1977-December-16

Bilalian News

The Mystery Of Christ Revealed: Part 1

Imam W. D. Muhammad

With the Name Allah (In the Name of God), the Gracious, the Compassionate.

As-Salaam-Alaikum

There is a Chapter (103) in the Holy Qur'an that I would like to read called 'Asr' which means, Time Through the Ages,' and it is translated by Maulana Yusuf Ali;

1.  By (the token of)
time (through the Ages)
2. Verily Man is in loss,
3.  Except such as have Faith,
and do righteous deeds,
and (join together)
in the mutual teachings
of Truth, and of
Patience and Constancy.

This is a very short chapter of the Qur'an, the words being very few, but they are full of meaning and expression. It says, 'By the token of time through the ages, verily man is in loss.' Now we have been trying to come to the light of religious and scriptural understanding for thousands of years. Many of the secrets and symbols of religious or scriptural teachings have been unlocked, but the world is not yet in the light of religious or scriptural understanding The human being is a creature that needs the light on in himself. We not only want light on the outside, but we also want light on the inside It is our natural desire to have understanding, and if certain questions are not answered for us, we go on with the burden of questions which is a burden of mental darkness.

The scripture tells us that there would come a time when the darkness would be removed and the clear light would be shining all over and the whole world would become lit with the light of understanding. This chapter is very short with just three verses, but it has four small parts to it and it has unlocked a mystery. It says that; "Man is in loss except, (1) those who have faith, (2) and do righteous deeds (Charity), (3) in the mutual teachings of Truth, (4) and of Patience and Constancy."

In religion, we have many mysteries with some bigger than others. The biggest mystery is the mystery of 'Christ' and the mystery of the 'Man of Sin,' or Christ and Satan These are the two great mysteries of religion. Many who are Christians think that Christ has no mystery and that they know Christ, but the Bible says that Christ has a mystery. It speaks of the mystery of Christ, so there is something about Christ that we do not understand It is so important that it has been given attention in the scripture. The scripture tells us that the mystery has to be revealed —not only the mystery of Christ, but also the mystery of the man of Sin. They both have to be revealed in order for the people to come into freedom Until people come into the knowledge of just who is really Christ and who is really the Satan, they will never be free. Their minds will always be under a burden or slaves to darkness and ignorance.

What then is Christ? Is Christ a flesh and blood person, or is Christ a body of knowledge? The New Testament says of the "Last Supper" that bread and wine was served. Here Christ says, "Eat this in remembrance of my flesh and blood " The bread is in remembrance of his flesh and the wine is in remembrance of his blood. If Christ is flesh and blood, what is the purpose of the bread and wine? Are we going to eat his flesh and blood? If he is flesh and blood, then when he comes back, we ought to eat his flesh and blood Now doesn't that sound very cannibalistic?

If Christ is not a flesh and blood person, then he is a body of knowledge. And when that knowledge comes back, we should not carry on the ritual of eating unleavened bread and drinking church wine, but we should eat the real thing, and that is the knowledge. Now that is exactly what the meaning is. Christ means knowledge, but two kinds of knowledge. One kind of knowledge is like bread which is called rational knowledge Sometimes people refer to food as rations. The Bible itself says that two women will be at the meal One would be taken and the other one would be left. What is the meal? What is the meal doing? The meal is preparing the flour so that it can be made into knowledge. What is the flour? The flour is the ideas, and the seed is the thought or concept. When you mash up the thought, you break it down into its collective ideas. Thought is a collection of ideas or principles. So, we break the seed down into meal, or we make principles and ideas We then take those principles and ideas and make bread which is a body of knowledge or a doctrine for people to follow or to live on. We have all heard the expression that bread is a staff of life, but you don't expect someone to use bread as a staff.

Now we also have the wine. Just what is the wine? The New Testament says that Jesus was attending a wedding and that there were barrels of water, and that he turned the barrels of water into wine. Here we see that wine and water must be the same because he turned the water into wine. Whatever wine means in the scripture, water means the same thing. It's just that one tastes different and has a strong flavoring It has a little sugar, and maybe if it has been fermenting, it will cause a little drunkedness, causing you to get high What he is talking about is a certain kind of knowledge, and that if you teach it in a certain way, it will make the people get high and drunk.

So here the wine and the water is referring to spiritual knowledge, and the bread is referring to rational knowledge. These are the two kinds of knowledge, and when you put them together, you have Jesus. Now you might say, "Oh man, don't tell me that that is all there is to Jesus " No, that is not all that there is to Jesus. We can tell you more about Jesus, but that is all that you need to know to get your head straight You should stop looking for a physical person and start looking at knowledge. You should start trying to understand knowledge.

When Jesus was speaking to his people; he said, "I in the Father and Father in me. I in you and you in me." What was he telling us? He was telling us that whatever he was, it is in God It is in him (Jesus) and it is in all of us. He was talking about knowledge and truth. Knowledge is revealed by God and God is the very embodiment of all knowledge. All knowledge is derived at by a correct relationship with Almighty God. So we are talking about a knowledge body. A knowledge that is of two different kind One is spiritual knowledge, and the other is rational knowledge.

The Bible says that Jesus took his disciples upon a mountain to show them something, and what he showed them was the transfiguration of Moses and Elijah. Both Moses and Elijah appeared as separate bodies of light, and the two came together and formed one light, and that one light was Jesus. Moses represents the light of human rationale. The Bible says of Moses and his work, that no greater thing had been done before God brought fire out of the earth. This means bringing understanding (rational light) out of man Moses was a man who had to deal with a people who were materialistic or a materialistic minded, argumentative people. So he had to be a prophet of rational teachings (logic). When we look at Elijah, we see that he was a highly spirited prophet and that his work was mostly with revelation —he used the scripture. Elijah's light represents the light of spiritual doctrine or spiritual teachings. Elijah was typical of the spiritual prophet and Moses was typical of the rational prophet. Now there are many signs in the Bible to account for or verify what I am saying.

(To be continued next week)