And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached
in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
Matthew 24:14
"The denial by Mohammedanism of Jesus Christ is a most important factor to consider.
Every Mohammedan knows that denial. It is twofold:
(1) the denial of His deity, and
(2) the denial of the atonement.
These two great denials are the great foci of the ellipse that the Mohammedan knows about first
Yes, Mohammedans by their unitarianism deny the deity of our Lord, just as unitarians and many Modernists do today. They believe Jesus had a glorious name and did a great work, that He was a great prophet, but differed in nothing from the sons of men. They believe He was the son of Mary, and that He performed miracles, but they do not believe that He was the Son of God.
The second great denial is still more important. It occurs in the chapter of the Koran entitled, "Mary." So in the very chapter which bears the name of the mother of Jesus, we find this denial of the atonement. The Jews did not crucify Jesus, the Koran states. God substituted someone for Him, and took Him up to heaven.
Go to their commentaries, and this is the story they tell: The Jews hated Jesus and persecuted Him. One day they drove Him into the mosque, and as Christ was praying to God to be delivered, God heard His prayer. One of the disciples looked just like Jesus, and the mob laid hold of him and crucified him. It was either Peter or Judas Iscariot. God took Jesus right up to heaven and delivered Him. Whoever died on the cross was simply a substitute for Jesus that God wanted on the cross in order to save Jesus.
It was impossible, they say, to allow Jesus, who was so good, and such a great prophet, to suffer. God delivered Him just as He delivered the Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace, and Daniel from the lions' den. So the whole record of the New Testament is stultified, labeled as unhistoric, and thrown out because of one verse in the Koran which says Jesus was not crucified, that He did not die. The result is that you have a picture of Jesus as one who is only human and in some respects puerilely so, who did not die and did not come as a savior, but came simply as a teacher.
You can preach the commandments to Mohammedans, and they will gladly listen....you can tell the story and the parables of Jesus, you can even preach doctrine, and they will listen. But the thing they need most is sermons on the character of Jesus and on the atonement.
And you can appeal to them because of one thing they believe in regard to the return of Jesus, even though their belief in this respect is very strange. They say Jesus is not going to stay in heaven. He was taken to heaven, but He is coming again. If you read any book about Mecca and Medina, you will find that Mohammed, who was born
in Mecca, is buried in Medina under the great dome with five minarets. Here are the graves of Mohammed and abu-Bekr, the first Caliph of Mecca; next to them the grave of Omar, then the grave of Fatima, Mohammed's daughter. Then there is a blank space, and this is the place where Jesus is going to be buried when He comes. And on all the maps and guidebooks of the city you will see this space called, "The Grave of Jesus." So they have a tradition, based upon what Mohammed told them, that when Jesus comes again, He will come from heaven as a great Moslem prince, fight for Mohammed, win battles for him, marry and have children, finally die in Medina, and be buried in this grave next to Mohammed.
So now you have the ridiculous answer of a Mohammedan to the question, "What think ye of Christ?" He is human in origin, human in destiny, and is going to be buried as a warrior for Mohammed. How anybody can say that Mohammedans do not need the gospel, I do not see."
MinistryMagazine1939/SamuelZwemer
The second great denial is still more important. It occurs in the chapter of the Koran entitled, "Mary." So in the very chapter which bears the name of the mother of Jesus, we find this denial of the atonement. The Jews did not crucify Jesus, the Koran states. God substituted someone for Him, and took Him up to heaven.
Go to their commentaries, and this is the story they tell: The Jews hated Jesus and persecuted Him. One day they drove Him into the mosque, and as Christ was praying to God to be delivered, God heard His prayer. One of the disciples looked just like Jesus, and the mob laid hold of him and crucified him. It was either Peter or Judas Iscariot. God took Jesus right up to heaven and delivered Him. Whoever died on the cross was simply a substitute for Jesus that God wanted on the cross in order to save Jesus.
It was impossible, they say, to allow Jesus, who was so good, and such a great prophet, to suffer. God delivered Him just as He delivered the Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace, and Daniel from the lions' den. So the whole record of the New Testament is stultified, labeled as unhistoric, and thrown out because of one verse in the Koran which says Jesus was not crucified, that He did not die. The result is that you have a picture of Jesus as one who is only human and in some respects puerilely so, who did not die and did not come as a savior, but came simply as a teacher.
You can preach the commandments to Mohammedans, and they will gladly listen....you can tell the story and the parables of Jesus, you can even preach doctrine, and they will listen. But the thing they need most is sermons on the character of Jesus and on the atonement.
And you can appeal to them because of one thing they believe in regard to the return of Jesus, even though their belief in this respect is very strange. They say Jesus is not going to stay in heaven. He was taken to heaven, but He is coming again. If you read any book about Mecca and Medina, you will find that Mohammed, who was born
So now you have the ridiculous answer of a Mohammedan to the question, "What think ye of Christ?" He is human in origin, human in destiny, and is going to be buried as a warrior for Mohammed. How anybody can say that Mohammedans do not need the gospel, I do not see."
MinistryMagazine1939/SamuelZwemer
