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Nay, by “trumpet” is meant the trumpet-call of Muḥammad’s Revelation, which was sounded in the heart of the universe, and by “resurrection” is meant His own rise to proclaim the Cause of God. He bade the erring and wayward arise and speed out of the sepulchres of their bodies, arrayed them with the beauteous robe of faith, and quickened them with the breath of a new and wondrous life. Thus at the hour when Muḥammad, that divine Beauty, purposed to unveil one of the mysteries hidden in the symbolic terms “resurrection,” “judgment,” “paradise,” and “hell,” Gabriel, the Voice of Inspiration, was heard saying: “Erelong will they wag their heads at Thee, and say, ‘When shall this be?’ Say: ‘Perchance it is nigh.’” The implications of this verse alone suffice the peoples of the world, were they to ponder it in their hearts.


This is interesting, as you will recall that it comes at a point in the book when Baha'u'llah is discussing how the Bab demonstrates the sovereignty of the Qa'im. He points out that what we typically think of as the sovereignty that the Promised One is to show is not what He actually will demonstrate in His lifetime. Over and over throughout Part 1 of this book Baha'u'llah has encouraged us to remember what we know of the religions of old, and be detached from our own expectations of what is to come. He shows us very clearly some of the many meanings in the prophecies of ancient times, and reminds us over and over that there is a clear pattern throughout all the religions of God, if we but take notice and keep an open heart.

Here He is reminding us that it is not just the term "sovereignty" that will be redefined by the Manifestation of God, but many terms. The Manifestation does not conform to the will and expectations of the generation in which They live. The people expect these various prophecies to come true at some point in the future, and Baha'u'llah is pointing out that "Perchance it is nigh", as was mentioned in the Qur'an. All of these things refer to the time of Muhammad, as well as the time of all the other Messengers of God.

There are a few things that catch our attention in this paragraph, as you would expect. The first one we want to point out is the various terms that Baha'u'llah is redefining here. We don't think they are random. We suspect that they are very precisely chosen. They are, in order, "trumpet", "resurrection", "judgment", "paradise" and "hell". It seems to us that there is a bit of a path alluded to here. The Messenger is always heralded in with a trumpet blast. This, it warns, is the Day of Judgment. All the various phenotypes of old, as Baha'u''llah points out throughout this book, are resurrected. They come back, again and again. And from there, the Messenger judges the people according to the divine standard, not the low standard set forth by men, and either rewards the people with heaven or condemns them to hell. To us, this feels like another subtle warning. He seems to be saying, as He has a few times previously, that this is another Day of Judgment. Will we be sent to paradise or hell? It is through the path we choose as set forth in this book that will decide where we end up.

Another interesting point here is the sentence that describes this resurrection. Muhammad, He says, called the people out of their speulchres, which is where you would inter a dead body. After calling them arise, He gave them a new robe. He clothed them, so that they were no longer naked, or in their burial shrouds. They were now dressed in beautiful robes. Then, after they were dressed nicely, He gave them a new life.

It's interesting to us because we would have expected the new life to come before the dressing in the new clothes. But it makes sense, doesn't it? You rise up, and are given this faith, but you still have to grow into it. You don't really change when you become a Baha'i, for example. You are given the tools to change. The actual transformation of behaviour takes time and often occurs long after the declaration of faith. Then, with this new behaviour firmly in place, you become more attractive, as someone dressed in fine clothes.

And finally, He reminds us once more to ponder. You will, of course, recall how often He told us to ponder and meditate and reflect throughout Part 1. This always occurred when He had given us a lot to think about, as if we needed a few moments to reflect and allow these new ideas to set in.

So what is the new idea here that we need to ponder? Perhaps it is just this idea of these terms being redefined. Or maybe it is the idea that the Day of Resurrection is now, and not at some distant point in the future. Either way, this is a point in the text where we need to be certain to allow our previously held ideas of what these terms mean to fall by the wayside. We need to open ourselves up to these potentially new definitions, and not instinctively fall back on what we were taught they would mean.

