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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God CHAPTER XXXII: THE TRUE GOD’S LOVE AND COVENANTSIshmael’s Jealousy - God’s Covenant With Abraham Was Through Isaac One must, then, consider that Muhammad and the Arab nation which followed his teachings, are actually evidencing jealousy concerning the fact that this Scripture which Jesus certified shows decisively that the Eternal Covenant which God made with Abraham was something that God had declared was ONLY to be with Isaac and his descendants - not through Ishmael and his descendants, or anyone else! But let us look more closely at what actually took place between God and Abraham, for some in Islam like to pretend that Bani Israel simply made themselves out to be ‘the chosen people of God’. Instead we find it was Abraham’s submission to the will of God (i.e. he was true ‘muslim’/submitted to the Divine Will) that brought about the special status of Bani Israel. Let us examine the evidence. First, we note that God chose Abraham, sent him from his home land to Canaan, and promised that the land of Canaan [some like to call it ‘Palestine’ today] would be an everlasting possession for Abraham and his offspring. The complete record of the Torah says: "The LORD had said to Abraham, "Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abraham left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot [Lut] went with him. Abraham was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and all the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. Abraham travelled through the land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The LORD appeared to Abraham and said, "To your offspring I will give this land."" (Genesis 12: 1-7) We find that after a time Abrahams’ and Lot’s possessions grew so much that they chose to part company and live in different parts of the land: "The LORD said to Abraham after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring for ever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." (Genesis 13:14-17) 359 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God But, who were these ‘offspring of Abraham’, for we find that through all this time Abraham had no offspring:"After this the word of the LORD came to Abraham in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield, your very great reward." But Abraham said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abraham said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." The the word of the LORD came to him; "This man will not be your heir Abraham believed God and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." (Genesis 15:1-7) It is here that God made a covenant with Abraham, and it is in the Words of God spoken here that we first find what differentiates ‘Abraham’s descendants’ from all other peoples: "As the sun was setting, Abraham fell into deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and ill-treated four hundred years. But, I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking brazier with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces [of the animal carcasses]. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abraham and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river Euphrates - the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites,Girgashites and Jebusites." (Genesis 15:12-21;emphasis added) Only Bani Israel were slaves in Egypt and were brought out of there by God to this land after 400 years. This is upheld in many passages of the Torah and Prophets, where one finds God declaring: "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt to be your God" (Numbers 15:41) It is obvious that this is Bani Israel. Yet Moses also said to Bani Israel: "He chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today." (Deut. 10:12-15) Daud (David) also stated both these points: ""That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; ... 360 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the LORD our God; His judgements are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant for ever, The word he commanded, For a thousand generations, The covenant he made with Abraham, The oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, To Israel as an everlasting covenant: To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion you will inherit." (1 Chronicles 16:7, 13-18) We also find: "There is no God like you, O LORD, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel - the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You made your people Israel your very own for ever, and you, O LORD, have become their God." (1 Chronicles 17:20-22) This brings us to recognise the truth in the rest of the Torah’s account of God’s dealing with Abraham. For though Ishmael was the son of Abraham through Sarah’s servant Hagar, yet God declared that Ishmael was NOT the heir of Abraham’s covenant, but a son coming from Sarah was to be his heir. Let us read the whole account: "When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. Abraham fell face down, and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you, and I will be their God." Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For 361 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner - those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people, he has broken my covenant." God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!" Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will make him into great nation. But my covenant, I will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."" (Genesis 17:1-22) In the midst of all that transpired we see that before Abraham had another son after Ishmael, God told him that He would establish His covenant with a son through Sarah - He named him as Isaac. God had thus determined that He would give Abraham a special son, one born through a Promise of God, not born through Abraham’s efforts to produce an heir. Sarah, as old as she was, was also to be blessed by God, and the blessing corresponded with what God had given to Abraham, that she would be "the mother of nations; kings of peoples" would come from her. God exalted both of them. Everyone knows the account in the Torah of how after Isaac was born Ishmael mocked young Isaac which made Sarah angry and brought her demand that Ishmael and Hagar be sent away. While many in Islam accuse Abraham of ‘giving in’ to Sarah in this matter, the Scripture tells us that though Abraham was greatly distressed over such a thought, God agreed with Sarah, and told Abraham why: "The matter distressed Abraham because it concerned his son. But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation because he is your offspring." (Genesis 21:11-13) Thus the fact that Hagar had also borne a son to Abraham did not in any way change God’s mind concerning the covenant He was making with 362 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God Abraham and his descendants, for Ishmael was not to be the bearer of the covenant, and Abraham’s descendants were not to be counted through Ishmael! GOD’S WILL WAS DONE - NOT SARAH’S. Some in Islam like to declare that Abraham’s sending away Hagar and Ishmael with only a skin of water and some food was behaviour unbecoming a prophet - to them it is a sign of ‘corruption’ of the Scripture! Instead it was again Abraham’s obedience to God and HIS TRUST IN GOD’S PROMISE THAT ISHMAEL WOULD BE "A GREAT NATION" that made him able to send them away in such a fashion, for he knew that God would look after them both and fulfil His Word no matter what way they went out! Abraham was not only a ‘muslim’, he was man of Faith! We see in the Torah that when Abraham’s son Isaac was older, God confirmed with him the covenant He had made with Abraham. Again, when Isaac’s son Jacob was old enough, God confirmed with him the covenant which had been made with Isaac and Abraham. God renamed Jacob with the name ISRAEL. It is obvious that God considered these men to be the only ones through whom Abraham’s descendants would be reckoned as these are the only ones with whom God confirmed the covenant with Abraham. It is through Abraham’s grandson Israel (Jacob) that that the name of the nation ‘Israel’ came. Islam calls them BANI ISRAEL. Understanding The Covenant-Love (Chesed) Of The True God At the time when God fulfilled His promise to Abraham to bring his descendants out of Egypt, God reaffirmed His intentions for the descendants of Israel and made another covenant: "Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob, and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.’" So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD." (Genesis 19:3-8) So, on top of the everlasting covenant which was made with Abraham and his descendants, God established another covenant with Bani Israel, the 363 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God covenant of the Law - the Ten Commandments. Even though they immediately rebelled against Him by worshipping a gold calf, God did not cast them off but punished them. Even when they rebelled and refused to enter the land God promised to Abraham for fear of the giants, God only led them through the desert for forty years until all who had rebelled had died off. HE DID NOT BREAK HIS COVENANT WITH THEM! After the forty years were over he made a further covenant with them, a covenant of blessings and cursings to which the people agreed. In this covenant, if the people broke the covenant and did the things deserving of a curse, then God cursed them with what the covenant decreed was to be done! When the people kept the covenant, God blessed them - again, according to what they had agreed to in the covenant. One can read innumerable times in the writings of the prophets how the people worshipped idols, etc., and how God scattered them according to His covenant of cursings and blessings. NEVER DID HE CAST THEM OFF because of his everlasting covenant with Abraham’s descendants! This is evident in the following declaration of Moses to the people: "When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from their the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul and live. The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies, who hate and persecute you. You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. Then the LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD your God will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deut. 30:1-10) All this is the result of the depth of God’s ‘covenant-love’, His chesed 364 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God (a Hebrew word) which He maintains toward those with whom He has made His covenant. "Your love (chesed) has been like a morning cloud" (Hosea 6:4) This shows that God considered the chesed (covenant-love) of Bani Israel to be like a cloud that is quickly dispersed when the sun heats up the air! It lasts but a moment. Still God never changed His chesed: "I the LORD do not change, and so you, O descendants of Jacob are not destroyed." (Malachi 3:6)
