Responses to Jamal Badawi's "Radio Al-Islam Channel RA 200"

Trinity, Atonement & Blood Sacrifice X : Crucifixion 2


Introduction

In this segment, Dr. Badawi continues to attempt to discredit the prophecies of the Psalms. As I discussed in the previous segment, the Messianic prophecies in the Psalms, and elsewhere in the Old Testament, were given by God so that the Jews could identify their Messiah when He came. Also we need to remember the concept of typology, that is when the Jews of the first century studied the Psalms, they often read them through typological eyes - that is, they saw the coming of their promised Lord and Messiah predicted in the events, as well as the prophecies, in the Old Testament as well as the history of the interaction between God and Israel.

Host: Could you give us other examples of misinterpretation?

Jamal Badawi: Psalm 35, 37, and 41, there are claims of false witness.

Psalm 35 : A righteous persons prays that God puts to shame those who plot against him. Those who plotted will be turned back. In John 18:6, the soldiers turned back and fell. The enemies of that person are in a dark pit and those who hate the righteous person will be ensnared. It says that the righteous person will be saved.

Psalm 35:4-6

May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay. May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away; may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

In this Psalm, David asks for God's aid, and contrasts the hypocrisy and malice of his enemies with his integrity and generosity. I am not aware of any Christians who believe that this is a prophecy of the soldiers falling back since the enemies of David were "turned back in dismay", while the soldiers who were sent to arrest Jesus did carry out their orders and were not turned back.

Psalm 37 : It speaks about a wicked person plotting against a righteous person, but that those who plot will fail and their swords will enter into their hearts and God will never forsake the righteous person, the plotter is punished.

Psalm 37:12-15 :

The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.

Once again, I am not aware of any Christians who cite this passage as a Messianic prophecy. There are Messianic prophecies in the Psalms, however, this is not an example but is probably another of Dr. Badawi's "red herring" arguments.

Psalm 41: Verse 9, they say that this is what happened to Judas. This Psalm says that God will save the righteous person and will protect him and keep him alive. The righteous person is praying to God to raise him up so that his enemies will not prevail.

Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.

David, and his problems with his evil enemies, provide a preview of the life of Jesus. Some Bible commentators (most notably A. R. Faussett) claim that this passage is not distinctly prophetical, however, Jesus applied this verse to Judas, so "that the Scripture may be fulfilled" (see John 13:18).

Host: Can you elaborate on the other references?

Jamal Badawi: Psalm 9 : This has been referred to as containing things about the crucifixion. The righteous person offers thanks to God because he did something unusual for him. The enemies of the righteous person were turned back, God is the stronghold of the oppressed in the time of trouble, the righteous person will be lifted from the gates of death, this person will rejoice, and those who made a net will fall into it. If this is Jesus, then God saved him.

Once again, I am not aware of anyone who believes that this particular Psalm contains Messianic prophecies and there is no mention of God doing something "unusual for David. In this Psalm, David praises God for delivering him from his enemies and celebrates the divine government, for giving security to God's people and punishing the wicked. Once again, Dr. Badawi gives us another "red herring" argument.

Psalm 20 : A righteous person is praying and God will help his anointed with mighty victorious and anointed comes from Messiah, but the translators use Christ. The enemies will collapse and the righteous servant will rise and stand up.

This Psalm, like many of the others, describe David's struggles with his enemies and his triumph over them. Verse 6 tells us:

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.

This passage originally applied to David, however, it also can apply to Jesus as well as the Jewish people. In spite of the suffering of David and the Jewish people, God ultimately saved them as well as saving Jesus by raising Him from the dead.

Psalm 21 : The servant said that God listened to his prayers and gave him life forever, which could an allegory, Jesus was raised to heaven and is alive and will come back. It shows that those who committed evil will fail.

This is another example of how David was a "prototype" for the concept of the Messiah. Jesus did ascend into heaven and those who plotted against Him and killed Him did indeed fail.

Psalm 109 : It indicates that God will not be silent when the wicked spoke against the righteous. The righteous person is praying to God and he will be sentenced to death and his wife will become a widow. This wicked person sought the curse but not the blessings. In other words, Judas brought a curse on himself.

