Crucifixion or Crucifiction - A Response (PART 10)

This particular section will address an issue regarding Christ’s Kingdom. Although it is certainly not the focal point of the series of these messages, it is nevertheless profitable for us to consider the subject because Deedat brings up verses but only reports them in part to support His arguments. It is critical to see these verses in their totality and the surrounding issues that they imply because doing so will demonstrate the selectiveness and deception on Deedat’s part by obscuring such facts. For the moment however, we shall resume our discussion from where we left off.
In part nine, it seemed we were going to touch upon the subject of the trial itself, but we noted that Ahmed Deedat was continuing to go off-track, discussing Mohammed being listed as the most influential person of history among other things. Ahmed Deedat turns back to the topic at hand and mentions the political evils of the men who were determined to have Jesus executed.

“PREDETERMINED JUDGEMENT

The fate of Jesus (pbuh) was already sealed. Caiphas the High Priest, at the head of the Sanhedrin (a Religious Board of Jewish Deputies), was a man who would have recused himself in any civilised Court-of-Law, because of his prejudice against the defendant. He had already condemned Jesus to death without any hearing. He had recommended to his Council, even before the case that:-

"… it is expedient for us that one man die for the people, and the whole nation perish not." (HOLY BIBLE) John 11:50”

It comes as no surprise to us to hear that Jesus was prejudged by evil men. We notice by following the text that Caiaphas had prophesied concerned the death of Jesus as mentioned in the next few verses:

51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation,
52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.
53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

Deedat continues:

“Jesus had to be liquidated! There was no question of right or wrong; Justice or injustice; it was "EXPEDIENT"! The trial was a farce. By hook or by crook they would have Jesus convicted and done away with. In the middle of the night, what we might call at 2 o'clock in the morning, the Jews had mustered up false witnesses to testify against Jesus. A trial, past midnight was against Jewish practice; but who cares? Despite sympathetic and encouraging prosecutors and jurors, the false witnesses could not tally in their evidences.

It was too much for Jesus. He could not hold his peace. He had to remonstrate. He made a telling plea in his own defence, saying:
"... I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, where the Jews always gather; and in secret have 1 said nothing." (HOLY BIBLE) John 18:20”

It is certainly true that Jesus did not deserve the treatment he received from the Jews. It comes as no surprise to Christians that the trial was a farce, since Pilate who was in the position of judgement, personally found nothing to convict Jesus with, and set a murderer free in His place. Yes, Jesus was the perfect, sinless, unblemished lamb, and as such was the supreme candidate to save God’s people from their sins.

”In essence, he said that he expounded no secret or esoteric doctrines. He did not teach anything in private which he would not be prepared to proclaim in public. In which case, the Jews would have been able to line up an army of witnesses to testify against him. But what a farce!”

Well, all I can say in response to this is that Jesus had an entire crowd of people who wanted Him dead, shouting “Crucify Him!”, and again, I agree that it was a complete mistrial. This doesn’t prove anything against the crucifixion however, it simply strengthens the testimony of Jesus being the unblemished lamb. Deedat continues:

“The Jews could not get even two to agree1 in their allegations! "But neither did their
witness agree together" - (Mark 14:59). His argument was so potent that an officer
standing by was provoked to strike him in silence. Did that intimidate Jesus? No! Instead, he
protested further:

". . . if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why
smitest thou me?"

The victim was slipping out from between their fingers. It was now or never. Legally they
could not incriminate him. Direct intervention was necessary. The High Priest interjects with a
side thrust. Tell us then:

". . . Art thou the Christ, the son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am . . ."(Mark 14:61-62)”

Indeed the testimonies against Jesus were false and contradictory. Now, what’s interesting are these verses here mentioned above by Deedat – Mark 14:61-62. I would like to post the entirety of those two verses as well as the two verses that come after it. Let us look therefore at Mark 14:61-64:

61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"
62 "I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
63 The high priest tore his clothes. "Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked.
64 "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death.

