Why This Hatred?
The world today shudders with horror at
the cruel things that terrorists do to innocent people. But the hatred
and cruelty shown to Jesus is the strangest the world has ever seen,
because it was directed against a man who was utterly good and loving, a
man who worked miracles of healing, who spoke only words of divine
wisdom, and who gave every evidence of divine appointment and divine
character. Why this mysterious hatred against Allah’s
"Word"?
He was the one of whom the honoured Qur’an
speaks thus:
And the angel said, "0 Mary,
Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from him whose name is
the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the
hereafter and one of those brought near unto Allah." 4
The secret of the priests’ enmity
comes out in the open in the story of their second attempt to stone him.
He had said, "‘I and the Father are one.’" They were so
enraged that they lost their sense of self-control and balanced
judgment. They picked up stones to kill him.
Calmly and courageously he faced the
crowd and asked simply, "‘I have shown you many great miracles
from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’"
This question caught them off guard for
a moment. Then they replied: "‘We are not stoning you for any of
these, … but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’"
5
Could he have been right when he made
that claim?
One thing is sure and certain: the
hatred shown by his enemies was not inspired by Allah! It could have
only one other source: Iblis himself.
And why did Satan hate him so? Why does
he hate him who is Allah’s "Word"? Satan’s age-long hatred
of Allah was coming out in the open at last.
Could it be that Allah was indeed
revealing himself in a form that humans could understand? Could Satan
see something the Jewish priests could not see? Did he recognize in
Jesus the author of faith, the One who had appeared to Abraham, the One
typified by that "tremendous Victim" offered to
"ransom" Abraham’s son and all his descendants?
His character shines brightest under
the abuse he suffered at the hands of wicked, sneering, murderous
people. When accused and maligned and lied about, he meekly remained
silent. Any other good man, under such pressure, would call down Heaven’s
curses on his tormentors. When one of his own disciples faltered in
human weakness and denied him, we read, Jesus only looked at him sadly,
the disappointment showing in his face, but he expressed no reproach.
Even when another of his disciples, a traitor, betrayed him with a
hypocritical kiss, he did not get angry, but said, " ‘Friend, why
have you come?’" 6 While the two thieves crucified with
him were screaming and shouting obscenities at the soldiers, Jesus
prayed for his murderers: "Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they. do." 7
These are not the credentials of any
ordinary man. No other human being had ever shown such divine love. As
he hung on the cross, stripped naked and despised by the people, he
never lost his patience. Something dreadfully mysterious was happening.
No other man in all history had suffered like this!
Two astounding things had met in a
head-on collision: (a) The mysterious hatred of Satan for God, a hatred
manifested in the murderous actions of Jesus’ enemies; and (b) the
marvelous love of Allah grappling with that hatred hand to hand at the
cross. It was a battle between Allah and Satan.
The whole world was represented in the
guilt of the unjust condemnation of Jesus: the Jews, who instigated it;
the European Romans, who in cowardice would go along with the crime; and
the great crowds of onlookers who would do nothing to save an innocent
man. Even his own disciples, who had the best opportunity of anyone to
know who he was, turned tail and ran for their lives, leaving him to
suffer alone. Not one soul came forward to defend him in his hour of
need! No one even offered him a drink of water in his agony.
The only one to give him any help was
Simon of Cyrene, an African who carried his heavy cross for him when he
fainted beneath its weight. And even he was forced to do so by the Roman
soldiers.
The tree to which Jesus was nailed was
only a wooden cross; the real cross, which is timeless, was the
collision of Satan’s will against God’s will, which took place on
that same Mount Moriah where Abraham had once been called to offer up
his beloved son.
The Holy Injil reveals the truth: that
hatred was an outburst of "enmity against God," 8 like
a slumbering volcano bursting forth in sudden eruption. Long before the
red-hot lava and sulphurous flames shoot upwards from the fiery
mountain, the fires are smouldering underneath. So "enmity against
God" has been the subterranean hatred which has smouldered in human
hearts since sin began. It has produced endless wars and quarrels. Allah
permitted it to be unmasked at the cross so all could see it clearly.
This passionate human rage was vented
on Jesus. His enemies discerned beneath his meek and lowly exterior the
inward evidence that he was akin to Allah, and this was why they hated
him so. Of course, they didn’t realize it, but they were nonetheless
guilty. This tells us something significant about the nature and
character of the man they crucified! Supernatural hatred required a
supernatural victim!
The Deep Meaning of the Cross
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