Paragraphs 69 and 70

In like manner, when the hour of the Revelation of Jesus drew nigh, a few of the Magi, aware that the star of Jesus had appeared in heaven, sought and followed it, till they came unto the city which was the seat of the Kingdom of Herod. The sway of his sovereignty in those days embraced the whole of that land.

These Magi said: "Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east and are come to worship Him!"[Matthew 2:2] When they had searched, they found out that in Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, the Child had been born. This was the sign that was manifested in the visible heaven. As to the sign in the invisible heaven -- the heaven of divine knowledge and understanding -- it was Yahya, son of Zachariah, who gave unto the people the tidings of the Manifestation of Jesus. Even as He hath revealed: "God announceth Yahya to thee, who shall bear witness unto the Word from God, and a great one and chaste."[Qur'án 3:39] By the term "Word" is meant Jesus, Whose coming Yahya foretold. Moreover, in the heavenly Scriptures it is written: "John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."[Matthew 3:1-2] By John is meant Yahya.


Another review.

To continue this theme, Baha'u'llah is now drawing us forward to Jesus, showing how these two signs were present in His time, too.

While this paragraph seems to us to be very straightforward, there are a few things that we wonder about. First of all, He seems to be reminding us that these signs, and recognizing them, has led many over the centuries to the wealth, knowledge and wisdom that He mentioned at the end of the last paragraph as being the goal of sacred Texts. Remember, if we don't achieve these noble goals, then He regards "the consideration of such records a grave mistake and a grievous transgression". So here, He isn't repeating the importance of these Texts, nor is He reminding us that these stars in the invisible heaven bring consolation and assurance. He presumes that we know this, that we remember it from the last paragraph.

He also mentions an odd detail, that John was the "son of Zachariah". This tiny detail reminds us, in a subtle way, of the importance of lineage, which comes into play again with the Bab, who was a Siyyid, a descendant of Muhammad. This was very important in His claim of His station, and highly relevant to His uncle, who was also a Siyyid. It strikes us as important because Baha'u'llah has, until now, been very careful to show us only what each of the Messengers have in common, not what makes them unique. Remember, way back when speaking about Noah, He never mentions the Flood or the ark, only what He had in common with all the other Messengers. So for Baha'u'llah to mention so tiny a detail we feel is important to His argument. We believe He is preparing the ground, in a sense.

Paragraph 68

After Him came Moses, He Who held converse with God. The soothsayers of His time warned Pharaoh in these terms: "A star hath risen in the heaven, and lo! it foreshadoweth the conception of a Child Who holdeth your fate and the fate of your people in His hand." In like manner, there appeared a sage who, in the darkness of the night, brought tidings of joy unto the people of Israel, imparting consolation to their souls, and assurance to their hearts. To this testify the records of the sacred books. Were the details to be mentioned, this epistle would swell into a book. Moreover, it is not Our wish to relate the stories of the days that are past. God is Our witness that what We even now mention is due solely to Our tender affection for thee, that haply the poor of the earth may attain the shores of the sea of wealth, the ignorant be led unto the ocean of divine knowledge, and they that thirst for understanding partake of the Salsabil of divine wisdom. Otherwise, this servant regardeth the consideration of such records a grave mistake and a grievous transgression.


And now on to Moses. Baha'u'llah is moving us forward through the various revelations, beginning with Abraham, and now Moses. The main part of this paragraph, of course, deals with the star in heaven and the harbinger on earth, as will all the passages in this section. After all, this is still all about the "sign of the Son of Man in heaven".

For the most part, there is little new. The Jewish records talk about the details that Baha'u'llah mentions, and all He is doing is reminding us of them. Of course, if we do not know this, there is the implicit hint that we should study our own history. But if it is familiar, then He is connecting the dots for us.

Then comes the second half of this paragraph. "Were the details to be mentioned, this epistle would swell into a book." Maybe it's just us, but isn't it already a book?

Anyways, it's this next part that intrigues us.