Conveniently, we see that Ahmed Deedat failed to give us the entirety of verse 62. This verse speaks of Jesus referring to Himself as the Son of Man sitting at the right Hand of God and coming on the clouds of Heaven. Deedat Attempted to condense it down to make it sound as though Jesus was accused of blasphemy simply for referring to Himself as the Christ or the Son of the blessed One. Jesus was saying much more than that, His powerful language is taken from the book of Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14:

13 "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Here we see that the Son of Man:
1. Has authority
2. Has glory
3. Has sovereign power
4. Is worshipped by all peoples, nations and men of every language.
5. Has an eternal dominion that will never pass away
6. Has a Kingdom that will never be destroyed.

Let us examine these points one by one.

1. Authority

Matthew 28:18 – “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” We note first the words “given to me”. Muslims will no doubt be quick to point out that this means that Jesus had no authority of His own. What they will fail to point out however is that this verse takes place after the resurrection. This is a point of great significance because we know that Jesus emptied Himself and took the form of a slave in His incarnation and earthly sojourn (Philippians 2:6-8). He put aside His divine prerogatives, but following His resurrection, He entered into glory, and took back His position of authority and power. (Philippians 2:9-11). As such, this verse is not saying simply that Jesus received authority from the Father as something that did not originally belong to Him, rather it is a restoration back to that position of authority following Christ’s resurrection.

Before we go on to point number 2, we must not so quickly gloss over the details regarding the authority Christ actually received. As mentioned above in Matthew 28:18, this was authority over all things in the heavens and in the earth. Does this sound like an ordinary man? Did any prophet ever have such authority? Was any prophet ever given such authority? Let’s answer this question by looking to what I think would be the three most powerful figures to bring to the case: Adam, Moses, and Mohammed. Now of course, Christians do not consider Adam to be a prophet (nor obviously Mohammed), but as Muslims do, we shall look to these three individuals. I have chosen these three in particular for a purpose, and we shall see why:

Adam: According to the Qur’an, Allah commanded the angels to worship Him. Surah 2:34 says – “And behold We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam"; and they bowed down: not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: he was of those who reject Faith.” (YUSUF ALI)

The Muslim might say, “Jesus isn’t unique in having authority over heaven and earth. Here the angels are worshipping Adam, so Adam has the same kind of authority given to Him by Allah” The problems with this are too numerous to address, but let’s respond to two major problems here:

(1) Bowing down before anyone but Allah is Shirk. Thus Allah was actually commanding His angels to commit Shirk.

(2) Verse 36 of the Qur’an shows that Adam was thrown out of Paradise for his sin. This account is echoed in Surah 7:24. If Adam was to be thrown out of paradise, he certainly had no authority regarding paradise. Nor did he have authority over Satan who seduced he and his wife.

Moses: While Adam was denied the dominion of the heavenly paradise, Moses was denied the earthly Good Land. In Numbers 20:12 we read “But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them." If Adam and Moses were to have authority of the heavens and the earth, then they would have the authority to enter into paradise and the good land respectively, but this is not what we see.

Mohammed: Mohammed speaks of the authority of the heavens and earth. Does he say that this authority has been given to him? Let us see: Say: "O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He that giveth both life and death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, who believed in Allah and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided." Mohammed here, rather than say that dominion of the heavens and the earth have been given to him, simply states that such dominion belongs to Allah. This thought is repeated in 5:120 – “Unto Allah belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and whatsoever is therein, and He is Able to do all things.” Again 24:42 – “And unto Allah belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, and unto Allah is the journeying.”

The muslim may interject, citing Surah 2:247 “Their Prophet said to them: "Allah hath appointed Talut as king over you." They said: "How can he exercise authority over us when we are better fitted than he to exercise authority, and he is not even gifted, with wealth in abundance?" He said: "Allah hath chosen him above you, and hath gifted him abundantly with knowledge and bodily prowess: Allah granteth His authority to whom He pleaseth. Allah is All-Embracing, and He knoweth all things." Unfortunately for the muslim, this verse says nothing about authority over the heavens and the earth. Nor does it mention Mohammed’s name. In fact this particular verse is speaking of the authority of kingship of Saul whom Allah is said to have raised up as an authority over the Israelites. Being a king over the Israelites is obviously not equivalent to having all authority over the heavens and the earth.

