Great Mystery of the Ages

The “Before Scriptures” reveal to us that at some point long ago there was a rebellion in heaven. Shatan was created by Allah as one His most beautiful creatures. He is described for us in the Before Scriptures:

You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in the Garden of Eden, the garden of Allah. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity (sin) was found in you.[1]

O Lucifer (Shatan), how you are cut down to the ground; you who weakened the nations. For you said in your heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High (Allah).”[2]

But, of course, no creation of Allah can be like Allah and take control from Allah. So Shatan was thrown out of heaven along with one third of the angels who had joined Shatan in his rebellion. The Injiil tells of this:

And another sign appeared in heaven; behold a great fiery red dragon… His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Shatan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.[3]

Allah created the heavens and the earth and then all the creatures of the earth. Then as the highest of all His creation, He made mankind to live on the earth. He made Adam from the dust and Howa made from a rib of Adam. He placed Adam and Howa in the Garden called Eden. This means “Garden of Delights”. Every thing there was beautiful and perfect.

In the middle of the Garden, Allah placed two trees. One He called the tree of life. As long as Adam and Howa ate from this tree they would never die. The other tree He called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Allah told Adam to take control of the earth and to enjoy all of the good things of the Garden. But Allah plainly told Adam, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

For a time, everything was wonderful in the Garden. Adam and Howa obeyed Allah and He would come and talk with them everyday. But of course, you know what happened. Both the Qur’an and the Tawrat tell the story. The great rebel Shatan came and tempted Howa by deceiving her. He told her that what Allah had told her was wrong. He told her that if she ate the fruit Allah had forbidden that she would become like Allah and know good and evil. This is always how Shatan deceives us. He tells us that what Allah has plainly told us is not true. He convinces us that we know better than Allah and that the Word of Allah is not true.

Howa ate the forbidden fruit. She took some to Adam and he ate of it also. Then they both felt something they had never felt before. They felt shame and guilt. They knew they were naked and tried to hide their shame by covering themselves with leaves from the Garden. Then they tried to hide from Allah; but no one can hide from Allah.

Sin had now come into the perfect world. So now the world was no longer perfect. Allah had told Adam and Howa that they would die on the day they ate of the forbidden fruit. They did not die physically that day, but they were sent out of the Garden that day. Of course they began to die physically. They were separated from the tree of life and eventually grew old and died. But, they were removed from the presence of Allah. Allah is pure and completely righteous and holy. They could no longer stay in His presence because they were no longer righteous. So, we see what death really means. It means to be separated from Allah Who is our life and Who made us to be with Him.

And how many times did they have to sin to be sent out of the presence of Allah?

And Adam and Howa could never go back into the Garden. No matter how sorry they were for their sin, they could not go back. And none of their descendants could ever go back into the Garden. Their children were not born in the Garden to see if they would sin. Sin had separated mankind from the presence of Allah!

So, what is Allah’s standard? What is required to remain in His presence? How many times do we have to sin to be separated from Allah? This is very important to understand. If you say you want to go to heaven, you must realize that heaven is the presence of Allah. So you must know what is required to be in His presence.

Here is a very important question. Does Allah change? If He has shown us what is required to be in his presence will He change his standard for you or for me or anyone else? Listen to what the Before Scriptures say:

Allah is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of a man, that He should change His mind. He says, “I am the Lord, I do not change.”[4]

Allah is a righteous Judge. He has prepared His throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness.[5]

This is a very great problem for us. How righteous is Allah? Of course, He is perfect in every way! He has said He will judge the world in righteousness. He showed us His standard in the very beginning in the Garden. One sin and a person cannot stay in the righteous presence of Allah. We are not like Allah; we are like Adam. We have received his nature. We saw from the Qur’an that even the prophets are not perfect. The before Scriptures also tell us what we know in heart is true:

When they (Israel) sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin…..[6]

The heart of a man is deceitful and desperately wicked; who can know it. I the Lord test the heart; I test the mind.[7]

But we are all like an unclean thing and our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf and our sins have taken us away (from Allah).[8]

There is none righteous, no not one. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of Allah. The wages (penalty) of sin is death.[9]

So here is the great mystery: Allah is perfect and completely righteous. Only those who are perfect and completely righteous can be in His presence.

From the very beginning, Allah had a plan. It was a plan that no one would ever have guessed. Remember “Allah is the best of planners.” And he began to slowly unveil his plan from the very beginning.