He says that He doesn't want to talk about the past, and that He is only doing this because of His love for the Uncle of the Bab. And then, in that very last sentence, He says something that intrigues us. He regards "the consideration of such records a grave mistake and a grievous transgression".

It seems that the records He is mentioning are none other than the records of the sacred books He has just mentioned. If so, these are the same sacred books that He has previously, and repeatedly, told us to reflect on and consider. "Consider the past". "Refer ye... to that which hath been recorded in every sacred Book." Over and over He is drawing our attention to these Books. So why here does He regard the consideration of these same Books as a "grave mistake and a grievous transgression"?

We have three ideas about this.

The first is that later, in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Baha'u'llah says "We entreat Our loved ones not... to allow references to what they have regarded as miracles and prodigies to debase Our rank and station, or to mar the purity and sanctity of Our name." As we know from going through these various Books of the past, most of them are filled with stories of miracles. Perhaps He is trying to turn our attention away from the stories and towards the teachings. After all, it is the teachings that are important. The stories are just icing on the cake. And too much icing can one's tummy upset.

The second idea is that Baha'u'llah also tells us to "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements." These stories are all about the past. Perhaps He is telling us not to look at the past, but instead to look towards the future, in this context.

But it is the third idea that really moves us. We think that Baha'u'llah is telling us all of this so that, with luck, "the poor of the earth may attain the shores of the sea of wealth, the ignorant be led unto the ocean of divine knowledge, and they that thirst for understanding partake of the Salsabil of divine wisdom." If the perusal of these sacred Books does not lead to these ends, that is result in true wealth, knowledge and wisdom, then the study of these Texts is a "grave mistake and a grievous transgression". In other words, reading these texts, and not attaining to true knowledge can lead us to great danger and death. It can result in a violation of a law that leads to tremendous grief.

If we look back at paragraph 14, we see that by "having weighed the testimony of God by the standard of their own knowledge... and found it at variance with their limited understanding, they arose to perpetrate such unseemly acts." The people of the day of a Messenger of God did horrible things to Them, based on their misunderstanding. But if they didn't have any understanding of the Book of God to begin with, they would never have done such acts that they would later regret. It all comes back to the very first paragraph of this Book: "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."

It's interesting, isn't it, how it always comes back to that very first paragraph? When we can make that connection, then we feel we finally got to the core of it.

Paragraph 67

Among the Prophets was Abraham, the Friend of God. Ere He manifested Himself, Nimrod dreamed a dream. Thereupon, he summoned the soothsayers, who informed him of the rise of a star in the heaven. Likewise, there appeared a herald who announced throughout the land the coming of Abraham.


This morning, as we are writing this, we have the wonderful bounty of Samuel's fiancee joining us. And with her fresh perspective, for she hasn't really read this blog yet, she has pointed out a key that we have overlooked. Or if we haven't overlooked it, it was implicit, and she has made it explicit. She has pointed out to us that the very underlying essence of Baha'u'llah's message is unity. Of course, we knew this, but she has applied it here.

Baha'u'llah is reminding us, in this section about the various Messengers, that there is an essential unity between all the religions. Whatever we think is unique to our religion is actually found in all faiths.

In Jewish tradition these signs, Nimrod's dream, the new star, and the herald, are all there, but we don't often focus on them. Baha'u'llah is, in a very simple way, reminding us that they are there, even so far back.

It's interesting, actually, that Baha'u'llah does not mention Noah in this context. Why? We think it is because He is drawing upon recorded tradition, reminding us, once again, of those things that we already know. We may have forgotten these little details, because we don't often dwell on them, but they are there, if we only look. Noah, however, has not had these traditions recorded about Him. Of course, we are certain that they were there, but as there is no record of it, it would not add to Baha'u'llah's argument here, for He could be seen as just making it up.

