Faith.Browser

Every Muslim has been taught this verse.

I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Matthew 15:24

Was Jesus saying that He DID NOT come for the Gentiles? And that He will have nothing to do with Gentiles?

Let’s take a closer look.

You probably know that Jesus was speaking to a Canaanite (Gentile) woman when He made this statement.

If you read the Bible, you will notice that Jesus had NUMEROUS encounters with many other Gentiles as well!  Most Muslims are unaware of this. Why?

A Roman centurion, who was not only a Gentile but a hated foreign power, asked Jesus for healing for his servant.
Did Jesus say: “Sorry, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”?

No. Jesus offered to immediately to heal the servant. Jesus even PRAISED the faith of the Gentile centurion!

“Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” Matthew 8:10

WHAT FAITH?
Why was Jesus praising a Gentile’s faith if He only came for the Jew’s faith and not for Gentiles also!? This means that the Gentile’s faith is valuable in His sight too. And in fact, this Gentile’s faith was even greater than the Jew’s!
Another time, in John 4, we see that Jesus purposely went out of His to way to talk to a Samaritan woman.
Did Jesus tell her: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”?
No. He spoke kindly to the woman. In the end, the entire Samaritan village came to hear Him and begged Him to stay with them.

“So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” John 4:40-42

Why did Jesus stay with them? They were not Jews. He stayed with them and preached and taught them and they became believers in Him! Why would He bother with them if He only came for the lost sheep of Israel?

Whenever you see this phrase, “..and Jesus crossed to the OTHER side…” that is often an indication that Jesus was going to the Gentiles. (e.g. Matt 8:28, Mark 5:1)

In the Gentile region of Gerasenes, we read of Jesus’ encounter with a crazy lunatic demon-possessed man who charges at Him screaming. (Mark 5)

They came to the OTHER SIDE of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. (Mark 5:1)

Did Jesus scream back at the demon-possessed Gentile: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel!”

No. Jesus healed the man and drove out his demons. With his sanity restored, the man asked to follow Jesus.

And Jesus instructs him: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” Mark 5;19

Why did Jesus bother with this Gentile if He had nothing to do with gentiles? The man went and spread the message Christ gave him throughout the Gentile area known as Decapolis or TEN GENTILE cities!

Decapolis was pagan Greek Gentile region. Pigs were considered sacred there.

(Remember the incident when Jesus cast out the demons and they went into the pigs and 2000 pigs rushed down a steep bank and drowned? The people there were upset and offended. “And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.” Mark 5:17
The question is why was Jesus there in the first place? In a pagan unclean Gentile place? He was there to heal and teach.)

What message did this Gentile man preach in these cities? The Bible records for us that he went and told everyone what Jesus had done for him!
Was his message effective? Yes.

Some time later, when Jesus came back to this region, a huge multitude turned up to hear him! No doubt some of them were amazed at the testimony of the man who used to be demon-possessed but now completely healed!

In fact, the feeding of the 4000 took place in the same Gentile region!
Many of the Gentile inhabitants of this “unclean place” followed Him for 3 days listening to His teachings and having Him heal their sick. Did Jesus say to them: “Go away! I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”?

No. When they were hungry, Jesus fed the entire multitude.  More than 4000 gentiles. He did the very same miracle for the Gentiles that he did for the Jews went He fed the 5000 Jews some time earlier!

Jesus was not impartial.
So why then did Jesus say: I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel to that particular Canaanite woman, when he never ever said it to any other of the thousands of Gentiles that He preached to and taught and healed?

If you read Matthew 15 carefully, I think there is a clue for us.
This Gentile woman came to Jesus crying, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

“Son of David” is a Jewish title for Messiah. It isn’t a title that Gentiles would have used.
Is this indicating that she was pretending to be a Jew hoping to trick Jesus into healing her daughter?

Perhaps that is why Jesus’ immediate reaction was not to answer her because He saw through her!

Not a single time has Jesus refused someone who asked Him for healing. You can read it for yourselves. Not once.

Even when His disciples begged Him to send her away, He did not. He was so compassionate for her that He was giving her the opportunity to be honest and truthful.
And so Jesus tests her faith by saying to her: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” indicating perhaps that He knew she was pretending to be a sheep of Israel.

Of course Jesus was speaking the truth. He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel, meaning He came as a Jewish Messiah among Jews to turn them back to God.

He was not sent as a Roman to the Romans or as an Egyptian to the the Egyptians. He did not come as a Chinese to the Chinese or as an Indian to the Indians.
He was sent as a Jew to the Jews! He was sent to “the sheep of Israel,” He is simply connecting His presence with God’s purpose in Old Testament history.
That is what He was telling her. But this does not man that he did not come for Gentiles as well.  He came for the whole world. (John 3;16)

How will the woman respond to the test? Will she persist in faith or will she give up and turn away?

Not only did she pass the test, she passed it with flying colors!
Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, GREAT IS YOUR FAITH! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Matt 15:28

Jesus praised her for her great faith!
What faith? Why was Jesus praising a Gentile’s faith if He only came for the Jew’s faith and not for Gentiles also!? This means that the Gentile’s faith is also valuable in His eyes.

