And I think few people including Mohammad understood the difference between a prophet and Messiah/Christ.
Christianity is God’s bridge uniting monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.) rather than a wall separating them. This truth is derived from a statement by the apostle Paul (in 1TM 2:3-4) indicating that
Yahweh/God/Allah loves all people and wants everyone to love each other as one happy spiritual family or fellowship, and He is grieved when people who claim to believe in Him quarrel (Ephesians 4:30-31).
When Judaism was reformed by Jesus and his apostles, Paul taught (in RM 2:28-29, 4:16-17 & GL 3:29) that
what matters is not the religion of our parents, but whether each of us has faith like Abraham in the one true God. A spiritual Jew loves God (DT 6:4-5), a true Christian loves God and humanity (MT 22:37-40), and a genuine Muslim serves God by cooperating with His plan of salvation (MT 24:45 & 25:21).
Theists can be Jewish, Christian and Muslim, because Christianity is God’s solution/plan for peace in the world (EPH 2:11-22).
The purpose of Judaism was to provide the heritage for Messiah for the benefit of all people (RM 3:21-31, 9:4-5a, IS 42:1-6, GN 22:18, DT 9:5-6), and the initial intent of Islam (stated by the Qur’an in Surah 2:89) was “confirming” God’s previous revelations to the Jews and Christians (the OT & NT). When Jews became Messianic, Paul and Peter agreed that they could follow the old Jewish customs that did not contradict faith in Jesus as Lord (ACTS 15:5-29 & GL 2:15-16). Because everything good and true is from God (JM 1:27), accepting Jesus as Messiah does not mean rejecting what is good and true in one’s pre-Christian experience or culture. (But it DOES mean rejecting child abuse and slavery or forced conversions as sinful!)
The relationship between Jesus, Moses and Mohammed needs to be harmonized. Paul wrote (in 1TM 2:5): “For
there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ [Messiah] Jesus.” This verse clearly indicates that the Christian concept known as the Trinity should not be understood as contradicting faith in one God. Similarly, calling Messiah “God’s Son” should not be understood as contradicting the humanity of Jesus (HB 2:17), the one God ordained to die unjustly as payment of the penalty for the sins of humanity. God relates to humanity in three primary ways: as the Creator or Father over all, as the Holy Spirit (cf. Surah 2:87) within believers, and as the human Messiah/Jesus with humanity (Immanuel in MT 1:23).
Thus, Muslims–like Jews–may accept Jesus as Messiah with the understanding that the Mosaic laws Islamic five pillars do not contradict the Christian gospel of salvation. In the OT God established a covenant with Abraham (GN 15:18, 17:2) by which “all nations on earth will be blessed” (GN 8:18), Jeremiah revealed that the Mosaic covenant would be superseded by a new covenant (JR31:31, cf. HB 7:18-10:1), and Isaiah associated the new covenant with Messiah, “my chosen one”, who would also be “a light for the Gentiles” (IS 42:1,6&9, 49:5-6&8, 59:20-60:3, 61:1 & 62:2&11). "Gentiles" or non-Jews includes Muslims. God’s “chosen people” potentially includes everyone in the world who satisfies His requirement for salvation by seeking truth and finding Messiah (EPH 2:11-3:6, RM 10:1-11:32). [Whether or not the physical nation of Israel will play some political role before the end/eschaton is another issue.]
In EPH 3:1-6, note that world
peace through the gospel of Christ was a “mystery” until Paul received a divine revelation. As Paul wrote in 1CR 2:7-8, “We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Thus, although with hindsight we can see how Old Testament scriptures foreshadowed Christ, we should not expect that they specifically prophesied the New Testament Gospel (although Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 are quite impressive). In summary, the evidence of individual reformation or accepting God’s will and cooperating with Him is manifesting love for everyone including enemies, which is the opposite of that held by those claiming to believe in God/
Allah who are grieving Him by terrorizing humanity. And just as Jesus reformed Judaism and Protestants reformed Catholicism, so
Islam needs reformation, so that the world may be one spiritually, in answer to Jesus' prayer in John 17:15-23.
1
