A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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Return of Christ |
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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
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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. Bahá’u’lláh explains that the “coming again” of Christ was
fulfilled in the advent of the Báb and in His own coming. He
says:—
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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
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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.—Kitáb-i-Íqán,
21–22.
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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.
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