As to the Manifestation of the Greatest Name (Baha'u'llah): this is He
Whom God promised in all His Books and Scriptures, such as the Bible, the
Gospels and the Qur'an.--'ABDU'L-BAHA.
Interpretation of Prophecy
The interpretation of prophecy is notoriously difficult, and on no subject
do the opinions of the learned differ more widely. This is not to be
wondered at, for, according to the revealed writings themselves, many of
the prophecies were given in such a form that they could not be fully
understood until the fulfillment came, and even then, only by those who
were pure in heart and free from prejudice. Thus at the end of Daniel's
visions the seer was told:--
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to
the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased.... And I heard, but I understood not: then
said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he
said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed
till the time of the end.--Daniel xii, 4-9.
If God sealed up the prophecies until the appointed time, and did not
fully reveal the interpretation even to the prophets who uttered them, we
may expect that none but the appointed Messenger of God will be able to
break the seal and disclose the meanings concealed in the casket of the
prophetic parables. Reflection on the history of prophecies and their
misinterpretation in previous ages and dispensations, combined with the
solemn warnings of the prophets themselves, should render us very chary of
accepting the speculations of theologians as to the real meaning of these
utterances and the manner of their fulfillment. On the other hand, when
someone appears who claims to fulfill the prophecies, it is important that
we examine his claim with open, unprejudiced minds. Should he be an
impostor, the fraud will soon be discovered and no harm will be done, but
woe to all who carelessly turn God's Messenger from the door because He
comes in an unexpected form or time.
The life and utterances of Baha'u'llah testify that He is the Promised One
of all the Holy Books, Who has the power to break the seals of the
prophecies and to pour forth the "Sealed choice wine" of the divine
mysteries. Let us hasten, then, to hear His explanations and to reexamine
in their light the familiar but often mysterious words spoken by the
prophets of old.
The Coming of the Lord
The "Coming of the Lord" in the "last days" is the one "far-off divine
event" to which all the Prophets look forward, about which Their most
glorious songs are sung. Now what is meant by the "Coming of the Lord"?
Surely God is at all times with His creatures, in all, through all, and
over all; "Closer is He than breathing, nearer than hands and feet." Yes,
but men cannot see or hear God immanent and transcendent, cannot realize
His Presence, until He reveals Himself through a visible form and talks to
them in human language. For the revelation of His higher attributes, God
has always made use of a human instrument. Each of the Prophets was a
mediator through whom God visited and spoke to His people. Jesus was such
a mediator, and the Christians have rightly regarded His appearance as a
coming of God. In Him they saw the Face of God and through His lips they
heard the Voice of God. Baha'u'llah tells us that the "Coming" of the Lord
of Hosts, the Everlasting Father, the Maker and Redeemer of the World,
which, according to all the Prophets, is to take place at "the time of the
end," means no other than His manifestation in a human temple, as He
manifested through the temple of Jesus of Nazareth, only this time with a
fuller and more glorious revelation, for which Jesus and all the former
Prophets came to prepare men's hearts and minds.
Prophecies about Christ
Through failing to understand the meaning of the prophecies about the
dominion of the Messiah, the Jews rejected Christ. 'Abdu'l-Baha says:--
The Jews still await the coming of the Messiah, and pray to God
day and night to hasten His advent. When Jesus came they denounced
and slew Him, saying: "This is not the One for Whom we wait.
Behold, when the Messiah shall come, signs and wonders shall
testify that He is in truth the Christ. The Messiah will arise out
of an unknown city. He shall sit upon the throne of David, and
behold, He shall come with a sword of steel, and with a scepter of
iron shall He rule. He shall fulfill the Law of the Prophets. He
shall conquer the East and the West, and shall glorify His chosen
people the Jews. He shall bring with Him a reign of Peace during
which even the animals shall cease to be at enmity with man. For
behold, the wolf and the lamb shall drink from the same spring ...
and all God's creatures shall be at rest...."