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As the commentators of the Qur’án and they that follow the letter thereof misapprehended the inner meaning of the words of God and failed to grasp their essential purpose, they sought to demonstrate that, according to the rules of grammar, whenever the term “idhá” (meaning “if” or “when”) precedeth the past tense, it invariably hath reference to the future. Later, they were sore perplexed in attempting to explain those verses of the Book wherein that term did not actually occur. Even as He hath revealed: “And there was a blast on the trumpet,—lo! it is the threatened Day! And every soul is summoned to a reckoning,—with him an impeller and a witness.” In explaining this and similar verses, they have in some cases argued that the term “idhá” is implied. In other instances, they have idly contended that whereas the Day of Judgment is inevitable, it hath therefore been referred to as an event not of the future but of the past. How vain their sophistry! How grievous their blindness! They refuse to recognize the trumpet-blast which so explicitly in this text was sounded through the revelation of Muḥammad. They deprive themselves of the regenerating Spirit of God that breathed into it, and foolishly expect to hear the trumpet-sound of the Seraph of God who is but one of His servants! Hath not the Seraph himself, the angel of the Judgment Day, and his like been ordained by Muḥammad’s own utterance? Say: What! Will ye give that which is for your good in exchange for that which is evil? Wretched is that which ye have falsely exchanged! Surely ye are a people, evil, in grievous loss.


Wow. This paragraph kind of stumped us. We read it, and re-read it, and then re-re-read it, and still had a difficult time figuring out what to talk about. We found it difficult to understand, awkward to follow, and had a hard time getting pretty much any sort of a grasp on it.

And so, what did we do? We went back to the beginning. Oh, but not the beginning of this book, but rather to Ruhi Book 1.

What, we asked ourselves, is the overarching theme of this entire paragraph?

Before we answer that, though, we want to just mention something that we haven't actually said before about the entire book. It seems that Part 1 is dedicated not to answering the questions of the uncle of the Bab, but rather to reframing the questions themselves. It is as if Baha'u'llah is telling him that the very questions he is asking are the wrong sort of questions. They are framed in the understanding current amongst the theologians of the day, and are therefore based on an incorrect premise. It is as if the uncle is asking, "When did the stars fall from heaven? When did the sun cease to shine?" Baha'u'llah is sitting here saying that these are the wrong questions. What we should be asking is "How did the stars fall? How did the sun cease to shine?" Rather than asking if these things occurred, based on our faulty understanding of what we expect to happen, we should be asking the Messenger of God how these things occurred.

Well, that brings us to Part 2.

Now that we have a better understanding of what to ask, Baha'u'llah is now re-framing the questions that are specific to the uncle's request.

Part 1 concerned us deeply because it helped us understand a historical perspective, no matter what our starting point.

Part 2 is specifically concerned with issues relating to Islam. And this, truth be told, is beyond us.

But now, with that clearly stated, we can go back to this paragraph and ask ourselves what Baha'u'llah, in short, is talking about.

He seems to be addressing an issue around the singular term, idhá, and showing how the theologians have twisted and turned to try to explain things in ways that they can understand. You see, they are of the belief that the questions regarding the Judgment Day all relate to the distant future. And so, when the text of the Qur'an talks about it in the present tense, they are at a loss. They come up with the explanation that the future tense is somehow implied, even though the text clearly phrases it in the present tense. "It is the threatened Day." "Every soul is summoned to a reckoning." Yes, it refers to the future, but it also relates to the present day, both at the same time.

And it is interesting to note that Baha'u'llah is not condemning them for mis-leading the people deliberately. He is not accusing them of malicious intent. Instead He laments their vain sophistry. He says that their argument is superficially sound, and may make some sort of sense on the surface, but doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. He accuses them of blindness, not wickedness.

There is an element of sadness in this paragraph for us, for the scholars have deprived themselves of this regenerating spirit by clinging to their preconceived ideas. They had an idea, that the Day of Judgment was in the distant future, and then tried to force the text to support this theory. Instead, what they should have done is been detached from their idea and examined the text to see if it supported their theory. After all, "No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth."

When studying the text, and trying to understand it, it is important to recognize the need for detachment and humility. After all, let's put this in perspective. Someone was reading these passages in the Qur'an, and thought that these references, perhaps, spoke of some future time. Sure. That sounds reasonable. Then what they should have done is looked at the text again to see if their idea was supported by the text. Instead what they did was insist that their theory was right, and it became a recognized tradition. Now, it has the weight of doctrine. And it is because of this that a great many people have been led astray.

