The Source of the Saying of Jesus "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man"

Chapter III

The Sources of the Gospels and the Way of Writing Them

Section VI

The Texts which were quoted from the Old Testament, but they have not been attributed directly to it

In this section will examine the texts which were quoted from the Old Testament, but they have not been attributed directly to it, as is the case in the previous sections, which I call it Storyline or Plot-story or screenplay of the Gospels, where we will review the most of the events and stories and sayings that mentioned in the Gospels, and comparing them with the Old Testament and with Jesus as was portrayed in the Gospels, and his attributes in the laws of the faith of the churches as well.
38 - The Source of the Saying of Jesus "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man"

John 1:43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."

John 1:44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

John 1:46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"

John 1:48 Nathanael said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

John 1:49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

John 1:50 Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree’, do you believe? You will see greater things than these."

John 1:51 And He said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

This text is part of the story of the beginning of preaching of Jesus that written by John, and we notice that it contains several errors and contradictions with the other Gospels, including the following:

The first is the writing on the lips of Philip that he said "We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph", this saying is wrong, because there is no any text in the Old Testament mentions Jesus by name!

The second is that he said Jesus the son of Joseph, and this is contradict what the various churches say that Jesus was born of Mary without intervention of a biological father, as is well-known.

The third is that this story contradicts the story of the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the other Gospels, because John wrote that Jesus began preaching when John the Baptist was outside the prison, while the other Gospels authors wrote that Jesus began preaching after he has been arrested, as in the following texts:

Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.

Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,

Mark 1:14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

John 1:35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.

John 1:36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

John 1:37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

John 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek? " They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?"

John 1:39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).

John 1:40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

John 1:41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated, the Christ).

John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, A Stone).

John 1:43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, "Follow Me."

All these things confirm that this story is not true, especially the saying "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man", because the Gospels did not mention that anyone has seen heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon Jesus!

Even the text that was written by John himself about hearing a voice from heaven did not say that heaven was open, as well as Luke who said that an angel from heaven has appeared to Jesus, did not write that heaven was open, as in the following texts:

John 12:27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

John 12:28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."

John 12:29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."

Luke 22:43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

Luke 22:44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22:45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow.

And this indicates that this saying has not been achieved, which means that it is not a revelation or inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or even it was written through seeing the real story of Jesus or hearing it from a reliable source, but it is written through their method and approach of writing the Gospels, which is the quoting from the texts of the Old Testament and reformulating them in the narratives about Jesus to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on the Gospels, as is shown in this book, so what is the source of this saying?

In fact, there are several texts in the Old Testament talking about the ascending and descending of the angels and open the heaven, including the following text:

Genesis 28:10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

Genesis 28:11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.

Genesis 28:12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

This text is a dream of Jacob, and no one could object to the dreams or criticizes them, because anyone can say that he dreamed of dreams about anything without causing any disputes by anyone in its content, but what has been written by John on the lips of Jesus which containing the contradictions and errors that mentioned above was talking about seeing heaven open, and the angels descend and ascend upon Jesus in the physical reality, not in dreams, which did not happen; and the Gospels authors did not mention it, which indicates that this story has not been written through a revelation or inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or even through a trusted source, which means that our law "do not accept the lying and false" applies to this story.