Thus the Jews thought and spoke, for they did not understand the
Scriptures nor the glorious truths that were contained in them.
The letter they knew by heart, but of the life-giving Spirit they
understood not a word.
Hearken, and I will show you the meaning thereof: Although Christ
came from Nazareth, which was a known place, He came also from
heaven. His body was born of Mary, but His Spirit came from
heaven. The sword He carried was the sword of His tongue, with
which He divided the good from the evil, the true from the false,
the faithful from the unfaithful, and the light from the darkness.
His Word was indeed a sharp sword! The throne upon which He sat is
the Eternal Throne from which Christ reigns forever, a heavenly
throne, not an earthly one, for the things of earth pass away but
heavenly things pass not away. He reinterpreted and completed the
Laws of Moses and fulfilled the Law of the Prophets. His Word
conquered the East and the West. His kingdom is everlasting. He
exalted those Jews who recognized Him. They were men and women of
humble birth, but contact with Him made them great and gave them
everlasting dignity. The animals who were to live with one another
signified the different sects and races, who, once having been at
war, were now to dwell in love and charity, drinking together the
Water of Life from Christ the Eternal Spring.
Most Christians accept these interpretations of Messianic prophecies as
applied to Christ; but with regard to similar prophecies about the
latter-day Messiah, many of them take up the same attitude as the Jews,
expecting a miraculous display on the material plane which will fulfill
the very letter of the prophecies.
Prophecies about the Bab and Baha'u'llah
According to the Baha'i interpretations, the prophecies which speak of
"the time of the end," the "last days," the coming of the "Lord of hosts,"
of the "everlasting Father," refer especially, not to the advent of Jesus
Christ, but to that of Baha'u'llah. Take, for instance, the well-known
prophecy in Isaiah:--
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the
light shined.... For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and
the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day
of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,
and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and
fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The might God, The everlasting
Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon
his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and
with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts will perform this.--Isa. ix, 2-7.
This is one of the prophecies that has often been regarded as referring to
Christ, and must of it may quite fairly be thus applied, but a little
examination will show how much more fully and aptly it applies to
Baha'u'llah. Christ has, indeed, been a light-bringer and Savior, but for
nearly two thousand years since His advent the great majority of the
people of the earth have continued to walk in darkness, and the children
of Israel and many other of God's children have continued to groan under
the rod of the oppressor. On the other hand, during the first few decades
of the Baha'i era, the light of truth has illumined the East and the West,
the gospel of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man has been
carried into all countries of the world, the great military autocracies
have been overthrown, and a consciousness of world unity has been born
which brings hope of eventual relief to all the downtrodden and oppressed
nationalities of the world. The great war which from 1914 to 1918
convulsed the world, with its unprecedented use of firearms, liquid fire,
incendiary bombs and fuel for engines, has indeed been "with burning and
fuel of fire."(39) Baha'u'llah, by dealing at great length in His Writings
with questions of government and administration, and showing how they may
best be solved, has "taken the government upon His shoulders" in a way
that Christ never did. With regard to the titles "everlasting Father,"
"Prince of Peace," Baha'u'llah repeatedly refers to Himself as the
manifestation of the Father, of whom Christ and Isaiah spoke, whereas
Christ always referred to Himself as the Son; and Baha'u'llah declares
that His mission is to establish peace on earth, while Christ said: "I
came not to send peace but a sword," and as a matter of fact during the
whole of the Christian era wars and sectarian strifes have abounded.
The Glory of God
The title "Baha'u'llah" is the Arabic for "Glory of God," and this very
title is frequently used by the Hebrew prophets for the Promised One Who
is to appear in the last days. Thus in the 40th chapter of Isaiah we
read:--
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is
accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall
be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see
it together. Isa. xl, 1-5.
Like the former prophecy, this has also been partly fulfilled in the
advent of Christ and His forerunner, John the Baptist; but only partly,
for in the days of Christ the warfare of Jerusalem was not accomplished;
many centuries of bitter trail and humiliation were yet in store for her.
