In the name of Allah, most gracious and most merciful.
..Jesus's predictions of his deliverance from murder
From the beginning of Jesus's call until the lastest day, we find that the Gospels remind us from time to time that
he rejected the idea of killing him and denounced it completely. As he worked a lot to thwart all the attempts being made by the Jews
.
:The Gospel of John says (7:16 19)
“16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. 18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? (John 7)”
“40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. (John 8: 37-40)
As Jesus is an ordinary human being like all human beings, he is ignorant of what fate is. Therefore, he took precautions to avoid falling into the
.clutches of his Jewish enemies
If he knew that they would arrest him on a certain day,
why then those
??precautions
:The Gospel of John says
“1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. (John 7)”
“53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. 54
Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, … (John 11)”
I will now confine to mentioning a several of clear predictions made by Jesus that he would survive the killing, which are consistent with the precautions he took to preserve his life.
1-
:It happened once in one of the attempts to arrest him that
“32 ... and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. 33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek me,
and shall not find me:
and where I am, thither ye cannot* come. (John 7)”
I do not think anyone doubts the clarity of this saying, which means that when the Jews seek Jesus to kill him, they will not find him because he will go to the one who sent him.
That is, Allah will raise him to him as he raised (Elijah) and his disciple Elisha saw him ascending to heaven.
2- In another situation of defiance between Jesus and the Jews, he assured them of his previous prophecy and that their attempts against him
would end by raising him to heaven
.
“21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot* come.
22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill* himself? because he saith,
Whither I go, ye cannot* come. .... 28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
29
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8)”
But that crucified man, he shouted desperately
n the cross, saying
“?Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani “
3- The lastest words of Jesus to his disciples were in those moments immediately before the arrest, which was his assurance to them that God
:is always with him and will not leave him
“32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;
I have overcome the world. (John 16)”
It is equally certain that that crucifix was conquered by his enemies,
.conquered by death, and subjected to his dominion
4- In the last stormy encounter between Jesus and the Jewish priesthood,
:he said
“39 For I say unto you,
Ye shall not see me henceforth*, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Matthew 23)
The challenge in this statement is clear, Jesus assures his enemies that they will not see him from that hour until he comes at the end of the world
.with strength and great glory
But that crucified man was seen by the Jewish priesthood as a prisoner in his grip during the trial
and then they saw him hanging on the stage as a dead man and there was nothing left of him except a lifeless body that had .lost the pulse of life
:I borrowed the language of Jesus in the Gospel, saying
“15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11) “
.And whoever hears, must understand
to be continued…
By: Al-Athram