It's also worth noting that He could have talked about Buddha here, too. We know from the Buddhist texts that there was a star, a dream by the king, a herald, and so on, but all of this would have been irrelevant to the Uncle of the Bab, who was Muslim, and had little or no knowledge of Buddhism. Why do we mention this? Because this book is supposed to be a guide to how we are to teach the Faith, and this is an important lesson to us: keep it relevant to the listener.

On another note, today, a Nimrod is someone who is considered an idiot. Why? We think it is because Nimrod denied the signs of the coming Messenger, Abraham. Similar to Pharaoh and Herod, Nimrod ignored these signs and did all he could to hold on to temporal, or worldly, power. And really, doesn't that just make him... well... an idiot?

Paragraph 66

And now, concerning His words: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." By these words it is meant that when the sun of the heavenly teachings hath been eclipsed, the stars of the divinely-established laws have fallen, and the moon of true knowledge -- the educator of mankind -- hath been obscured; when the standards of guidance and felicity have been reversed, and the morn of truth and righteousness hath sunk in night, then shall the sign of the Son of man appear in heaven. By "heaven" is meant the visible heaven, inasmuch as when the hour draweth nigh on which the Day-star of the heaven of justice shall be made manifest, and the Ark of divine guidance shall sail upon the sea of glory, a star will appear in the heaven, heralding unto its people the advent of that most great light. In like manner, in the invisible heaven a star shall be made manifest who, unto the peoples of the earth, shall act as a harbinger of the break of that true and exalted Morn. These twofold signs, in the visible and the invisible heaven, have announced the Revelation of each of the Prophets of God, as is commonly believed.


With this paragraph, Baha'u'llah seems to be taking us to a new level of discourse. He begins with the next verse from Matthew 24 and goes straight into two explanations of it. As you can see, the first is the literal meaning of a new star in the nighttime sky, and the second is that of a herald or harbinger for the upcoming Manifestation. Previously, He had taken a verse and given us a single meaning at a time, allowing us to come to terms with it before going on to another explanation of the same verse. Here He gives us both at once. It is as if He trusts in our ability to comprehend more of the meanings of the sacred Text.

If this book is to be a blueprint for how we are to teach, then this could be a very interesting lesson: do not underestimate the one whom you are teaching. Baha'u'llah seems to trust that we are now at a level of understanding where we don't need such long and drawn out explanations. We can make the leap towards truth more easily.

Over the next few paragraphs, up to 73, Baha'u'llah describes some of the previous Messengers again. You may recall that He did this earlier in the Book, way back in paragraphs 7 through 17. He began to show a number of similarities between Them, affirming not only Their station, but also establishing a common starting point between Himself and the reader. Here He adds an additional point of similarity. When He gets to paragraph 73, He summarizes everything up to that point. The reasons for this will become more obvious when we get there.

In looking at His previous explanations of the various phrases from Matthew 24, it becomes obvious that He is using something of a scattering effect. He is giving us many explanations of the various phrases, scattering them to the wind, in a sense, but none of them are explained in any great depth. It is as if He is carefully disabusing us of the idea that there is a single "correct" explanation for any of these verses, and helping us see that there are many layers of meaning, all of which shine the light of truth. But now, here, He begins to go into greater depth, leaving us to wonder what else we can fathom in this mighty Ocean of God's Revelation.

He also continually reviews for us. He places the current phrase in the context of the whole, ensuring that we don't get lost. He does this by going back to the earlier Messengers, as well as letting us know where He is in that verse from Jesus. It should also be mentioned, of course, that all of this is in the context of that very first sentence in paragraph 1, "No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is heaven and on earth." True understanding and detachment are the central themes throughout part 1 of this Book.

In this paragraph, He begins by telling the quote that He is now going to examine, and immediately reminds us where it is in the context of that whole quote in Matthew 24. He basically recaps the sentence up to that point. Then He gives us the literal meaning of it, namely that a star will actually appear in the nighttime sky, as well as a metaphorical meaning, that a harbinger will appear on the earth.