No, David is speaking in this Psalm and David (and not his enemies) says in verse 9:

May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.

Once again, David, according to the cosmological typology of prophecy, is a glimpse of the Messiah to come. His life and tribulations are a foreshadowing of the suffering and death of Jesus.

Host: Are any Psalms where Judas is the speaker, not Jesus?

Jamal Badawi: Psalm 69, it appears that Judas is speaking but some say that it applies to Jesus.

No, David is speaking in this Psalm.

The rest of the Psalm speaks about someone who is a sinner. In verse 2, the person is in deep mire, he is a sinner which would apply to Judas but not to Jesus.

The Psalmist is clearing saying that he is a sinner, however his condition as a sufferer who is innocent of alleged crimes sustains the typical character of the Messiah to come.

In verse 4 he talks about the people that hate him being numerous. Not everyone hated Jesus, he was very popular and the great masses loved him, the clergy hated him. This could apply to Judas.

Jesus had many enemies. John 15:25 tells us:

But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

In verse 5, the speaker admits to sin and folly and there is shame and dishonor. Jesus did not do that. This applies to Judas. In verse 6, those who hate God will be dishonored. In verse 7 to 12, the speakers recounts his good deeds before the sin, he was a sincere follower of Jesus, he had zeal for the house of God.

No, all of this applies to David, not Judas.

In verse 21, he says they gave him vinegar to drink, but you can't take it literally because it says they gave him poison before the vinegar. This is probably allegorical, the rest of the Psalm indicates that he is praying for salvation.

Who said that David was poisoned (gall refers to something that is bitter)? Verse 21 says:

They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

Please compare this to John 19:29:

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

Host: Could you give us more examples?

Jamal Badawi: Psalm 38, especially verse 11, some say that those who stood away from him is what happened to Jesus when he was killed. If you read the Psalm, verse 18, the person says that he is sinful, could this be Jesus? No.

Once again, this refers to David who was identified by the Jews of Jesus' day as a typological "prototype" of the Messiah who was to be sinless.

In the same Psalm, the person indicates that the rescue of the person will be in an unusual way with angels. Psalm 91, verse 1, 2 and 9 it talks about one who dwells in God's as a refuge. In verses 3, 4, 7, 10, 14 and 15 it says that God will rescue him. It speaks in verse 8 about the punishment of the wicked. His rescues was through angels and that he would be raised up in verses 11 and 12. Angels are not allegorical because the angels served Jesus. Psalm 118, we find the same elements, 1 Peter 2:7 and Romans 9:32-33 refers to this as the rejected stone. This is a person in distress and God responded giving him victory and did not hand him over to death.

Jesus was indeed rescued in an unusual way, He was resurrected from the dead!

Host: What would you conclude from the study of the Psalms?

Jamal Badawi: The conspiracy to kill Jesus, they used a trusted friend (Judas), when Jesus say the danger he prayed, the prayer was for the plotter to be destroyed, God will respond to the prayer and the conspiracy will fail, the evil will fall into the pit, the rescue was to raise him up to heaven.

Generally speaking, David's trials by evil men represented and predicted the trials of Jesus, and David's final success foretells the success of Christ's kingdom. David uses language very well to describe his feelings, which only finds its full meaning in the feelings of Jesus. That is why these Psalms are quoted and applied in the New Testament.

As A. R. Fausset said in his commentary on the Psalms:

In repeating and amplifying that promise, he speaks not only as a type, but "being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne," he "foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. His incarnation, humiliating sorrows, persecution, and cruel death are disclosed in the plaintive cries of a despairing sufferer; and His resurrection and ascension, His eternal priesthood, His royal dignity, His prophetical office, the purchase and bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit, the conversion of the nations, the establishment, increase, and perpetuity of the Church, the end of time, and the blessedness of the righteous who acknowledge, and the ruin of the wicked who reject this King in Zion, are predicted in the language of assured confidence and joy."
Andrew Vargo

Responses to Jamal Badawi's "Radio Al-Islam Channel RA 200"
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