With the advent of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, however, the more complete
fulfillment dawned for Jerusalem, and her prospects of a peaceful and
glorious future seem now to be reasonably assured.
Other prophecies speak of the Redeemer of Israel, the Glory of the Lord,
as coming to the Holy Land from the East, from the rising of the sun. Now
Baha'u'llah appeared in Persia, which is eastward from Palestine, towards
the rising of the sun, and He came to the Holy Land, where He spent the
last twenty-four years of His life. Had He come there as a free man,
people might have said that it was the trick of an impostor in order to
conform to the prophecies; but He came as an exile and prisoner. He was
sent there by the _Sh_ah of Persia and the Sultan of Turkey, who can
hardly be suspected of any design to furnish arguments in favor of
Baha'u'llah's claim to be the "Glory of God" Whose coming the Prophets
foretold.
The Branch
In the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah are several
references to a man called the Branch. These have often been taken by
Christians as applying to Christ, but are regarded by Baha'is as referring
especially to Baha'u'llah.
The longest Bible prophecy about the Branch is in the 11th chapter of
Isaiah:--
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the
fear of the Lord.... righteousness shall be the girdle of his
loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also
shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard ... with the kid; and
the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little
child shall lead them.... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all
my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.... And it shall come to
pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the
second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be
left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from
Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from
the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth.--Isa. xi, 1-12.
'Abdu'l-Baha remarks about this and other prophecies of the Branch:--
One of the great events which is to occur in the day of the
manifestation of that incomparable Branch, is the hoisting of the
Standard of God among all nations; meaning that all the nations
and tribes will come under the shadow of this Divine Banner, which
is no other than the Lordly Branch itself, and will become a
single nation. The antagonism of faiths and religions, the
hostility of races and peoples, and the national differences, will
be eradicated from amongst them. All will become one religion, one
faith, one race, and one single people, and will dwell in one
native land, which is the terrestrial globe. Universal peace and
concord will be realised between all the nations, and that
incomparable Branch will gather together all Israel: signifying
that in this cycle Israel will be gathered in the Holy Land, and
that the Jewish people who are scattered to the East and West,
South and North, will be assembled together.
Now see: these events did not take place in the Christian cycle,
for the nations did not come under the One Standard which is the
Divine Branch. But in this cycle of the Lord of Hosts all the
nations and people will enter under the shadow of this Flag. In
the same way, Israel, scattered all over the world, was not
reassembled in the Holy Land in the Christian cycle; but in the
beginning of the cycle of Baha'u'llah this divine promise, as is
clearly stated in all the Books of the Prophets, has begun to be
manifest. You can see that form all the parts of the world tribes
of Jews are coming to the Holy Land; they live in villages and
lands which they make their own, and day by day they are
increasing to such an extent, that all Palestine will become their
home.--Some Answered Questions, p. 75-76.
The Day of God
The word "Day" in such phrases as "Day of God" and "Last Day" is
interpreted as meaning "Dispensation." Each of the great religion-founders
has His "Day." Each is like a sun. His teachings have their dawn, their
truth gradually illumines more and more the minds and hearts of the people
until they attain the zenith of their influence. Then they gradually
become obscured, misrepresented and corrupted, and darkness overshadows
the earth until the sun of a new day arises. The day of the Supreme
Manifestation of God is the Last Day, because it is a day that shall never
end, and shall not be overtaken by night. His sun shall never set, but
shall illumine the souls of men both in this world and in the world to
come. In reality none of the spiritual suns ever set. The suns of Moses,
of Christ, of Muhammad, and all the other Prophets are still shining in
heaven with undiminished luster. But earthborn clouds have concealed their
radiance from the people of earth. The Supreme Sun of Baha'u'llah will
finally disperse these dark clouds, so that the people of all religions
will rejoice in the light of all the Prophets, and with one accord worship
the one God Whose light all the Prophets have mirrored forth.
