(Editor’s Note: I’ve got one last article on yet another matter to consider before voting for Obama. I’ll have it posted Monday.)

Muslims say Mohammed is the “last and greatest of God’s prophets” and that his revelation supersedes that of Moses, Jesus, etc. They say the Old and New Testaments were “inspired” but were both replaced by the Koran.

As my church’s associate pastor, Alex Kurz, pointed out in Sunday school a few weeks ago, this claim by the religion of Islam violates a very basic principle of God on the revealing of progressive revelation.

Kurz explains, “We read in II Peter 1: 21: ‘For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ Peter’s saying that when God reveals truth . . . How many men did God use in human history to give us this Book? More than 40 authors writing over 1,500 years.

“Daniel alone did not receive the full revelation. Daniel was given a piece. John, on the Isle of Patmos, was given another piece. You put those two pieces together and you have a better picture, right?

“Isaiah has a piece, Malachi has a piece, John the Baptist has a piece, Jude has a piece. The Bible was not deposited to one individual. With that understanding, can the Koran be considered scripture? Where did the Koran come from? How many men? You see the wisdom of Mohammed. The Koran is the product of this so-called advanced revelation that was given to how many people? This is not God’s wisdom.

“Can the Book of Mormon be considered Scripture according to this principle? The Book of Mormon is the product of what? The so-called advanced revelation given to one man.

“The wisdom of God is, ‘Listen, I give a piece over here, and 1,500 years later I’m going to give a piece over there, and when you put those pieces together, and they don’t contradict but they operate in harmony, what does that testify? This is not some book written by human ingenuity. There is the invisible hand of Almighty God who’s put this Book together.’ ”

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Kurz goes on, “That why Peter says (to the Jews), ‘Go to Paul.’ Now, think about this for a second: They’re circumcising their children, obeying the laws of Moses, providing animal sacrifices, and then here comes this guy Paul who was thrown out from the ranks of the Pharisaical system.

“You think Paul retained his position as a Pharisee after he went around saying, ‘I saw Jesus!’? So you have a failure in the ranks of Judaism and he says, ‘You know what? Circumcision doesn’t avail anything.’

“Can you imagine their horror? ‘Oh, we’re not under the law, we’re under . . .’ You see the problem here? So what is Peter now saying? ‘Scripture is of no private interpretation.’

“God didn’t deposit everything to Daniel, nor did he deposit it all to Paul. What Peter’s getting it as this: God’s Word is given over time in a progressive manner and Paul’s revelation is a piece that provides an answer to the Jewish dilemma—the Little Flock dilemma of, ‘Where’s the kingdom?’

“Peter is saying that what Paul is writing is authoritative. It does follow the principle that God has used for 1,500 years. ‘Little Flock, don’t dismiss Paul’s Epistles. It’s just part of the way God’s revealing His eternal purpose and plan.’ ”

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When, in John 19:30, it’s reported that Jesus, just before He died, said, “It is finished: and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost,” the amazing reality is that his head wasn’t bowed prior to that!

“Up until this moment, his head was erect,” explains Jordan in an old sermon I have on tape. “All the suffering, all the pain, all the agony, all the discomfort, all of the torment—everything He’d been through and He’s still alert; mentally alert, His mind clicking of the Scripture verses, His head physically erect.

“And now He dies as no one else ever did. He dismissed His spirit; ‘gave up the ghost.’ That’s a wonderful scene. He doesn’t die as a helpless victim.

“Just this past week, they convicted Jack Kevorkian of killing that fellow. The guy’s mouth was all just flopped opened and the prosecutor argued, ‘He didn’t even care enough about the dignity of the man he just murdered to close his mouth and he just left him laying there in a terrible-looking condition.’

“But Christ didn’t die that way. He didn’t die as just a helpless, hapless victim. He died with a majestic bearing of one who was in control. In control to the end, dying purposefully for you and me.”

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In II Samuel 6, David brings back to Israel the Ark of the Covenant from among the Philistines and, in chapter 7, he gets convicted about building a house for God, but God says to him, in essence, “What you want to build me a house for? I didn’t ask you to do that.”

Jordan explains, “God’s point is, ‘What makes you think I need a house to dwell in? If I needed a house I’d have told you. I’m content to live in a tabernacle.’

“Now, you need to think for a moment what a tabernacle is. When God gave Moses the instructions to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, what was the tabernacle made out of? Animal skins. The tabernacle is a tent. It’s literally a tent made out of skin in which the glory of God’s going to dwell.

“It’s not a house made out of brick, or mortar, or stone that never was alive. It’s a tent made out of skin. Now, that issue, is why God tells David, ‘That’s where I’ve chosen to dwell. You want to build me a permanent house but I didn’t ask for that.’

“Now, it’s not that the Lord doesn’t appreciate David’s sentiment. David’s wanting to do something for the Lord; you know he feels kind of bad. He lives in a house and God’s out there in a tent and, you know, it’s, ‘I’ve got this nice place and you’ve blessed me with all this stuff; I want to move you up—bring you on up to the East Side and let you finally get a piece of the pie too.’

“And it’s a good sentiment—the Lord appreciates that sentiment, but it’s an uninformed sentiment. It isn’t getting the idea so, in essence, what God says to David is, ‘You can’t do that.’ He’s going to let Solomon do it later for some reasons.

“He says, ‘You can’t do it, but I tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna build me a tent of skin. I’m gonna build me a tabernacle out of YOUR skin, YOUR flesh, David, and I’m going to dwell in your flesh.’

“Whoa! Wow! Now it’s in the heart and essence of the Davidic Covenant that God tells David, ‘The mechanism whereby I’m gonna make Israel a great nation; the mechanism whereby I’m gonna come and dwell in Israel and be there God and make them my people—make them a great nation and have me dwelling in their midst—is I’m gonna come and live, not in a house of stone, mortar, or animal skins; I’m gonna come and live in your skin, David, and it’s going to be the Tabernacle of David. The seed of David.’

“Now, ultimately that’s going to be whom? The Lord Jesus Christ made of the seed of David and that’s why you find in the New Testament, Paul said a number of times that Jesus is of the seed of David. He’s of David’s flesh.

“Of course, it’s the Messiah, this seed of David, who’s going to bring in all the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. Everything the Abrahamic Covenant accomplishes, He’s the one gonna do it and He’s going to do it in David’s flesh.

“That’s why (God says in) II Samuel 7: 12-13, ‘And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.’ ”