One thing in this paragraph that really stood out as unusual for us, was the phrase, "the standards of guidance and felicity have been reversed". They haven't been torn down, or fallen, or obscured. He says they have been reversed. What does that mean? Actually, we can also ask what those two standards are. Guidance is advice that is given by someone, usually an authority, to help solve a problem. Felicity is that which causes happiness. Here He says that they have been reversed, or swapped. That which causes happiness has been taken as a standard of guidance. Just take, for example, the number of Hollywood performers who give advice on diet. Those standards of guidance are now being seen as some form of entertainment. We only need to look at the number of doctors with their own tv shows, to recognize this.

Baha'u'llah is also reminding us of the promise that accompanies all of this. A new star appears in heaven and a harbinger appears on earth: both of these signify that "the Day-star of the heaven of justice shall be made manifest, and the Ark of divine guidance shall sail upon the sea of glory".

Paragraph 65

The universe is pregnant with these manifold bounties, awaiting the hour when the effects of Its unseen gifts will be made manifest in this world, when the languishing and sore athirst will attain the living Kawthar of their Well-Beloved, and the erring wanderer, lost in the wilds of remoteness and nothingness, will enter the tabernacle of life, and attain reunion with his heart's desire. In the soil of whose heart will these holy seeds germinate? From the garden of whose soul will the blossoms of the invisible realities spring forth? Verily, I say, so fierce is the blaze of the Bush of love, burning in the Sinai of the heart, that the streaming waters of holy utterance can never quench its flame. Oceans can never allay this Leviathan's burning thirst, and this Phoenix of the undying fire can abide nowhere save in the glow of the countenance of the Well-Beloved. Therefore, O brother! kindle with the oil of wisdom the lamp of the spirit within the innermost chamber of thy heart, and guard it with the globe of understanding, that the breath of the infidel may extinguish not its flame nor dim its brightness. Thus have We illuminated the heavens of utterance with the splendours of the Sun of divine wisdom and understanding, that thy heart may find peace, that thou mayest be of those who, on the wings of certitude, have soared unto the heaven of the love of their Lord, the All-Merciful.


This is it: the last paragraph regarding the sun, the moon and the powers of the earth. The last paragraph before He goes on to the next phrase from that quote from Jesus in the Book of Matthew "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven."

Here, in this paragraph, Baha'u'llah brings on this majestic journey of imagery, beginning with a pregnant universe and alluding to heaven with Kawthar, that river found in Paradise. Then He talks about plants, and the beautiful blossoms that appear on them, and continues with mixed images of fire and water, bouncing back and forth between them. He continues by going back to the human heart, this time referring to it as a lamp, that small object that lights our way in the dark, and finishes with the heavens and those mighty orbs that light not only our own small place, but the entire planet.

It's a beautiful journey that leads us right into the very next paragraph, moving us from the earth and upwards towards the heavens. It's a journey begins in the desert, almost as if you have to be lost first, and then there is what feels like a wedding scene, reunion with the beloved in the tent.

Then you get those rhetorical questions in the middle. "In the soil of whose heart will these holy seeds germinate? From the garden of whose soul will the blossoms of the invisible realities spring forth?" Here we want to jump up and down and cry out, "Me! Me! Pick me, O Lord!" From love and marriage to the new growth of those holy seeds, reminding us that the universe itself is pregnant.

And, of course, the imagery itself is laden with meaning:

• Kawthar, as we said above, is a river in Paradise mentioned in the Qur'an.
• The tabernacle, of course, was the holy tent that the Jewish peoples used when wandering lost in the desert. It is the tent they used to house the Ark of the Covenant.
• Gardens, as you well know, are always referring to Eden, or some other holy place of rest. For us it can even be an oblique reference to the Garden of Ridvan, where Baha'u'llah would finally give birth to the Revelation of God.
• The burning Bush and Sinai refer back to Moses, which calls to mind once more the tabernacle and their wanderings.
• The Leviathan is found in the Tanakh, while the Phoenix is more often seen in Persian and Greek mythology. They both have references that are just too numerous to list here, but still bring to mind danger and loss.

