A New World Order/Do You Know in What Day You Are Living?

A New World Order

Proofread once

[Page 10]

DO YOU KNOW IN WHAT DAY YOU ARE LIVING?

I testify before God, to the greatness, the inconceivable greatness of this Revelation. Again and again have We in most of Our Tablets borne witness to this truth, that mankind may be roused from its heedlessness.

In this most mighty Revelation,

all the Dispensations of the past

have attained their highest,

their final

consummation.

That which hath been made manifest in this preeminent, this most exalted Revelation, stands unparalleled in the annals of the past, nor will future ages witness its like.

But for Him [Bahá’u’lláh]

no Divine Messenger would have been invested

with the robe of prophethood,

nor would any of the sacred scriptures have been revealed.

To this bear witness all created things.

Bahá’u’lláh, quoted in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 103-04 [Page 11] The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh should indeed be regarded, if we wish to be faithful to the tremendous implications of its message, as the culmination of a cycle, the final stage in a series of successive, of preliminary and progressive revelations. These, beginning with Adam and ending with the Báb, have paved the way and anticipated with an ever-increasing emphasis the advent of that Day of Days in which He Who is the Promise of All Ages should be made manifest.

Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 103

Each of the Divine Manifestations has . . . a cycle, and during the cycle his laws and commandments prevail and are performed. When his cycle is completed by the appearance of a new Manifestation, a new cycle begins. In this way cycles begin, end, and are renewed, until a universal cycle is completed in the world, when important events and great occurrences will take place which entirely efface every trace and every record of the past; then a new universal cycle begins in the world, for this universe has no beginning.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pp. 183-84

. . . a universal cycle in the world of existence signifies a long duration of time, and innumerable and incalculable periods and epochs. In such a cycle the Manifestations appear with splendour in the realm of the visible, until a great and universal Manifestation makes the world the centre of his radiance. His appearance causes the world to attain to maturity, and the extension of his cycle is very great. Afterwards other Manifestations will arise under his shadow, who according to the needs of the time will renew certain commandments relating to material questions and affairs, while remaining under his shadow.

We are in the cycle which began with Adam, and its universal Manifestation is Bahá’u’lláh.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 184

From this thou canst imagine the magnitude of the Bahá’í cycle—a cycle that must extend over a period of at least . . . [Page 12] five hundred thousand years.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, quoted in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 102 [Page 13] Centuries, nay ages, must pass away ere the Day-Star of Truth shineth again in its mid-summer splendor, or appeareth once more in the radiance of its vernal glory . . .

How thankful must we be for having been made in this day the recipients of so overwhelming a favor!

Would that we had ten thousand lives that we might lay them down in thanksgiving for so rare a privilege, so high an attainment, so priceless a bounty!

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, quoted in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 110 [Page 14] The holy ones of past ages and centuries have, each and all, yearned with tearful eyes to live, though for one moment, in the Day of God. Their longings unsatisfied, they repaired to the Great Beyond. How great, therefore, is the bounty of the Abhá Beauty Who, notwithstanding our utter unworthiness, hath through His grace and mercy breathed into us in this divinely-illumined century the spirit of life, hath gathered us beneath the standard of the Beloved of the world, and chosen to confer upon us a bounty for which the mighty ones of bygone ages had craved in vain.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, quoted in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 110 [Page 15]

DO YOU KNOW IN WHAT DAY YOU ARE LIVING?

What does Bahá’u’lláh mean when He says "nor will future ages witness its like"?

Do you understand the difference between the cycle of one Manifestation and a universal cycle?

What is Bahá’u’lláh’s relationship to all the Prophets of the past since Adam?

What is Bahá’u’lláh’s relationship to all the Manifestations to come in the next half-million years?

In light of the above, what is Bahá’u’lláh’s position in human history?

What responsibilities does this place upon us as Bahá’ís?

Read the quotations in this section a second time.