The Day of Judgment
Christ spoke much in parables about a great Day of Judgment when "the Son
of man shall come in the glory of his Father ... and ... shall reward
every man according to his works" (Matt. xvi, 27). He compares this Day to
the time of harvest, when the tares are burned and the wheat gathered into
barns:--
... so shall it be in the end of this world [consummation of the
age]. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.--Matt. xiii,
40-43.
The phrase "end of the world" used in the Authorized Version of the Bible
in this and similar passages has led many to suppose that when the Day of
Judgment comes, the earth will suddenly be destroyed, but this is
evidently a mistake. The true translation of the phrase appears to be "the
consummation or end of the age." Christ teaches that the Kingdom of the
Father is to be established on earth, as well as in heaven. He teaches us
to pray: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
In the parable of the Vineyard, when the Father, the Lord of the Vineyard,
comes to destroy the wicked husbandmen, He does not destroy the vineyard
(the world) also, but lets it out to other husbandmen, who will render Him
the fruits in their season. The earth is not to be destroyed, but to be
renewed and regenerated. Christ speaks of that day on another occasion as
"the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his
glory." St. Peter speaks of it as "the times of refreshing," "the times of
restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his
holy prophets since the world began." The Day of Judgment of which Christ
speaks is evidently identical with the coming of the Lord of Hosts, the
Father, which was prophesied by Isaiah and the other Old Testament
prophets; a time of terrible punishment for the wicked, but a time in
which justice shall be established and righteousness rule, on earth as in
heaven.
In the Baha'i interpretation, the coming of each Manifestation of God is a
Day of Judgment, but the coming of the supreme Manifestation of
Baha'u'llah is the great Day of Judgment for the world cycle in which we
are living. The trumpet blast of which Christ and Muhammad and many other
prophets speak is the call of the Manifestation, which is sounded for all
who are in heaven and on earth--the embodied and the disembodied. The
meeting with God, through His Manifestation, is, for those who desire to
meet Him, the gateway to the Paradise of knowing and loving Him, and
living in love with all His creatures. Those, on the other hand, who
prefer their own way to God's way, as revealed by the Manifestation,
thereby consign themselves to the hell of selfishness, error and enmity.
The Great Resurrection
The Day of Judgment is also the Day of Resurrection, of the raising of the
dead. St. Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians says:--
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality.--I Cor. xv, 51-53.
As to the meaning of these passages about the raising of the dead,
Baha'u'llah writes in the Book of Iqan:--
... By the terms "life" and "death," spoken of in the scriptures,
is intended the life of faith and the death of unbelief. The
generality of the people, owing to their failure to grasp the
meaning of these words, rejected and despised the person of the
Manifestation, deprived themselves of the light of His divine
guidance, and refused to follow the example of that immortal
Beauty....
... Even as Jesus said: "Ye must be born again" [John iii, 7].
Again He saith: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit"
[John iii, 5-6]. The purpose of these words is that whosoever in
every dispensation is born of the Spirit and is quickened by the
breath of the Manifestation of Holiness, he verily is of those
that have attained unto "life" and "resurrection" and have entered
into the "paradise" of the love of God. And whosoever is not of
them, is condemned to "death" and "deprivation," to the "fire" of
unbelief, and to the "wrath" of God....
In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God and
their chosen ones hath been no other but to affirm the spiritual
significance of the terms "life," "resurrection," and "judgment."
... Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of
divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily realize that true life is
not the life of the flesh but the life of the spirit. For the life
of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life
of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have
quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of
certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is
crowned by immortality. Even as it hath been said: "He who is a
true believer liveth both in this world and in the world to come."
If by "life" be meant this earthly life, it is evident that death
must needs overtake it.--Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 114, 118, 120-21.