But Islam does not know this God and His Ways. It does assert ‘99 Names Of God’ amongst which are what it terms the ‘attributes’ of God, such as ‘Loving’ and ‘Merciful’. Yet, when it comes to whether its followers actually believe there is any connection between these ‘names’ and their God’s character, it appears they do not. We take the following two citations as examples. From Al-Gazzali: "Love is to sense a need of the beloved and since Allah cannot be said to have a need or an experience of a need, it is therefore impossible that Allah should love." (cited from Islam As It Sees Itself..., Nehls, p. 86; emphasis added) And from ibn Hazm: "While the Qur’an uses the name Allah, which means ‘the most merciful of those who show mercy’, this cannot mean that he is merciful in the way we understand the word, for Allah is evidently not merciful. He tortures his children with all manner of sickness and warfare and sorrow. What then does the Qur’an mean? Simply that ‘merciful’ is one of Allah’s names. A name that is not in any way descriptive of Allah or meant to throw light on his nature. We must use it because the Qur’an uses it, but not pretend to understand what is meant by it." "The word originally used in the Qur’an must have had a different meaning in that day which we cannot really understand today. Nevertheless, we must continue to use the word, because we cannot change the words of the Qur’an." (Ibid.) These men represent two streams within Islam [we realise that ibn Hazm is consisdered very extreme in some matters], yet they drew the same conclusion - the God of Muhammad is not perceived as being what these ‘names’ assert. How is this possible except that for them the baffling Qur’an and their own particular Sunnah did not present a different picture. And no wonder, for the followers of Islam look in the Ahadith and find statements attributed to Muhammad which declare that God will not even 365 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God act consistently on the Day of Judgement!! Surely it must be fully expected that the rest of the ‘99 names’ for God are also simply ‘names’ which have no particular connection to the character or nature of the Deity of Muhammad. The Bismillah - "In the name of God the Benificent, the Merciful" - is thus a completely misleading statement for it represents itself as presenting a true picture - though in fact it does not. Neither can anyone expect to find that the terms the Compassionate, Just, Faithful, Clement, Forgiving, Generous, Grateful, Advocate, Righteous, Accepter of Repentance or Patient, to name a few, have any reality either - on the Day of Judgement. In fact the God of Islam is so distant, so unidentified on a personal level with the individual [i.e. God is said to speak only to Prophets], that one can readily perceive that this presents another God from the One in the Torah, Zabur, Prophets and Injil. The True God is revealed in the Torah, Zabur, Prophets and Injil as dealing on a personal level with the individual; as being truly in relationship with His People; as being truly Merciful and Loving in His interpersonal dealing with them. Furthermore, He is always seen to act uniformly in Justice, Faithfulness, etc.; the Way He will respond to the individual is known; His revelation is never ‘retrieved’ because the people find it overwhelming - like happened with Muhammad’s ‘revelation’. No one can know how Muhammad’s 'God' will act for it is asserted that he can act however he likes. Muhammad’s 'God' can give a ’revelation’ one minute then, finding the people overwhelmed by it, remove it and give something less intimidating - indicating also that there was no knowledge beforehand of how the people would react. The Islamic perception of God is surely a reflection of the baffling Qur’an, not of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Who revealed Himself as recorded in the non-baffling Torah and Injil. Look at what we have seen of God’s Covenant-love to Bani Israel in the Torah and Prophets - can one see any inconsistency there? NO! Or what about the Injil? There we see that Jesus came to reveal the very nature of God to us through his own life, actions and words. Jesus said "If you have seen me you have seen the Father". These are not idle words. There is every difference between what Jesus lived and what Islam asserts as the Sunnah of Muhammad, and the Life of this One Who as the Eternal (non-sexual) Son of God came to reveal the 366 