You know that Muhammad is your prophet and not mine. I do not believe in everything you think of him. He certainly said many good things about Jesus, and if I acknowledged his office as a true prophet would make me a Muslim.
Instead, I believe that Jesus is the last word of God to this world. We Christians see in Jesus the revelation of God without equal revealed in the flesh. We cannot believe that there can be a more complete revelation of God than that of Christ.
Muslims and Christians agree that the coming of Christ was often the subject of the prophecies of the Old Testament. If God had intended to send a prophet who would be superior to him, we would most certainly have had the same prophecies concerning him. In relation to Christ, God made sure we would recognize the promised Messiah: his lineage, miraculous conception, town of birth, details of His life, then of his betrayal, rejection and crucifixion are presented in such detail that there can be no mistake. Jesus is the Messiah.
However, in the case of Muhammad, there is no trace of the least prophecy about him. In any case, there is no need for another prophet to come after Jesus. Following the disobedience of Adam and Eve against God, sin and curse have entered this world. The communion between man and God was broken. God, however, full of compassion and love promised to send a Saviour, (not just a prophet,) in order to save mankind. Men and women try to escape the judgment of God by relying on their good works, but the word of God affirms that no one can please God whatever the quality of his life. It is impossible for us to do anything to remove our own sins, we are hopeless. This compassionate God, knowing that there is only one way to solve our problem decided to settle it himself. More than a great prophet, we need a Saviour to take away our sins.
All the prophets, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and others, only remind us of the divine promise. They prophesied and described to us in detail the promised Saviour. So it was that, after seeing Jesus, the prophet John the Baptist could exclaim out loud and clear that he was the promised Saviour, the fulfilment of the promise made to Adam and Eve. So from the moment when this promised Saviour came, why should we expect another? God’s promises were fulfilled. His way of saving us from sin was revealed and completed perfectly.
A father in the UK had a son studying at a university in America. For his semester leave, his father wanted to invite him to attend a big family wedding. Conscious of the high cost of the plane ticket, the father had decided to offer it to him.
He then sent him a letter informing him of his intention to buy the ticket and mail it to him as soon as possible. So his son was not to worry about the ticket. He only had to wait for the one he would send him.
Then, in a second letter, he repeated his promise: “Be patient! Wait for my next letter,” said the father to the son, “the ticket will be in it.”.
A third letter arrived, the son opened it and found the promised note, with the words: “I’ll see you soon. Enjoy the journey. Don’t forget to keep the ticket safe.” The son was overjoyed and began preparing to travel.
Then a further letter arrived.
He is astonished by the fourth letter. The signature at the bottom seems to be his father’s, but the content is not at all in keeping with what has gone before. He is told, in particular, that his ticket is no longer valid, that he must throw it away and do something to get the money to buy a new one himself with his own money!
Now what should he do?
Should he ignore the first three letters and follow the instructions of the fourth? The problem is that the tone and content of the fourth is totally out of step with the first three letters. Has his father changed completely. It is as if it was a different man.
The same goes for the disciples of Jesus. The Bible contains the Torah, the Zabor, the writings of all the prophets … and finally the Gospel. These books are like so many letters of God for all men. They teach us that our sins deprive us of the peace of God and that we are unable to redeem them through our good works in order to go to heaven. But this “bad news” is followed by “good news”. God, in his goodness, promised that he would provide for our salvation, that a Saviour would come. All the prophets of the Old Testament, Abraham, Noah, Moses, and David, testified of this plan of God. Isaiah even says that this Saviour would take upon Him the punishment merited by our sins.
The Gospel, the final letter of God, reveals to us how God has kept and fulfilled His promise: the Saviour has come, the way is open to all men of all time, salvation, access to Paradise are free for the one who believes.
Like the son in the story, is it possible that Christians forget all the promises of the letters sent by God? Should he follow the instructions of a new letter that would recommend them to pay their own admission ticket to Paradise? If I recognize the writing of my Lord and Father who tells me he is sending someone to save me and give me the assurance of forgiveness and heaven, why should I seek another way? If Jesus is at the heart of God’s plan to save sinners, I can not accept any new instruction that marginalizes him.
The trilogy of the Lord of the Rings does not need a fourth volume that completes it: the victory was total. Star Wars does not require a seventh episode: the six volumes cover the story in question from its origins to victory over the darkness. Similarly, the Christian does not need a new book or a new prophet since Jesus reveals God in all its fullness. He has conquered evil and the Evil One (Satan). In crying out on the cross, “It is finished!”, Jesus meant that there was nothing else to accomplish. It is for this reason that in the last book of the Bible, the Apocalypse, Jesus warns that there is nothing else to say or do more.
Therefore, we cannot accept that after Jesus there was any more to do, nor anyone else to come.