Holy Day: Jesus The High Priest Enters The Temple: August 9, 1969 (Kamal 9, 174 B.E.)

Jesus The High Priest Upon His Return Reading A Prayer For All Humanity Revealed By Baha’u’llah Through His Son Abdu’l-Baha’: 

 

And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right hand to be his adversary.

And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments: and he stood before the face of the angel.

Who answered, and said to them that stood before him, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold I have taken away thy iniquity, and have clothed thee with change of garments.

And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.

And the angel of the LORD enjoined Joshua,

Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.

The Holy Bible, Zechariah chapter 3.

 

O thou wooer of Truth and attracted one toward the Kingdom of God!

Thy detailed letter was received and its reading produced the utmost joy, for it was a glorious proof of the loftiness of thy aim and the exaltation of thine intention. Praise be to God! that thou art the well-wisher of the human world, art attracted to the Kingdom of Abha and art aspiring for the advancement of the realm of humanity. I hope that, through the instrumentality of these lofty thoughts, attractions of 537 heart and heavenly glad-tidings, thou mayest become so illumined that, through the mildly beaming splendor of the love of God, thou mayest shine and gleam throughout centuries and cycles.

Thou hast written that thou art a student in the progressive spiritual school. Happy is thy condition! If the various progressive schools join themselves to the universal university of the Kingdom, such knowledge and sciences will be brought into light that man will see that the potentialities of the “Open Tablet” of existence are infinite; will realize that all the created things are as letters and words; will be instructed in the lessons of the degrees of significances; will perceive the signs of oneness in the primordial atoms of the earth; will hear the voice of the Lord of the Kingdom; will behold the confirmations of the Holy Spirit and will find such ecstasy and joy that, being unable to contain himself in the vast area of existence, he will prepare himself for the journey toward the Kingdom and will hasten to the immensity of the Realm of Might. As soon as a bird is fledged, it cannot keep itself on the ground; nay, rather it soareth up toward the Supreme Apex—except the birds whose feet are tied, whose wings are clipped and feathers broken and who are soiled with water and clay.

O thou seeker of Truth! The realm of the Kingdom is a unit. The only difference lies in this: That when the season of spring dawneth, a new and wonderful motion and rejuvenation is witnessed in all the existing things; the mountains and meadows are revived; the trees find freshness and delicacy and are clothed with radiant and bright leaves, blossoms and fruits. In a like manner the preceding Manifestations form an inseparable link with the subsequent dispensations; nay, rather they are identical with each other. Since the world is constantly developing itself, the rays become stronger, the outpouring becometh greater and the sun appeareth in the meridian orbit.

O thou yearner after the Kingdom! Each Manifestation is the heart of the world and the proficient Physician of every patient. The world of humanity is sick, but that skilled Physician hath the healing remedy and He bestoweth divine teachings, exhortations and advices which are the remedy of every ailment and the dressing for every wound. Undoubtedly, the wise physician discovereth the needs of the patient at every season and prescribeth medicine. Therefore, when thou wilt compare the teachings of the Beauty of Abhá with the requisitions and necessities of the present time, thou wilt conclude that they are to the sick body of the world the swift healing antidote; nay, rather they are the remedy of everlasting health. The prescription of the proficient physicians of the past and the future will not be the same; nay, rather they will be in accord with the ailment of the patient. Although the medicine is changed, yet all of these are for the sole purpose of the healing of the sick. In former dispensations the sick body of the world could not bear the strong and overpowering remedies. That is why His Highness the Christ said: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of the Comforter, who is sent by the Father, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” Therefore, in this age of lights, specific teachings have become universal, in order that the outpouring of the Merciful One environ both the East and the West, the oneness of the kingdom of humanity become visible and the luminosity of truth enlighten the world of consciousness. The descent of the New Jerusalem is the heavenly religion which secures the prosperity of the human world and is the effulgence of the illumination of the realm of God. In reality Emmanuel was the forerunner of the second coming of His Highness the Christ and the herald of the path of the Kingdom.

This is self-evident that the letter is an organic member of the word. This membership denotes subordination; that is, the letter draws its life from the word and hath spiritual relationship with it and is accounted a part of it. The apostles were the Letters and His Highness Christ the Essence of the Word; and the significance of the Word, which is the Everlasting Outpouring, cast a splendor upon those Letters,. Since a Letter is a part of the Word itself, it is intrinsically identical with the Word.

I hope that thou shalt arise to perform all that which His Highness Emmanuel hath predicted. Know thou this of a certainty that thou shalt become assisted. The confirmations of the Holy Spirit are descending uninterruptedly. The power of the Word shall penetrate in such wise that the Letter will become the reflective mirror of the Sun of the Word, and the radiation of the lights of the Word shall illumine the whole earth. But the heavenly Jerusalem, which is established upon the Apex of the world and the Holy of Holies of the Almighty, which hath hoisted its banner, comprehendeth and includeth in it all the perfections and teachings of  the former dispensations. Likewise, it is the herald of the oneness of the world of humanity, the ensign of universal peace, the spirit of eternal life, the lights of divine perfections, the surrounding bestowal of the realm of existence, the adornment and grandeur of the world of creation and the cause of the tranquility of human-kind.

Turn thy attention toward the holy Tablets. Read and reflect upon the Tablets of Ishraghat, Tajalliat, the Words of Paradise, the Glad-tidings, Tarazat and the Book of Akdas.  These divine teachings in this day are the remedy of the ailments of the world of man and the dressing for the wounded body of existence; they are the Spirit of Life, the Ark of Salvation, the Magnet of the Everlasting Glory and the penetrative power in the reality of man!

Abdu’l-Baha (The BRANCH), Tablets, Vol. III, pp 536-540

 

The Fundamentals Of The Teachings Of The Beauty Of ABHA. The Foundation Of The Holy Of Holies

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