saying that Christ is the One through
whom all things exist, Paul has actually taken the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4:
"Hear O Israel! The LORD our God, the LORD is One!"
And expanded it to include Jesus as the one Lord whom God’s people are commanded
to worship and confess. In other words, Paul wasn’t denying that Jesus is God but
was actually identifying him as the very Yahweh of the Shema which monotheist Jews
recited! Noted Evangelical scholar Gordon D. Fee states it best:
"What Paul has done seems plain enough. He has kept the 'one' intact, but he has
divided the Shema into two parts, with theos (God) now referring to the Father, and
kurios (Lord) referring to Jesus Christ the Son… He insists that the
identity of the one God also includes the one Lord," (Fee, Pauline Christology: An
Exegetical-Theological Commentary [Hendrickson Publishers, March 2007], pp. 90-91)
And:
"In the striking passage where Paul reshapes the Jewish Shema to embrace both
the Father and the Son while as the same time emphasizing his inherited monotheism, Paul
asserts that the 'one Lord' (=Yahweh) of the Shema is to be identified as the Lord Jesus
Christ … In a still more profoundly theological way, by his inclusion of the
preexistent Son as the agent of creation, Paul has thus included him in the divine
identity at its most fundamental point, since the one God of the Jews was regularly
identified vis-à-vis all other 'gods' as the Creator and Ruler of all things. Thus, it is
one thing for Christ to be the means of redemption, but for him likewise to be the
divine agent of creation is what clearly includes him within Paul's now adjusted
understanding of 'the one God,' … One of the reasons for naming Christ as 'the
Lord' = Yahweh of the Shema [is] to place Christ as already present with the Israel to
whom the Shema was originally given," (Ibid., 502-504; underline emphasis ours)
Paul isn’t the only inspired writer who taught that all things were created
through Jesus:
"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that
has been made… He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,
the world did not recognize him." John 1:1, 10
"but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of
all things, and through whom he made the universe." Hebrews 1:2
It is apparent from the foregoing that all of these writers believed that Jesus is God
since the Scriptures emphatically teach that creation came into being and is kept for and
through God:
"For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen." Romans 11:36
"one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all
and in all." Ephesians 4:6
"In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and
through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect
through suffering." Hebrews 2:10
Muhammad, on the other hand, denied the Divinity of Christ (even though he badly
misunderstood what it meant for Christ to be God). Yet Jalal quoted Paul who affirmed it,
which only goes to further show that Jalal’s prophet is not a true messenger of the
one true God.
Paul also wrote that the one God is the Father, and in saying this he agrees completely
with the prophets such as Isaiah concerning God being a spiritual Father:
"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay,
you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8
"Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we
profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?" Malachi 2:10
But Muhammad’s god isn’t the father of anyone:
And (both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are the children of Allah and His
loved ones." Say: "Why then does He punish you for your sins?" Nay, you are
but human beings, of those He has created, He forgives whom He wills and He punishes whom
He wills. And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is
between them, and to Him is the return (of all). S. 5:18 Hilali-Khan
And they say: "The Most Beneficent (Allah) has begotten a son (or offspring or
children) [as the Jews say: 'Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allah, and the Christians say that
He has begotten a son ['Iesa (Christ)], and the pagan Arabs say that He has
begotten daughters (angels, etc.)]." Indeed you have brought forth (said) a terrible
evil thing. Whereby the heavens are almost torn, and the earth is split asunder, and the
mountains fall in ruins, that they ascribe a son (or offspring or children) to the Most
Beneficent (Allah). But it is not suitable for (the Majesty of) the Most Beneficent
(Allah) that He should beget a son (or offspring or children). S. 19:88-93 Hilali-Khan
Seeing that Muhammad again contradicted the teachings of the true Prophets such as
Isaiah and the holy Apostles like Paul concerning God’s spiritual Fatherhood how can
he be God’s representative?
Jalal continues:
They also invoke the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, but only see ‘One’ in this
‘Trinity’!
They do so because their Lord and Master commanded them to invoke them:
"Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age.’" Matthew 28:18-20
The reason why true believers still see one God here, even though Jesus mentioned three
distinct Persons, is because Christ used NAME (singular), as opposed to names (plural),
which is shared by all three. Since name in the Holy Bible often denotes the nature,
characteristics, and/or authority of a person (much like in Islamic theology, e.g. the
ninety-nine "names" of Allah) this implies that these three distinct Persons
share the same essence and nature and therefore are all fully God. Jesus substantiates
this interpretation since he goes on to say that he will personally be present
(spiritually, not physically) with all his followers till the end of the age, which is
a rather explicit claim to being God since this presupposes that Jesus is omnipresent.
Nor is Jesus the first to refer to the Trinity together:
"I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according
to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he
has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast
love. For he said, ‘Surely they are my people, children who will not deal
falsely.’ And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was
afflicted, and the Angel of his Presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he
redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But
they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people.
Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where
is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to
go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an
everlasting name, who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did
not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD
gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name. Look
down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and
your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me.
For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge
us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name."
