Once more the Muhammad side of this comparison of Jesus to the Islamic founder is sadly lacking. It is true that there were rumors floating around Arabia of a coming prophet. Israel in particular had been expecting a prophet to come for many years. Those who rejected Jesus to their eternal loss continued to look for "the Prophet" of Deuteronomy, and certain Jewish tribes in Muhammad's Arabia were open to the possibility that Muhammad might be the one they sought.

The Church was weak in its knowledge of the Scriptures, had begun spiraling down into compromise and unbelief, and was also susceptible to deceivers.

In Arabia there were splinter groups of Christians that had evolved into factions far removed from the orthodoxy of Scripture. The Ebionites were such a group. They believed that people such as Paul were anti-semitic, so they scissored out all his writings from the New Testament.

Imagine a New Testament without Paul!

They believed that the law was still in effect. Yet they called themselves Christian, and looked for a Prophet. Waraquah, who figures largely in the early days of Muhammad's revelations, was of this group. He early jumped on the bandwagon of Koranic inspiration and encouraged Muhammad to continue on in a series of utterances that even Muhammad at first believed to be demonic.

In Muhammad's life, per Lings, there were from time to time persons who pointed him out as the prophet. One, Nestor, a monk, tied him to the "Shiloh" prophecy of Genesis 49. But Shiloh means "rest", a word used specifically by Jesus to describe the effect He has on the human heart when He enters it. Muhammad certainly has not brought us rest. Jesus does, for the individual, and will one day, to the world.

As to Biblical prophecies regarding Muhammad, there are none. But Islam through the years has played a double-sided game in terms of referencing Scripture. If a Biblical verse seems to serve the cause of Muhammad, it is accepted without wavering. If the text is decidedly different than the Koran, the Biblical text is considered corrupted, and the argument ends. Very difficult to reason with persons who are convinced of their position without even a search into the records.

But since there are no trustworthy Islamic records of a prophecy of Muhammad's coming, Muslims rely heavily on their less than worthy interpretations of our Biblical texts that seem to say their prophet was foreknown. Before I share with you the clear predictions of Jesus' coming, let me deal with the supposed Scriptures promising the coming of Muhammad.

Among the favorite is Deuteronomy 18:15-18. Ironically, this passage is also the most easily answered. It is amazing that a thinking Muslim would still cling to this set of verses.

God here declares that one day He is going to raise up in Israel a Prophet "like Moses" from among their brothers. Since Muhammad was not Jewish, nor did he find himself raised up among the Jews, the prophecy in no way connects to him.

It does connect to Jesus, though. After He had fed the 5,000, the Jewish recipients of that miracle meal declared that Jesus was indeed the Prophet that Moses was talking about. In this, they were correct. Forcing Him to take His Kingdom immediately was not the plan for the first century, but for the last.

For the record here, Jesus was indeed called a prophet. The men who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus described Him as a "Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people." The Jewish multitudes who witnessed His triumphal entry into Jerusalem concurred. Those who saw the son of a widow in Nain raised from the dead likewise agreed that He was a prophet. The woman at the well used the title. As did the man born blind, made to see by Jesus.

Another passage used by Muslim scholars to show that the Bible predicts a coming Prophet in Arabia is of a much more serious nature. Not serious as in true, but serious as in dangerous application.

Since it is clear that John 14:16 refers to the Holy Spirit's coming, the wrenching away of it to fit a supposed prediction of a Gentile political leader is most distressing, and bordering on the blasphemous.

You see, there is a passage in the Koran that contains the word periclytos, which means "praised one." Since this word is so close to the Greek paraclete, Muslims rush in to claim this verse for their leader. How preposterous the claim is, is borne out in the rest of the verse. Let me demonstrate.

John 14:16: [Jesus said] "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another paraclete , that He may abide with you forever [Muhammad is to abide with the apostles forever?], even the Spirit of truth [absurd, yet there are devotional works that do indeed call Muhammad "Spirit of Truth"! ]whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him [ the world never saw Muhammad?] or knows him [the world never knew Muhammad?], but you know Him [the apostles knew Muhammad?], for He dwells with you [Muhammad lived with the apostles?] and will be in you [Muhammad will live inside the apostles?]."

Pretty difficult fit. Like a size twelve trying to work its way into a size five.

But a perfect fit, if the Holy Spirit of God is considered the fulfillment. Jesus went on to say, "I will not leave you without help. I will come to you." Blasted away in this statement is not only the notion of Muhammad as the Comforter or Paraclete, but also the anti-Trinitarian bias of Islam and so many others. Jesus is leaving the disciples. But the Father is sending a Helper. Clue: The Helper is someone they know right now. Someone who will return in a different form. Someone who is the speaker!

No, Muhammad is not predicted in Christian Scripture nor in any other, except in those places where Jesus Christ Himself or inside His surrogates warns us of the viciousness of the wolf who will come to destroy sheep that are not on guard. The false prophet. Certainly there have been a whole host of such men. None of them have been singled out by name, but by their fruits we shall know them. Blood, confusion, anti-Christ, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, political strength, immorality. We'll know.

But Jesus was foreknown, from the foundation of the world and before.

He was prefigured in Genesis 3:15 as the seed of a woman. He was to be the one who would bless all nations through the seed of Abraham.

He is Shiloh, the rest of the people of God in the last words of Genesis.

He is the Lamb and the sin offerings of Exodus and Leviticus,

He is the star of Balaam's vision,

He is "that prophet" of Deuteronomy,

He is of the seed of David, the Psalmist's King on Mt Zion,

He is the awful sufferer forsaken by God Himself,

He is the One betrayed by His best friend,

Yet He is seen breaking the nations with a rod of iron.

The prophets saw Him as suffering servant, yet Everlasting Father, founder of a New Covenant, born in Bethlehem, dying on a tree, buried in a rich man's tomb, but not allowed to see corruption in His body, the King of the Kingdom that shall never be destroyed, during the time when the earth shall be filled with knowledge about Him.

Never has there been a man known in advance as much as this Man.