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God Father through Himself. Mankind thus has, in Jesus’ life example, the very picture of the true God’s Ways!! Here was One who came to reveal the Father to mankind so they could know His Character clearly - and find HOPE and TRUST! This is why Jesus is called "the Word" of God. He is the very expression of the True God. No display can be clearer than this. In Him the Father has ‘spoken’ in many ways including revealing His character, His Nature, His perfect Will. When in Jesus we see Love, Mercy, Kindness, Compassion, Forgiveness, Justice, etc, we KNOW that this is what truly characterises the True God Who does not ‘use’ these words as misleading ‘names’. Instead they are His true Attributes - His very Being and Eternal Nature are truly described by them. The True God is not a ‘shifty’ character who acts arbitrarily as He pleases! One CAN recognise in His Ways consistency and uniformity. Anyone who is in Covenant relationship with the True God can always know where he stands with Him. No Covenant With Muhammad Of course, Muhammad, not knowing this, tried to make it appear as if the fact that Bani Israel often broke the Covenant meant that it was over. [He seems to have ignored entirely mention of the New Covenant in Jesus’ Blood.] He even went so far as to declare that there was a ‘covenant’ written about him in the Torah! Yet neither of these are true. The followers of Islam need only understand the covenant-love of the Living God to perceive exactly why no Covenant prophet was ever coming from out side His chosen people Israel. Perhaps it would be well to examine carefully a portion of the Torah which is so often cited by the followers of Islam and said to speak of Muhammad. Note that the first line declares it to be the blessing of Moses upon the Israelites whom he had called together before he died, and that the later lines confirm this giving blessings only upon the 10 sons of Jacob, not upon Ishmael or his descendants: "This is the blessing wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. He said: "The LORD [Elohim] came from Sinai And dawned over them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran. 367 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God He came with myriads of holy ones From the south, from his mountain slopes. Surely it is you who love the people; All the holy ones are in your hand. At your feet they all bow down, and from you receive instruction, the law that Moses gave us, The possession of the assembly of Jacob. He was king over Jeshurun When the leaders of the people assembled, Along with the tribes of Israel. "Let Rueben live and not die, nor his men be few." And this he said about Judah: "Hear, O LORD [Elohim], the cry of Judah; bring him to his people. With his own hands he defends his cause, Oh, be his help against his foes!" (Deut. 33:1-7; emphasis added) The text continues with blessings upon the Tribes of Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulun, Gad, Dan, Naphtali and Asher. Finally this chapter ends with: "Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, A people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper And your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places." (Deut. 33:29) This all happened immediately before Moses died. He pronounced no blessing upon Ishmael for that was not his purpose! Ishmael’s only blessing, aside from God’s promise to Abraham that He would also bless Ishmael and promised there would be 12 princes come from him, would only be that he would be blessed if he blessed Israel. [No wonder the lands of Ishmael are like desert!] All the prophets wrote like this and it can only be that the jealousy of Ishmael is what makes the followers of Islam unable to submit to God’s will in this matter. The followers of Islam have not examined with care the words which the prophets have written. They have not realised that these are the Words of God and that they have been deceived by Shaitan (Satan) concerning what is the truth and what is falsehood. 368 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God The fact that it is admitted that Muhammad was not a descendant of Bani Israel is ‘Proof’ enough that he was not descended from those who God declared were to be considered ‘descendants of Abraham’. ONLY from among these people did the Prophets of the Covenants arise. As for Muhammad’s thinking that God would cast off Bani Israel, this only shows his great lack of understanding concerning the True God’s love. The covenant-love of the True God, His chesed, was not shallow like the covenant-love of Bani Israel, it lasts forever. The ‘Remnant’ Kept By God Let us examine one of the prophet’s writings which shows this incredible chesed of the True God. The prophet Hosea revealed what God showed him: "When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness because the land is guilty of the the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." So he married Gomer daughter of Diblam, and she conceived and bore him a son." (Hosea 1:2, 3) After describing all the wicked ways of Bani Israel, God sent Hosea to gain back his own wife who had become adulterous - as a sign to Israel of how great His chesed (covenant-love) was for them(!): "The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." (Hosea 3:1) How many times God scattered His People Israel for doing their own adulterous acts!! Yet, each time God scattered His people in His anger, He always left what He called "A REMNANT", a small group whom He would promise to recall to Himself so that His covenant promise to Abraham would be kept. In the time of Jesus, God took again "a remnant" from Bani Israel. These were those who accepted the New Covenant made through al-Masih (the Messiah - Jesus). This was the Last Covenant as foretold in the prophets. God had declared through Jeremiah that He would give the people who entered this covenant a new heart and put a right spirit in them so they would want to follow and love Him: ""The time is coming", declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be 369 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God like the covenant I made with them when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them .," declares the LORD."This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sin no more." This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the LORD almighty is his name: "Only if all these decrees vanish from my sight" declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done." declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 31: 31- 37) We who are in this New Covenant "KNOW THE LORD"!!!! The Companions and Tabi'un of Jesus made it clear that Jesus was the one who brought the fulfilment of this New Covenant, and that it was a covenant in his blood as was foretold by the prophet Isaiah: "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can count his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 370 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among; the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53) This clearly portrays, among other things, the suffering and death of someone for the sin of the people. The Companions and Tabi'un of Jesus said it was to establish the Covenant as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah in which people would "KNOW THE LORD"! God’s Promise To Bless The Whole World Through Abraham’s ‘Seed’ The Companions and Tabi'un of Jesus declared that Jesus was the one who fulfilled all these Scripture of the prophets. Furthermore, they declared that Jesus was the ‘seed’ of Abraham through whom God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled. As He said: "Through your seed [offspring] all nations on earth will be blessed." However, some in Islam assert that the Covenants of God with Bani Israel were for them only, and were not for others. This they say denies the universality of the blessing through Jesus. Yet, it is clear on examination that this was not so. These covenants with Bani Israel could be entered by other people who recognised that God was with Bani Israel. The Israelites themselves sought to bring others into these Covenants. For example, we find that Jesus chastised some in Bani Israel, not for calling others to the purity of the Covenant of God, but for corrupting them after they brought them in! He said: "Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." (Matt. 23:15) Thus when the Companions and Tabi'un of Jesus record that Jesus told his followers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, this was entirely 371 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God in keeping with what had always been done by God’s covenant people. Those in Bani Israel who believed the Atonement of Jesus were the final ‘remnant’ of Believers from Bani Israel as it is they alone of them who accepted God’s Final Covenant. The Companions and Tabi'un of Jesus acknowledged that these people are the "descendants of Abraham", not simply because of their physical descent through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but because they expressed, as their father Abraham had done, faith in God’s declared Covenant Purpose. This made them Abraham’s spiritual descendants. By their sharing the Message of the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood with the whole world, they spread the Message by which God fulfilled His Promise to Abraham that the whole world would be blessed through his ‘seed’ [offspring]. This change of Covenant under Jesus is why the terms ‘Old Testament’ and ‘New Testament’, are used of the Judeo-Christian Scripture. The terms ‘Old Testament’ and ‘New Testament’ are merely the result of the Latin word ‘testamentum’, the word used in the early Latin Vulgate to translate the Hebrew word for covenant ‘berith’, being translated into English. Even Yusuf Ali admits this stating: "The modern Christian terms "Old Testament" and "New Testament" are substitutes for the older terms "Old Covenant" and "New Covenant"." (Appendix II) We who know the New (and Final) Covenant of the Living God have come under the everlasting ‘Covenant-Love’ (chesed) of the True God which is showering upon all the people among the nations those who have faith in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on the cross for mankind. The