Time and again, those very basic concepts that Baha'u'llah introduced at the beginning of book prove to be the exact tools we need to understand everything that follows.

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When the light of Qur’ánic Revelation was kindled within the chamber of Muḥammad’s holy heart, He passed upon the people the verdict of the Last Day, the verdict of resurrection, of judgment, of life, and of death. Thereupon the standards of revolt were hoisted, and the doors of derision opened. Thus hath He, the Spirit of God, recorded, as spoken by the infidels: “And if thou shouldst say, ‘After death ye shall surely be raised again,’ the infidels will certainly exclaim, ‘This is nothing but manifest sorcery.’” Again He speaketh: “If ever thou dost marvel, marvellous surely is their saying, ‘What! When we have become dust, shall we be restored in a new creation?’” Thus, in another passage, He wrathfully exclaimeth: “Are We wearied out with the first creation? Yet are they in doubt with regard to a new creation!”

This is a very interesting paragraph. After all, Baha'u''llah has talked a lot about the spiritual interpretation of sacred Text quite a lot already, yet this paragraph here seems to be an oddity. Why is it here? and what on earth can we say about it? It seems to be just a few quotes that don't appear to have much more to say except that we need to look at all these quotes with a spiritual eye.

But is that it?

We have just read a number of paragraphs, circling around the overarching theme of sovereignty, that deal with the idea of spiritual interpretation. Remember that phrase from a few paragraphs ago, regarding the wolf and the lamb? "Besides, of what profit would it be to the world were such a thing to take place?" This seems to be a very important concept here. If we take a literal view of these lines, what good would it do the world?

And remember, this is in response to a series of questions from the uncle of the Bab regarding His Sovereignty. "Where is it? How was He a sovereign?" It also deals with the other questions regarding other signs of the Day of Resurrection, or the Last Days.

The uncle of the Bab, like most Muslims of his day, saw the Day of Resurrection as referring to some day in the distant future. Yet it seems as if Muhammad is referring to His own day, here in these quotes.

In that first quote, Muhammad is letting His followers know that if they talk about the resurrection, the infidels will claim it to be sorcery. Ok. Fine. No problem, just a warning.

In the second quote, He seems to be saying that if we are ever struck with wonder, we should really wonder that the unbelievers don't believe in the Resurrection.

That third quote, exclaimed in anger, says "Oh, I'm sick and tired of it all", in essence. And yet, He says, they doubt that there is a new creation happening right before their very eyes.

Baha'u'llah is not really giving us any answers here. He is, instead, leading us on with questions, which will be answered in the upcoming paragraphs.

Muhammad passed judgment on those around Him, and was met with derision, as evidenced by these quotes. And yet today, or the today of a hundred and fifty years ago, we don't question Him. Similarly, judgment was passed by the Bab, and He was met with this same derision.

Right now, Baha'u'llah seems to be merely pointing out a parallel reaction. Anything further will be explained in the next few paragraphs.

But for us, we just want to make sure that it is crystal clear that this Day of Resurrection, and all the prophecies that refer to it, applies to every single Manifestation of God. Yes, it refers to some distant future, but it also applies to the time of Muhammad, and Jesus, and Buddha, and even the next Messenger after Baha'u'llah. This seems to be so important a concept that He refers to it over and over again in these pages.

And finally, we just wanted to point out another "progression" that He does. If you look at the quotes that He refers to in this paragraph, there is a bit of a path. In the first quote, you die but are raised again. It seems like not a lot of time has passed, either minutes or days. In the second quote, you have already become dust. A lot more time has elapsed in this one, so much so that you have completely decayed. That takes a long time, but still, the result is the same, in that you are restored. In the third, all of creation has passed away. Now we are talking ages, possibly eons. A huge amount of time has gone by. But not to worry, an entirely new creation has replaced it. All is good in the world.