Of course, these are only a few of the many, many meanings. We have to be careful not to think that we have found it all, or somehow have "the" answer. Remember, Baha'u'llah is going on for many pages showing us numerous meanings of a single phrase. He could, no doubt, do the same here.

After these phrases comes the encouragement. Light that candle of the heart, become the enkindled one. And to do so, we have to use the oil of wisdom. Without oil a lamp will only burn for a short time. But expect attacks, and guard against them with true understanding, that glass globe that protects the flame from being blown out.

And all this brings us back to that very first paragraph, with the "shores of the ocean of true understanding", and the encouragement to "enter thus the tabernacle" that has "been raised in the firmament of the Bayan."

With each and every phrase that He explores, Baha'u'llah shows how they all refer back to the very beginning of this Book. They all lead us to the next Messenger of God, and to those divine shores.

"Thus have We illuminated the heavens of utterance with the splendours of the Sun of divine wisdom and understanding, that thy heart may find peace, that thou mayest be of those who, on the wings of certitude, have soared unto the heaven of the love of their Lord, the All-Merciful."

Paragraph 64

Great God! When the stream of utterance reached this stage, We beheld, and lo! the sweet savours of God were being wafted from the dayspring of Revelation, and the morning breeze was blowing out of the Sheba of the Eternal. Its tidings rejoiced anew the heart, and imparted immeasurable gladness to the soul. It made all things new, and brought unnumbered and inestimable gifts from the unknowable Friend. The robe of human praise can never hope to match Its noble stature, and Its shining figure the mantle of utterance can never fit. Without word It unfoldeth the inner mysteries, and without speech It revealeth the secrets of the divine sayings. It teacheth lamentation and moaning to the nightingales warbling upon the bough of remoteness and bereavement, instructeth them in the art of love's ways, and showeth them the secret of heart-surrender. To the flowers of the Ridvan of heavenly reunion It revealeth the endearments of the impassioned lover, and unveileth the charm of the fair. Upon the anemones of the garden of love It bestoweth the mysteries of truth, and within the breasts of lovers It entrusteth the symbols of the innermost subtleties. At this hour, so liberal is the outpouring of Its grace that the holy Spirit itself is envious! It hath imparted to the drop the waves of the sea, and endowed the mote with the splendour of the sun. So great are the overflowings of Its bounty that the foulest beetle hath sought the perfume of the musk, and the bat the light of the sun. It hath quickened the dead with the breath of life, and caused them to speed out of the sepulchres of their mortal bodies. It hath established the ignorant upon the seats of learning, and elevated the oppressor to the throne of justice.


Wow. We finally got to this point. Could that be what Baha'u'llah meant with the exclamation, "Great God"? He has written 32 paragraphs on that phrase from Matthew 24, "the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the earth shall be shaken". That is fully half of the book up to this point, all on that one part of that passage. You can almost hear the sigh of relief, and feel that sense of awe.

After getting to this point, you feel like you will never look at Scripture the same way again.

Then He says, "When the stream of utterance reached this stage..." Which stage? Is He referring back to the previous couple of paragraphs where He has introduced the idea of the Dispensation of the Bab, or perhaps to this point in the book, having just concluded a look at a single passage from Jesus? If the former, then He is giving full praise to the Revelation of the Bab, describing its beautiful effects in the most poetic of terms. But if He is referring to where He has taken us in this volume, then He seems to be describing the effect upon our soul of having been lifted to such lofty heights with this new vision of the depth of meaning hidden within the passages we thought we knew so well.

And this question, arising at such a time in the Kitab-i-Iqan, reminds us of what we have just learned: there are many, many layers of meaning within the Sacred Word. He could very well be referring to both, and much more besides.

From here we, as bloggers, are faced with a dilemma. This paragraph is so rich with metaphor and analogy that we want to talk about the meaning of a stream, the sweet savours being spread on the wind, and even the rich history evoked by the reference to Sheba. But if we do, this article would go on for way too long. Instead we are going to focus on another aspect of this paragraph, namely the effects of the "stream of utterance".

