Great Themes of Life/God's Covenant with Man

GOD’S COVENANT WITH MAN

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.”

——Amos 8: 11-12

“For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.”

—Zepham‘ah 3:9

“F or thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.”

~Haggm' 2: 6-7 19

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“Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my convenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine.”

—Exodus 19: 5

“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

—Psalms 24: 1-5

“And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Iacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.”

—Isaiah 59: 20-21

“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the

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good of them, and their children after them; and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.”

—Jeremiah 32: 88-40

GOD’S COVENAN T with man should naturally be our first thought in this series of Great Themes of Life, because of all great themes of living, What God has promised man is the greatest of them. It should be the basis on which one builds one’s life. A man’s life is not judged by the length of it, but on the wellspending of it. How well he spends his life depends on his sense of values. A life without a purpose has no value. The highest purpose in life to which a man can attain, so far as lies within his understanding and power, is the fulfilling of his Creator’s will.

It is not permissible for any person to raise the excuse that he does not know what is God’s will, because God’s will has been set before mankind in all the Holy Books of the world. In the books of Jesus’ followers (the Old and

the New Testaments) are recorded at least

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seven main Covenants of God with man. They are first, The Everlasting Covenant, beginning with Adam, and ending with God’s latest Manifestation, Which Covenant is between God and the whole human family; second, the Covenant between God and each of His Messengers, assigning to each His mission; third, between the Messenger and the faithful—dealing with the next Manifestation; also one between the Messenger and the faithful, setting out an ethical Covenant of faith and obedience; yet another one between the Messenger and the faithful, wherein is stated the Covenant of an immediate Successor. After that we have the Covenant between the Messenger and a disciple and finally, between the immediate Successor and the faithful. We find a reiteration of those Covenants between God and His people in all the religions of the world. Hence, no man can plead ignorance of God’s laws. What is more, Bahá’ís believe that today the Whole accumulated force of the Everlasting Covenant is now in operation.

Jesus is recorded by Matthew as saying: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying I am Christ . . .” Later, in the same 24th Chapter, He warned the people that they would hear of wars . . .

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that nation would rise against nation . . . that there would be famines, pestilences and earthquakes . . . but, He said: “See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

Mark records that at about this same time in Jesus’ ministry, speaking to the same people He said: “But of that Day and of that Hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels Which are in heaven, neither the Son (even Jesus Himself didn’t know when the end would be!) neither the Son, but the F ather . . .

Luke tells us in his 17th Chapter that When the Pharisees demanded of Jesus that He tell them When the Kingdom of God would come, He answered: “The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or L0 there! for, behold, the Kingdom is Within you. And he said unto His disciples, the days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall say to you, see here! or, see there! go not after them, nor follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of Man be in His Day.”

On the other hand, St. John in portions of his

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14th and 16th Chapters, quotes Jesus as saying: “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; for He dwelleth With you, and shall be in you . . And he continues in the 16th Chapter “But now I go my way to Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh me, whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter Will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because the Prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he shall guide you unto all truth: for he shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things

to come.”

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After three years of intensive ministry Jesus knew that the people had still not grasped the significance of what He was trying to teach them concerning God. They were too attracted to Him, Jesus. Even as on the occasion when He had been denouncing the scribes and Pharisees . . . “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto Whited sepulchres, which indeed appeareth beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but Within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tomb of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say: if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets . . . Ye serpents! Ye generation of vipers! How can ye escape the damnation of hell . .

F ollowing this exclamation Jesus had almost wept as He said to them, “0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how

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often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” After this, when Jesus had left the temple, His disciples drew His attention to the marvellous buildings of the temple. As we look to our churches, our clergy, our creeds and traditions, so they could not understand Jesus’ outburst in the light of such an established institution. But hear His words: Jesus said unto them: “See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

Jesus found it almost impossible to make the people realize that God is a Spirit, not a temple made with hands; that His Covenant is not merely the words in which it is couched, but the acceptance by the individual of its spiritual, inner truth.

Let us look at the words of the Everlasting Covenant: “Now, therefore, if ye Will obey my voice indeed, and keep my Covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and

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they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation . . . As for me, this is my Covenant with them, saith the Lord: my Spirit that is upon thee, my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever . . . And they shall be my people and I shall be their God. And I shall give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me . . . He hath showed thee, 0 man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk

humbly with thy God.”

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So spoke God through the voices of His Manifestations of old, but it is a Covenant that is as Vital and binding today as it was when it was first uttered, for it is an everlasting covenant—a covenant that goes on for all time and eternity.

As followers of Jesus, we all became familiar with these verses, but do we realize that, after Jesus, God raised up Muhammad who called upon the savage, warring Arab tribes to turn to God and to be obedient to His Covenant as revealed in the Old Testament? Muhammad said to His people: “Then gave we the book to Moses~complete for him who should do right, and a decision for all matters, and a guidance, and a mercy, that they might believe in the presence of their Lord. But they are those who believe not in the signs of the Lord, or that they shall ever attain His presence. Vain, therefore, are their works; and no weight will we allow them on the Day of Resurrection . . . because they were unbelievers and treated my signs and my Apostles with scom . . . Have they not considered within themselves, that God hath not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them but for a serious end, and for a fixed term?”

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And have you ever pondered the truth, that beside the Muslims there are the Zoroastrians, the Buddhists, the Hindus—all with a Holy Book recording God’s Covenant with His creatures, all foretelling an “end,” a time known as “the last days?”