Muslims know Matthew 15:24 but not many Muslims know John 10:16

“And I have OTHER sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Who are these OTHER sheep? During His limited 3 years of ministry, His priority was the Jews but this does not mean that He didn’t come for the Gentiles as well.

The mission to reach the Gentiles was entrusted to His apostles as one of His final commandments to them. He had trained them among the Jews. Now they were ready for a greater mission.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:19

“…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Did the apostles carry out His instructions.?

In Acts 8, we see that Philip begins preaching about Jesus in Samaria. (Jesus had already begun the work in John 4. Remember the Samaritan woman and how many in her village became believers? The apostle was merely carrying on the work of Jesus.)

Later on, Philip leads a Gentile Ethiopian official to faith in Jesus.

In Acts 10, we learn that Peter himself goes to the house of a Gentile Roman centurion named Cornelius. and his whole family is converted and baptized as followers of Jesus Christ!

In Acts 11, we see the disciples begin preaching to Greeks as well.

So are Gentiles part of God’s kingdom? Yes. God is God of the whole world, both Jews and Gentiles.

“It (the message Jesus’ salvation)  is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Romans 1:16

Revelation 5:9 tells us:
“For you (Jesus) were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from EVERY tribe and language and people and nation”

Read more here.
https://www.gotquestions.org/lost-sheep-Israel.html

“When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.
It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” 

 

In John 6:16-21, we read the account of Jesus walking on the water, coming to his disciples who were caught in their boat in the middle of a terrible storm. He calms their fears and the storm and they miraculously reach their destination.

Is this simply a tremendous supernatural event for us to applaud? Or is there more to it?

Why did Jesus walk on the water and still the storm?
What was He “saying” by His actions?
That He is greater than the storm? Yes.
That He is even above the very waters that His disciples feared they were going to drown in? Yes

But there’s more. Let’s look at three specific things in this passage that shows what Jesus was revealing about Himself.

Firstly….
The writer of Psalm 89, speaks of God’s power….

Here is what was written in Psalm 89:8-9

“O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD,……
You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.”

Jesus was showing in a very visible way to His disciples when He simply walked on the raging sea and stilled the waves, that He was the One that Psalm 89:9 talks about.

Secondly….
Jesus identified Himself to His disciples, “It is I…”
The Greek phrase here is: “EGO EIMI” or I AM.
This is the very name of God, as the ever-existing, the ever-living, and the eternal.  Jesus identified Himself with the same name that Yahweh revealed Himself to Moses! (Exodus 3:14)

Hence, this verse in the Aramaic Bible in Plain English reads:
But Yeshua said to them, “I AM THE LIVING GOD, do not be afraid.” John 6:20
(because that is the meaning in herent in the divine name “I AM”.)

Thirdly…..
This passage in John ends with verse 21 as follows.
“Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”

In Psalm 107:29-30 describes the deeds of God in this manner.

“He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.”

Once again, we see that what Jesus did when He waked on the water and stilled the storm was more than just a fantastic miracle.

It was a very visible demonstration of who He truly is.

In John 5:18, we see the Jewish leaders wanting to kill Jesus because he was “making himself equal with God.”

“For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”  John 5:18

How do you think Jesus would respond if He was a prophet of Islam and Allah  and was just a man and merely a prophet.

Perhaps Jesus would have said, “By Allah, how dare you accuse me of making myself equal with God! I am absolutely NOT equal with God.”

Think so….?

Let me show you what He did say. Let’s just quote some of the verses that follow John 5:18. Remember this is Jesus speaking!

1. “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (John 5:19).

Here Jesus claims equality with God in what He does.

2. “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.” (5:20)

Here Jesus claims equality with God in raising the dead and giving life as He chooses.

3. “That all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. (5:23)

Here Jesus claims equality with God in receiving honor (and worship).

4. “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” (5:26)

Here Jesus claims equality with God in that He has life in Himself, meaning He is self-existent, uncreated, eternal.

What do you think? Is He making equal with God?

Without a doubt!

If you are not sure, then just re-quote those verses with “Muhammad” and “Allah” in them so you see for yourself how serious those claims are.

For example:

“Whatever Allah does, Muhammad also does.” Is this acceptable?

“That all may honor Muhammad just as they honor Allah.” Isn’t this blasphemy? In fact, it is ‘shirk’ the unpardonable sin in Islam for attributing a partner to Allah.

Let’s settle this issue once and for all today.

Christians claim a lot of things about Jesus which Muslims deny.

Muslims claim a lot of things about Issa which Christians reject.

The only logical conclusion is:

Jesus is NOT Issa.

Issa is NOT Jesus.

They are two different men!

Let’s find further evidence to see if this could be true.

We don’t need to go into the common differences like:

– according to the Bible, Jesus died on the cross and rose again.

– according to the Quran, Issa did not die but was raised up.

because everyone knows these things and we argue about it everyday.

Let’s look at a few other crucial details for these two men.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Issa was born in an unknown town.