To make this easier for us, we have simply copied this paragraph and begun to delete whole portions of it, leaving only those passages that refer to the this utterance. We will bullet them, and then make some simple observations on each bullet, seeing what we can learn from the order in which He put them.

• Its tidings rejoiced anew the heart - The word "tidings" means news and information, but it also comes from the word "tide", which implies this ebb and flow. It speaks of this regular re-occurrence, hinting at the rise and fall of religions that He has just described.
• imparted immeasurable gladness to the soul - Once we hear this great news, the gladness we feel is indescribable.
• made all things new - Baha'u'llah, in His Surih of the Temple, says, "Thus have We created the whole earth anew in this day, yet most of the people have failed to perceive it." It is through His Word that the whole earth has changed, and every word has also been endowed with a new meaning.
• brought unnumbered and inestimable gifts from the unknowable Friend - The gifts from His Revelation are infinite, and He is, after all, "more Friend to me than I am to myself".
• Without word It unfoldeth the inner mysteries - This is interesting, for it is the utterance that His is referring to, so how can it be "without word"? Perhaps it is because it is far more than the mere words that clothe the meaning, and it is this inner meaning to which He is referring. As 'Abdu'l-Baha says, it is "a prayer that shall rise above words and letters and transcend the murmur of syllables and sounds".
• without speech It revealeth the secrets of the divine sayings - It is also worth noting that the Master, when He was in London, was asked what a Baha'i is. His response was "It makes no difference whether you have ever heard of Bahá'u'lláh or not, the man who lives the life according to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh is already a Bahá'í." It is truly beyond the meaning of the words.
• It teacheth lamentation and moaning to the nightingales warbling upon the bough of remoteness and bereavement - But what, we may ask, is the effect of this all upon us? Well, for those of us who are far from God, and aren't we all, it helps us realize the grief our soul feels at this distance.
• instructeth them in the art of love's ways - It helps us learn how to become closer to God by helping us realize the way in which a lover acts towards their beloved.
• showeth them the secret of heart-surrender - It helps us learn how to surrender our will to His.
• It revealeth the endearments of the impassioned lover - Once we surrender to His Will, He brings us to that Ridvan which will become the place of His declaration and helps us learn how to show our deep and emotional love through our actions.
• unveileth the charm of the fair - This utterance then reveals the features of the Blessed Beauty that serve to attract us.
• It bestoweth the mysteries of truth - Within this beautiful Ridvan garden are many flowers, one of which is the anemone, that ancient symbol of good luck, reminiscent of the word "haply", way back in paragraph 1. When we have successfully received this luck and attained "that station which God hath destined for" us, it helps us recognize those age-old mysteries of truth.
• It entrusteth the symbols of the innermost subtleties - And isn't this what He has just done with the previous 30 paragraphs, explaining the symbolic meaning of the sun, the moon and the earth?
• It hath imparted to the drop the waves of the sea - Now we begin to get a glimpse of the overwhelming majesty of this Revelation. The holy Spirit itself is envious. This mighty utterance can take a single drop and cause it to become a mighty ocean.
• endowed the mote with the splendour of the sun - It can take a single grain of dust and cause it to shine out like the sun.
• It hath quickened the dead with the breath of life, and caused them to speed out of the sepulchres of their mortal bodies - It can truly revive not only the bodily dead, but the dead in spirit.
• It hath established the ignorant upon the seats of learning - It can raise even the most ignorant of people and cause them to be wiser than the most learned of people.
• elevated the oppressor to the throne of justice - And it can so transform even the greatest of oppressors and cause them to show forth the greatest signs of justice, and remember, from the previous paragraph, what can happen when we look at the world with the eye of justice.

