Jesus The Messiah

Matthew 11:27/Luke 10:22

"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him."

Happy new year! Today I continue with my thoughts on Islam and firstly, how much our Lord Jesus is revered in the Qur'an and by Muslims in general. The suggestion here is that Jesus is the key to reaching out to our Muslim friends because the Qur'an holds him in very high esteem. Let me introduce you to three titles that are attributed to our Lord in the Qur'an, like no other figure, not even Muhammad. Jesus or Isa in Arabic, is (1) Al-Maseeh (The Messiah) , (2) Kalamitullah (The Word of God), (3) Ruhullah (A Spirit from God). That is simply awesome! Praise be unto Him! At the surface, the Qur'an gets Jesus Christ right, but always note that aside from the Qur'an, majority of Muslims hold as holy truths, their traditions —the Hadiths (The practical and jurisprudential interpretations of the Qur'an through the life and quotes of the prophet Muhammad; they are more like Catholics in this sense), and other traditional commentaries (tafsir) by early Islamic authorities such as 3rd Caliph Uthman ibn Affan (Muhammad's secretary), Abu Bakr (Muhammad's father-in-law) and his daughter Aisha, 2nd Caliph Umar ibn Al-Khattab (Muhammad's senior companion), Ali ibn Abi Talib (Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law through his daughter Fatima whose mother was Khadijah). Muslim scholars reconcile problematic statements in the Qur'an through the Hadiths and yet the Hadiths themselves are contentious among Islamic denominations. Leaving those aside, today I will share with you, (1) Isa Al-Maseeh (Jesus The Messiah) Qur'an Surahs 3:45, 4:157, 171, 172, 5:17, 72, 75; 9:30, 31. This is a unique title for Jesus in the Qur'an, but it offers no further explanation to what it means other than "a messenger" (Surah 4:171) and so it seems the Qur'an accepts this in a Jewish and Christian context but Muhammad doesn't seem to grasp the depth of its significance all the while lavishly pouring it on Jesus. The Qur'an seems to be dismissively oblivious to the concept in the Old and New Testaments especially that it is actually synonymous to "Son of God" (Matt 16:16, 26:63, Mark 1:1, Luke 4:41, John 11:27, 20:31). Old Testament proof texts and Messianic descriptions include Isaiah 53, Psalms 22, 16, Zech 9, 11, 12, Micah 5, Malachi 3, Amos 9, Daniel, Jeremiah, and many more including non-canonicals such as Psalms of Solomon and Similitudes of Enoch. Anyone well-informed of these historical documents will have found a very convincing concept of The Messiah as exponentially more than simply another prophet. Emmanuel! It is the Lord Himself who came to us (Isaiah 40:3,9-11), and not just another messenger like John the Baptist, Malachi, or Isaiah, but The Messenger! The son of the vineyard owner himself and not just another one of his servants (Mark 12:1-9). Moreover, "Messiah" is practically Jesus of Nazareth's surname, "Christos", given its centrality to his earliest especially Jewish disciples. We are called Christians; essentially we believe Jesus of Nazareth is The Christ, the Anointed One of Israel. Furthermore, even the Saheeh [authentic] Al-Bukhari, most revered of the Hadiths, says something like "the right understanding of Jesus Christ (Isa Al-Maseeh) is a necessary condition of the Islamic idea of salvation", implicit in this, of course, is their "corrected" idea of the Jewish Mashiach. However, History attests to the proper understanding of Jesus of Nazareth; his words and actions, thus his self-understanding as the Jewish Messiah himself, who came after John the Baptist –a voice calling in the wilderness (Matt 11:19, Luke 7:34) is well-established scholarly. Finally, the even more earth-shattering historical truth is its categorical confirmation of his claims in his Resurrection. Praise the Lord!

Malachi 3:1

"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me (Isaiah 40:3). Then suddenly the Lord You are seeking will come to His temple; The Messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty."

~08.01.2016