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Consider how with this one verse which hath descended from the heaven of the Will of God, the world and all that is therein have been brought to a reckoning with Him. Whosoever acknowledged His truth and turned unto Him, his good works outweighed his misdeeds, and all his sins were remitted and forgiven. Thereby is the truth of these words concerning Him made manifest: “Swift is He in reckoning.” Thus God turneth iniquity into righteousness, were ye to explore the realms of divine knowledge, and fathom the mysteries of His wisdom. In like manner, whosoever partook of the cup of love, obtained his portion of the ocean of eternal grace and of the showers of everlasting mercy, and entered into the life of faith—the heavenly and everlasting life. But he that turned away from that cup was condemned to eternal death. 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.

You may notice the similarity between this and the previous paragraphs. In the last few, He talked about how, with a single word, Muhammad separated all these things from all these other things, such as "light from darkness, the righteous from the ungodly, and the believing from the infidel". He also mentioned the problem with taking some of these verses literally, such as the lamb and the wolf enjoying a good meal together.

Here, as in many instances in Part 1, He points out that life and death, when mentioned in the scriptures, in this manner, means "the life of faith and the death of unbelief". In other words, it is not meant to be taken literally.

We could talk about this a lot, really, but it seems that anything we say would be merely repeating what Baha'u'llah has already said, and we would do it in a more lengthy, and less interesting, manner.

Instead, we noticed the word "consider". This is a point where we can consider so many things, and this time we want to use this paragraph to do something a little different. Look at the word "ocean". It is used here in a similar manner to how He uses it elsewhere in this book, so we would see how it is used throughout.

The first instance, as you will no doubt recall, is in the very first sentence: No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding... (1)

He also refers, in subsequent paragraphs, to:

• the ocean of the divine presence (2)
• ocean of truths treasured in these holy words (3)
• the ocean of true understanding (4)
• the ocean of His bountiful grace (5)
• the ocean of divine knowledge (6)
• the billowing ocean of God's grace (7)
• the ocean of His tender mercies (8)
• the oceans of wisdom (9)
• the ocean of eternal grace (10)
• the ocean of faith (11)
• the ocean of divine mercy (12)
• the ocean of the inner meaning of these words (13)
• the Ocean of everlasting bounty (14)
• the ocean of eternal grace (15)
• the ocean of acceptance (16)
• the ocean of His knowledge (17)
• the oceans of ancient and everlasting holiness (18)
• the ocean of ancient Knowledge (19)
• that Ocean of divine wisdom (20)

That's a lot of oceans.

As we noticed, fairly quickly, many of them refer to some form of knowledge.

But is there a path here? Well, let's find out.

It begins with the ocean of true understanding (1) and our search to reach its shores. Let's suppose that this desire comes from our understanding of the previous scriptures. We begin with sincere search, and attain, in the Day of our Lord, the divine presence(2). Once we have attained His presence, we truly begin to see the deep truths treasured in these holy words (3), as we are discovering in this very book. This leads us on to a true understanding (4), and helps us unravel the mysteries in those very texts.

When we reach this higher understanding, based on the Writings of Baha'u'llah, we begin to receive His bountiful grace (5), which carries us forward to divine knowledge (6). Previously, it may have been our own deficient knowledge, based on our sincere understanding, but now it is closer to Baha'u'llah's, and yet we are still only at the very beginning of this path. We must continue to study and reflect on His Words. We must act on them, moving them off the page and into our daily lives. We have to reflect on our actions and, in light of the guidance from His mighty Pen, strive to make every day an improvement over yesterday. This is when we will get a far greater sense of the billowing ocean of God's grace (7). This is when we can truly see His tender mercies (8).

Sometimes, though, we will encounter tests and difficulties. This isn't just a possibility. It is a guarantee. As we move forward, we know that we are making progress because the road is getting more difficult. If it wasn't getting more difficult, we wouldn't be able to grow. It is like when we exercise our body. If we do not push ourselves, we will not gain any benefit. When we look past our own comfort to the end of things, then we can begin to sense God's wisdom (9). When we reconcile ourselves to God's will, and strive to maintain that radiant acquiescence in the face of tests and trials, then we can begin to get a sense of His eternal grace (10). Again, it may seem like step seven, but it is, in truth, a spiral. We see this grace at a higher level. We understand more thoroughly that He is always bestowing upon us His ever-loving favours. We see the wisdom of the struggle, and the benefits that arise from it. And while we may not actively enjoy it, we accept it gracefully and radiantly.

