Muslims are going to miss Christmas this year. I don’t mean they won’t celebrate on December 25. Rather, they’ll miss what Christmas is all about—when the Word (the second person of the Trinity) took on humanity.
Remember, Muslims do believe in Jesus. They believe He’s a man, a mere mortal like Moses or Mohammed. Although they call him a prophet, they don’t believe He has a divine nature, is the Son of God, or is the second person of the Trinity. In fact, they reject the Trinity altogether. This is a massive theological difference from Christianity.
The Muslim version of Jesus turns out to be the worst case of mistaken identity in all human history. That’s because Islam has a meritorious-based system of salvation. A Muslim’s ability to get into heaven is evaluated on the weight of their good and bad deeds. That’s not good news. By denying the God-man Jesus, Muslims miss out on the meaning of Christmas. God becomes man, lives the perfect life that we couldn’t live, and dies as a substitute for us. He does for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. That’s what makes Christmas so merry.
This month is a perfect opportunity to tell our Muslim friends the story of Christmas. Since Jesus already holds an esteemed position in Islam, we already have a head start. Muslims believe He exists and plays a major role in their faith. We just need to show them how the Christmas story is something worth rejoicing about.