06-30-2004, 09:35 AM
Hi there!
Interesting topic, Safayat. I am amazed that it is even thinkable for God(Allah), high and perfect as he is, to lower himself to the level of man. It is the same problem that we all have - how is it at all possible for us to bridge the gap between humans and God?
In regard to your discussion, I completely agree that the whole idea of God being man is beyond our thinking. God is God and he can do anything - he is certainly not confined to our human limitations. But part of his complete freedom is the ability to do whatever he likes - even to temporarily and purposefully restrict his abilities to that of a human. It doesn't mean that God became weak and fallible and lost his abilities - he simply decided not to use them.
Now even if he could, why would God want to do such a thing? The way I see it is thus: God saw the sin of humanity, and knew that no matter how hard we try to follow the laws he gave us, no matter how righteous we try to be, we are still offensive to God and deserve his judgement. Now God loves us more than we can imagine, so he decided to come in human form as Jesus(Isa), to bring people back to himself (John 3:16). He "took the form of a bondservant, and the likeness of men...and humbled himself" (Philippians 2:5-11), so that there would be a way for humans to know what God was like. The reason Jesus calls himself the "Son of Man" is because he wants to show us that we are no longer separated from God, but he is here with us, and understands our experiences.
Jesus came so that he could be a "priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 7:17), which means he was someone who could mediate between us and God. Safayat, you forgot to include the end of Hebrews 7:3 where it says Melchizedek "having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God[Jesus], remains a priest continually." This does not elevate Melchizedek above Jesus, but it does seem to imply that Jesus is still alive today...
I'd be interested to hear your opinions on this.
Blessings, Adrian