It would be useful to point out two particular instances which demonstrate that Mohammed certainly did not have authority over the heavens and the earth and all therin:

“Magic was worked on Allah's Apostle so that he used to think that he had sexual relations with his wives while he actually had not (Sufyan said: That is the hardest kind of magic as it has such an effect)... “(Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 71, Number 660) We see here that rather than having all authority, Mohammed was a victim of black magic. He thought he was engaging in certain activities when he was in fact not doing so. Obviously someone or something had exercised some kind of authority over Mohammed to deceive him into thinking things that were untrue. We learn that it was in fact a Jew who used a comb. Yes, that’s right, a comb:

Sahih Al Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 490:

Narrated 'Aisha:

Magic was worked on the Prophet so that he began to fancy that he was doing a thing which he was not actually doing. One day he invoked (Allah) for a long period and then said, "I feel that Allah has inspired me as how to cure myself. Two persons came to me (in my dream) and sat, one by my head and the other by my feet. One of them asked the other, "What is the ailment of this man?" The other replied, 'He has been bewitched" The first asked, 'Who has bewitched him?' The other replied, 'Lubaid bin Al-A'sam.' The first one asked, 'What material has he used?' The other replied, 'A comb, the hair gathered on it, and the outer skin of the pollen of the male date-palm.' The first asked, 'Where is that?' The other replied, 'It is in the well of Dharwan.' " So, the Prophet went out towards the well and then returned and said to me on his return, "Its date-palms (the date-palms near the well) are like the heads of the devils." I asked, "Did you take out those things with which the magic was worked?" He said, "No, for I have been cured by Allah and I am afraid that this action may spread evil amongst the people." Later on the well was filled up with earth.

It is safe to say that Mohammed was not given all authority over heaven and earth and all therein. Jesus Christ on the other hand did receive all authority, because He was whom He claimed to be: the divine Son of God, even God Himself manifest in the flesh. Such claims of course were vindicated through His being raised from the dead.

2. Glory

Isaiah 48:11 says “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.” We never see Mohammed claiming to have received glory from God. Because Jesus Christ is God, He is simply receiving back the glory which He had with the Father before the foundation of the world – John 17:5 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”. We see no such words from Adam, Moses, David, Abraham, Isaac, Daniel, Mohammed, or anyone. Jesus is unique here. With the verse from John 17:5, we also see the eternality of Jesus Christ, that is, that He existed prior to the very creation of the world.

3. Sovereign Power

Being under the authority of black magic already shows that Mohammed certainly did not have sovereign power. He never claimed having it, nor did any of the Lord’s servants. This again is something unique to Jesus. Adam also had no power over the evil one, Satan. As for Moses, He never claims sovereign power for Himself, nor does God ever give Him sovereign power. By contrast, we see that He attributes sovereignty to God alone:

Exo 23:17 -"Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.”

Deut 3:24 - "O Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?”

Deut 9:26 – “I prayed to the Lord and said, "O Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”

Exodus 34:23 – “Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel.”



4. Is worshipped by all peoples, nations and men of every language.


According to the Qur’an, no one should be worshipped, except Allah. Surah 3:64 says – “Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside Allah. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him).”

As mentioned previously, Surah 2:34 seems to be stating that the angels worshipped Adam. This would pose a problem for Muslims because the command comes from Allah Himself. The only way that Muslims can preserve the integrity of Allah in this verse is to say that the command is merely to bow before Adam in the way of respect, and not worship. This being the case, it would show indeed that no man receives the worship of peoples of all nations and languages but the God-man, Jesus Christ.

5. Eternal Kingdom and Eternal Dominion

No one is described as having an eternal kingdom or dominion in the Bible or Qur’an except God:

Surah 2:107 - Do you not know that Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and that besides Allah you have no guardian or helper?

Surah 3:189 - And Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Allah has power over all things.

Surah 5:18 - And the Jews and the Christians say: We are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones. Say: Why does He then chastise you for your faults? Nay, you are mortals from among those whom He has created, He forgives whom He pleases and chastises whom He pleases; and Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, and to Him is the eventual coming.

Surah 5:40 - Do you not know that Allah-- His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He chastises whom He pleases; and forgives whom He pleases and Allah has power over all things.

Surah 5:120 - Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is in them; and He has power over all things.

Sura 6:73 And He it is Who has created the heavens and the earth with truth, and on the day He says: Be, it is. His word is the truth, and His is the kingdom on the day when the trumpet shall be blown; the Knower of the unseen and the seen; and He is the Wise, the Aware.

