Early in the evening of the next day, I retired to my bedchamber where I planned to rest and meditate. I took the Bible with me and settled among the soft white cushions of my divan. Once again I leafed through its pages and read another puzzling passage:
Romans 9:31 — “But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.”
Ah, I thought. Just as the Koran said; the Jews had missed the mark. The writer of these passages might have been a Muslim, I thought, for he continued to speak of the people of Israel as not knowing God’s righteousness.
A Surprising Revelation
But the next passage made me catch my breath:
Romans 10:4 — “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
I lowered the book down for a moment. Christ? He was the end of the struggle? I continued on.
Romans 10:8–9 — “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
I put the book down again, shaking my head. This directly contradicted the Koran. Muslims knew the prophet Jesus was just human, that the man did not die on the cross but was whisked up to heaven by God and a look-alike put on the cross instead. Now sojourning in an inferior heaven, this Jesus will someday return to earth to reign for forty years, marry, have children, and then die.
Wrestling with Contradictions
In fact, I heard that there is a special grave plot kept vacant for the man’s remains in Medina, the city where Muhammad is also buried. At the Resurrection Day, Jesus will rise and stand with other men to be judged before God Almighty. But this Bible said Christ was raised from the dead. It was either blasphemy or…
My mind whirled. I knew that whoever called upon the name of Allah would be saved. But to believe that Jesus Christ is Allah? Even Muhammad, the final and greatest of the messengers of God, the Seal of the Prophets, was only a mortal.
I lay back on my bed, my hand over my eyes. If the Bible and Koran represent the same God, why is there so much confusion and contradiction? How could it be the same God if the God of the Koran is one of vengeance and punishment and the God of the Christian Bible is one of mercy and forgiveness?
I don’t know when I fell asleep.
The Dream
Normally I never dream, but this night I did. The dream was so lifelike, the events in it were so real that I found it difficult the next morning to believe they were only fantasy. Here is what I saw:
I found myself having supper with a man I knew to be Jesus. He had come to visit me in my home and stayed for two days. He sat across the table from me and in peace and joy we ate dinner together.
Suddenly, the dream changed. Now I was on a mountain top with another man. He was clothed in a robe and shod with sandals. How was it that I mysteriously knew his name, too? John the Baptist.
A Cry from the Heart
What a strange name. I found myself telling this John the Baptist about my recent visit with Jesus.
“The Lord came and was my guest for two days,” I said. “But now He is gone. Where is He? I must find Him! Perhaps you, John the Baptist, will lead me to Him?”
That was the dream. When I woke up I was loudly calling the name, “John the Baptist! John the Baptist!”
To Be Continued…
Miraculous Monday: 10th July 2023
Miraculous Monday 047
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