According to the Baha'i teaching the Resurrection has nothing to do with
the gross physical body. That body, once dead, is done with. It becomes
decomposed and its atoms will never be recomposed into the same body.
Resurrection is the birth of the individual to spiritual life, through the
gift of the Holy Spirit bestowed through the Manifestation of God. The
grave from which he arises is the grave of ignorance and negligence of
God. The sleep from which he awakens is the dormant spiritual condition in
which many await the dawn of the Day of God. This dawn illumines all who
have lived on the face of the earth, whether they are in the body or out
of the body, but those who are spiritually blind cannot perceive it. The
Day of Resurrection is not a day of twenty-four hours, but an era which
has now begun and will last as long as the present world cycle continues.
It will continue when all traces of the present civilization will have
been wiped off the surface of the globe.
Return of Christ
In many of His conversations Christ speaks of the future Manifestation of
God in the third person, but in others the first person is used. He says:
"I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto myself" (John xiv, 2-3). In the
first chapter of Acts we read that the disciples were told, at the
ascension of Jesus: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
Because of these and similar sayings, many Christians expect that when the
Son of Man comes "in the clouds of heaven and with great glory" they shall
see in bodily form the very Jesus Who walked the streets of Jerusalem two
thousand years ago, and bled and suffered on the cross. They expect to be
able to thrust their fingers into the prints of the nails on His hands and
feet, and their hands into the spear wound in His side. But surely a
little reflection on Christ's own words would dissipate such an idea. The
Jews of Christ's time had just such ideas about the return of Elias, but
Jesus explained their error, showing that the prophecy that "Elias must
first come" was fulfilled, not by the return of the person and body of the
former Elias, but in the person of John the Baptist, who came "in the
spirit and power of Elias." "And if ye will receive it," said Christ,
"this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear." The "return" of Elias, therefore, meant the appearance of another
person, born of other parents, but inspired by God with the same spirit
and power. These words of Jesus may surely be taken to imply that the
return of Christ will, in like manner, be accomplished by the appearance
of another person, born of another mother, but showing forth the Spirit
and Power of God even as Christ did. Baha'u'llah explains that the "coming
again" of Christ was fulfilled in the advent of the Bab and in his own
coming. He says:--
Consider the sun. Were it to say now, "I am the sun of yesterday,"
it would speak the truth. And should it, bearing the sequence of
time in mind, claim to be other than that sun, it still would
speak the truth. In like manner, if it be said that all the days
are but one and the same, it is correct and true. And if it be
said, with respect to their particular names and designations,
that they differ, that again is true. For though they are the
same, yet one doth recognize in each a separate designation, a
specific attribute, a particular character. Conceive accordingly
the distinction, variation, and unity characteristic of the
various Manifestations of holiness, that thou mayest comprehend
the allusions made by the creator of all names and attributes to
the mysteries of distinction and unity, and discover the answer to
thy question as to why that everlasting Beauty should have, at
sundry times, called Himself by different names and
titles.--Kitab-i-Iqan, 21-22.
'Abdu'l-Baha says:--
Know that the return of Christ for a second time doth not mean
what the people believe, but rather signifieth the One promised to
come after Him. He shall come with the Kingdom of God and His
Power which hath surrounded the world. This dominion is in the
world of hearts and spirits, and not in that of matter; for the
material world is not comparable to a single wing of a fly, in the
sight of the Lord, wert thou of those who know! Verily Christ came
with His Kingdom from the beginning which hath no beginning, and
will come with His Kingdom to the eternity of eternities, inasmuch
as in this sense "Christ" is an expression of the Divine Reality,
the simple Essence and heavenly Entity, which hath no beginning
nor ending. It hath appearance, arising, manifestation and setting
in each of the cycles.
The Time of the End
Christ and His apostles mentioned many signs which would distinguish the
times of the "Return" of the Son of Man in the glory of the Father. Christ
said:--
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know
that the desolation thereof is nigh.... For these be the days of
vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled....
for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this
people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be
led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be
fulfilled.--Luke xxi, 20-24.