Paragraph 63

If the eye of justice be opened, it will readily recognize, in the light of that which hath been mentioned, that He, Who is the Cause and ultimate Purpose of all these things, is made manifest in this day. Though similar events have not occurred in this Dispensation, yet the people still cling to such vain imaginings as are cherished by the reprobate. How grievous the charges brought against Him! How severe the persecutions inflicted upon Him -- charges and persecutions the like of which men have neither seen nor heard!

Well, this is it. This is the last paragraph in the long section that deals with that passage, "shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the earth shall be shaken". The next two paragraphs are something of an interlude before He moves on to the next part of that incredible quote from Jesus, found in Matthew 24, "and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven".

But for now, let's finish this.

To start, He mentions the eye of justice. Why an eye? The eye of justice is an eye that sees what is actually occurring, instead of looking at what it is expecting to see.

Perhaps He chooses to refer to it as an eye because that is exactly what is happening. Things are occurring in the world, and we are witnessing them. While we do that, we can look for what we expect, using these events to justify whatever we want, or we can look at them afresh, and see what they are telling us.

If, for example, you believe that all people with brown eyes are mean, then you can surely find numerous examples of behaviour to support that. But if you look with the eyes of justice, you will watch people's behaviour and see what they are actually doing, regardless of eye colour. You will see that some people are mean while others are very kind. And you will readily discover a flaw in your original assumption.

Here, many people are expecting a new Messenger to come, but they have their own preconceptions of what that means. Baha'u'llah is helping us move beyond our preconceived ideas so that we can see what is actually occurring.

But let's look at that word, "justice", again for a moment. It occurs in three of the Hidden Words.

The first reference is in the second Hidden Word in Arabic:

O SON OF SPIRIT!
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

Here, in the Kitab-i-Iqan, He seems to be saying that it is through justice that we will recognize the Bab, and presumably Himself. And then He calls this justice His gift to us. He calls it a sign of His loving-kindness. And isn't it just that? What greater gift gift, what greater sign of love than that which will allow us to recognize Him?

Oh, and He also, again, tells us to ponder this in our heart.

The second reference to justice is in the Persian Hidden Words:

O SON OF JUSTICE!
Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? and what seeker findeth rest away from his heart's desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.

Doesn't this just beautifully describe our state as we are searching for the Promised One? And how many lovers gave up their very lives for the beauty of the Bab?

The third reference occurs towards the end of the Persian Hidden Words:

O SON OF JUSTICE!
In the night-season the beauty of the immortal Being hath repaired from the emerald height of fidelity unto the Sadratu'l-Muntaha, and wept with such a weeping that the concourse on high and the dwellers of the realms above wailed at His lamenting. Whereupon there was asked, Why the wailing and weeping? He made reply: As bidden I waited expectant upon the hill of faithfulness, yet inhaled not from them that dwell on earth the fragrance of fidelity. Then summoned to return I beheld, and lo! certain doves of holiness were sore tried within the claws of the dogs of earth. Thereupon the Maid of heaven hastened forth unveiled and resplendent from Her mystic mansion, and asked of their names, and all were told but one. And when urged, the first letter thereof was uttered, whereupon the dwellers of the celestial chambers rushed forth out of their habitation of glory. And whilst the second letter was pronounced they fell down, one and all, upon the dust. At that moment a voice was heard from the inmost shrine: "Thus far and no farther." Verily We bear witness to that which they have done and now are doing.

Once again it is about this search, and this day. The Messenger has gone back to His home and is crying. Why? Because nobody is showing fidelity, and the doves of holiness are being attacked. When asked who, the reply is given out in spelling. "B". Really? What is the second letter? "A". And? "Nope. That's all I'm giving you for now." So is He spelling out the Bab, or Baha'u'llah?

All of this through the simple reference to the word "justice".

And you know what? This, we think, is the very first time that Baha'u'llah directly mentions the Bab in this text. Even if it isn't, it surely is the first time that He refers to this Day as a new Dispensation.

What a proclamation. What a statement.

Also, He has just spent 62 paragraphs describing "that which they have done", and is now beginning to refer to that which they "now are doing".