followers of Islam, as all the other people of the earth, do not have a covenant of Salvation with God for they reject His Final and Only Covenant of Salvation which He has held out to all men. There is no chesed for them. "We Are Sons Of God And His Beloved... Nay Ye Are But Men" It is obvious from reading the Qur’an and the Sunnah that Muhammad did not "KNOW THE LORD", for the ‘God’ of whom he spoke did not show this desire to be known personally by men through a 'covenant'. The Qur’anic statement "He is nearer than your jugular" does not show any such thing. Neither did Muhammad understand the joy of the people of God’s 372 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God Covenant-Love when they said "We are sons of God and His beloved". "We are sons of God and His beloved." say Nay you are but men..." Yet, the Scripture declares that the very reason God punished His people was because He chose them alone of all the people of the earth to betroth (marry) them to Himself - and they were unfaithful in the Covenant of blessing and cursing He had made with them. As He said through the prophet Amos: "Hear the word the LORD [Elohim] has spoken against you, O people of Israel - against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your sins..." (Amos 3:1-2) In the New Covenant in Jesus’ Blood we find again the Covenant-love of the True God. Though we may fall into sin, yet He will not cast us out of His Covenant! He will be angered and not listen when we pray, but, when we repent He will, in like manner to an angry father, forgive us and restore us to full fellowship with Himself. The Blood which Jesus shed on the cross was intended to cleanse the children forever. Only those who turn away from the New Covenant will He turn His back upon forever. Islam - A New Religion - Not In The Covenant Of Abraham There is every evidence to prove that the Gospel records and the teachings they convey should be accepted as God’s Truth, and that the religion of Islam should be recognised as a new religion which arose after Jesus and whose teachings are Error. We see this type of thing often in the West. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, are one such group. Another is the Mormons. They are too many to list. In their efforts to make the existing revealed teachings appear to be ‘error’, each has declared itself to be ‘the true religion’. This is the easy way to portray innovation as ‘true religion’ for it convinces the only people who need to be convinced, the followers of the religion. In such circumstances it does not matter what history shows, or what is plainly evident, only what the ‘inner circle of the prophet’ can be convinced of is ‘the reality’. Some of these even produced a ‘new Book’ to back up their teachings! Those in Islam, having been raised in just such an ‘inner circle’ have been convinced, as these groups have, that they alone are carrying the Truth. 373 |
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Part 9: The Covenant-Love Of God They need only recall the concepts of Islam interlinking the Qur’an and Muhammad’s claim to ‘Prophethood’, something expressed in the following words: "It [Qur’an] is the only miracle which had united together the claim and the proof of the prophethood. All other miracles of the holy Prophet and the previous prophets, needed a separate declaration that the miracle shown was in support of the claim of the prophethood. Qur’an is not so. It contains in itself repeated claims of the prophethood of the Holy Prophet. Therefore, if one accepts the miracle of the Qur’an, he automatically accepts the truth of the prophethood of Muhammad Mustafa (s.a.w.). ... All other miracles appeared at a given time and then vanished; and now there is no way to prove that such a miracle ever appeared. But Qur’an is a permanent miracle which will continue upto the last days of the world. (It was because the prophethood of the Holy Prophet is to continue upto the end of the world)." (Prophethood, Allamah Rizvi, p. 36f)) This ‘miracle of the Qur’an’ too seems to have "vanished". The reason some in Islam have not recognised the true state of the Quran and Islam is because they have exercised ‘blind trust’: "The entire Muslim Ummah believes that these noble companions were the vanguards of Islam and the best of all the believers. Consequently no questions have ever been raised about the authenticity of the Holy Qur’an." (The Sunni And Shi’ah Perspective..., Salamah, p. 9; emphasis added) Now the time of such ignorance is past and we, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, call the followers of Islam to Repentance and Turning - to examine honestly what the True God had revealed before Muhammad’s time. The writings of the Companions and Tabii of Jesus state plainly that God will not strive with men forever. He has set a Day when He will Judge men by His (non-sexual) Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture asserts "Today is the Day of Salvation" - let it be so for you. Now, while you have the opportunity, examine yourself honestly. May the Lord help you as you turn to His Truth. Be faithful. - Brother Mark (Oct. 10, 1999) Back To Main Index 374 |