Spiritual, metaphorical sense, not physical.  Every time the Quran denounces the sonship of ‘Uzayr or Jesus it presents an inaccurate view of the Bible based on Muhammad’s misunderstanding.  It is spiritual in nature for Jesus is the holy one from the one true God even as supported by Sura 5:18.  Jesus had no sin for which he was subject to punishment making him not only a prophet but truly more than a prophet for in his spiritual nature he is truly the holy one from God, pbuh.  Sura 3:45-49 and Sura 19:27-35 add further support, after all is there any record that anyone else ever spoke from the cradle?  However let it be noted the Holy Bible makes no such claim that such an incident ever took place but it does have some very important words which He said.

Injil Markus 1:2  As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

1:3  The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

That refers to the Old Testament (Torah) book of Isaiah 40:3    Peter’s secretary starts the story of Jesus with the visions of the seers from long ago.  Which prophets are not here specified because the first audience to which this document was targeted would likely not have recognized the names of those prophets while anyone familiar with them should readily be able to recall which ones it is to whom he specifically refers.  The disciple called Matthew is the one who was directed by the one true God to give us more details in order that the picture of Messiah’s ministry and dealings with men would be better revealed.

Even the Stoics believed in the ordered plan of God.  “The things of God are full of foresight.  All things flow from Heaven.” – Marcus Aurelius, abt 170 AD

Isaiah and Malachi each spoke concerning the forerunner who would prepare the paths.  Malachi’s prophecy was first and foremost a threat; the priests were failing in their duty, the offerings were blemished and shoddy.  Therefore the Temple was to undergo a cleansing; some mosques and churches today need a thorough cleansing and a returning to the correct paths of the one true God and they, just like the Sadducees and Pharisees, won’t be too happy about it when it, the cleansing, begins to take place.  But wherever genuine Christianity goes it brings a purification that is acceptable in the eyes of the one true God.

Wherever Christ and genuine Christianity are allowed to come and be, the Christian faith cleanses from all corruption.  Unfortunately, when Christianity becomes corrupted it loses its efficacy and becomes part of the problem rather than the solution.  Muhammad respected the Holy Bible but not those who claimed to be students of the book yet were not following its instructions.  He, Muhammad, claimed that for the first 200 years following Isa all His followers had remained true to His teachings.  Even today, not all who claim to be Christians are following the teaching of Jesus but we who truly follow the holy one of God,  can be found.

The Pharisees had started out as the holiness of heart and life sect of Judaism but over time they had failed to maintain the inward purity and then John came, preaching repentance and baptism.  Unfortunately, pride got in their way and they failed to see what they should have seen.  Don’t let pride get in your way and cause you to be unable to hear from the living Messiah who is still willing to show you the true path.

Repentance – involves a deliberate choice to turn from sin to righteousness, and John’s emphasis on repentance recalls the preaching of the Biblical prophets, praise be upon them.  God grants forgiveness whenever there is repentance.  John was preaching a repentance-baptism, which is a baptism that is accompanied by repentance.  Now baptism was not new to John’s audience.  They were very familiar with baptism for those who were not descendants of Abraham, but had they had not been taught that all the descendants of Abraham also need to repent and be baptized.

–Pastor Ward Clinton