God Comes To Us

"O Children of Israel! Call to mind the special favor which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill your covenant with Me as I fulfill My Covenant with you, and fear none but Me. And believe in what I reveal... And cover not Truth with falsehood... And be steadfast in prayer; practice regular charity; and bow down your heads with those who bow down (in worship)." - Al'Baqarah 2:40-43

Just what is the fundamental difference between Islam and Christianity?

For some time now, I have been studying the Bible and the Qur'an with my friend Muhammad. As I have gone deeper into the Qur'an, the lines that divide us are becoming more clear in my mind. The above reference from the second surah represents what I think is the biggest difference.

Mohammad goes all the way back to where it all started with God and Israel, the Abrahamic Covenant. The Covenant is established here for the first time in the Qur'an and is immediately followed by what I call the "imperatives of worship". It is a call to Israel to remember the God who covenanted with them and an establishment of the foundation on which the covenant stands. What does Mohammad understand here as Israel's part of the covenant?

Several "imperatives of worship":

1. Believe in what I reveal. (2:40)
2. Cover not Truth with Falsehood. (2:41)
3. Be steadfast in prayer. (2:43)
4. Practice regular charity. (2:43)
5. Bow down your heads (in worship). (2:43)

Israel is to fulfill it's part in order that God may fulfill his side of the bargain. This understanding of God's covenant with men leads to what are known as the 5 pillars of Islam (pray 5 times each day, give alms, go on hajj, observe Ramadan, and say the Shahadda). In Islam, man must go to God. He must work and earn favor with God in order to be acceptable. God waits for man to come to Him.

This is exactly the opposite of the message we find in Genesis to which Mohammad seems to refer. Remember, Mohammad never read the Old Testament in His own language. He came a millennium after the completion of these books and almost two millenia after the writing of the Torah. Furthermore, he came from an entirely different culture hundreds of miles away. His opinion of the events of Genesis are slightly suspect.

But what do we find within the pages of Genesis? God comes to man. On the very day God establishes His covenant with Abraham, in blood, we find the sole condition placed on man for his part of the covenant. God is clear about what he is offering: a great nation, One who will rise up out of that nation, resulting in a blessing for all the world, which would serve as a great inheritance. But what does Abraham offer? Is he commanded to pray fervently, offer charity, or bow his head a certain way?

"Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." - Genesis 15:6

God came to Abraham. Abraham simply believed and God looked upon him as righteous. The very foundation of the Abrahamic Covenant is grace. Paul writes in chapter four of his letter to the Romans, "Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness."

Mohammad misunderstands the connection between the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant. Unfortunately, the Qur'an's version of the "Ten Commandments" is the foundation on which the covenant is built. This error is obvious in Al-Baqarah as Mohammad intertwines the two covenants and bases the first on the second. In the Torah we know that the "Ten Commandments" were given only after the first covenant was ratified with saving faith. God gave more specific commands to his people several hundred years later because they proved incapable of simply walking in the grace of trusting God. Their hard hearts required specific directives to point out their sinful ways and lead them to a knowledge of the grace given to Abraham.

Clearly, hard hearts continue to prevail today, especially in the Law-burdened Islamic nations. So what does this mean for our Muslim neighbors? Stop working! God says in the Zabor (Psalms): "Cease striving and know that I am God." The foundation of the covenant which God made between Himself and Israel is a trust and a belief in the God who revealed Himself to Abraham, Moses, David, and Isaiah. They trusted God as He gradually revealed Himself. To Abraham, God was the One who would bless the whole world through one of Abraham's descendants (Gen 22:18). To Moses, God was the One who showed grace on His people by teaching them what righteousness looked like (Exodus 22). To David, God was the One who did not count sins against His people because they would later be paid for in blood (Psalm 32). To Isaiah, God was the One who was sending His Suffering Servant to bear the sin of the world (Isaiah 53).

One day, as Jesus was teaching in Jerusalem, a crowd of scribes and Pharisees gathered -- their main goal to find a way to have Him killed -- providing Him an opportunity to rebuke their hard, religious hearts. He was disappointed that the Jews had not followed Abraham's example of faith. John chapter eight records their conversation:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
So the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

Many Muslims are ready to throw their stones at Jesus and His followers. I want to challenge you to consider the claims of this man you call a Rasul (Teacher). Read the Injil (New Testament), read the words of this Rasul you call Jesus. What He truly said in history, recounted to us by many witnesses will shock you. Read, and find out for yourself that God came to us.