Muslims will say this is an unimportant fact about Isa. That’s why the Quran does not record it.

That’s the thing!  The place of Jesus’ birth is VERY important!  500 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Micah predicted that Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) for the Jews to know their Messiah.  If it was unimportant, why did this prophet of God say it? It is recorded in the Bible.

It is not important where Issa was born but it is very important where Jesus was born!

Two different men.

Jesus said. “My words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31). But according to Islam, Issa’s words, in the Injeel,  passed away, got lost, corrupted and does not exist anymore.

But we believe the words of Jesus did not pass away, just as He promised, and was recorded down by His disciples and exists as the Gospels today for us. We even know who Jesus disciples were, what they preached and taught and wrote down. On the other hand, Issa also had his band of sahabas but they are unknown. They are lost in history, nameless and voiceless.

Again two different men.  You can go on believing that your Issa lost his words and his sahabas failed to carry on his message.  That’s your right.  But we have the assurance from Jesus Himself that we have His words recorded down by faithful men who lived and died as martyrs.

The only common thing I can think of right now between these two men are the name of their mothers. Mary/Mariam.  This does not prove that they are the same person, does it?  Many people are named Mary / Mariam and does not prove that they were the same person.

Besides, according to the Quran, Mariam’s father is Imran. This is not the name of Mary’s father.  His name was Heli. So they are two different women. Obviously their sons must be two different men.

Their mothers had the same name but are the names of their sons the same?

Jesus is derived from His Hebrew name, Yeshua. This would be translated into Arabic as Yasu (يَسُوعَ) and this is the name we find in the Arabic Bible.

Is this the name that we find in the Quran? No. No one named Yasu in the Quran.

What we find in the Quran Issa ( عيسى).  But Issa is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew name Esau!  This is what Ahmed Deedat himself taught.

Jesus is Yasu not Issa.

Issa is Esau not Jesus.

It’s so plain to see. Two different men.

If you do not agree, then you would have to prove that Issa is the same person as Jesus.

The Bible teaches that ALL MEN are sinners.  (Romans 3:23)  This includes prophets too.  ALL.

JESUS alone was sinless.

Most Muslims believe that all the prophets were sinless. Is there a basis for such a belief?

Unfortunately the Quran does not suggest this. On the contrary, the Quran does admit that the prophets sinned.

ADAM sinned.  “And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.” Sura 120:121

NUH sinned and asked for forgiveness, “My Lord, forgive me and my parents.” 71:28

IBRAHIM sinned and prayed, “And who I aspire that He will forgive me my sin on the Day of Recompense.” 26:82

MUSA sinned and prayed and said, “My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, so forgive me.” 28:16

DAUD sinned. “And David became certain that We had tried him, and he asked forgiveness of his Lord and fell down bowing and turned in repentance. 38:24

SULAIMAN sinned. “He said, “My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom” 38:35

MUHAMMAD sinned. Quran and Hadith is clear about this.

“So be patient, [O Muhammad]. Indeed, the promise of Allah is truth. And ask forgiveness for your sin..” 40:55

“That Allah may forgive for you what preceded of your sin.” 48:2

Narrated ‘Aisha:

The Prophet used to say, “O Allah! I seek refuge with You from laziness and geriatric old age, from ALL KINDS OF SINS and from being in debt; from the affliction of the Fire and from the punishment of the Fire and from the evil of the affliction of wealth; and I seek refuge with You from the affliction of poverty, and I seek refuge with You from the affliction of Al-Mesiah Ad-Dajjal. O Allah! Wash away MY SINS with the water of snow and hail, and cleanse my heart from ALL THE SINS as a white garment is cleansed from the filth, and let there be a long distance between me and MY SINS as You made East and West far from each other.” (Sahih Bukhari Book 75 Vol 8 Number 379)

What about Jesus? The Bible says He knew NO sin.

Quran says: “Jesus… distinguished in this world and the Hereafter..” 3:45  Not a single other prophet was spoken of in this manner.

In the announcement of the birth of Jesus, He is described as pure, righteous, faultless, holy, in the various English translations of Sura 19:19. (See Sahih International, Muhsin, Pickthall, Yusuf Ali)

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “When ANY human being is born. Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, EXCEPT Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but FAILED, for he touched the placenta-cover instead.”  (Sahih Buhari Book 54 Number 506)

Do you know where your belief that the prophets are sinless came from? Not the Quran. It came from a scholar only in the 12th century AD, by the name of Abdulrazak who began teaching this falsehood 500 years after Muhammad!

So as not to contradict their own Quran, Muslims now say that the prophets didn’t sin but they made MISTAKES. 🙂 And that they were protected from MAJOR SINS but they were susceptible to minor sins as human beings.   Moses killed a man!  Is this just a little mistake and a minor sin?

The Bible is not afraid to speak the truth about the prophets and even detail their sins.  Muslims try to cover up the sins of their prophets. What is there to hide? The fact is all men are sinners and need the grace of Almighty God who is perfect.

ONLY JESUS WAS SINLESS.