Allah did something very interesting that day in the Garden. He killed an animal and used the skins to cover Adam and Howa. There is a great truth here, if we will listen. They tried to cover the shame and guilt caused by their sin, but it did not work. Allah had to provide the covering for them. And in order for the shame and guilt of their sin to be covered, there had to be a death! Allah had plainly told the price of sin. The penalty for disobeying Him was death!

The price had to be paid. But, we see an amazing thing -Allah provided a substitute! Allah Himself offered the first Qurbani, or blood sacrifice. Adam and Howa lived, but the animal died.

Allah also said something that day that was very interesting. He said to Shatan:

I will put enmity (hostility – they will be enemies) between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, and He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.[10]

Allah said that a descendant of the woman, Howa, not a descendant of Adam, would destroy the power of Shatan. The poisonous venom of Shatan is sin. Like a deadly serpent his venom would strike a death blow to this coming one. But the one who was coming would destroy the power of sin and death and thus destroy Shatan’s power over mankind.

Through Adam’s disobedience, sin had come into the world. The Injiil says it this way.

Through one man (Adam), sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned.[11]

The world was now very different from the Garden. Adam was no longer innocent because he had eaten of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Like Shatan had said, Adam now knew good and evil. But now, he found that his heart had changed. It was bent away from Allah; his nature now leaned toward the evil. And his nature was being passed on to all his descendants. And death, decay and corruption had come into the world through sin. No longer could people eat of the tree of life and live forever, but rather their bodies were growing old and moving toward death. And this principle of death and corruption and decay had entered the world itself through sin. Like poison poured into a pool of water spreads and poisons the entire pool, so sin began to spread and corrupt the world.

Very quickly we begin to see the results of sin entering the human race. If Shatan had been able to deceive Adam and Eve in the Garden, how much more could he deceive people now that they were separated from the presence of Allah? As we saw, Shatan is called the one “who deceives the whole world.”

Adam and Howa began to have children. They had two sons Habeel and Kabeel (called Cain and Abel in the Tawrat).[12] Knowing that Allah was the great Creator of all things, one day they brought offerings to present to the Lord. Kabeel was a farmer, so he brought produce from the field. Habeel was a shepherd, so he brought a firstborn lamb from his flock. He offered a Qurbani – a blood sacrifice. Allah was pleased with Habeel’s lamb but He was not pleased with Kabeel’s offering.

Kabeel became jealous of Habeel and angry. Allah told Cain that if he would learn to do what is right and proper he would be accepted, but if not, sin would enter his heart. There is an important truth here, if we will listen. Allah wanted men to continue what He had begun in the Garden. When Adam disobeyed and first brought sin into the world, Allah provided a substitute to die and cover the shame that sin produced. It was a Qurbani! The proper offering for men to bring in order to be accepted by Allah was a blood sacrifice – a Qurbani. Adam and Howa had tried to cover their guilt and shame with leaves. Kabeel had tried to bring the very best he had to offer to please Allah. Both had been rejected. Allah required the Qurbani. The penalty of sin is death and it must be paid!

Sadly, Kabeel did not listen and learn. He grew more angry and jealous of his brother Habeel. Then one day, as they were alone in the field, Kabeel killed his brother Habeel. The fruit of sin was beginning to be seen in the world. The first murder had been committed. As a result, Allah placed a curse upon Kabeel and sent him ever farther from His presence.

As the human race began to grow, sin began to grow quickly and wildly. By the tenth generation after Adam, mankind had grown very corrupt. The Tawrat tells us that:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man upon the earth and He was grieved in His heart.[13]

Out of all the earth, Allah found only Nue and his family who were pleasing to Him. So Allah told Nue He was about to flood the whole earth and destroy all the wicked people upon the earth. He told Nue to build an ark. This ark was a great big box, sealed over with pitch (tar) so that it would float. Nue obeyed Allah and built the ark on dry land, far from any water. It took Nue 120 years to finish the ark. Then Allah commanded two of all the animals of the earth to go into the ark, so that they could refill the earth after the flood. There was a male and female pair of each kind of animal. But Allah said for Nue to bring seven pairs of those animals used for Qurbani. Why?- because they would be needed to offer the Qurbani.

Allah then sent 40 days of rain. Also, waters from under the surface of the earth burst forth onto the earth. The entire earth was flooded and all living things upon the earth were drowned. Only Nue, his family and the creatures in the ark survived. When the earth dried Nue came out of the ark.

