Does Fulfilled Prophecy Indicate Truth?
"For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Revelation 19:10
How Can We Know if Something is the True Word of God?
One of the core reasons I love the Bible is that now more than ever (perhaps except for the time of Jesus’ first coming), its prophecy points to the Bible being the true Word of God. Of course, if you have studied any amount of Christian apologetics you’ll know that there is an unrivaled amount of historical evidence that also points to the Bible’s truth, but there is something about seeing prophecy fulfilled right in front of my eyes that makes it feel all that more real.
But can we let accurate prophecy be the only credential to determine if something is truly from God? Most certainly not; let us refer to Acts 16:16-19:
“One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.’
This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And instantly it left her.
Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace…”
In this passage, we can see that some demon-possessed people can accurately tell the future. And being from demons, these prophecies, despite being accurate enough to earn great riches, are not from God; they are from the enemy, Satan. Therefore, we must rely on a suite of tools, including accurate prophecy, robust historicity, and the Holy Spirit, to determine if something is the true Word of God.
Last Days Prophetic Deception
And as it turns out, the second-most popular religion, Islam, teaches many last days, demonically inspired prophecies that will likely be “fulfilled” given their close parallels to Biblical eschatology. According to the Quran, there will be three prominent leaders who carry out various roles over the course of the seven years that lead up to the end of time. But unlike the Bible, their names are not the antichrist, the false prophet, and Jesus Christ, instead, their names are the Mahdi, Isa, and the Dajjal.
The following sections on the Mahdi, Isa, and the Dajjal explain the parallels between these three figures and their Biblical counterparts and are essentially a summary of chapters four through nine of Islamic Antichrist by Joel Richardson, who is an expert in Biblical eschatology and sourced his research on Islamic eschatology from renowned Muslim scholars and the Quran.
The Mahdi: the Muslim’s Messiah and the Christian’s Antichrist
The Mahdi is known to Muslims as the Messiah, and when he arrives on the world stage he will share many characteristics with the Biblical antichrist.
First, the Quran teaches that the Mahdi will rise to power near the time that he brokers a seven-year treaty with Israel. If we refer to Biblical eschatology, this is the moment that kicks off the seven final years of tribulation before Jesus returns. We see that the antichrist signs this seven-year covenant in Daniel 9:27:
“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
As referenced in the verse above, the Biblical antichrist will also set up an abomination of desolation in the Jewish temple, which will sit upon the Temple Mount, in the middle of the seven years, which breaks the seven-year agreement the antichrist initially made with the Jews. Daniel 8:9-14 gives us a bit more information on how the Biblical antichrist, the little horn, will desecrate the temple:
“Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.
Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, ‘How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?’
And he said to me, ‘For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.’”
So, it is clear that when the Biblical antichrist sets up the abomination of desolation in Jerusalem and stops daily sacrifices and offerings, he will do so with a great army. In like manner, the Quran describes the Mahdi as a great military leader who will one day set up his headquarters in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Moreover, the Quran describes the Mahdi as a religious, Muslim leader from the bloodline of Muhammed. According to Daniel 9:26, we expect the antichrist to arise from the people who destroyed the Jewish temple that stood when Jesus was crucified:
“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary…”
This passage leads many to believe that the antichrist will come from Roman blood. However, if you do your research you will find that the Romans hired Arab mercenaries to aid in their siege of Jerusalem, which ultimately led to the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD. Therefore, it is Biblical to expect that the antichrist could arise from either Roman or Arab peoples. If it is the latter then this would be yet another parallel between the Biblical antichrist and the Muslim Mahdi.
Additionally, Muslims believe the Mahdi will have supernatural powers over the wind, rain, and crops so he may deceive people into converting to Islam and following him, persecuting anyone (especially Christians and Jews) who is not deceived into doing so. We find in Daniel 11:30-33 that the antichrist will attempt to convert those who belong to God under the “holy covenant” written in Jesus’ blood, persecuting them if they do not comply:
“For ships from Cyprus shall come against him [the antichrist]; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage.
So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering.”
Then, like the Mahdi’s supernatural power over the wind, rain, and crops, we find in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 that the antichrist will use false signs and wonders to deceive people into following him:
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Lastly, the Quran teaches that the Mahdi is a powerful political leader who will establish a new world order. Yet again, this characteristic aligns also with the Biblical antichrist, specifically when Daniel 7:7-8 describes the pompous little horn as leading a fourth global kingdom (beast) that crushes and destroys all kingdoms before it:
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”
Isa: the Muslim’s Jesus and the Christian’s False Prophet
Sometime after the Mahdi rises to power and confirms the seven-year covenant with Israel, the Quran teaches that Isa, the Muslim name for Jesus, will return. However, when Isa returns, he behaves quite differently from the Biblical account of Jesus’ return. Instead, Isa plays a role very similar to the Biblical false prophet in the book of Revelation.
