By T. Ijaz Sahib
It is the Ahmadiyya view that Jesus did not die on the cross but was saved, a view that can be substantiated by the Gospels themselves. Based on a purely rational basis, if one is presented with a story that someone was nailed on the cross, and days later that same wounded person is sighted with evidence of an empty tomb, the natural conclusion is that person did not die in the first place.Interestingly as seen in section of Sign of Jonah where an analogy is made to being saved from the clutches of death, the earliest disciples referred to the Psalms of David 16:8-11 as a sign of their faith as attested to in Acts 2:25-8. Here again, the Psalms are proclaiming the motif of being saved from untimely death, and continued lease on life – a deliverance from death not out of death. The well known Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary on the Bible (1971 Ed page 266) states regarding Psalms 16:
He was near death and Lord rescued him... No doctrine of resurrection is involved. After a close brush with death the poet rejoices... because the Lord has given him life...Although Christians claim that the earliest disciples were ready to sacrifice their life for
their belief in resurrection, it is difficult to prove absolutely that belief was the cause of martyrdom, since no writings exist from that era. It is quite possible some were martyred on account of their belief that Jesus was still alive, the sign of Jonah, understood properly, giving them strength. However, any further proselytizing would have certainly ended to the Jews, and as the mission of Jesus was only to the House of Israel, the entire mission in Judea would have collapsed.
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