Muslims Should Apply Their Moniker to Jesus

Last updated on: October 24, 2015 at 5:56 pm by Kermit Zarley

Muslims Should Apply Their Moniker to Jesus 2015-10-24T17:56:33-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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The words Muslim and Islam derive from the Arabic word al-silm, which means “submission or surrender.” In the case of the religion of Islam, they mean submission to Allah, the Arabic word for God. that is the foremost belief of the Muslims’ religion, to submit to God.

As a Christian, I also believe that submission to God is the core of my religion. So, Christians and Muslims have this very important tenant of their religion in common.

Another important belief in Islam is that God has sent many messengers, both men and angels, to humans to enlighten them with some revelation from God. Christians and most religious Jews also believe that. Islam also claims that among God’s human messengers, whom it also calls prophets, there are four who are foremost: Abraham/Abrahim, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

The holy book of Islam is the Qur’an, which Muslims belief was written and/or dictated by Muhammad. The Qur’an has many positive things to say about Jesus. It affirms many thing about Jesus in the New Testament, such as his virgin birth, miracles, heavenly ascension, future return, and that he will conduct the future judgment that the Qur’an says so much about.

Yet Muslims do not believe Jesus was condemned and crucified. The Qur’an reads concerning the Jews, “They denied the truth and uttered a monstrous falsehood against Mary, They declared: ‘We have put to death the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the apostle of God.’ They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but they thought they did” (Qur’an 4:157). The last clause in Arabic means, “he was made to resemble another for them.” Then the Qur’an next says of the Jews and Jesus, “they did not slay him for certain. God lifted him up to Him,” that is, to heaven (Qur’an 4:158).So, Muslims believe a man who looked like Jesus was crucified, and Jews lied about it by saying he was Jesus.

Of course, it was the Romans who literally crucified Jesus. And Jesus had predicted this by telling his apostles concerning Israel’s religious rulers and himself as the Son of Man, “they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles” to “kill him” (Mark 10.33-34). Peter later said to Jews about Jesus, “you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law,” meaning Romans (Acts 2.23). So, both Jews and Roman authorities were responsible for the crucifixion and death of Jesus. (All scripture quotations herein are from the NRSV unless otherwise noted.)

Thus, the Qur’an calls this pronouncement of the Jews about the crucifixion death of Jesus a “falsehood.” But it is the Qur’an that declares a falsehood, here. Even first century secular historians, both Jews and Romans, affirm that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and died at Jerusalem. It is one of the foremost historical beliefs of antiquity since Jesus has without question been the most famous man who ever lived.

Why did Muhammad and all subsequent Muslims subscribe to this belief that Jesus was not crucified and die from it? It is because they cannot believe that such a great tragedy could have happened to one of God’s greatest prophets. Yet the Hebrew/Jewish people killed many of their prophets. Jesus had even said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” (Matt. 23.37).

For Muslims to make this objection to Jesus’ crucifixion, they do not understand the most important moral teaching of Jesus–submission to God, the very meaning of their name. For Jesus often taught self-denial, saying, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt. 16.24/Mark 8.34). And he told them another time, “whoever wishes to be first amon you must be slave of all. For the son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10.44-45).

Jesus never went around proclaiming that he was the Messiah. However, at his interrogation right before being crucified, he admitted to the high priest that he was indeed the promised Messiah of Israel (Matt. 26.63-64; Mark 14.61-62). But before that, he often told men and demons not to tell anyone he was the Messiah. The reason was that he was delaying his arrest and crucifixion until its proper time.

But during Jesus’ public ministry, he constantly identified himself cryptically as “the Son of Man.” Jews did not understand very well what he meant by it. This expression could mean no more than a mortal man or it could mean much more. I believe Jesus meant much more by it and that he got this self-identification from the book of Daniel. Daniel had a vision in which he says, “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominon is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7.13-14).

Daniel 7 then goes on to predict that people of this kingdom will be greatly persecuted during the end-times, and many of them will be put to death as martyrs. Nowadays, perhaps the majority of Christian, distinguished Old Testament scholars believe these people will be Jews and that this “Son of Man” does not refer to Jesus or any actual human in the future but that it is meant as a symbol depicting these suffering Jews. Yet there are many Christian scholars who do not subscribe to this interpretation and believe that this Son of Man is not intended only symbolically but refers to Jesus. This is what I believe.

New Testament scholars generally divide Jesus’ Son of Man sayings into three categories, with one of them being the category of suffering. That is, Jesus sometimes spoke about how the Son of Man will suffer. Perhaps due partly to the scholarly reticense to identify Jesus as “One like a Son of Man” in Daniel 7.13, New Testament scholars generally do not see a correlation between Jesus’ suffering Son of Man sayings and “One like a Son of Man” in Daniel 7.13. Their main reason is that that Son of Man is honored by being given a great kingdom, and the text does not say anything about him suffering.

But those who take this view of Daniel 7 about the Son of Man miss an important precept that Jesus saw about it. It is that those people of the kingdom–who incidentally are not only Jews but all holy people who belong to the Son of Man during the end-times–are not greater than their Master and King–“One like a Son of Man.” Indeed, Jesus had taught, “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master” (Matt. 10.24). Accordingly, it is axiomatic that the Son of Man in Daniel 7.13, who is King and thus Master of his people–who are called “holy ones” in vv. 18, 22, 25, and 27–must also suffer. Jesus must have understood this, and that it why he often spoke of the Son of Man suffering.

This is what Muslims fail to understand, that Jesus submitted to suffering and death as the will of God for his life similar to what many of God’s people are called to do as well, especially during the end-times. But whenever any of God’s people suffer for his sake and the sake of his kingdom he will give to Jesus, God will honor those people and reward them at the judgment far greater than they could ever imagine. Thus, Jesus became the greatest example of a Muslim of all time, that is, the greatest person who submitted to God in suffering for him and his kingdom people. And God will reward him for it by giving him an everlasting, worldwide kingdom on earth that will never be destroyed.

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