This is when we have truly started on that path of faith (11) that Baha'u'llah describes, that path in which we are willing to give up everything. When we do this, all those tests and trials seem to fade in His light, and we sense that continual divine mercy (12) in our life. It is not a temporary thing, that we only sense when things are going well, but even recognize it when those difficult times are before us.

It is only then that we can truly start to appreciate the inner meaning of these words (13), and not just their surface meaning. We see many layers of meaning in all His Words. We see truths in the former scriptures that we never sensed before, things that were hidden to our eyes, but are now evident in light of historical experience. Now we begin to sense His everlasting bounty (14) in a whole new way, and can get an even higher sense of that eternal grace (15). As we read the Iqan, we recognize that this eternal grace is far more profound than we had imagined. This is when we are better able to enter into that state of acceptance (16) with whatsoever He has ordained. We see more clearly that cycle He has described of crisis and victory. We see the various twistings and turnings of history as nothing more than curves on that eternal road of history, leading us ever forward to that promised Kingdom.

When we see this, when we truly begin to accept whatever He has ordained for us, then we find ourselves at a whole new level of His knowledge (17). This is when we begin to get an even grander sense of His ancient and everlasting holiness (18). This is when we can clearly see the truths in all faiths and recognize His overwhelming presence in all of history. We see ourselves not as some random, final pinnacle of history, but as another step in that eternal path God has laid out for us. We see ourselves and our Faith as another pearl on that divine strand. We see the ancient Knowledge (19) intermingled, and identical to, that present Knowledge, which has been restated for today.

This, dear Reader, is when we truly begin to get a greater sense of the divine wisdom (20) that pervades all aspects of our life.

Even with all of this, we can still recall that this incredible book was written before Baha'u'llah declared His mission. And that, dear Reader, fills us with even more awe and wonder.

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This is the significance of the well-known words: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.” Behold the ignorance and folly of those who, like the nations of old, are still expecting to witness the time when these beasts will feed together in one pasture! Such is their low estate. Methinks, never have their lips touched the cup of understanding, neither have their feet trodden the path of justice. Besides, of what profit would it be to the world were such a thing to take place? How well hath He spoken concerning them: “Hearts have they, with which they understand not, and eyes have they with which they see not!”

What is the significance? This refers to the last sentence from the previous paragraph that says "how numerous are those peoples of divers beliefs, of conflicting creeds, and opposing temperaments, who, through the reviving fragrance of the Divine springtime, breathing from the Riḍván of God, have been arrayed with the new robe of divine Unity, and have drunk from the cup of His singleness."

Once again, as we saw throughout Part 1, Baha'u'llah is lamenting the state of those people who see these passages as being interpreted literally. And then, interestingly enough, He links together understanding and justice, pointing out that these literal interpretations have neither.

But why here? What does this have to do with His essay on sovereignty? It might just be a reminder to not interpret this sovereignty literally, as the uncle seemed to want to do. Over and over in Part 1 He talked about how these verses from Jesus, quoted in Matthew 24, had myriads of meanings, and that the literal should not be seen as the only one. Here, He seems to be making the same point, but with something more relevant to the questions of the uncle.

As usual, though, it seems that He is talking to a far greater audience than just the uncle. It seems that He is warning us, too, to avoid literalism. If we cling to literal interpretations, He seems to say, then we will not understand the true and deeper spiritual meanings within the text. And if we don't understand, then we will not be able to act with justice, that "best beloved of all things in (His) sight".

There is another point, though, that catches our attention. Why is He choosing this particular verse to examine in this paragraph? Is it just because of the obviousness of it? The sheer absurdity of trying to take it literally? Or is there, perhaps, more?

As you can no doubt guess, we think there is more.

To get a better understanding of this verse, we decided to go back to the source, Isaiah 65. As we read through it, it seemed that there were a lot of references to Baha'u'llah, the Bab, and everything that was happening at the time.

The very beginning, with its references to a nation that is not called by His name, and stretching out His hands to even the rebellious, seems to apply to every Day of God. Even in Long Obligatory Prayer, Baha'u'llah has us say "and by the words 'Here am I, Here am I,' which Thy chosen Ones have uttered in this immensity..." These very words we say every day hearken back to this chapter of Isaiah.

