They Question but Who Answered

Below are some of the questions that the Jewish religious leaders still ask of the time of Jesus. Through these questions they feel free to deny the Beauty of the Christ. Was it not the duty of the Christians to answer these questions. This was a serious error on the part of the church that even now after 2000 years have passed, they still can not answer truthfully their cries for answers.

(this is quoted from 'Baha'i Proofs' by Mirza Abul Fadl)

We have already mentioned that all the prophets or founders of religions have, without exception, assigned a part of their Books to explaining the coming of the Day of God, and announcing the appearance of the Face of God. Likewise, they have mentioned certain signs and tokens concerning this great Manifestation, and have described certain events and occurrences about the day of Its appearance. Some of their announcements have been couched in symbols and allegories, and some are explicity stated, according to the language of every age and cycle. Such symbolical signs are the "darkening of the sun and moon," "rending of the heavens," "falling of stars," "renewal of heaven and earth," "rise of the dead," "the passing away of former things," and other similar events. These shall be set forth in detail, in the course of our treatises, in order that the students of the Holy Books will understand, and the adherents of laws and religions may discuss them. Such signs undoubtedly need to be accepted, but the doctors of every religion, in understanding and apprehending their meanings, have relied upon their own conceptions.

Thus they have interpreted and described them in their books according to their exoteric literal sense. They have also taught them to the people in their lectures, and inculcated them in their schools and congregations until these literal meanings have seemed incontrovertible facts and indisputable points necessary to religious beliefs. These ideas have become still more firmly rooted in hearts and memories, because they have been handed down as a heritage for long periods. Whenever a Divine Sun dawned forth from the Heaven of the Command of God, and the spirit of the Invisible World shone forth from any of the Holy Dawning-places, He was denied by nations and contradicted by peoples, because the aforesaid prophecies were not fulfilled according to the ideas of the people and the signs did not appear as they expected them. In other words, not one of the great prophets ever appeared, and not one of the holy souls ever arose to found a religion by the Command of God, except these very signs and tokens were the first things through which the nations denied Him. For instance, what first caused the Jews to deny Christ was that they held that there are certain signs and tokens, confirmed and clearly written in the Book concerning the coming of the Messiah, which were not then realized; and that the non-fulfillment thereof necessarily disproved the truth of Christ's claim. When Jesus appeared, they said - "Where is the darkness of the sun"? "Where is the changing of the moon into blood"?

"Where is the falling of stars"? "When did the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the lion eat straw as an ox"? "When did the child put his hand in the adder's hole, as is clearly spoken of by Isaiah"? "Where is the changing of the heaven into brass, the earth into iron, and the rain into dust, as was prophesied by Moses"? "Where is the 'new Covenant that the Lord will make with all the Israelitish tribes'; 'assembling of them together from the north, south, east and west, after their scattering and division'; 'honoring them after their degradation and fall'; 'planting them after their extirpation'"? "Where is the 'gathering which shall never be dispersed,' the 'honor which shall never change,' and the 'planting which shall never be uprooted'"? "Where did the Lord 'restore Zion,' a restoration and building 'which shall never be destroyed,' as was prophesied by Jeremiah"? "Did all these events occur during the manifestation of Jesus, or has God deceived His servants by saying such things"? "Be this far from the Might of His Glory and the exaltation of His Beneficence and Bounty"! "Therefore all these prophecies must needs come to pass and these promises be fulfilled, even though many centuries and ages might first elapse"!

The Greater Covenant

(from the book King of Kings by Motlagh pg.430)

It is a prophecy, a promise, and a covenant - the Greater Covenant[*] - spoken by all the great Ones of the past, that in due time a Universal Manifestation, a great Messenger and Redeemer will arise to mark the end of the age of anticipation and to inaugurate the era of attainment, the millennium of "the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven." This was Jesus' mission:

I must give the good news of the kingdom of God... for that is what I was sent to do. - Luke 4:43 NEB

The same mission was given to Muhammad:

We [God] have sent thee not, except good tidings to bear and warning. - Qur'án' 25:58 R

Verily We have sent thee in truth, as a bearer of glad tidings, and as a warner... - Qur'án 35:24 Y

Of what ask they of one another? Of the great news. The theme of their disputes. Nay! they shall certainly know its truth! Again. Nay! they shall certainly know it. - Qur'án 78:1-5 R

* See God Passes By, pp.27-28. The Greater Covenant has also been used in Bahá'i literature to point to the covenant a Messenger makes with His followers, promising that another Messenger will come.

As Christian author Dr. John White notes:

Prophecy, that is, predictions of future events, occupies approximately one-quarter of all Scripture. The teaching of the second coming of our Lord is dealt with some 1,845 times in the Bible, 318 of these being in the New Testament. The return of the Lord is the dominant theme of 17 Old Testament books and one epistle in the New. In fact, 7 out of every 10 chapters in the New Testament make reference to the second coming.[2]

Carlyle Haynes confirms:

This doctrine [of second advent] is one of the fundamental doctrines of Holy Scripture. It finds a larger place in the pages of Holy Writ than any other doctrine of the church, this glorious event being mentioned more than three hundred times in the New Testament, and fifteen hundred times in the entire Bible.[3]

The Qur'án emphasizes the advent of this great Day no less than the Bible. As with Christians, most Muslims (the Sunni branch) expect the return of Christ at the end of the age.

Never before have so many prophecies pointed to a new Revelation. Why should so much emphasis be given to this one event? As Bahá'í author George Townshend notes in his book Christ and Bahá'u'lláh:

The story of the coming of the Kingdom runs through the whole Bible. It is the climax and consummation of God's grand redemptive scheme. The attainment of the Kingdom at the end is promised in the beginning, and gives to the Bible its note of confident expectation, of success and triumph.

No word is as great as Lord and no station as supreme as that of the Creator. To show the glory and greatness of our age, our Creator has, out of His infinite bounty, bestowed His own name not only on the twin Redeemers of our time but on the time itself, calling this Day the Day of the Lord. No honor can be greater than this. Yet as Bahá'u'lláh has repeatedly testified, most people are unaware of God's immeasurable blessings destined for our age.