You are right! He offered the Qurbani! And the Tawrat says that this pleased Allah. Then Allah set the rainbow in the sky as a sign that He would never again flood the earth as he did in the days of Nue.

After the great flood mankind began to refill the earth. But, the curse of sin still remained. Nue was pleasing to Allah, but he was not a perfect man. He came from Adam’s bloodline and he too had Adam’s nature. So the nature of Adam that was bent toward sin continued to be passed down to mankind. Shatan was still deceiving the world, so mankind had all but lost almost all understanding of what Allah was like and what he required of people. So Allah opened up a new day. He took the next step in revealing His plan to mankind. Allah came to a man called Ibrahim. Ibrahim came from a country where idols were worshipped. Allah told Ibrahim that if he would totally obey him, He would bless him. In the Tawrat we see what Allah said to Ibrahim.

Get out from your country and your family and from you father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you; and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.[14]

Ibrahim did obey Allah. Allah led him to the land that is now called Palestine. But Ibrahim grew very old and he still had no son. Ibrahim began to wonder what Allah had meant. How would a great nation come from him if he had no son? But one night Allah spoke to Ibrahim in the night. He told Ibrahim to look into the starry night sky. Allah told Ibrahim that his descendants would in number be like the stars in the sky.[15] The Tawrat tells us that Ibrahim “believed Allah and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Here is another truth about Allah’s plan for us, if we will hear it. Right standing before Allah does not come by the works that we do. Not even for a great prophet like Ibrahim. Right standing before Him comes by faith – by simply believing what Allah says!

Without faith it is impossible to please Allah, for the one who comes to Allah must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who sincerely seek Him.[16]

Sure enough, Ibrahim had a son in his old age. When his son was born, Ibrahim was 100 years old! As his son grew, Ibrahim had great delight in him. This was not only because he was the son of his old age, but because this was the son of Allah’s promise. This was the son whose descendants would become a great nation through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.

But then one day Allah appeared to Ibrahim and told him to take his son and offer him as a sacrifice. Ibrahim obeyed. As he was taking his son to be offered, his son said to Ibrahim, “Father, I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering (Qurbani)? Ibrahim said, “My son, Allah will provide for himself the lamb for offering.”[17]

Ibrahim took the knife to kill his son, but Allah sent an angel to stop him. Nearby, a ram had gotten caught in a thicket. The angel told Ibrahim to offer the ram instead. Allah had tested Ibrahim and he had been found to be faithful. Allah told Ibrahim he would completely fulfill the promise he had made to him.

Muslims offer the Qurbani year by year in remembrance of Ibrahim’s offering. First, we should remember this – even the great prophet Ibrahim had to offer the Qurbani. Ibrahim was a great man, but he was not perfect! He too came from Adam’s bloodline and he had Adam’s nature. And secondly, we should remember that Allah provided a substitute for Ibrahim and his descendants. There is a great truth here, if we will hear it. We have all sinned and we owe the penalty of death. But Allah provides a substitute. But we see a hint of something else here in the story of Ibrahim and his son. Allah required Ibrahim’s son as the Qurbani, but He allowed the animal as a substitute.

The answer is very clear – No! If I owed you a cow, would you accept a small bird as an equal payment. Of course not! Man is the highest creation of Allah; can an animal be a substitute for him? An animal cannot decide to do right or wrong like a man; and an animal cannot choose to die in our place. The only equal Qurbani for a man would be another man! The great mystery of Allah’s plan was slowly being revealed, piece by piece.

Many years after he died, the descendants of Ibrahim had gone to Egypt and settled there. Unfortunately the king of Egypt, called Pharon, had made Israel, the people of Allah, his slaves. Allah sent Musa to set Israel free. Allah sent nine great disasters upon Egypt to convince Pharon to let the people of Allah go free. But Pharon hardened his heart and would not let them go. Finally, Allah sent Musa to warn of the last great disaster for Pharon and his people. If he did not let the People of Allah go free, Allah would send His angel to destroy all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt. But Pharon refused to let them go.

So Allah sent Musa to the People of Allah. He told each family to take a lamb without any defect. Then they were to kill the lamb and strike the doorway to their house, on the top and sides, with the blood. He promised that the angel of death would not touch the firstborn in a house with blood on the doorway.

That night the angel of death came through Egypt. All of the firstborn of Egypt died, including Pharon’s firstborn son. But all of the houses of Israel were spared, because the blood was on the doorway. Israel still celebrates this deliverance from Egypt with a feast called “Passover”. It is called “Passover” because death passed over each household that were covered by the blood of the Passover Lamb.