Without exception we have all, like sheep, gone astray, turning everyone to his own way. Do we wonder that Jesus said in St. John’s Gospel: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.”

Like the disciples of old, pointing out to Jesus their lovely temple, so down the ages the followers of each of the various Manifestations of God, have pointed to their particular Saviour, not realizing that their particular Saviour, even as ]esus and all the other Saviours, had been manifesting God’s attributes in human form.

Do you not believe that Jesus was of God? Do you not believe that Jesus, manifested as the Son of God, claiming for Himself that He and the Father were one, would have the knowledge of God? Of course you believe it! Is it not logical then that He would know of the vast world, and know that to different peo [Page 30]30 GREAT THEMES OF LIFE

ple, on different parts of the earth’s surface, God had been, and would be, revealing Himself to His creatures according to their need and their ability to understand? Did not Jesus make it perfectly clear to His own followers that He understood much more than they—“I have many things to tell you but ye cannot hear it now . . .” He told them, not until the coming of the Spirit of Truth. Jesus knew that in “the last days” all the people of the earth, with their different religions (diflerent only in name, for they were all worshiping the one and only God) would one day be advanced enough to understand that they must become one, under one shepherd, belonging to one fold, the fold of God Himself. We are too inclined to want all people to follow Jesus, instead of knowing that Jesus wanted all people to follow God.

If we will seek truth with an unbiased mind, we will find that those words “the last days,” “the time of the end,” and such phrases mean the end of a dispensation, not the end of this physical world. We can have absolute proof of that, because God has decreed that His Kingdom will operate on the earth, and it is to operate from those “last days” onward. If the world as we know it came to an end, What

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of God’s plan for His Kingdom on earth?

It is no exaggeration to say that at no time in known history has mankind, over the entire surface of the globe, been in such confusion and terror as now. The leaders of mankind, whether political, national, racial or religious, are running hither and thither over the face of the earth trying to find unity, security, peace and equity. .

Mankind, in whatever section of the earth he lives, is staggered by the horrors that confront him. Such knowledge and power lie in his hands, that he is terrified of his own ignorance and his inability to use the knowledge and powers wisely. Utter ruin and damnation faces him, unless he can find a way out. And What of God’s Covenant with man? What of those assurances that God would never leave His people? In the Bible we read, “Before ye call, I will answer you.”

Hear Bahá’u’lláh’s claim for Himself—test it whether it be of God. Listen to some of His words.

“This is the day on which mankind can behold the face, and hear the Voice of the Promised One . . . The time foreordained unto the peoples and kindreds of the earth is now come.

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The promises of God as recorded in the Holy scriptures, have all been fulfilled . . . He it is who in the Old Testament hath been named Jehovah, who in the Gospel hath been designated the Spirit of Truth, and in the Qur’án acclaimed as the Great Announcement . . . That Which ye were promised in the Kingdom of God is fulfilled. Verily, the Spirit of Truth is come to guide you into all Truth. He is the One Who glorified the Son and exalted His cause. The Hand of Omnipotence hath established His Revelation upon an unassailable, an enduring foundation . . . Naught is seen in my temple but the Temple of God.”

Such are some of Bahá’u’lláh’s claims regarding His true station.

Jesus angrily denounced the scribes and Pharisees when, like hypocrites, they tried to argue that, had they been present, they would not have killed the former prophets. Yet they even killed Jesus because they did not like what He preached! And what of today? Are we willing to hear the Voice of God crying to us? Listen to what He is saying: “O Son of man! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, and

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engraved on thee Mine image. . . . O Son of Being! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou Iovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this 0 Servant.”

Such is Bahá’u’lláh’s plea to this troubled world. God has answered our need before we called to Him. “The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to piety and to trustworthiness, t0 resignation and submissiveness to the Will of God, to forebeaIance and kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom . .

To a degree we might try to prove that mankind is substantially truthful and sincere, forebearing and kind, but by no stretch of imagination does mankind practice resignation and submissiveness to the Will of God. The world knows Him not, because our part of the Covenant requires of man he do justly, love mercy and walk humbly With his God.

Are we being just? Are we being humble before God if we allow our learning and our human conceits to stop our ears from hearing the Voice of the One calling in the Name of God? God’s Covenant is the strong cord binding the creature, man, to the Creator, God. In

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this day, this “time of the end,” every false avenue, Whether of religion, philosophy, politics or fantasy, is being explored to the utmost, to the final disillusionment for the explorers. In contrast, the urgent, vital, essential, pivotal importance of the Covenant stands out for all believers and indeed for all men everywhere, as once did the pillar of fire for the children of Israel-the sole refuge and source of salvation for mankind.

Only as man develops a conscious faith in God and utter dependence on His Covenant will he find unity, peace and concord. Only as man looks beyond the confines of race, nation and religion and envelops himself in love and devotion to God alone, will he be fulfilling his part of the Covenant—that contract between God and His creatures, whereby we are obliged to walk humbly with our God, to be of one fold, under one shepherd, God.

“God testifieth to the Unity of His Godhead and to the singleness of His own being. He Himself, independently of all else, hath ever been a witness unto His own Oneness, the Revealer of His own nature, the Glorifier of His Own Essence!” The call to mankind is clear: “Love Me that I may love thee.”