Hasan’s Testimony

I am of Turkish origin and came to England to study in 1988. In the first year of arriving, I met my wife and after six years of a difficult marriage, we found ourselves in a desperate situation. Our personal circumstances drove us both to seek God personally. More often than not, people start wondering about the point of their lives during difficult times. In our desperation, we wanted to seek God and He found us where we were. Here is how it happened.

Others told me that coming of the Saviour was foretold in the Jewish scriptures hundreds, even thousands of years before in what is called the Old Testament.

Jesus says to the religious people of his day “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,” (John 5:39, ESV)

So I made it my business to search the scriptures daily to discover these prophecies for myself. If you want to know how strong a house is, you need to investigate how strong and reliable the foundations are; take samples, examine and check how rest of the structure rest on these.

“Then he said to them, …… that everything written about me in the Law of Moses (Torah) and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,” (Luke 24:44-45, ESV)

In particular, the writings of prophet Isaiah, Daniel and the Psalms (mostly written by David) put me into shear amazement, even bringing me to tears. Why? Because the first time in my life, God was revealing himself and his plans to me and I was part of that plan. I was starting to see the correlation between the Old and New Testaments.

You see, the Holy Bible from the very beginning explains why there is death and suffering in the world and how God makes a promise of a Saviour (Anointed One) who is the seed of a woman, to defeat evil and to conquer the grave . Sin is a pandemic and it kills; it separates us from our Maker and one another. The Promised One is portrayed as the suffering servant who dies as a ransom for many, rises from the grave, effectively redeeming them from eternal separation from God.

So I started to see all these prophecies pointing to and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, whose name & title means the Anointed Saviour. He was conceived in a virgin’s womb by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, without a human father which makes him the seed of the woman. His lineage is traced back to Abraham to whom God had made a promise that he would bless all nations by his seed. He is in the family of David to whom God promised a King to rule over all nations. Daniel describes this person as the “One like the Son of Man”

Before I would receive Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, I wanted to overcome a key theological challenge. Who really was Jesus? A good teacher, a prophet, a righteous man? Yes but much more than that because the scriptures show us otherwise. How can you call someone just a man when he was without sin, born without a father, healed every sickness, disease and disability, raised the dead, walked the waters, stopped the winds & waves, casted out and commanded demons, had authority to forgive sins and to grant eternal life, died and resurrected back to life not mentioning hundreds of specific prophecies he fulfilled about his birth, life and death.

Jesus was called by three key titles. Messiah (Christ), Son of God and Son of Man. I discovered that Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man most of the time. I’ll come back to this but first let me tell you what God revealed to me. One evening I was reading John’s gospel. This was his final intimate discourse with his disciples and he revealed to them (and me) where he came from and who he was.

“I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. His disciples said, Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!” (John 16:28-29, ESV)

His origin was not Mary’s womb but the very essence of God. The moment I realized this, I turned and looked at the light bulb and light proceeding from the bulb both filling the bulb and the room. Jesus proceeded and came forth from God and returned to God. Immediately, I ran to my wife and told her that I wanted to get baptized. I was ready to commit my life and soul to Jesus.

Let’s consider the title “Son of God”. God does not procreate; as Jesus said, He is Spirit. Bible does not teach such blasphemy. Angels and even Adam are called Sons of God because they bear God’s image. However Jesus is the unique Son of God possessing attributes that none other has ever had. He is the reflection of God’s glory. Humanity has never known God closer than they have known him in Jesus. His miracles, words and life testify to that.

He is called the Christ (Messiah in Hebrew and Masih in Arabic). I had never heard of this title until I started reading the Bible. It’s to do with being anointed. Kings, prophets and priests were anointed with oil to be confirmed & separated to God’s service. Jesus was anointed by the fullness of the Holy Spirit. He was the Chosen One like none other to bring salvation to his people.

What about his title “Son of Man”?

When religious authorities asked Jesus if he was the Messiah, he responded by pointing them to a pivotal prophecy from the book of Daniel (553 BC) – let’s read the passage Daniel 7:13-14. READ FROM BIBLE

When he was brought before the Jewish religious council, Sanhedrim, he was asked….

“If you are the Christ, tell us.

But he said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So they all said, Are you the Son of God, then? And he said to them, You say that I am. Then they said, What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” (Luke 22:66-71, ESV)

“Then the high priest tore his robes and said, He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, He deserves death.” (Matthew 26:65-66, ESV)

Jewish authorities had no issues with the titles Son of God, Christ and Son of Man. These titles were used for the Chosen One awaited to come from God to redeem Israel. But they refused to accept that Jesus of Nazareth was this person. They refused to believe other writings concerning the Suffering Servant standing right before them.

Jesus applying the title, Son of Man to himself caused them to agree that he had uttered blasphemy because the Son of Man was a divine figure possessing both human and divine attributes. This is testified in Daniel’s prophecy.

Jesus of Nazareth didn’t come to abrogate God’s previous revelations but to fulfil. He came to reconcile God and fallen humanity. He brought to earth God’s presence, healing, mercy (Kingdom of Heaven); he did not come to condemn or to destroy, but to save.

He is the sinless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Not one book written testifies against him. Many famous world figures have left behind controversies but Jesus, an abiding legacy declaring “whosoever believes in me should not perish but have everlasting life”.

Yes, I have believed in him. He changed my life and brought my broken family together. He renewed me and continues to do so by his Spirit.

I know that he paid the price for my sin, removed my guilt and now I can call God my Heavenly Father. I’m assured of being with him where he is, both beyond the grave and in his eternal Kingdom.

Amen