Dear Friend
You have asked if Christians
have something similar to Hajj.
Even though many Christians
like to go visit Jerusalem to see where Jesus (I’sa) lived, it is not
required of Christians to go to Jerusalem. It is not even one of the
principle beliefs of Christianity.
But as Muslims offer blood
sacrifice and throw stones at Aqaba. I would like to talk to you about
the story of Abraham as it is written in the Bible.
As you remember, Abraham
almost offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. But then his son was
replaced with a ram. We read this story in Genesis 22:9-14:
When they reached the place
God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the
wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top
of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay
his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven,
"Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the
boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear
God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its
horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt
offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD
Will Provide."
As you see from the story, a
ram was sacrificed instead of Abraham’s son. As in Hajj, a lamb has to
be sacrificed and its blood has to be drained. The Bible explains this
in Hebrews 9:22 "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be
cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness."
We do believe that Jesus is
the Lamb of God who died on our behalf and gave his blood for the
forgiveness of our sins. John 1:29 tells us: "The next day John saw
Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away
the sin of the world!’"
In the last book of the Bible
here is how Jesus (I’sa) is described: "In a loud voice they sang:
‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (Revelation 5:12)
What is amazing is that
almost 700 years before Christ the prophets saw this prophetic picture
of Jesus suffering and dying for us. In the Bible God gave the prophet
Isaiah this picture of Jesus:
Who has believed our
message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up
before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He
had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his
appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by
men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom
men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our
infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by
God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and
afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to
the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearer is silent, so he did
not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And
who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of
the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was
assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD’s will
to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his
life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering
of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his
knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear
their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out
his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he
bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53)
From the time of Abraham
through the prophets of Old and the New Testament, we find that Jesus is
the true Lamb, the true and only sacrifice for the sin of the world.
Because of what Jesus (I’sa) has done we need no Hajj and no stones to
stone Satan. Because of the Sacrifice of Jesus as the lamb our sins are
forgiven and Satan has been defeated.
In the last book of the
Bible, which is a prophecy about heaven, we find the following: "‘These
in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered
‘Sir, you know.’ And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the
great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb.’" (Revelation 7:13,14)
Why don’t you read about this
amazing Lamb of God?
