Who is Jesus?

IS JESUS THE SON OF GOD?

I came across this comment on one of the news articles ( http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/08/19/perkasa-takes-a-swipe-at-muslim-leaders/) on the online news portal Free Malaysia Today.  It gives us an interesting angle on the truth that is in Jesus.  Christians would do well to take note, as most Christians do not really know how to defend the gospel against the objections of other religions.  The bible tells us to have a ready answer for the hope that we have.   Most Christians don't, and never bother to have ready answers.

Now, Muslims, who claim to worship the same Abrahamic God have many objections to Jesus, among which are:

1) God cannot have a son.  To claim that Jesus is the "Son of God" is to claim that God had sex with Mary, and gave birth to Jesus, and that is blasphemy.

2) Jesus is only a prophet, only a human being and nothing more than that.

3) Jesus never died on the cross ( although the Koran says otherwise ).  In fact, Jesus never died and has been taken into heaven directly.  ( Well, at least they agree that Jesus is still alive today!  What a confession! ).

Let us take a look at what the commentator wrote in response to a Muslim who thought that the testimony of a Nasir Siddiki about his conversion to Christianity is pure nonsense.  He wrote thus :

"Whatever your stand, remember Jesus loves you, too. Bible says Jesus came not to condemn the world ( John 3:17 ) for it was already condemned, but He came to open a way. Your sins, and mine deserves the eternal death sentence and a loving God came into the world as a human being to pay for the sins. It is a gift. When He was in this world, He took on a human name ...  born of a virgin to be sinless. Bible says "He will be called Son of God", it is a title, not the literal meaning.

1) Koran teaches all human beings are touched by satan at birth. Koran teaches that Je sus was not touched by satan at birth. Because He is not of human origin. Satan knows who He is. Yet you don't.

2) Koran agrees that all humans must die. Yet Koran agrees that Jesus is still alive! So the Koran knows that He is not of human origins.

3) Koran agrees that humans are born out of male and female sex. Yet Koran agrees that Jesus was born of a virgin - impossible for humans.

4) Koran says all humans are sinners. Yet Koran agrees that Jesus never sinned. So, He is not human.

If He is not of human origins, then what is He? I leave it to you to think for yourself."

The Objection That Jesus is the Son of God

Do you know that the Muslims are correct on this matter?  

Most Christians are blur-blur about who Jesus is ... especially at His being called "Son of God".  Since the Christians do not know the better, can we blame the Muslims for thinking that Christians are saying that God came down to have sex with Mary (  the Mormon cult of USA actually teaches this though! ) through the Holy Spirit in order to give birth to Jesus?  No, I don't blame the Muslims.  In any case, that is not what the bible teaches.  Come， Christians， let's read Luke 1:35 carefully, at the part where Gabriel announces the conception of Jesus to Mary,

Luk 1:35  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Yes, Jesus is NOT the Son of God by birth.  Jesus IS CALLED the Son of God by His pre-eminent status, with a capital 'S'.  Christians too, are CALLED sons of God, but with a small 's', and this status is granted through adoption.  What the Muslims did not consider is that Jesus is the "Son" by the way of a title.  Somehow, the Muslim mind is fixed that to be called a son, it must be through sexual relations!

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

So, Christians had better get the picture clear.  The term "Son of God" as applied to Jesus is titular.  He is the Son of God by title, not by birth. 

Who is Jesus?

How do you explain to a Muslim that Jesus is more than human?  Yes, He appeared on this earth as a human but how is He more than human?  Muslims claim He is only a prophet.  To them, it is blasphemy of the highest order (Syirik ) to call Jesus "God", for that means Christians worship 2 gods.  To explain who Jesus is through the bible would be a waste of time.  The average Muslim mind has been installed with a barrier against the bible from his youth. In addition, Muslims minds have been confused by the Roman Catholic practice of worshipping Mary.  Muslims have mistaken Mary for the 3rd person of the Holy Trinity.  They seem to think that the Trinity means 3 gods, with Mary being a part of the Trinity.  No thanks to the Roman Catholic pope for promoting Mary to a deity ( wonder where a sinful human got that authority to appoint anther human to godhood )  Anyway bible-reading Christians know that the Muslims are mistaken, and the Roman Catholics got it all wrong.

The best one can do is to point out who Jesus is from the book a Muslim cannot deny, i.e. the Koran.  And even then, since you are a infidel who is pointing something out to him in "his" Koran, he might even feel offended.  He might even chide you for quoting his Koran.  He does not realize that Muslim organizations put up online copies of the Koran for infidels to read.  But that's about the only way.

