“How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him” (Hebrews 2: 3)
Isa Al Masih is the only one who came into the world carrying the message of salvation and redemption. This notion of salvation and redemption is exemplified in the revelation of the love of Allah for sinful humanity. According to Allah’s just law, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But God knows that all humanity is sinful, without exception. With this fact alone, us humans and God can never coexist, so Jesus came to be a mediator between Allah and us, sinful humans. Because He came for us, He was the sole component of reconciling us with Allah, and He paid the penalty for our sins. Moreover, Jesus took the punishment that we are supposed to have, and because of this act, He redeemed us by His death on the cross. For more clarity on Jesus’ redemption of us, Apostle Paul explains our reconciliation with Allah in the most poignant of ways “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Romans 5:10-11)
Jesus did not come for the Jews, the Christians, or the Muslims. He did not reconcile one group of people with Allah, but rather, He reconciled us all with Him by His redemptive death. He was not sent here to condemn us, but to save us ALL (John 3:17). Allah’s love is for everyone, He desires each one of us to be led on the straight path, الصراط المستقيم, aṣ-Ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm.
Now that we know Isa Al Masih reconciled us with Allah, how do we receive this redemption and salvation?
We receive this redemption and salvation by simply believing in Isa Al Masih as the Messiah and the Savior. All we simply do is believe in Him, and why He was sent. Salvation and redemption from sin, as aforementioned, are for the whole world to take. All that is required is faith in Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The words of Isa Al Massih Himself state the following: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).
Roughly 2000 years ago, Isa Al Masih came to show us just how much He wants to save the worst of us, He came to give us a chance to one day be joined with Him and Allah. One of these people saved among many was Matthew, a humble apostle of Isa Al Masih (also formerly known as Levi). Matthew was a tax collector, and a tax collector at the time was viewed as dishonest, and collaborators with the Romans who were occupying the Jewish lands at the time. Tax collectors were very much frowned upon, and were not considered people of God by any means. Stealing money from people and acquiring it by any means possible and consequently aiding the Romans was their position. Matthew was a tax collector. Despite him being a tax collector, Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Luke 5:27 NKJV. The Pharisees, a large religious group who pursued holiness before God through the careful keeping of biblical and traditional laws, complained against Jesus’ disciples, and they asked Him “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” to which Jesus said to the “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Luke 5:30-31 NKJV Andrew’s Study Bible. What Jesus means here in regards to who He came for is not literally just a physically sick person, but a spiritually sick and bankrupt person.
Furthermore, Jesus also said that He has been sent by Allah to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set a liberty those who are oppressed. Luke 4:18 NKJV.
The next time you ask yourself if you can be saved, or if Allah forgives you, remember that Allah sent Isa Al Massih for the sinners to give them a chance to repent and have eternal left. You are not excluded.
We love sinners by showing them respect and valuing their life as much as we value our own (1 Peter 2:17), by praying for them or with them (1 Timothy 2:1), and witnessing to them of Christ.
See John 15.
The Bible and the Qur’an declares that Prophet Abraham was chosen for a special mission. The Bible states, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves” (Genesis 12.1-3). The same promise is given in the Qur’an, “Lo: I have appointed thee a leader for mankind” (Al-Baqara 2.124).
All Muslim celebrates the festival of Eid al-Adha. This festival is observed in memory of the sacrifice that Prophet Abraham offered God. In the Qur’an we read, “We gave him tidings of a gentle son. And when his son was old enough to walk with him, Abraham said: O my dear son, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice thee” (Al-Safat 37 100-102).
According to Muslims, this was Ishmael, not Isaac. In fact, the Qur’an does not state whether that son was Ishmael or Isaac. God has put the prophet to the test by asking him to sacrifice his son, “For this was obviously a trial – and We ransomed him with a great sacrifice” (Al-Safat 37:106 -107).
Muslim commentators usually say that this “great sacrifice” refers to the ram that was provided by God to be sacrificed in place of Abraham’s son. But would a ram be a truly great sacrifice in comparison to Abraham’s son? “The great sacrifice” must refer to another sacrifice. This raises a question. Was God pointing forward to a Great Sacrifice in the future?
In fact, the Qur’an does not provide great details of this great story. In contrary, the Bible gives us a detailed record of the story. We read in the Tawrat, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the [a]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the [b]lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.” (Genesis 22: 1-17)
In the Bible, we see that God’s Messiah, Isa Al-Masih (His Peace be upon us), is the one who has been made the sacrifice and ransom for the whole world. Prophet Yahya said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Injil, John 1.29). He gave Jesus this title to emphasis His role as a sacrifice.
In an incident when Isa Al-Masih (His Peace be upon us), answering the Jews, He said “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8.56). Prophet Abraham looked forward to the coming of Al-Masih to redeem the world as the Great Sacrifice. He is the Redeemer, the one who was foreshadowed in the sacrifice of Isaac.
Abraham foresaw the sacrifice of Isa (His Peace be upon us). Once a year Muslims commemorate the deep, wondrous love of Abraham for God in being willing to sacrifice even his own son out of obedience to God. However, do you know that every day of the year true believers in Isa Al-Masih (His peace be upon us) remember the deep, magnificent love of God for people, shown through God being willing to spare not even his own Word and the Spirit, known to us as Isa Al-Masih. “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28)