Stories from Early Ahmadiyyat — Page 33
33 take upon himself the whole burden of the sins of human beings, and to sacrifice his life on the cross, so that man- kind might attain salvation. Being the son of God and through his death upon the cross he became ‘accursed’ for mankind’s sake and remained in that state for three days to atone for the sins of mankind. He then came back to life and ascended bodily to Heaven, where he is sit- ting on the right hand of God. He will descend to earth in the Latter Days. It is interesting to note that the text of the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament no longer mentions the bodily ascension of Jesus as to Heaven, because it was not in the original Bible. Jesus as himself had said that he was raised among the Children of Israel particularly for the guidance of the ‘Lost Sheep of the house of Israel’. Were it true that he was God and his sole purpose to sacrifice his life to redeem the sins of mankind, he would not have prayed in agony for the cup of death on the cross to be taken away from him. If the death of Jesus as upon the cross was the fulfilment of the very purpose for which he had been sent, why did he cry out, ‘My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?’ Had he died on the cross and come back to life again, he would have gone to the centre of the city of Jerusalem and announced his triumph over death. The Jews would have believed in him as son of God if they had seen him