The first verse that describes the false prophet is in Revelation 13:11. After the preceding verses in the chapter describe the rise of the beast from the sea, the antichrist, the apostle John writes:
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.”
When the Bible talks about a lamb, the first thing most Biblically literate people think of is the Lamb of God, Jesus, who was crucified on Passover to atone for our sins, like the Passover lamb in the book of Exodus. Thus, the beast of the earth is a Satanically empowered deceiver who claims to be Jesus, just like Isa will claim.
Another notable characteristic of the Islamic account of Isa is that he is a subordinate of the Mahdi (the Biblical antichrist) and directs all people to worship the Mahdi. Analogously, the false prophet is also a subordinate of the antichrist in the Biblical account and will point all people to worship the antichrist (the first beast, who rose from the sea) as written in Revelation 13:12:
“And he [the false prophet] exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast…”
Further, the Quran teaches that Isa will perform great signs and wonders to deceive all people into thinking he is the real Jesus Christ from 2,000 years ago in order that the deceived would worship the Mahdi. Right on cue, we read in the next verse, Revelation 13:13, that the false prophet will also perform lying signs and wonders:
“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.”
Lastly, Muslims believe that Isa will kill anyone who does not worship the Mahdi, a choice congruent to the false prophet’s reaction when people choose not to worship the image the false prophet sets up of the antichrist. It is written in Revelation 13:14-15:
“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
The Dajjal: the Muslim’s Antichrist and the Christian’s Messiah
Finally, after the Mahdi and Isa rule the entire earth for a time (42 months according to Revelation 13:5), the Quran teaches that the Muslim antichrist, the Dajjal, will come on the scene to make war against them.
Just like the Quran records the Dajjal, who claims to be Jesus, riding on a mule to conquer the armies of the Mahdi, Jesus, the true Son of God, returns on a white horse to slay the hordes who swear allegiance to the antichrist in Revelation 19:19-21:
“And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him [Jesus] who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
The Quran also claims that the Dajjal will be Jewish and the majority of his followers will be Jewish. If you’re familiar with the gospels, Jesus was born to a Jewish woman, Mary, meaning that if the Dajjal is, in fact, Jesus Christ then we should expect him to be Jewish. However, another interesting parallel to the Biblical account is that the Jewish people are supernaturally preserved in the wilderness during the latter half of the tribulation as is written in Revelation 12:13-14. Thus, when Jesus returns, the majority of His followers left alive on earth after the tribulation will be these remnant Jews:
“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”
The idea that some Jews will be preserved throughout the latter half of the tribulation is confirmed by Jesus himself in Matthew 24:15-16, 21-22:
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains… For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
In another allusion to the gospels, the Quran teaches that the Dajjal only has one eye. Might this be a reference to Jesus’ disfigured face after suffering much torture just before His crucifixion? After all, according to John 20:27 Jesus’ glorified body maintained the horrific scars on His hands and feet after His resurrection. So is it outlandish to think that, in Luke 24:13-16, Peter and Cleopas did not recognize Jesus when He appeared to them because His face was also marred?
“Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.”
Lastly, the Quran prophesies that the Dajjal will deceptively resurrect those who died following him and condemn those who are still alive at his coming to the lake of fire if they do not follow him. Similarly, Jesus Christ, after returning to earth in Revelation 19, resurrects those who were martyred for His namesake in Revelation 20:4:
“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”
Then, at the end of His millennial reign in Revelation 20:15, Jesus condemns all the dead who did not follow Him to the lake of fire for eternity:
“And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Which Prophecy is the True Word of God?
So, as we see the end times unfold and both books’ prophecies fulfilled, the question is which doctrine will we believe, the Quran or the Bible?
Given the Bible was finished about 600 years before the Quran, it is pretty clear to me that the Quran is simply a perversion of Bible prophecy. But it is still frightening to think that many Muslims, and perhaps some non-Muslims, will be driven into deep deception as the Quran’s prophecy begins to be fulfilled and great persecution comes upon those who choose not to convert to Islam.
On top of the time differential between each document’s writing, the historicity of the account of Jesus’ death and resurrection in the Biblical account is unparalleled, compared to the sad excuses that Muslims try and make to deny this event ever took place. If you would like to investigate this claim, I implore you to explore answering-islam.org.
Therefore, it is clear to me that the Bible contains the true prophecies of the end times, but to many people, especially devout Muslims, it will not seem so clear. So, they will be deceived and subsequently thrown into the lake of fire. Thus, it is pertinent that when we point to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy as a true, clear testimony to Jesus (Revelation 19:10), we also rely on the unparalleled historicity of the Bible as well as our personal testimonies as additional indicators of truth in light of the highly deceptive perversion of Biblical eschatology contained in the Quran.