Sura 7:158 Say: O people! surely I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, of Him Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth there is no god but He; He brings to life and causes to die therefore believe in Allah and His messenger, the Ummi Prophet who believes in Allah and His words, and follow him so that you may walk in the right way.

Sura 9:116 – “Surely Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He brings to life and causes to die; and there is not for you besides Allah any Guardian or Helper.”

It must be mentioned that the Qur’an does speak of Allah giving a kingdom to those whom it pleases:

Surah 2:247 - And their prophet said to them: Surely Allah has raised Talut to be a king over you. They said: How can he hold kingship over us while we have a greater right to kingship than he, and he has not been granted an abundance of wealth? He said: Surely Allah has chosen him in preference to you, and He has increased him abundantly in knowledge and physique, and Allah grants His kingdom to whom He pleases, and Allah is Amplegiving, Knowing.

Surah 2:251 - So they put them to flight by Allah's permission. And Dawood slew Jalut, and Allah gave him kingdom and wisdom, and taught him of what He pleased. And were it not for Allah's repelling some men with others, the earth would certainly be in a state of disorder; but Allah is Gracious to the creatures.

Surah 2:258 - Have you not considered him (Namrud) who disputed with Ibrahim about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingdom? When Ibrahim said: My Lord is He who gives life and causes to die, he said: I give life and cause death. Ibrahim said: So surely Allah causes the sun to rise from the east, then make it rise from the west; thus he who disbelieved was confounded; and Allah does not guide aright the unjust people.

Surah 3:26 Say: O Allah, Master of the Kingdom! Thou givest the kingdom to whomsoever Thou pleasest and takest away the kingdom from whomsoever Thou pleasest, and Thou exaltest whom Thou pleasest and abasest whom Thou pleasest in Thine hand is the good; surety, Thou hast power over all things.

However, all of these verses are talking about an earthly Kingdom. We know that the age of the kings (earthly) ended when Israel was taken into captivity into Babylon. The kingship held by Saul,David, and Solomon for example, were of an earthly kingdom. Not only so, but they did not have an eternal kingdom, We know this by the following verses:

Saul:

1 Samuel 13:1 – “Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty- two years.”

David

2 Samuel 5:4 – “David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.”

1 Chronicles 18:14 – “David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.”

Solomon:

1 Kings 10:23 – “King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.”

King Cyrus

Interestingly, a gentile king is said to have received kingship over all the earth: This was King Cyrus of Persia, but again, this was temporary and earthly:

Ezra 1:2 – “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.”

Indeed, the Persian empire had tremendous power, but We know that the Persian Empire lost its control over all the kingdoms of the earth, especially at the hands of Alexander the great. One only has to look at the world today and observe that no such world-wide Persian empire exists. There is but the modern day country of Iran.

Jesus Christ

By contrast, we see from the aforementioned verses in Daniel 7:13-14, that Jesus has an eternal kingdom, and everlasting dominion that would not pass away. Let us look at some further verses speaking of this kingdom:

John 18:36 – “Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

Rev 11:15 – “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever."

Luke 1:32-33 – “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

Notice in John 18:36, that Jesus gives the reason not to fight to prevent Jesus’ arrest – Because His kingdom was not of the world. In other words, a heavenly Kingdom. This again serves to refute Ahmed Deedat’s theory that Jesus wanted to start a Jihad. We also see that Christ’s kingdom is not merely earthly. Both Luke 1:32-33 and Revelation 11:15 testify to the eternality of this kingdom, something that none of the earthly kings enjoyed. Even Cyrus the great’s kingdom of all the earth was defeated.

It becomes obvious to the Christian reader as to why Deedat would obscure the totality of Mark 14:61-62. We know that Christ is the Son of Man, with all authority, power, sovereignty, an eternal Kingdom and is to be worshipped by all people. As pointed out at the beginning of this particular section of our series, it has not been the original intention to focus on the subject of Christ’s Kingdom, or the inferences that such details bring, but I do believe it still constituted a helpful and insightful component to our discussion.

With this exalted view of Christ, we shall continue in the next part to see if Ahmed Deedat’s perspective on the charges of blasphemy are based upon sound reasoning, and consistent interpretation of scripture, or if it is simply another example of what happens when one is forced by his own theological presuppositions to strain the text of scripture. I hope this perhaps somewhat tangential discussion has nevertheless been an interesting and helpful one.