Pharon told Musa to take the people and leave. But later his heart became hard again and he assembled his soldiers and went after Musa and the people. They came to the Red Sea and it seemed that Israel was trapped. But, Allah opened the Red Sea for his people to walk through. Then, when Pharon and his men followed, Allah closed the way. The waters fell upon the Egyptians and they were drowned. Allah’s people were free!

Allah then brought his people to a place in the wilderness called Mt Sanai. He called Musa up to speak with him. There he gave Musa his law. There were 10 basic commandments that Allah gave His people.

Allah actually wrote them on stone tablets for Musa to take to Allah’s people. So the People of Israel had the Law of Allah written by Allah Himself. It is easy to see that these commandments are good and that they come from Allah.

Of course you do! Adam was innocent and righteous. He had only one command from Allah, but he could not keep it! And now, Allah has not given them just one commandment – He has given them 10 commandments! If Adam, living in a perfect world with an uncorrupted nature could not keep one commandment, how can we, living in this sinful world with a corrupted nature, perfectly keep all 10 commandments?

Allah knew that no one would be able to keep his Law. As soon as He gave the Law to Musa, he told Musa to build an altar. The altar was for the Qurbani. When anyone sinned he was to bring a Qurbani. Also, He commanded that there was to be a special day each year when the People of Allah were to come to the Temple of Allah in Jerusalem. On that day there would be a special Qurbani. This Qurbani was not just for the sin of one person, but for the sins of the whole nation. It was called Day of Atonement. “Atonement” meant the removing of sin. If the presence of Allah was going to remain with His people, they had to offer the Qurbani. If they did not do this, Allah would no longer be with His people.

For the next fifteen hundred years this was the command of Allah for his people. They were to try with all their heart to keep His law. But when they sinned, they were to bring the Qurbani. And as Allah revealed through Sulieman: “for there is no one who does not sin.” By believing Allah and bringing the proper offering for sin they could be brought back into right standing with Allah.

For those who thought deeply about the ways of Allah in the Tawrat and the Zaboor, some things about Allah’s plan for the world were becoming very clear. Sin, which is disobedience to Allah, had separated mankind from Allah. Sin had corrupted mankind like a poison. Every man who is honest with himself knows that he has received as a legacy from Adam a nature corrupted by sin.

The prophet Sulieman said: “Each one knows the plague of his own heart.”[19]

The prophet Yerimia said: “The heart of a man is deceitful and desperately wicked.”

The Injill says: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”[20]

The true seeker of Allah understands what the disciple of Isa named Paul said in the Injiil: I delight in the Law of Allah on the inside, but I see another law in the members of my body, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in the members of my body. Oh wretched man that I am, who will free me from this body of death?[21]

The clear penalty of sin is death, but Allah allows a substitute. The Qurbani dies and we live and are brought back into right standing with Allah. But was this all of Allah’s plan, or was there something more? Were the offering of bulls and goats really enough to remove our sin and make us right with Allah? Or was there something yet to come?

Many times Allah’s people went astray from following Him. Allah would send His prophets to remind them to return to Him and keep His Law. They called the people to offer the Qurbani with sadness in their hearts over their sin, rather than just as a duty. They called the people to return to Allah with all their hearts.

The prophets also brought another message. They spoke of a Coming One. He was called the “Messiah” which means the “The Anointed One” or “The Chosen One”. Allah told Dawood, the greatest King of Israel, that one day, long after he had died, that Allah would raise up a King whose kingdom would never end.

I will set one of your descendants after you who will come from your body (be one of your descendants) and I will establish his kingdom…… And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever and your throne shall be established forever.[22]

But how could there be a King whose kingdom would never end? Every one of these kings, who were descendants of David, would die and must leave his kingdom and his authority and power to another.

Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and we shall call his name Immanuel (which means “Allah with us”)[23]

Esiah also called this Coming One the righteous servant of Allah. He spoke of what this Coming One would do:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, but the LORD has laid upon him the iniquity (sin) of us all.[24]

Allah’s prophet Daniel actually foretold the time when the Messiah would come. We will look at this and the many other ways that the prophets of Allah foretold the coming of the Messiah in another segment.

So, for 1500 years the People of Allah saw the Qurbani for sin year after year after year. There was a truth burned into the mind of every Israelite – the penalty of sin is death. When there is sin, the animal must die as a substitute. If someone sinned and he did not offer the Qurbani, he was cut off from Israel. The penalty had to be paid. Every Israelite knew this. The Law of God required the Qurbani for everyone who sinned; and everyone sinned! Burned into the mind of every one of the People of the Scripture were these two truths – the penalty of sin is death, but Allah allows a substitute. The covering for sin is the blood of the Qurbani.

