The Full Messiah For Muslims
When one looks to another human being for hope, direction or inspiration, one has to include the critical and sobering arguments about that human being.
Otherwise, idolatry easily becomes a subtle undercurrent sweeping away logic and objectivity, having people placing their hopes in fallible people (for who is without mistake?).
A human being may be raised to a position that doesn't allow for criticism, and what is clearly mentioned about that human being in showing their shortcomings may be excused, ignored or justified.
This is done all the time with politicians by their fans (fanatics).
Religious figures especially are raised to a level of godliness, their shortcomings being accepted and even emulated.
To mention anything in criticism of that person is practically heresy or blasphemy, and many have sadly gone to their death for voicing their critical thoughts of highly honored religious figures, who are simply men with a list of shortcomings.
When religious texts speak of someone very highly, one has to also notice the places where that same religious text shows the person's shortcoming... in simple terms; their sin.
For example, Muhammad is described in several honorable ways in the Quran and in the various writings that elaborate upon his legend.
Muhammad is also described as asking for his sins to be forgiven in the Quran and Hadith (testimonial oral traditional quotes of Muhammad).
Was Muhammad a sinner like every other human being?
Of course.
Only God is good, great, perfect and without sin... and all people from all places have fallen short of the glory of God.
Amen.
When it comes to Yeshua the Christ, this same Muhammad is quoted having said that Satan touches every human being when they are born except Mary (the mother of Yeshua) and Yeshua!
Mary, the vessel to give birth to Yeshua the Christ, is elevated in Islam as a virgin chosen by God and free from Satan's 'touch' and, quite interestingly, is the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran.
The annunciation testimony is generally agreeable with the Gospel testimony.
Islamic texts show Yeshua being described as a “pure boy” by the Angel Gabriel.
Yeshua is also called “blessed”; the only individual having been mentioned as blessed in the Quran.
In the Quran, Yeshua is called a "Sign" to all mankind, and every depiction of Yeshua, from the miraculous annunciation, speaking from the cradle as an infant, various miracles, to rising up to heaven, are all quite evident "signs" that Yeshua is not someone typical or simply another man in a long line of prophets.
Yeshua being a prophet is certain, having predicted many things as mentioned in the Quran, even an eventual death and being risen to heaven.
Historically, Yeshua predicted the literal destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and many other events, with most prophecies being spiritual and esoteric (spiritually understood) in nature, having been missed when understood to be exoteric (outwardly evident) and literal.
Muslim exegesis (explanations of theological interpretation) also describes Yeshua as being without sin, further elaborating on Muhammad's quotes and Islamic writings.
How was it possible for a man, the man Yeshua, to live a life without sinning?
Was something else at work within Yeshua?
Perhaps this is where the "Word of God" and "Spirit of God", two names designated to Yeshua in the Quran, may explain how a life without sin is possible.
Surprisingly, this theology also agrees with what is proclaimed in the Gospel message of Christ regarding Yeshua's uniqueness.
Thus, these divine attributes may explain why God raised Yeshua into heaven, while Muhammad died and was buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where a mosque in Muhammad's honor now stands.
If Muhammad was, as many in Islam claim, a 'perfect man,' surely it may stand to reason that God would have also raised Muhammad to heaven instead of having him die and be buried, like other human beings.
Yet, it was Yeshua who was raised to heaven... and it is Yeshua who will return to vanquish darkness once and for all.
Yet another agreeable point found in the Gospel testimony.
Is looking at Yeshua, who walked the earth as a human being and sinless example of love, peace and grace, considered idolatry?
What are the critical and objective arguments made against Yeshua in searching for Yeshua's humanity (shortcomings)?
Do such shortcomings exist, and if so, what are they based on and where do these arguments originate?
Anyone can malign and defame another person.
We see this all the time in politics and hear it in our social circles.
Accusations without proof or evidence are empty.
Much of the time these criticisms of others are simply meritless opinionated personal attacks.
One criticism in Islamic exegesis against the testimony of Yeshua, not a personal attack but an attack against what was believed of Yeshua, denounces the association of Yeshua with, or as, God.
Is this polemic (strong attack) based on something irrational or mistaken by Christianity or the Gospel's message?
Yeshua as Lord, or as the confession proclaims “Yeshua is LORD” (Yeshua is [the] I Am), is the very foundation of the Gospel.
Many Gospel passages are used by Muslim scholarship in supporting Islamic ideology.
Can the same be done when looking at the Quran to support the Gospel?
Does not An Nisa (4) 136 ask the faithful Muslim to believe the Scriptures revealed before Muhammad's time?
What does Al Anam (6) 115 say about changing God's word?
Is it possible for God's word to be changed?
Can men succeed against God's will?
Did God fail in not protecting His word?
What does Al Shura (42) 15 ask the Muslim to consider, in humility?
Did the Gospel message, when proclaiming Jesus to be Lord, go wrong somewhere as orthodox Islam argues?
Where is the evidence of the "change" or "corruption" that altered the very foundation of the Gospel message?
The confession that Jesus is Lord is only possible by the Holy Spirit and can only be believed according to God's invocation in the human being.
When Yeshua came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Yeshua replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.
- Matthew 16: 13-17
- “this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven”
“Very truly I tell you,” Yeshua answered, “before Abraham was born, I Am!”
- John 8: 58
- “before Abraham was born, I Am!”
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His Name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I Am who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ”
God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The I Am, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is My Name forever,
the Name you shall call Me
from generation to generation.
- Exodus 3: 13-15
- “I Am who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ”
“I and the Father are One.”
Again His Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone Him, but Yeshua said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”
“We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
- John 10: 30-33
- “you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
We see:
- Yeshua claimed to be God
- Yeshua declared to be the I Am
- Yeshua proclaimed to be One with the Father
- Belief in this reality is not revealed by flesh and blood, but by the Father in heaven.
The “good confession” is acknowledging Yeshua as who He is: LORD, the Great I Am.
Amen and amen.
The Muslim who desires to know God according to God's signs and revelations, needs to search with all their heart "who" Yeshua is according to the entire testimony of Christ, since Yeshua is the sign to all mankind.
Looking through Islamic theology to "who" Yeshua is... is looking into the house of the Lord through a single window from outside the fence that surrounds the house of the Lord.
One cannot see inside the house of the Lord from only looking through a single window at such a distance.
Therefore Yeshua said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
- John 10: 7-10Go to the gate and enter through the gate.... and find salvation.
Amen.
Peace be with you.
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