The Solace of the Christian Saviour

5. The Solace of the Christian Saviour

In this sense, the Present Reign and Second Coming of the Biblical Saviour has parallels with that of the Shia Saviour. Both Christians and Shia believe that in some way their respective Saviours continue to intervene in human history. Both believe that their Saviours will return to complete an earlier ministry – in the case of Jesus for Christians, His Second Coming will complete the work of His First Advent, and for Shia, the Mahdi’s coming will complete the work of Hussein. As with the Shi‘ite conception of the Saviour, the Biblical Saviour provides solace in two ways.

Firstly, there is the psychological solace the Biblical Saviour gives His people in times of oppression or ordinary trouble. Jesus warned that the abiding characteristic of this present evil age is trouble, but gave solace and hope because of His triumph over Satan’s power, John 16:33: ‘These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.’ Jesus told a congregation that they were to face suffering at the Devil’s instigation, but their martyrdom would simply be followed by Paradise, Revelation 2:10: ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.’ Christians are promised comfort ‘in all our affliction’ and ‘sufferings’ from Christ, 2 Corinthians 1:4-5. Because of this, Christians cans both rejoice in hope and persevere in tribulation, Roman 12:12. Christians, even when suffering terrible persecution at the hands of the Jewish authorities, the Romans or atheistic Communists, have known the supernatural solace that Jesus gives, enabling them to cope with persecution, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. At other times miracles occur, as when the Lord sent an angel to release Peter from prison chains, Acts 12:7ff. When Paul faced persecution in Corinth, the Awaited Saviour Himself appeared, and gave him words of solace, promising Paul that Jesus would be with him, Acts 18:9-10. Thus the Christians were able to resist oppression.

The other encouragement Christians possess is that they know that the final triumph is theirs over their oppressors because of the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus will come back to punish those who persecuted His people and give Christians relief, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7:

5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels…

However great the persecution they may face, Christians know that one day it will end, when Jesus returns. They also know that they may not have to wait until then, because Jesus is already enthroned in heaven, conquering His foes. Sometimes Jesus performs a miracle, such as transforming His enemies into His followers, as with Saul, the zealous Pharisee whom Jesus transformed into the Apostle Paul. Paul’s autobiographical statements demonstrate that before his conversion, he engaged in religious oppression of Christians - Philippians 3:6: ‘a persecutor of the church’. However, an event happened which changed Saul’s perception of Jesus, and thus his attitude to the Christians, namely, the vision of the Risen and Ascended Saviour on the Damascus Road:

This objective, external event had a soul-stirring effect on the very centre of Paul’s being (2 Cor 4.6; Gal 1.16)… It was the moment when Paul was transferred from his false judgement of Jesus (2 Cor 5.16; Gal 3.13) to the true knowledge of him as God’s exalted Messiah, as God’s Son, and as the Lord (2 Cor 5.16; Gal 1.16; Phil 3.8). Thus it brought about a complete change in Paul’s life: the enemy of Christ became his servant. Indeed, he was made a new creature in Christ (2 Cor 5.17).[1]

The vision of the Ascended Saviour to Saul/Paul proved that God had raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Him to His right hand: ‘the one thing that could have convinced Paul that Jesus was the risen Lord was his Damascus-road experience; this henceforth was the essence of his gospel, and he owed it directly to that “revelation of Jesus Christ”’.[2] The Acts record presents this as a vision of Christ in some form, Acts 9:3, 7; 26:13ff, 19. Paul himself refers to his seeing Jesus in 1 Corinthians 9:1: ‘Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?’ Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 15:8, Paul states regarding the Risen Jesus ‘He appeared to me also’. Thereafter, he proclaimed that which he once persecuted, Galatians 1:23. Interestingly, there are parallels with the experience of people hostile to the Shi‘ite Imams, including the Mahdi whilst in Occultation, being transformed by an encounter with them:

The Almighty Allah has bestowed the Imams (a.s.) of “guiding with command”. They have the capacity to transform a period just by looking at it. Imam Hasan (a.s.) changed the Syrian foe into a humble friend, Imam Husain (a.s.) transformed Zohair Qayn, Imam Mohammad Taqi (a.s.) changed the heart of the Syrian worshipper, etc.. Similarly, Hazrat Vali-e-Asr (a.s.) has brought profound changes in the lives of people like Hasan Iraqi.[3]

The pre-Christian Paul was ‘zealous’ – a term denoting Jewish religious fanaticism:

Zeal was more than just a fervent commitment to the Torah; it denoted a willingness to use violence against any - Jews, Gentiles, or the wicked in general - who were contravening, opposing, or subverting the Torah. Further, a zealot was willing to suffer and die for the sake of the Torah, even to die at one’s own hand...[4]

The Israeli settler responsible for the Hebron massacre, Baruch Goldstein, was ‘zealous’ in this way: a vision from the Saviour in heaven such as that given to Paul would prevent any settlers from copying his outrage. Perhaps those who proclaim their belief in the present power of the Saviour, whether in Christian or Muslim terms, should consider that in their own minds they limit His power by neglecting the transformation that an encounter with the Saviour can accomplish on the oppressive enemy. Mohamed Mossadeq urged cheering Iranian crowds - ‘Don’t say “Death to the British!”; pray God to guide them’. Rather than saying ‘Death to America’, people in the Middle East should pray that God gives them a vision of the Saviour that transforms negative US policies.

However, for those unwilling to repent, the Ascended Saviour has other means of intervention. Jesus predicted the Destruction of Jerusalem in consequence for their rejection and murder of Him: Luke 21:22-23, 27: ‘For this is the time of vengeance in fulfilment of all that has been written... There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people... At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.’ Those responsible for the murder of Jesus were made to pay. Similarly, in Luke 19:41-44, we encounter the weeping of Jesus over the fate of Jerusalem because of its murder of the Saviour, in which a stark prophecy of the actions of the Roman soldiers in AD 70 is found, especially in v43-44 -

The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.

Such did occur in AD 70 - the Romans surrounded the city, and besieged it for five months. After breaking through, they killed nearly everyone and levelled the city, including its Temple, home of the priesthood who incited the Romans to crucify Jesus. The irony is clear: God caused those people – the Romans - used by the Jerusalem Temple authorities to crucify the Saviour – to turn on those same oppressive authorities and destroy the central symbol of their system – the Temple. Just as the Shia Saviour is held to avenge the slaying of Hussein, the Biblical Saviour avenges His own murder.