7. Part One — 6

1"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall 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: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet." The translation of this in Persian is that after the distress and tribulation which shall surround all the people, the sun shall be withheld from shining, that is, be darkened, and the moon cease to give light, the stars of heaven will descend upon earth and the pillars of the earth will be shaken. At that time, the signs of the Son of Man shall appear in Heaven, that is, the Promised Beauty and Substance of Life shall come from the Court of the Invisible to the visible world. And He (Jesus) says: at that time, all the multitudes who inhabit the earth shall lament and bewail and the people shall see that Beauty of Oneness coming from Heaven riding upon the cloud with power, grandeur and a great gift, sending His angels with the mighty sound of a trumpet. The same statements are recorded in the other three Gospels ascribed to Mark, Luke and John. As these have been mentioned in detail in the Arabic Tablets, We do not undertake to mention them here, but confine ourselves to one of them. As the doctors of the Gospel did not understand the meanings of these statements and the purport deposited in these words, but adhered to their literal sense, they were therefore withheld from the river of the Mohammedic Bounty and the cloud of Ahmadic Grace. The ignorant ones of that community, relying upon their learned men, were likewise prevented from beholding the beauty of the King of Glory. For these mentioned signs did not become manifest at the appearance of the Ahmadic Sun. Finally that Essence of Life returned to the eternal place of His Dominion. Centuries passed and times rolled by. Another blow of spiritual breath was breathed into the Divine Trumpet and dead souls came forth out of the tombs of heedlessness and error into the land of guidance and the place of favor. Still that community is expecting the time when these signs shall appear and the promised Temple (Christ) shall arise, that they may assist Him, expend possessions in His way and sacrifice lives in His path. By similar suppositions, other communities are kept afar from the Kawther of the Significances of the Infinite Mercy of God and are occupied with their own imagination. Besides this passage, there is another statement in the Gospel: "Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away." The meaning of this in Persian is that it is possible for the heaven and earth to pass away and be destroyed, whereas "My words" shall never pass away but shall always be fixed and permanent among mankind. For this reason the people of the Gospel say the decree of the Gospel shall never be abolished and that whenever the promised Face appears with all the signs, He must confirm and establish the law enacted in the Gospel, so that no other religion may remain in the world. To them this is one of the confirmed and indisputable facts. They believe that even should one appear with all the promised signs and declare against the literal law of the Gospel, they must not obey or accept him, nay rather, they must scoff at him and charge him with infidelity. This was witnessed when the Mohammedic Sun appeared. Had they asked with all meekness from the Appearances of Oneness in every Manifestation, the meanings of these words revealed in the Books, through the non-attainment unto which all people are veiled from the Furthermost Destination and the Sadrat-El-Muntaha, they would have been surely directed to the lights of the Sun of Guidance and acquainted with the mysteries of Knowledge and Wisdom.

2Now this servant explains a sprinkling of the meanings of these statements, so that the possessors of perception and intuition may thereby comprehend all the symbols of the Divine words and the allegorical explanations of the Holy Manifestations; and thus be not debarred on account of the (impressive) majesty of the words, from the Sea of the Names and Attributes and veiled from the Lamp of Unity which is the place of the manifestation of The Essence.