Isaiah 63:7-16
Here, Israel is said to have been delivered by God the Father, the Angel or Messenger
(malak) of his Presence (panim – lit., "faces"), and his
Holy Spirit. And yet Isaiah says that there is only one Savior:
"‘You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, ‘and my servant whom I
have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no
god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and
apart from me there is no savior.’" Isaiah 43:10-11
"Declare what is to be, present it— let them take counsel together. Who
foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And
there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but
me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and
there is no other." Isaiah 45:21-22
Thus, Israel’s one Savior is revealed as three distinct Persons consisting
of the Father, his Divine Angel, and his Holy Spirit!
There is further evidence to support that Isaiah was identifying the Angel as Deity
since the genitive here ("of") implies that the Angel is God’s Face, or the
One in and through whom God is revealed because he happens to be God in nature and stands
before him in intimate communion. This is similar to what Moses wrote concerning the
Angel:
"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring
you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not
rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name IS IN HIM.
If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your
enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you
into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites,
and I will wipe them out." Exodus 23:20-23
The Angel can forgive sins because he embodies God’s very name or nature.
The Biblical commentators agree that this is the meaning of the genitive, with many of
them believing that the Angel is actually the prehuman Jesus who would often appear to
God’s people throughout the OT period:
and the Angel of his presence saved them;
not Michael, as Jarchi; but the Messiah is here meant; the Angel of the covenant, the
Angel which went before the Israelites in the wilderness, (Exodus 23:20-23) not a created
angel, or an angel by nature, but by office; being sent of God, as the word signifies, on
the errand and business of salvation; called "the Angel of God's presence", or
"face", because his face was seen in him; his name, and nature, and
perfections were in him; he is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image
of his person besides, the presence of God was always with him; he is the
"Ithiel", the Word that was with God, and with whom God always was; who lay in
the bosom of his Father, and was ever with him; and who also, as Mediator, introduces his
people into the presence of God, and always appears in it for them as their advocate and
intercessor: now to him salvation is ascribed; he saved Israel out of Egypt, and out of
the hands of all their enemies in the wilderness; and which salvation was typical of the
spiritual, eternal, and complete salvation, which is only by Christ, and issues in eternal
glory: (The New John Gill Exposition on the Entire Bible;
source;
underline emphasis ours)
And:
(2.) The person employed in their salvation--the angel of his face, or presence.
Some understand it of a created angel. The highest angel in heaven, even the angel of his
presence, that attends next the throne of his glory, is not thought too great, too good,
to be sent on this errand. Thus the little ones' angels are said to be those that always
behold the face of our Father, Matthew 18:10. But this is rather to be understood
of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, that angel of whom God spoke to Moses (Exodus
23:20,21), whose voice Israel was to obey. He is called Jehovah, Exodus
13:21, 14:21,24. He is the angel of the covenant, God's messenger to the world, Malachi
3:1. He is the angel of God's face, for he is the express image of his person;
and the glory of God shines in the face of Christ. He that was to work out the eternal
salvation, as an earnest of that, wrought out the temporal salvations that were typical of
it. (Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible;
source)
Again:
angel of his presence--literally, "of His face," that is, who stands
before Him continually; Messiah (Ex 14:19; 23:20, 21; Pr 8:30), language applicable to
no creature (Ex 32:34; 33:2, 14; Nu 20:16; Mal 3:1). (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
- Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible;
source;
underline emphasis ours)
Finally:
d. And the Angel of His Presence saved them: This refers to the presence and work
of Jesus among ancient Israel, especially among those delivered from Egypt.
i. "The angel of His presence is the Messiah … Calvin sees in this
angel merely a serving angel. But of this Angel it is said that He by His love
and pity saved Israel; this can hardly be said of a created angel. It is the Christ
who is meant here." (Bultema)
ii. "Angel of his presence: literally 'of his face'. We recognize people by
face; 'face' is the Lord's very own presence (Psalm 139:7), among them in the person of
his angel - that unique 'Angel of the Lord' (as in Genesis 16:7ff; 21:17; 22:11, 15;
Exodus 3:2; 14:19; 23:20-23; Malachi 3:1) who speaks as the Lord and is yet distinct from
him." (Motyer) (David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible;
source)
Jalal takes a shot at addressing my paper concerning Psalm 110:1 without bothering to
link to it! Here it is: http://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/psalm110_1.htm
He says:
Shamoun wrote, ‘We
do agree that the Psalmist had two distinct and different Persons in view.’ We [
mankind] agree [that the psalmist
sees two different persons] Jesus and God! Shamoun admits that many say that, ‘The Hebrew text
disproves such a notion … The words in Hebrew which the above version translates LORD
and Lord are actually Yahweh and Adoni, two different words with two obviously different
meanings (or so the argument goes).’ This is a very good
argument, isn’t it?
… Psalm 110:1 addresses two distinct, different persons, as Shamoun agrees,
‘We do agree that the Psalmist had two distinct and different Persons in view?’
However, Shamoun contradicts what he agrees is the truth, ‘Just because the Psalmist
used two different terms it doesn’t necessarily follow that he had two beings in mind
who were of completely different essences.’ Shamoun also narrates from others that,
‘The word Adoni is never once used for God in the Hebrew Bible.’ Therefore, how
would this make Adoni Jesus and Yahweh and the Christ and the Holy Ghost and the one and
only true God?