Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 56
56 "Corruption has appeared on land and sea". That is, both human wisdom and divine teaching have become dark and both point to the need of a new Teacher, bearer of a new Message from God. The same message is repeated elsewhere in the Quran: 55 Allah has indeed sent down to you an admonition, a Messenger who recites unto you the clear Signs of Allah, that he may bring those who believe and do good deeds out of darkness into light. III. Isaiah continues to foretell the advent of another Law-Bearing prophet: 56 Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. The prophecy clearly foretells the appearance of a Holy One whose coming will prove a trial for the two Houses of Israel, a snare and a gin for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who will be defeated and disgraced if they choose to oppose him. The New Law will supersede the Mosaic Law and God will turn His face away from the House of Jacob. Christian writers are silent on this point. Maybe they take the two Houses of Israel to mean the two factions, one of which supported and the other opposed the son of Solomon and set up a rival rule. But this will not do, because the prophecy speaks of a holy man and of events which will take place in his time. This holy man can either be Jesus or some one coming after Jesus, because there has been no outstanding religious personality between Isaiah and Jesus who may have confronted Israel with a crucial Message. But did Jesus confront Israel with any such Message? And did Israel suffer defeat and disgrace on opposing this Message? And did Jesus seal the Law for his disciples and announce its suppression by another Law? To the contrary, Jesus stated: 57 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled". Jesus settled the point not for his own time only but also for the future: 58 "Can the children of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days". The above declarations make it obvious that, according to Jesus, even after his death, the Mosaic Law was to remain binding upon his disciples. Were this not so, he could have said that the days of fasting were over. Instead of this he not only fasted himself, but he also prophesied that his disciples