Again He said:--
Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of
wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers
places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they
deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall
be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be
offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come.--Matt. xxiv, 4-14.
In these two passages Christ foretold in plain terms, without veil or
covering, the things that must come to pass before the coming of the Son
of Man. During the centuries that have elapsed since Christ spoke, every
one of these signs has been fulfilled. In the last part of each passage He
mentions an event that shall mark the time of the coming--in one case the
ending of the Jewish exile and the restoration of Jerusalem, and in the
other the preaching of the gospel in all the world. It is startling to
find that both of these signs are being literally fulfilled in our own
times. If these parts of the prophecy are as true as the rest, it follows
that we must be living now in the "time of the end" of which Christ spoke.
Muhammad also mentions certain signs which will persist until the Day of
Resurrection. In the Qur'an we read:--
When Allah said: "O Jesus! Verily I will cause thee to die, and
exalt thee towards Me, and clear thee of the charges of those who
disbelieve, and will place those who follow thee [that is,
Christians] above those who disbelieve [Jews and others], until
the Day of Resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, so I
will decide between you concerning that in which you
differed."--Sura iii, 54.
"The Hand of God," say the Jews, "is chained up." Their own hands
shall be chained up--and for that which they have said shall they
be cursed. Nay! outstretched are both His hands! At His own
pleasure doth He bestow gifts. That which hath been sent down to
thee from thy Lord will surely increase the rebellion and unbelief
of many of them; and We have put enmity and hatred between them
that shall last until the Day of Resurrection. Oft as they kindle
a beacon fire for war shall God quench it.--Sura v, 69.
And of those who say, "We are Christians," have We accepted the
Covenant. But they too have forgotten a part of what they were
taught; wherefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them
that shall last till the Day of Resurrection; and in the end will
God tell them of their doings.--Sura v, 17.
These words also have been literally fulfilled in the subjection of the
Jews to Christian (and Muslim) peoples, and in the sectarianism and strife
which have divided both Jews and Christians among themselves during all
the centuries since Muhammad spoke. Only since the commencement of the
Baha'i era (the Day of Resurrection) have signs of the approaching end of
these conditions made their appearance.
Signs in Heaven and Earth
In the Hebrew, Christian, Muhammadan and many other Scriptures, there is a
remarkable similarity in the description of the signs which are to
accompany the coming of the Promised One.
In the Book of Joel we read:--
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood,
and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible
days of the Lord come.... For, behold, in those days ... when I
shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will
also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley
of Jehoshaphat [Jehovah judgeth], and will plead with them
there.... Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for
the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and
the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice
from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the
Lord will be the hope of his people.--Joel ii, 30-31; iii, 1-2,
14-16.
Christ says:--
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory.--Matt. xxiv, 29-30.
In the Qur'an we read:--
When the sun shall be shrouded,
And when the stars shall fall,
And when the mountains are made to pass away ...
And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled,
And when the heaven shall be uncovered,
And when hell shall be made to blaze.--Sura lxxxi.
In the Book of Iqan Baha'u'llah explains that these prophecies about the
sun, moon and stars, the heavens and the earth, are symbolical and are not
to be understood merely in the literal sense. The Prophets were primarily
concerned with spiritual, not material, things; with spiritual, not with
physical, light. When They mention the sun, in connection with the Day of
Judgment, They refer to the Sun of Righteousness. The sun is the supreme
source of light, so Moses was a sun for the Hebrews, Christ for the
Christians, and Muhammad for the Muslims. When the Prophets speak of the
sun being darkened, what is meant is that the pure teachings of these
spiritual Suns have become obscured by misrepresentation, misunderstanding
and prejudice, so that the people are in spiritual darkness. The moon and
stars are the lesser sources of illumination, the religious leaders and
teachers, who should guide and inspire the people. When it is said that
the moon shall not give her light or shall be turned into blood, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, it is indicated that the leaders of the
churches shall become debased, engaging in strife and contention, and the
priests shall become worldly minded, concerned about earthly instead of
heavenly things.
