Islam meets Jesus

“’The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; the idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; and they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor, city against city and kingdom against kingdom. Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; and I will confound their strategy, so that they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead and to mediums and spiritists. … “ (Isa 19:1-4)

“Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.’“ (Isa 19:21-25)

*Place your cursor over a Scripture reference and it will appear.

Journal,

The upheaval is making its way through the Isl?mic world. This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are other elements that must come into play. Actually the world will enter into a time of fermentation and turmoil. The Bible speaks of the shaking of the nations. All this is necessary to the second coming of Jesus Christ. However, the Lord said that when we began to see the dismay among the nations we are to lift up our heads, because our redemption is drawing near. (Cf. Luke 21:25-28)

As for Islam, while the most recent government overturn began in Tunisia, it has spread swiftly to Egypt and is continuing with inroads into other Muslim nations. But we need not be caught off guard. We are told beforehand of the things that will take place at the closing of this age. For one thing the prophet Isaiah calls attention to the agitation that we are now seeing in Egypt. [Read the afore Scriptures carefully for a clear description of Egypt today.]

Many are little aware of how exact the story of redemption history is laid out by the Old Testament prophets. Isaiah lived 700 years before Christ, and yet he gives exact prophecies about both the first and the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Isaiah spoke of things in eternity passed. He spoke of the times that he lived in, and he set forth how God’s redemption plan would work its way through in the far distant future. His fulfilled prophecies are too far many to try to list in this entry.

Islam also treats Isaiah as a prophet. For instance it is of great interest to see the succession of Southern Sudan into an independent nation. They are basing their move to independence on Isaiah 18. Then according to Isaiah 19, Egypt, and Assyria, and Israel are going to be in league together. It will be a league based on these nation groups turning to the Lord Jesus. [Assyria during the time of Isaiah would include Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and other regional Isl?mic nations.]

God gave these ancient servants of old the prophetic foundation for His plan of redemption. The apostles were instructed to do their work from what had already been written by the prophets. Every prophecy was to have its fulfillment.

Jesus to the apostles —

“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.'” (Luk 24:44-47)

Notice Jesus said that every thing that had been written by the prophets must be fulfilled. Christianity did not begin as some upstart new religion. Our very foundation comes from what had been revealed to the prophets. The apostles were to take these ancient writings by way of instruction in laying the foundation for the new covenant people of Christ. The apostle said,

“… for through Him [Jesus Christ] we both [Jew and Gentile] have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Eph 2:18-22)

The apostle also said that we are never to exceed “what is written.” (1Co4:6)

When Peter spoke to the crowd about the miracle healing of the blind man, he said,

“And now brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance [in crucifying Jesus], just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” (Acts3:18)

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I won’t pretend to know how all this plays out. Some things are very clear while other things have to be seen in their time. One thing we do know is that God’s work of redemption began in Jerusalem. It will end in Jerusalem.
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The Dome of the Rock (the Golden Dome) is built on the site of the first and the second temple in Jerusalem. It remains the holiest place in Judaism. Yet Israel has no access to the Temple Mount other than to the Western Wall. (Often referred to as the Wailing Wall.)
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In the Golden Dome there is written in Arabic, ‘God has no son.’ The world of Islam has labored under a false gospel about Jesus Christ ever since Muhammad began his religion of the sword. Muhammad perverted the gospel in saying that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, that His death on the cross had nothing to do with salvation, that Jesus was simply one of the great Messengers (prophets), that Jesus would return, would die, and would be buried.
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The greatest need in Islam today is for the Muslim people to hear the true gospel of Jesus. And that is exactly what is happening on a measure that is nothing less than astonishing. Not only are Muslims being exposed to the true testimony of Jesus, but the Lord is appearing to them in dreams and visions. Jesus is speaking into the very heart of Islam. The turmoil we are seeing in the Muslim world will be played out with the greatest movement of salvation that the world has ever seen.

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The world of Islam has been preconditioned for the gospel. While the truth of Jesus Christ has been distorted in the Quran, yet Jesus is highly regarded in the Muslim faith. He is seen both as Messiah and as one of the five great Messengers of God. Of course their idea of Messiah is not that of God Himself revealed in human form. However, it is in this high regard that the gospel will make powerful inroads into their world. Keep in mind what the apostle said about the gospel of Jesus Christ —

In Christ always,
Buddy

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