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I wonder if we have not seen the end of the phenomenon of Lesser Prophets, with the close of the Cycle of Prophecy. Humanity used to get these short bursts of inspired Minor Prophets, with their unassailable moral integrity, upholding the divine standard and warning the people to adhere to it.
But now we have the inspired House of Justice, and it's here full time, and not only crying out as an individual, but with a formal, institutionalized, permanent, deep and widespread influence; and combined with that, we have the potential of the individual believers attaining to the station of the Lesser Prophets of old.
Actually, I think that is not a statement of sameness, it is just a shorthand way of the Master conveying that this Day is unique. It is reminiscent of Baha'u'llah saying that the station of the Letters of the Living is ten thousand times greater than the apostles of old (WOB 108). That's not a matter of quantifying; in a sense, ten thousand is not a big enough number, even a million is too small a number. Because just as ten thousand singing birds don't equate to one human being; the whole scale has been lifted up with the coming of Baha'u'llah. There's no comparing any more.
"One righteous work performed in this Day, equalleth all the virtuous acts which for myriads of centuries men have practised -- nay, We ask forgiveness of God for such a comparison!" (Iqan, paragraph 153)
One good deed in this Day, excels all the good deeds performed by all human beings in all previous Dispensations.
In a previous Dispensation, one man, the High Priest; would on one day, the holiest day of the year; enter one place, the Holy of Holies; and one time, would recite the Name of God. Now, the Name of God is the way humans are to greet one another. The whole earth has been raised up.
It's like astronomical distances, where you have a distance measured in millions of light years, which stops being an instrument of measure, and just becomes a sense of "that's farther than I can imagine."
You can't add up enough diamonds, or birds, to equate to one human being, and you can't add up enough of anything from previous Dispensations to equate to the spirit, and teachings, and institutions Baha'u'llah has brought -- particularly including the full-time presence of divine guidance, and incorruptible application of the laws of the Revelation, represented in the House of Justice.
And though we can't see it now, I think the idea is that the whole earth will be populated by believers who attain to the station of Lesser Prophets. Not the title, and not the functions, but something of the exaltation. Baha'u'llah said the day will come when a woman traveling alone will be able to traverse the entire surface of the earth unmolested, and without a single man having looked upon her with lust. The effect of His laws and teachings and institutions cannot presently be imagined.
And that's why any deed we do in furtherance of this Cause, is incalculably significant. We're the instruments of furthering something that's never been here before.
Brent __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-503727-274...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
