Did Jesus Die on the CROSS ?  
by Brother A. D. AJIJOLA (Bar at Law)
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This question is a hotbed of controversy between Christians and Muslims.

From the very outset of discussion on this subject, the Christian will commence the conversation in this familiar fashion: Christian and Jews, despite their discords, are at one that Jesus died on the Cross. The chronicles of the Roman Empire are in accord with this fact.

Six hundred years after Jesus, a man from the Arabian Desert made his appearance and proclaimed contrary to the entire world:
                        “ They slew him nor crucified him “ (Holy Qur’an 4: 158)
This claim is a standing miracle of Muhammad the unlettered Prophet of the Arabian Peninsula (The choicest blessing of God be upon him). It is vindication by subsequent modern research constitutes a valid argument for the truth of Muhammad’s claim.

Islam insists that God saved Jesus from death on the Cross. Joseph was gagged and thrown into a well but God saved him. Similarly, God saved the three companions of Daniel who were gagged and pushed into a furnace. In the same manner, the Jews attempted to kill Jesus on the Cross in order to render him accursed. God delivered him from the accursed death and brought him closer then ever to Him.

The death of Jesus on the Cross-is not sustained by convincing evidence from the Gospel and in fact, there is a convincing evidence that Jesus did not die on the Cross. The following are some of the arguments to prove that Jesus did not die on the Cross:

“ But  that prophet or that dreamer shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to make you leave the way in while the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. (Deuteronomy 13:5)

  and again :

“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by dearth and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23)

  Jesus was a claimant to prophet hood. Granted that no Muslim would dub him an imposter; but the Jews impliedly regard him an imposter, or granted that the Jews crucified him and he subsequently died on the cross the logical conclusion will be; (God’s refuge), that Jesus is accursed. Yet, crucifixion and ‘accursedness’ became part and parcel of the Christian cult. It is written :
 

“ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us- for it is written, and Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree “ (Galatians 3:13)

  This is the most erroneous belief of the Christians. For it portrays Jesus to be false in his claim to prophet hood. His crucifixion negates his truth-that indeed, was the Jews’ design. Jesus was a true prophet and therefore, his death on the Cross-is a myth.

2)  In the Christian view, crucifixion is a ‘must’ because by this fantastic method they will be forgiven. From the gospels’ viewpoint, crucifixion is not instrument at all to forgiveness, Jesus announces :

  “ But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins-he then said to the paralytic-‘Rise, take up your bed and go home “(Mathew 9:6)

  This statement was made by Jesus himself when he was alive. It shows that for the forgiveness of sins, death on the cross is not necessary.

  3) .Jesus was killed- the Christian hold-for their sake, that is to expiate their sins. Had he not been crucified, the mission of Paul and the faith of Christians would become void of meaning; it seems to me that Jesus did not die on the cross and that the Christian preaching of the crucifixion is wrong since it was opposed both to God’s will and to his mission. God says :

“ For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice “ (Hosea 6:6)

and Jesus says:

“ Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners “ (Mathew 9:13)

  God desires mercy and love, not sacrifice. Repentance is the sole means to absorb His mercy. Jesus preached repentance-was concerned throughout his life to invite people to repent. Redemptive death is contradictory to God’s plan and a disservice to the office of Jesus.

4). In the book of Mathew we read:
 

“But he answered them, ‘an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign : but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth “(Mathew 12:39-40)

To investigate whether prophet Jonah was alive in the belly of the whale or dead, we have only to study the book of Jonah where we find the following :

“ And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed tot eh LORD his God from the belly of the fish” (Jonah 1:17,2:1)

There are only two ways left for the Christians. They can either refuse Jesus’ crucifixion and believe that he was protected from death on the Cross as the Muslims believe. This way, the prophecy of Jesus is proved true that his miracle came to pass; or they can stick to his death on the Cross-at the cost of rejecting his miracle.

  5) When Jesus came to know of the crucifixion and the evil design of the Jews, he is reported by Luke to pray :

“ And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ‘ Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done’. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke 22: 41-43)

Without the least shadow of doubt Jesus prayed in great humbleness only to be saved from this dreadful and disgraceful death. The cup was the cup of death. One question that arises here is, ‘ Was Jesus’ prayer heard?’ If it was heard and granted it follows that the myth o Jesus’ death on the Cross-is false. If it went unheard then the truth of Jesus is questionable. The book of Proverbs states :

“ The LORD is far from the wicked, but HE hears the prayed of the righteous” (Proverbs 15: 29)

The truth of it is that God listened to his cried and wailing –such is the way of God- and delivered Jesus from the grip of accursed death on the tree.

6)  In the letter to Hebrews it is stated:

 "  In the days of his flesh Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries  and tears, to him who was able to save him  from death, and he was heard for his godly fear” (Hebrews 5:7)

This is a premonition and statement of an actual event. This prophecy is attested to in Proverbs

“ The fear of LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short” (Proverbs 10:27)

This prophecy cannot be fulfilled unless we recognize that Jesus did not die on the Cross. It was due to the glad tidings of God that Jesus sustained that satisfaction that he could not die on the Cross. Therefore, when agony on the Cross intensified he cried

“ My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?

  It was to recollect the promise of God. God keeps His word; therefore, HE saved Jesus from death on the Cross.

7) The Gospel reveal that in order to protect Jesus from the jaws of death, god brought extraordinary causes into play. One incident described in the Gospels is that God caused Pilate’s wife to dream and she let her husband know:

  “ Besides, while he was sitting on the judgement seat, his wife sent word to t him,  ‘ Have nothing to do with hat righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream” (Mathew 27:19)

It was God’s decree that Jesus should survive. Who is there to obstruct God’s plan ?

  8) Jesus was the shepherd of Israel.

  9) Jesus used to rebuke the Jews :
   

“ That upon you may come all the righteous   blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar “ (Mathew 23:35)

Had Jesus also been slain by the Jews and had his blood been spilled, he should have foretold about it. It was a decisive factor. His marked silence on the occasion of his crucifixion signifies that he was not going to be killed on the Cross-by the Jews or else the mentioning of his blood should have taken priority.

10) In his explicit saying in the Gospels, Jesus refers mostly to his won suffering:

  “ So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands” (Mathew 17:12)

“ But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation “ (Luke 17: 24-25)

  “ I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15)

After the event of the so-called crucifixion Jesus says:

“O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? “ (Luke 22:15)

  “ And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will govern my people Israel “ (Mathew 2:6)

Jesus himself says:

“ I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel “ (Mathew 15:24)

  When Jesus made his appearance, the Jews were in exile and ‘ sheep of the house of Israel’ were lost. Thus, Jesus says:

  “ I have some other sheep which are not of this house, I have to bring them too “

It is a fact that the Jews were dispersed from India to Ethiopia:

  “ An edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews to the satraps and the governors and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia -  and also to the Jews in their script and their language “ (Esther 8:9)

If  Jesus dies on the Cross at thirty-three and the chapter closed there, then this is tantamount to discrediting his prophet-hood. Thus, the only safe thing is to believe that he did not die on the Cross.

From the above elucidations it is clear as dawn that Jesus was due only to undergo sufferings. References to death and killing are too fragmentary. Where death or killing is mentioned clearly, the description is exaggerated. The two kinds of text can be reconciled; by saying that in the Bible suffering and agony are often termed ‘death’. Paul says:

" I protest, brethren, by my pride in you which I have Christ Jesus our Lord, I die everyday” (1 Corinthians 15:31)

Source : "The Myth of  the Cross "

 (ICRA) 

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