HYPERBOLE AND THE VICTORY

“If your right eye causes you to sin, rip it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to enter hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30)

“And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah. Isa son Mary, ALLAH’S messenger-They slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them, and lo! Those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; save pursuit of a conjecture. They slew him not for certain. But ALLAH took him up unto Himself. ALLAH was ever Mighty, Wise.” (Qur’an, 4:157-158)

 

The Messiah Isa commands us to rip out our eyes and to cut off our hands when they cause us to sin. The Qur’an states that the Messiah Isa was not killed or crucified. Whether the Messiah is speaking or being spoken of, ordinary statements are often not capable of expressing the deep truths, which we all must understand. Therefore hyperbole, extreme exaggeration, is used. Hyperbole is not meant to be understood in a literal way. Instead, its purpose is to capture our attention so that we will concentrate on some important message that we otherwise might miss.

When the Messiah tells us to rip out our own eyes and to chop off our own hands, is that what he actually expects us to do? No! His purpose is to teach us to never become comfortable with sin in our lives because sin is like the fatal sting of a scorpion. The language of hyperbole is used to teach us to take extreme steps to avoid being fatally infected by the venom of sin.

Similarly, when the Qur’an states that Isa was not killed or crucified, is it truly instructing us that ALLAH took him up before the Romans could kill him? No! Instead, the Qur’an teaches us that the Almighty ALLAH, in His infinite wisdom, totally defeated the devious plans of the Jewish leaders. They plotted to destroy the Messiah forever. It even appeared to them that had been successful. Not only did they fail, but their two allies also failed. When the Jewish leaders plotted to destroy ALLAH’S Messiah, they depended upon both Satan inside Isa’s betrayer, Judas Iscariot, and death to complete their parts of the plan. ALLAH vanquished all three of these forces when He triumphantly raised Isa from death.

When it is stated, “They slew him not for certain,” the Glorious Qur’an is proclaiming in a few hyperbolic words the most wonderful and profound message that ALLAH has ever revealed to His creation. Though wicked national leaders combined their forces with Death and Satan, even their united strength could not destroy ALLAH’S Messiah. When the Almighty Gloriously raised Isa after three days of death, He demonstrated one time for eternity that Power, and Wisdom belong to ALLAH alone. The Qur’an teaches that anyone who doubts or disagrees with Isa’s victory over death is in pursuit of a conjecture. ALLAH is ever Mighty, Wise.

“They slew him not for certain. But ALLAH took him up unto Himself.”   



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