About 1100 years after Allah gave His Law to His people, something very strange happened. The voice of the prophets ceased. No prophet came to Israel for 400 years! Then suddenly, a strange man clothed in camel hair and living in the wilderness, began to speak to the People of Allah. His name was Yahya. Finally, Allah had sent another prophet to Israel. His message was simple. He told people to “repent (turn back to Allah) for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”[25] The One that Allah had promised was coming!

Then one day, Isa came to Yahya. When Yahya saw Isa he said: “Behold the Lamb of Allah who takes away the sin of the world.”[26] When the people of Allah heard this, it must have sounded very strange to them. They knew what a lamb that takes away sin was. It was the Qurbani that Allah required. But this was not an animal, this was a man! What did Yahya mean? Who was this Isa?

For the next three and a half years, Isa lived and taught among the people of Allah. He performed countless numbers of amazing miracles. On two occasions he fed thousands of people with only a few pieces of bread and some small fish. He blessed the food and it was multiplied to feed the thousands. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, caused the lame to walk, and made even lepers whole again. He commanded storms to cease; even the winds and rain obeyed him. He even raised the dead to life again.

And he taught amazing things that the people had never heard before. He taught that Allah is not just some distant ruler, but He loves us like a Father. He taught that Allah cared about our needs and wants to be involved in our lives. He also taught that Allah wants us to be in heaven with Him one day.

He taught that sin separates us from the love of Allah. He also taught that sin was more than just our outward acts. He said that if we are angry at our brother, we are in danger of judgment. He said that if we look on a woman to lust after her, we are guilty of adultery. He said that if we give alms or pray only to be seen by men, we are deceivers and are not pleasing to Allah. He taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He taught that if we are going to be pleasing to Allah we must be clean on the inside – in our heart.[27]

Isa’s closest followers were called “disciples”, which means learners or followers. He also taught his disciples some things they did not like or understand. He said, “I did not come to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom (payment) for many.”[28] He told disciples that he would soon go to Jerusalem to be accused by the religious leaders and to die and to be raised again on the third day. They were confused and upset when Isa said this. Allah was unfolding the mystery of the ages before their eyes, but they did not understand.

The religious leaders grew very angry with Isa. They did not like his teaching, because it exposed the evil in their hearts. They did not think they were sinners and it made them angry when Isa told them of the sin in their hearts. So they began to plot against him. But since Israel was ruled by the Romans, they had no authority to put Isa to death. They had to turn him over to the Romans and hope that they would put him to death.

They took him to the Romans and accused him of wanting to be the King of Israel and rebelling against Rome. The Roman governor asked Isa if he was the King of Israel. Isa said yes, but that his kingdom was not of this world. Isa came to establish the Kingdom of Allah – a spiritual Kingdom that will last forever; just as Allah had foretold through Dawood.

The Romans condemned Isa to die. The way that the Romans killed a person was by crucifixion. This means that they nailed a person to a cross and left him there until he died. It was a very cruel and painful means of execution.

The Romans and Jewish leaders thought they were following their own plans, but this was the plan of Allah! In the Qur'an, in Sura Al Imran ayya we read that Allah said, “O Isa, I will cause you to die and raise you to Myself.” The Injiil tells us that Isa plainly told his disciples, “No one takes my life from me; I lay it down. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again.”[29]

When Isa was nailed to the cross he said, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”[30] Isa suffered in agony upon the cross for six hours. As he died he said, ”Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” But before he died, he said something very important. He said simply “It is finished.”[31] In the original language of the Injiil this was only one word. It was a very common word. It meant that a debt was paid in full. When someone owed a debt and paid that last payment, this one word would be written on the document of debt. It meant that the debt was completely paid. This is what Isa said right before he died!

Now the great mystery of the ages was becoming clear! The blood of animals was not enough. As the Injiil says:

For the Law was a shadow of good things to come, not the very image to the things. In those sacrifices was a reminder of sins year by year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.[32]

For someone to pay the penalty of my sin and your sin, it had to be a person, like us. But it had to be a perfect person, a righteous person. Even if I were willing to die to be the substitute for you, I could not because I have my own sin. Even if you were willing to die for me you could not because you have your own sin. It is the same for every person who has ever been born.