And so, the said commentator above did a very good job.  You see, hidden here and there in the Koran are gems of truth about who Jesus really is.  The commentator pointed out 4 truths in the Koran about human beings.  Yet Jesus does not fit into the category of humans, even though He was in this world as a human. According to Islam, the devil touches every human at his birth, except for Jesus; every human has sin, except Jesus!  No human can live forever, yet Jesus is still alive today! No human being can be born of a virgin except Jesus!  Surely, the Koran does point out that Jesus is more than human.  In fact, the Koran calls Jesus "Kallimatullah"  ( Surah 3:45 ), i.e. God's Word! and also "wa-ruhun-minhu" Sura 4:171, i.e God's Spirit!  Many Muslim scholars also refer to Jesus as Ruhullah.  These are also the titles for Jesus as recorded in the bible.  The Koran, which is some 6 centuries after Jesus confirms the bible's testimony of who He really is.

 

Now, if He is not human, then what is He? To be sure, no Muslim would insult Jesus by saying He is a demon.  If He is not human and He is not a demon, then He must either be an angel or God. 

That is all we can do to point out the truth.  Beyond that, it is up to the individual whether he is a truth seeker or just a religionist.

Is Jesus a prophet?

Of course Jesus is a prophet too.  He had the ability to prophesize, and His prophecies about the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem was bang on target.  So too, many of His prophecies about false teachers and false prophets and false christs.  We know Jesus is God Himself who walked the earth.  Is it a big deal for God to be able to prophesize?  And how can God be on earth and yet be in heaven at the same time?  All I know is, my ALMIGHTY, OMNIPOTENT and OMNIPRESENT God can do all things.  He is beyond the control of the dimensions of matter, space and time, if you try to grasp the awesomeness of this.  Now, if a god cannot do all things, he is not almighty and omnipresent.  My God can. Can yours?

And Did Jesus die and resurrect?

Here is one of the biggest surprises you can find in the Koran.  You see, ALL Muslims are taught to deny that Jesus ever died.  ALL Muslims are taught that God replaced Him with somebody else at the last moment to die on the cross.  ALL Muslims are taught that Jesus has been taken up to God directly.  But, very few Muslims ever notice these verses in Surah 19:33-34 of the Koran that reported Jesus as saying:

 

 'And peace was on me the day I was born, and peace will be on me the day I shall die, and the day I shall be raised up to life again. That is Jesus, the son of Mary - the word of truth about which they are in dispute.'  

So, the Koran actually confirms that Jesus was born, did die and after he died he would be raised up again! Wow! And that He did!  Except that the average Muslim's mind is trained to ignore these verses.

It is also pointless to tell any Muslim to check on the historicity of the death of Jesus.  They will ignore the fact that two Jewish writers -- Philo ( 20 B.C. – A.D. 50) and Josephus ( A.D. 37-95) did record briefly about the death of Jesus.He will also ignore your challenge to them to check out the writings of Tacitus (ca. A.D. 60-120), a Roman historian, who wrote, saying the “Christians” derived their name from “Christus,” who “was executed at the hands of Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius” (The Annals xv.44).    Yes, there are historical records, if you care to search for the truth.  Why won't the Muslim check?  I think it is most probably because if he does check and finds out that truth is not what he was taught , he doesn't know what he is supposed to believe anymore!  He would to lose everything in life ... everything ....  if he ever chooses to discard his teachings. 

Who judges the world?

And to what the commentator wrote, I have this to add.  Ask any Muslim who has the power to judge the world, and he will correctly answer you that God alone has the power to judge.  Ask any Muslim if Jesus is coming back again into this world, and he will truthfully say that Jesus, and not the Prophet Muhammad will be coming back.  Ask him, is it true that one of the things that Jesus would do when he comes back is to judge the world?  At this, most of them will stay silent.

Conclusion

It is neither your job nor mine, to try to argue and convince a Muslim to change what he wants to believe.  Our job is to defend Christianity by pointing out the truths.  It is for him to make up his own mind, just as it is with a Buddhist  or Taoist or a person from whatever religion.  It is for the Holy Spirit to touch that person, and then for the person to make his response to the touch of the Spirit.  He is a gentle spirit, and will not force anymore to act against his own will.

The bible says that we must have a ready answer for others.  1Pe 3:15 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:"

Now you have a ready answer.  Use it.

Did not Jesus say in John 8:32 "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free".?