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Fulfillment of Prophecies 6 |
When Christ appeared, twenty centuries ago, although
the Jews were eagerly awaiting His Coming, and prayed
ever day, with tears, saying: “O God, hasten the Revelation
of the Messiah,” yet when the Sun of Truth dawned,
they denied Him and rose against Him with the greatest
enmity, and eventually crucified that divine Spirit, the
Word of God, and named Him Beelzebub, the evil one, as
is recorded in the Gospel. The reason for this was that
they said: “The Revelation of Christ, according to the
clear text of the Torah, will be attested by certain signs,
and so long as these signs have not appeared, whoso
layeth claim to be a Messiah is an impostor. Among these
signs is this, that the Messiah should come for an unknown
place, yet we all know this man’s house in Nazareth,
and can any good thing come out of Nazareth? The
second sign is that He shall rule with a rod of iron, that is,
He must act with the sword, but this Messiah has not even
a wooden staff. Another of the conditions and signs is
this: He must sit upon the throne of David and establish
David’s sovereignty. Now, far from being enthroned, this
man has not even a mat to sit on. Another of the conditions
is this: the promulgation of all the laws of the Torah;
yet this man has abrogated these laws, and has even
broken the sabbath day, although it is the clear text of the
Torah that whosoever layeth claim to prophethood and
revealeth miracles and breaketh the sabbath day, must be
put to death. Another of the signs is this, that in His reign
justice will be so advanced that righteousness and well-doing
will extend from the human even to the animal
world—the snake and the mouse will share one hold, and
the eagle and the partridge one nest, the lion and the
gazelle shall dwell in one pasture, and the wolf and the kid
shall drink from one fountain. Yet now, injustice and
tyranny have waxed so great in his time that they have
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crucified him! Another of the conditions is this, that in
the days of the Messiah the Jews will prosper and triumph
over all the peoples of the world, but now they are living
in the utmost abasement and servitude in the Empire of
the Romans. Then how can this be the Messiah promised
in the Torah?
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In this wise did they object to that Sun of Truth, although
that Spirit of God was indeed the One promised in
the Torah. But as they did not understand the meaning of
these signs, they crucified the Word of God. Now the
Bahá’ís hold that the recorded signs did come to pass in
the Manifestation of Christ, although not in the sense
which the Jews understood, the description in the Torah
being allegorical. For instance, among the signs is that of
sovereignty. For Bahá’ís say that the sovereignty of Christ
was a heavenly, divine, everlasting sovereignty, not a
Napoleonic sovereignty that vanisheth in a short time. For
well-nigh two thousand years this sovereignty of Christ
hath been established, and until now it endureth, and to
all eternity that Holy Being will be exalted upon an ever-lasting
throne.
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In like manner all the other signs have been made manifest,
but the Jews did not understand. Although nearly
twenty centuries have elapsed since Christ appeared with
divine splendor, yet the Jews are still awaiting the coming
of the Messiah and regard themselves as true and Christ
as false.—Written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for this chapter.
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Had the Jews applied to Christ He would have explained to
them the true meaning of the prophecies concerning Himself.
Let us profit by their example, and before deciding that the
prophecies concerning the Manifestation of the Latter-Day
Teacher have not been fulfilled, let us turn to what Bahá’u’lláh
Himself has written regarding their interpretation, for many
of the prophecies are admittedly “sealed” sayings, and the True
Educator Himself is the only One Who can break the seals and
show the real meaning contained in the casket of words.
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Bahá’u’lláh has written much in explanation of the prophecies
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of old, but it is not on these that He depends for proof of
His Prophethood. The sun is its own proof, to all that have the
power of perception. When it rises we need no ancient predictions
to assure us of its shining. So with the Manifestation of
God when He appears. Were all the former prophecies swept
into oblivion, He would still be His own abundant and sufficient
proof to all whose spiritual sense are open.
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