Because the Spirit of Allah was fully dwelling in Isa, he was able to resist every sin. The Injil tells us plainly:

We have a great High Priest (one who mediates for us with Allah), who has passed through the heavens – Isa. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with (understand) our weaknesses, but was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.[33]

Only Isa was perfectly pure and without sin, so only Isa could be the proper Qurbani for our sins. The Injiil says:

Allah made Him (Isa) who knew no sin to become sin for us that in Him we might become the righteousness of Allah.[35]

Masih (Isa) has suffered once, the righteous one for the unrighteous ones that He might bring us to Allah.[36]

Isa claims and the Injiil claims that Isa died to take away our sins. He died to remove the sins that separate us from the presence of Allah.

Anyone could say I will die for your sins. But Allah proved that everything Isa said was true by raising Him from the dead! The Injiil tells us that:

Allah has appointed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has appointed (Isa). He has given assurance of this to all men by raising Him from the dead.[37]

Three days after He was crucified, Isa rose from the dead. Over a period of 40 days he appeared to His followers many times. Once he appeared to over 500 of them at one time! None of them ever denied that they had seen Isa alive from the dead. Many of these followers of Isa had to die for their faith. But they could not deny what they had seen with their own eyes – that Isa had been raised from the dead! In the Injiil, when they were threatened, they said, “How can we help but tell the things that we have seen and heard?”[38]

This message of Isa is called the Gospel (“Injiil” in the Arabic Quran) which means “Good New”. In the Arabic Qur’an it is Injiil. It was Good News of “a Word from Allah” that Jabreel brought to Maryam. This Good News had been hidden but was being revealed in Isa who came forth from Allah.

Allah, by His Spirit came into this world in Isa and empowered Him to live without sin. Then Isa became the Qurbani for our sins. He died to pay the penalty for our sin. He said the debt was paid in full. Then Allah raised Him from the dead, proving that what Isa claimed was true. Here is the good news - Isa told us that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life in heaven with Allah.

After the forty days, Isa ascended into heaven with Allah. Before He ascended he commanded His disciples:

And He (Isa) said to them (disciples), “Go into all the world and tell the Gospel (Injill, Good News) to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.[39]

The wages (penalty) of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Isa Masih.[40]

Like Ibrahim, if you believe what Allah has shown you about Isa and become His follower Allah will give you the gift of eternal life. The Injiil says:

For Allah so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.[41]

Ah, but we have raised a troubling topic, haven’t we. The Injiil calls Isa the “Son of Allah”. I hope you will not walk away at this point. Please take the time to consider what is in Segment 4, titled “More than a prophet?”

[1] Ezekiel 29:11-15

[2] Isaiah (Eshiah) 14:12-14

[3] Revelation 12:3,9

[4] Malachi 3:6

[5] Psalm 9:8

[6] I Kings 8:46

[7] Jeremiah 17:9

[8] Isaiah 64:6

[9] Romans 3:10,3:23 and 6:23

[10] Genesis 3:15

[11] Romans 5:12

[12] This story is found in Genesis 4:1-16

[13] Genesis 6:5-6 The story of Nue is found in Genesis chapters 6-9

[14] Genesis 12:1-3 The stories of Ibrahim are found in Genesis chapters 12-25

[15] Genesis 15:6

[16] Hebrews 11:6

[17] Genesis 22:7-8 The story of Ibrahim offering his son as a Qurbani is found in Genesis 22:1-18

[18] Exodus 20:1-17 This story of Musa leading Isreal Egypt to Mt. Sanai is found in Exodus chapters 1-20

[19] I Kings 8:38

[20] I John 1:8

[21] Romans 7:22-24

[22] II Samuel 7:12,16

[23] Isaiah 7:14

[24] Isaiah 53:6

[25] Matthew 3:2

[26] John 1:29

[27] These teachings of Isa are found in Matthew chapters 5-7.

[28] Matthew 20:28

[29] John 10:18

[30] Luke 23:34

[31] John 19:30

[32] Hebrews 10:1-4

[33] Hebrews 4:14-15

[34] I John 3:5

[35] II Corinthians 5:21

[36] I Peter 3:18

[37] Acts 17:31

[38] Acts 4:20

[39] Mark 16:15

[40] Romans 6:23

[41] John 3:16



Home \| Genealogy of the Prophets \| Isa in the Qur’an \| The Before Scriptures \| Great Mystery of the Ages \| More Than a Prophet! \| The Greatest Gift \| Contact Info