The meaning of these prophecies is not exhausted by one explanation,
however, and there are other senses in which these symbols can be
interpreted. Baha'u'llah says that in another sense the words "sun,"
"moon," and "stars" are applied to the ordinances and instructions enacted
in every religion. As in every subsequent Manifestation the ceremonies,
forms, customs and instructions of the preceding Manifestations are
changed in accordance with the requirements of the times, so, in this
sense the sun and moon are changed and the stars dispersed.
In many cases the literal fulfillment of these prophecies in the outward
sense would be absurd or impossible; for example, the moon being turned
into blood or the stars falling upon the earth. The least of the visible
stars is many thousand times larger than the earth, and were one to fall
on the earth there would be no earth left for another to fall on! In other
cases, however, there is a material as well as a spiritual fulfillment.
For example, the Holy Land did literally become desert and desolate during
many centuries, as foretold by the prophets, but already, in the Day of
Resurrection, it is beginning to "rejoice and blossom as the rose," as
Isaiah foretold. Prosperous colonies are being started, the land is being
irrigated and cultivated, and vineyards, olive groves and gardens are
flourishing where half a century ago there was only sandy waste. Doubtless
when men beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning
hooks, wildernesses and deserts in all parts of the world will be
reclaimed; the scorching winds and sandstorms that blow from these
deserts, and make life in their neighborhood well-nigh intolerable, will
be things of the past; the climate of the whole earth will become milder
and more equable; cities will no longer defile the air with smoke and
poisonous fumes, and even in the outward, material sense there will be
"new heavens and a new earth."
Manner of Coming
As to the manner of His coming at the end of the age, Christ said:--
And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a
great sound of a trumpet.... then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats.--Matt. xxiv, 30-31; xxv, 31-32.
Regarding these and similar passages Baha'u'llah writes in the Book of
Iqan:--
... The term "heaven" denoteth loftiness and exaltation, inasmuch
as it is the seat of the revelation of those Manifestations of
Holiness, the Day-springs of ancient glory. These ancient Beings,
though delivered from the womb of their mother, have in reality
descended from the heaven of the will of God. Though they be
dwelling on this earth, yet their true habitations are the
retreats of glory in the realms above. Whilst walking amongst
mortals, they soar in the heaven of the divine presence. Without
feet they tread the path of the spirit, and without wings they
rise unto the exalted heights of divine unity. With every fleeting
breath they cover the immensity
of space, and at every moment traverse the kingdoms of the visible
and the invisible....
... By the term "clouds" is meant those things that are contrary
to the ways and desires of men. Even as He hath revealed in the
verse already quoted: "As oft as an Apostle cometh unto you with
that which your souls desire not, ye swell with pride, accusing
some of being impostors and slaying others." [Qur'an 2:87.] These
"clouds" signify, in one sense, the annulment of laws, the
abrogation of former Dispensations, the repeal of rituals and
customs current amongst men, the exalting of the illiterate
faithful above the learned opposers of the Faith. In another
sense, they mean the appearance of that immortal Beauty in the
image of mortal man, with such human limitations as eating and
drinking, poverty and riches, glory and abasement, sleeping and
waking, and such other things as cast doubt in the minds of men,
and cause them to turn away. All such veils are symbolically
referred to as "clouds."
These are the "clouds" that cause the heavens of the knowledge and
understanding of all that dwell on earth to be cloven asunder.
