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Coming of the Kingdom of God
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Amid these troublous times, however, the Cause of God will
prosper. The calamities caused by selfish struggle for individual
existence, or for party or sectarian or national gain,
will induce the people to turn in despair to the remedy offered
by the Word of God. The more calamities abound, the more
will the people turn to the only true remedy. Bahá’u’lláh says
in his Epistle to the Sháh:—
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God hath made afflictions as a morning shower to this
green pasture, and as a wick for His Lamp, whereby earth
and heaven are illumined. … Through affliction hath
His Light shone and His Praise been bright unceasingly;
this hath been His method through past ages and bygone
times.
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Both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá predict in the most confident
terms the speedy triumph of spirituality over materiality
and the consequent establishment of the Most Great Peace.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote in 1904:—
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Know this, that hardships and misfortunes shall increase
day by day, and the people shall be distressed. The
doors of joy and happiness shall be closed on all sides.
Terrible wars shall happen. Disappointment and the frustration
of hopes shall surround the people from every direction
until they are obliged to turn to God. Then the
lights of great happiness shall enlighten the horizons, so
that the cry of “Yá Bahá’u’l-Abhá!” may arise on all
sides.—Tablet to L.D.B. quoted in Compilation on War
and Peace, p. 187.
249
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When asked, in February 1914, whether any of the Great
Powers would become believers, He replied:—
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All the people of the world will become believers.
Should you compare the beginning of the Cause with its
position today, you would see what a quick influence the
Word of God has, and now the Cause of God has encompassed
the world. … Unquestionably, all will come under
the shadow of the Cause of God.
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He declared that the establishment of world unity will come
about during the present century. In one of His Tablets He
wrote:—
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… All the members of the human family, whether
peoples or governments, cities or villages, have become increasingly
interdependent. For none is self-sufficiency any
longer possible, inasmuch as political ties unite all peoples
and nations, and the bonds of trade and industry, of agriculture
and education, are being strengthened every day.
Hence the unity of all mankind can in this day be
achieved. Verily this is none other but one of the wonders
of this wondrous age, this glorious century—the century of
light—has been endowed with the unique and unprecedented
glory, power and illumination. Hence the miraculous
unfolding of a fresh marvel every day. Eventually it
will be seen how bright its candles will burn in the assemblage
of man.
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In the last two verses of the Book of Daniel occur the cryptic
words:—“Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the
thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thy way
till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end
of the days.”
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Many have been the attempts of learned students to solve
the problem of the significance of these words. In a tabletalk
at which the writer was present, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá reckoned the
fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy from the date of the beginning
of the Muhammadan era.
250
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‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets make it clear that this prophecy refers
to the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of
Bahá’u’lláh in Ba ghdád, or the year 1963:—
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Now concerning the verse in Daniel, the interpretation
whereof thou didst ask, namely, “Blessed is he who cometh
unto the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five
days.” These days must be reckoned as solar and not lunar
years. For according to this calculation a century will
have elapsed from the dawn of the Sun of Truth, then will
the teachings of God be firmly established upon the earth,
and the Divine Light shall flood the world from the East
even unto the West. Then, on this day, will the faithful
rejoice!
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