30 Oct Same God/Different God
Do Muslims, Jews and Christians have the same God?
Each of the three belief systems trace their history back to Abraham, who despite all odds, surrounded by pagan idolatry came to find the one true God, the Lord. From Abraham came Isaac, then Jacob, then the children of Israel, and ultimately Christ. Both Israel (aka the Jews) and the New Israel (aka Christians) descend historically from Abraham.
Abraham also had another son, Ishmael, who roughly speaking is where Arabs descended from, and influenced by both Christianity and Judaism, the belief of Islam also emerged in the 6th century AD. So historically Islam also descends from Abraham.
It’s clear there is a historical way of understanding that Muslims, Jews and Christians have the same God. It is when you ignore history and try to describe this God from the three perspectives, that this God does not seem to be the same.
The most substantial difference is that of Jesus Christ.
Paul wrote that Jesus (the Son) is, ‘the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created, and is supreme over all creation.’ Colossians 1:15 (NLT)
And the apostle John wrote about Jesus saying, ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched, this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.’ 1 John 1:1
For both apostles, while God is invisible, untouchable and transcendent, he was revealed to humanity in the form of a person, Jesus. And Jesus was visible, touchable, and lived here with us. It is through Jesus that we have come to know what God is truly like.
And Jesus isn’t separate to God, he IS God. And that can also be seen in both the above quotes, where Jesus existed before creation, is supreme over creation, and is in fact ‘the word of life.’
So while historically the three faiths have the same God, the revelation of Christ has separated the understanding of who God is. Sadly many Jewish people have missed that point, although the entire early church was Jewish and all the scriptures except for those written by Luke were written by Jews. We are so thankful for, and full of love towards all Jewish people.
Islam accepts Jesus as a prophet. They picked up they Jesus was special in ways that other people were not. They understood he was born of a virgin, was sinless, and remains alive, one day to judge the world. They are so close to the kingdom of God, and we love them too.
Would you pray for Muslims and Jews, may the Lord bless them, may He open their eyes, and bring them into a fuller understanding of who Jesus is, and his great love for them. Do you know a specific Jew or Muslim? How can you love them? How can you serve them? How can you pray and bless them?
Image: By Yourway-to-israel – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33380172
No Comments