Even as He hath revealed: "On that day shall the heaven be cloven
by the clouds." [Qur'an 25:25]. Even as the clouds prevent the
eyes of men from beholding the sun, so do these things hinder the
souls of men from recognizing the light of the divine Luminary. To
this beareth witness that which hath proceeded out of the mouth of
the unbelievers as revealed in the sacred Book: "And they have
said: 'What manner of apostle is this? He eateth food, and walketh
the streets. Unless an angel be sent down and take part in His
warnings, we will not believe.'" [Qur'an 25:7.] Other Prophets,
similarly, have been subject to poverty and afflictions, to
hunger, and to the ills and chances of this world. As these holy
Persons were subject to such needs and wants, the people were,
consequently, lost in the wilds of misgivings and doubts, and were
afflicted with bewilderment and perplexity. How, they wondered,
could such a person be sent down from God, assert His ascendancy
over all the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and claim Himself
to be the goal of all creation,--even as He hath said: "But for
Thee, I would have not created all that are in heaven and on
earth,"--and yet be subject to such trivial things? You must
undoubtedly have been informed of the tribulations, the poverty,
the ills, and the degradation that have befallen every Prophet of
God and His companions. You must have heard how the heads of their
followers were sent as presents unto different cities, how
grievously they were hindered from that whereunto they were
commanded. Each and every one of them fell a prey to the hands of
the enemies of His Cause, and had to suffer whatsoever they
decreed....
... The All-Glorious hath decreed these very things, that are
contrary to the desires of wicked men, to be the touchstone and
standard whereby He proveth His servants, that the just may be
known from the wicked, and the faithful distinguished from the
infidel....
And now, concerning His words: "And He shall send His angels...."
By "angels" is meant those who, reinforced by the power of the
spirit, have consumed, with the fire of the love of God, all human
traits and limitations, and have clothed themselves with the
attributes of the most exalted Beings and of the Cherubim....
As the adherents of Jesus have never understood the hidden meaning
of these words, and as the signs which they and leaders of their
Faith have expected have failed to appear, they therefore refused
to acknowledge, even until now, the truth of those Manifestations
of Holiness that have since the days of Jesus been made manifest.
They have thus deprived themselves of the outpourings of God's
holy grace, and of the wonders of His divine utterance. Such is
their low estate in this, the Day of Resurrection! They have even
failed to perceive that were the signs of the Manifestation of God
in every age to appear in the visible realm in accordance with the
text of established traditions, none could possibly deny or turn
away, not would the blessed be distinguished from the miserable,
and the transgressor from the God-fearing. Judge fairly: Were the
prophecies recorded in the Gospel to be literally fulfilled; were
Jesus, Son of Mary, accompanied by angels, to descend from the
visible heaven upon the clouds; who would dare to disbelieve, who
would dare to reject the truth, and wax disdainful? Nay, such
consternation would immediately seize all the dwellers of the
earth that no soul would feel able to utter a word, much less to
reject or accept the truth.--Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 67, 71-73, 76,
78-79, 80-81.
According to the above explanation the coming of the Son of Man, in lowly
human form, born of woman, poor, uneducated, oppressed and set at naught
by the great ones of the earth--this manner of coming is the very
touchstone by which He judges the people of earth and separates them one
from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. Those whose
spiritual eyes are opened can see through those clouds and rejoice in the
"power and great glory"--the very glory of God--which He comes to reveal;
the others, whose eyes are still holden by prejudice and error, can see
but the dark clouds and continue to grope in gloom, deprived of the
blessed sunshine.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his
temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in.
... But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand
when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like
fullers' sope.... For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as
an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall
be stubble: ... But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings.--Mal. iii, 1-2; iv.
1-2.
NOTE--The subject of fulfillment of prophecy is such an extensive one that
many volumes would be required for its adequate exposition. All that can
be done within the limits of a single chapter is to indicate the main
outlines of the Baha'i interpretations. The detailed Apocalypses revealed
by Daniel and St. John have been left untouched. Readers will find certain
chapters of these dealt with in Some Answered Questions. In the Book of
Iqan, by Baha'u'llah, Baha'i Proofs, by Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, and in many of
the Tablets of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha further explanation of
prophecies may be found. Prophecies of Baha'u'llah and