Later, though, in Isaiah 65:9 and 10, He makes all these references to the Holy Land. One that sticks out for many Baha'is is the reference to the Valley of Achor. Now, some Baha'is mis-interpret this as the Valley of Akka, which it isn't. The Valley of Achor is south of Jericho, which is quite some distance away. And yet, 'Abdu'l-Baha clearly says, "It is recorded in the Torah: And I will give you the valley of Achor for a door of hope. This valley of Achor is the city of ‘Akká, and whoso hath interpreted this otherwise is of those who know not." So does that mean He is wrong? Well, the Valley of Achor literally means the Valley of Repugnance, so named because of the horrific events that happened there. That is the literal interpretation of the name. Perhaps 'Abdu'l-Baha is telling us that it is not a literal interpretation of the original Valley of Achor, south of Jericho, but rather this new valley of repugnance, Akka, so named "repugnant" because of the terrible things that happened there in Baha'u'llah's life. We don't actually know, but it is the only way we can reconcile this.

But just a few verses later, Isaiah refers to the holy mountain, and Gad and Meni. The holy mountain could easily be Mount Carmel, and Gad and Meni refer to general names for stars and constellations, as well as Jupiter and Mercury. Given all that Baha'u'llah has already said about the stars and the heavens in Part 1, this could be another oblique reference.

Verse 17 on, though, is all about the new creation and new Jerusalem. It seems to us that He is clearly referencing this, drawing the attention of the careful reader to all the wonderful statements that occur in that incredible Book.

So what does all this mean? Well, read the last half of Isaiah 65 and see for yourself. It is a promise of great things that will happen in the time of the Promised One. And when we look at all the various prophecies of Isaiah, we feel it is good to be reminded of them. Surely it must have been a source of great comfort to the Babis, too, as they suffered such hardships at the time this book was written.

Up until now, in this book, Baha'u'llah has had us continually looking to the past. It seems that here, He is also asking us to look to the future.

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The following is an evidence of the sovereignty exercised by Muḥammad, the Day-star of Truth. Hast thou not heard how with one single verse He hath sundered light from darkness, the righteous from the ungodly, and the believing from the infidel? All the signs and allusions concerning the Day of Judgment, which thou hast heard, such as the raising of the dead, the Day of Reckoning, the Last Judgment, and others have been made manifest through the revelation of that verse. These revealed words were a blessing to the righteous who on hearing them exclaimed: “O God our Lord, we have heard, and obeyed.” They were a curse to the people of iniquity who, on hearing them affirmed: “We have heard and rebelled.” Those words, sharp as the sword of God, have separated the faithful from the infidel, and severed father from son. Thou hast surely witnessed how they that have confessed their faith in Him and they that rejected Him have warred against each other, and sought one another’s property. How many fathers have turned away from their sons; how many lovers have shunned their beloved! So mercilessly trenchant was this wondrous sword of God that it cleft asunder every relationship! On the other hand, consider the welding power of His Word. Observe, how those in whose midst the Satan of self had for years sown the seeds of malice and hate became so fused and blended through their allegiance to this wondrous and transcendent Revelation that it seemed as if they had sprung from the same loins. Such is the binding force of the Word of God, which uniteth the hearts of them that have renounced all else but Him, who have believed in His signs, and quaffed from the Hand of glory the Kawthar of God’s holy grace. Furthermore, how numerous are those peoples of divers beliefs, of conflicting creeds, and opposing temperaments, who, through the reviving fragrance of the Divine springtime, breathing from the Riḍván of God, have been arrayed with the new robe of divine Unity, and have drunk from the cup of His singleness!

This is all under the topic of true sovereignty, and how the Bab demonstrates His sovereignty. As we can see, He is using the story of Muhammad to demonstrate the similarity to the story of the Bab.

Here, in this paragraph, we are being asked to consider what we have heard, namely that with a single verse Muhammad "sundered light from darkness, the righteous from the ungodly, and the believing from the infidel". This leads to a basic question, though. Which verse? Nobody really knows, it could be any of them. But it doesn't really matter, does it? After all, as Hooper Dunbar says in his study guide to this book, a "verse such as 'Verily, I am the Messenger of God unto you all' (7:18) uttered by Muhammad would produce the results mentioned." So rather than try to figure out the history behind this, let's look instead at the paragraph itself.

