Prophet or Messiah?

As you will have no doubt noticed, I have been recently working my way through reading the Qur’an. As a result, over the last few days my inbox has begun filling up with messages related to Islam…

I received one such email from a Muslim who asked me about the time when the Jewish leaders questioned John the Baptist about his identity:

And this is the testimony of John [the Baptist], when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Eli′jah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

– John 1:19-21

The Prophesied Prophet

He asked me if “the prophet” was a reference to Deuteronomy 18:18

[Yahweh said to Moses], “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him”

I agreed that it was, pointing out that St. Peter makes the connection in the Book of Acts:

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out…that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you…’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came afterwards, also proclaimed these days.

– Acts 3:19-25

He then asked me the name of “the prophet”. I replied that it was “Jesus of Nazareth”. Here’s how he responded:

How can the prophet be Jesus?

They asked John are you the messiah? He said NO.

They asked him…are you Elijah? He said NO.

They asked him a third question, are you the prophet? He said NO.

…

[They are asking him] why are you baptizing if you are NOT Elijah NOR the messiah NOR the prophet?

I think they meant somebody else when they asked John if he was the prophet?

This is a trimmed down version of what he wrote, but I’ve boiled it down to the essence of his argument. He was arguing that because the Baptist’s interlocutors ask him if he is “the prophet” even after he said he wasn’t “the Messiah”, that therefore the Messiah and Prophet must be two different people.

Why he would argue this is pretty clear if you’ve encountered Islam before. He thinks that Muhammad, and not Jesus, is the prophet foretold in Deuteronomy 18:18. This is to justify the claim in the Qur’an that Muhammad is spoken of in the Torah and Gospel.

Three Possible Identities of John

I responded to his argument by first reviewing the opening chapter of John’s Gospel…

The narrative begins with John the Baptist appearing in the desert. We know from the other Gospels that he was preaching repentance and claiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 3:2).

This mysterious figure naturally draws the attention of the religious establishment. We are told that the priests and Levites want to know who he is, so they scour the Old Testament for answers. In doing so, they find several promises made by God:

1. That Elijah would return. John was certainly dressed in a similar manner to Elijah (2 Kings 1:8 and Matthew 3:4) and he was baptizing close to where Elijah was assumed (2 Kings 2:13). So, could John be Elijah?

2. That a prophet like Moses would be sent. John taught the people and called them to repentance like the prophets of old. So, could John be this prophet foretold by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18)?

3. That a Messiah would be sent. John spoke about the imminent coming of the Kingdom which would be brought by the Messiah (Daniel 7:13-14). Could John be this saviour?

However, to each of these questions, John responded “no”…

The Arrival of Jesus

It is at this point that Jesus appears on the scene. John turns to Him and describes him as “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) and the one upon whom the Spirit rests (John 1:33-34).

In chapter 3, John repeats that he, John, is not the Christ. He says that “He [Jesus] must increase, I [John] must decrease” (John 3:28). John then describes Jesus as the Bridegroom of Israel (John 3:29), a significant title, since this is a description used in the Old Testament for to describe Yahweh (Isaiah 62:5)…

Separate people?

So, returning to my Muslim friend’s argument, the assumption he makes is that “the prophet” and “the messiah” must be two separate people. Does that have to be the case? No, it does not:

Does the Old Testament demand that?
No, it does not.

Did all Jews think that the Prophet and Messiah were two different people?
Once again, no, they did not. The community behind the Dead Sea Scrolls (probably the Essenes) wrote many commentaries on Scripture and in their commentary on Deuteronomy, they explained that “the Prophet” is also the Messiah.

Did Jesus’ own followers identify him as both Prophet and Messiah?
Yes, they did (Acts 3:22 and John 1:41). 

How then do we explain that the Jews in John 1:21 seem to think that the Prophet and the Messiah were two separate people? Well, isn’t it possible that they were mistaken? After all, they were very wrong about the Messiah. The Messiah they expected was a warrior king like David who would expel the Romans and rule an independent Israel…but the Messiah they got preached non-violence, taught them to “render what is Caesar’s until Caesar” and was ultimately tried for blasphemy and executed on a cross.