One thing that stands out for us is the idea that this verse, whichever one it may be, is a blessing for the righteous, and "a curse to the people of iniquity". It reminds us of paragraph 61, where Baha'u'llah says, "such deeds and words are the fire of vengeance unto the wicked, and inwardly the waters of mercy unto the righteous". This is a concept that He has already introduced to us, so the idea of the dual nature of the Word should not come as a surprise. But to find the positive side of this nature, it is not with the mind that we must search. "Were the eye of the heart to open," Baha'u'llah informs us, "it would surely perceive that the words revealed from the heaven of the will of God are at one with, and the same as, the deeds that have emanated from the Kingdom of divine power."

This is where we must turn, we read time and again, if we want to begin to discover the inner meaning of the Word, and come to a better understanding of the nature of the Manifestations.

It brings us right back to paragraph 2. We "must cleanse (ourselves) of all that is earthly". We have to cleanse our ears from idle talk, our minds from vain imaginings, our hearts from worldly affections, and our eyes from that which perishes. If we do, then haply, with luck, we might attain that station which God has destined for us, as Baha'u'llah says in paragraph 1. But if we don't cleanse ourselves, then we won't even have that chance. And who can judge our decision? Well, that is the role of the Manifestation. After all, He is the Sovereign.

But here we must be cautious. We are not the judge. We cannot judge another's decision. That is not our role. As Jesus so famously said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Here, in this paragraph, Baha'u'llah makes reference to those who "warred against each other, and sought one another's property", those fathers who "turned away from their sons", those lovers who "shunned their beloved". These examples are a very active stance. They are not the passive acceptance of another's decision, but the condemnation of someone for believing differently. Sure, those who don't follow the new Message may not be "arrayed with the new robe of divine Unity", but that doesn't mean that they are actively against the new Faith.

It seems as if Baha'u'llah is, in actuality, giving us three examples. There are those who are "so fused and blended through their allegiance" that they become a new creation. There are those who rebel to such an extent that they create this state of war. And then there are those, not mentioned, who sit by and do nothing.

We want to strive to be in that first category. But we also want to be careful not to slip inadvertently into that second category, condemning those who believe differently.

* * * * *

As we were re-reading this paragraph, we noticed another interesting path here. Of course, as we re-read all these passages, we continually discover new pearls hidden within these words. It is what we would expect. Most of the time, we don't share them, for we don't want to burden you with too much of our own thoughts.

Today, however, we felt that this was interesting enough to share.

At the beginning of the paragraph, He says that one singles verse "sundered light from darkness, the righteous from the ungodly, and the believing from the infidel". Here, it begins with the light, and by contrast the darkness, through its absence. This light shines on all, from the righteous all the way through to the ungodly, and everyone in between. These are the personality types, if you will. Based on this spiritual personality type, the reaction can be either to become a believer, or to be recognized as "ungodly". From the light, to the person, to the reaction: we find this an interesting path He has shown us.

Paragraph 117

Consider, how great is the change today! Behold, how many are the Sovereigns who bow the knee before His name! How numerous the nations and kingdoms who have sought the shelter of His shadow, who bear allegiance to His Faith, and pride themselves therein! From the pulpit-top there ascendeth today the words of praise which, in utter lowliness, glorify His blessed name; and from the heights of minarets there resoundeth the call that summoneth the concourse of His people to adore Him. Even those Kings of the earth who have refused to embrace His Faith and to put off the garment of unbelief, none the less confess and acknowledge the greatness and overpowering majesty of that Day-star of loving kindness. Such is His earthly sovereignty, the evidences of which thou dost on every side behold. This sovereignty must needs be revealed and established either in the lifetime of every Manifestation of God or after His ascension unto His true habitation in the realms above. What thou dost witness today is but a confirmation of this truth. That spiritual ascendency, however, which is primarily intended, resideth within, and revolveth around Them from eternity even unto eternity. It can never for a moment be divorced from Them. Its dominion hath encompassed all that is in heaven and on earth.

"Consider". Ponder, reflect: how often has Baha'u'llah asked us to do this throughout the book? Previously He asked us to "Consider the past", but now He is asking us to consider today.

Although He is asking this of the uncle of the Bab, He is also asking it of us. Rather than look at the "today" of the 1860's, we have decided to look at the today of... well, today.

Right now, leading up to the year of 2020, there is a lot of discussion about religion. Many people are atheist, deriding religion at every turn, presuming that you have to be some sort of blithering idiot to even consider the possibility of a God. On the other hand there is a huge rise in religious fanaticism, where people presume that you must be some sort of evil incarnate if you dare to believe anything differently than they do. Triumphalism, no matter one's belief, has taken hold of our civilization like we haven't seen since the Protestant wars in Europe those many years ago.

Baha'u'llah, here, has asked us to consider the change today, the difference between how people regarded Muhammad during His life, and how they regard Him now. The change is quite remarkable. And He is alluding to the truth that the people of the world will regard the Bab quite differently in the future from how they do today.

When we consider today, we discover fanaticism and atheism, with very little in the middle. The Bab, however, called us to unity and a new understanding of God. This really comes into play when we look at those two extremes. But as the Universal House of Justice said, "The scriptures have not changed; the moral principles they contain have lost none of their validity." We can see that people truly do find solace in their sacred scriptures, but need a new definition of God to be able to move forward. This is, perhaps, the truth that the atheists are unconsciously recognizing.

This is something that every Manifestation of God does; They give us new definitions to work with. They raise our vision and give us a greater awareness of the world around us, and a more effective way to make a difference. They truly infuse in each word a new meaning, and through this, allow us to climb to undreamt of heights in the spiritual realms.

Their "spiritual ascendancy... resideth within" Them, and is eternal. It takes a while, though, for the world to catch up to that. It takes years, generations, and sometimes centuries, for us to recognize this. But recognize it we will.

For now, we have the advantage of knowing these new definitions that Baha'u'llah, as well as the Bab, has given us. We can work with them and see new truths in the scriptures, both our own and those of old, which allow us to conceive of ideas that had previously been unthinkable and unbelievable.

And this leads us back to the uncle of the Bab. Why didn't he recognize his Nephew? In short, it's because one of the things he was looking for was an earthly sovereignty. He had his own fixed ideas, based on the teachings of the culture at the time, of what the Promised One would look like, and the Bab didn't meet that criteria. Slowly, over the length of this Book, Baha'u'llah has helped him reassess his perspective, and re-examine his belief about the sovereignty of the Promised One. He has helped him come to a new understanding of what sovereignty truly is.

It's all about detachment. Remember detachment? That was a major theme in Part 1, and is now the necessary ingredient to begin to see the truths that Baha'u'llah is offering here.

When considering new definitions, you have to be able to move beyond the old ones. You have to be detached from the old in order to see the benefit of the new.

And here it is worth noting that Baha'u'llah is not trying to convince anyone of anything, but is, instead, sharing a perspective for consideration. He is systematically going through these ideas, moving from one concept to the next, and allowing the reader to try and keep up. And perhaps that is one of the reasons why the Guardian considered this a how-to book for teaching. Baha'u'llah is showing us how to recognize a Messenger of God, and, beyond that, how to share that realization with others.

* * * * *

As we re-read this paragraph again, another point leapt out to us, namely that of contrasting the high and the low. While it doesn't add anything to what we wrote above, it still caught our attention and we felt impelled to mention it here, as a post script.

He begins by mentioning "the change today", and then describes a series of similar changes. The "Sovereigns who bow the knee", "the pulpit-top.... in utter lowliness", "the heights of minarets.... that summoneth the concourse of His people". Over and over He moves the imagery from above to below. Whether it is the Kings who bow the knee, or those preachers standing high in the pulpits speaking with humility, or the call from the top of the minaret to the concourse of people below, we find ourselves moving back and forth from top to bottom.

The Manifestation of God, however, seems to reverse this. He appears lowly at first, and then later ascends to His recognized Sovereignty. Baha'u'llah appears to be flipping this whole concept of sovereignty on its head, and is carrying us along with Him through this imagery. He is asking us to consider a new definition of what it truly means to be a sovereign, and not to fall back into the old, and shallow, definition that we commonly use.

When we understand the importance of recognize this true definition of sovereignty, then we will recognize "how great is the change today".