PART III—The proof 1. The king from the sunrise

PART III—The proof

1. The king from the sunrise

The Christian clergyman, Reverend John Cumming, in his book about the last days, The Great Tribulation, quotes a prophecy of Zoroaster concerning the Messiah that states that this Messenger of God will come from the land of Núr in Persia.

Núr is the province of Mázandarán. It is the homeland of Bahá’u’lláh. His father, Mírzá Buzurg of Núr, was an honoured Minister to the King of Persia (known as the Sháh).

In the book Religious Debates by Nategh, are found the following prophecies of Zoroaster concerning the One who will come from the east:

1. “God will give you (Persia) a good ending.”

2. If there is but one minute remaining in the whole world, I will send someone from this nation (Persia) Who will renew religion.

3. “When Persia and the other countries are overtaken by the Arabs, I will choose one from the generation of the Kings of Persia, so that He will call the people of the world from East to West to worship one God.”

In my search, I also found the following record: “A manuscript has been found, giving his (Bahá’u’lláh’s) genealogy which goes back more than 1,300 years to the kings of ancient Persia.”¹

There is a prophecy of the great Messiah to come that is known to the Buddhists. The prophecy is attributed to Buddha Gautama Himself, and states that in the fullness of time, thee would arise:

“A Buddha named Maitreye, the Buddha of universal fellowship.”²

This great Messiah, the Buddhists believe, will come: not from the East, but from the West.

Mr Edward Irving, a Christian clergyman of Britain, who was keenly anticipating the return of Christ during the millennial zeal of the 1800’s, said: “… What is very remarkable, a friend of mine, who … stood on the Himalayan mountains in India, by the holy pool, where never Christian had dwelt before, found there also an expectation of a religion from the west which in the space of forty years was to possess the earth …”³

Bahá’u’lláh came from Persia, which is to the East of Israel, but to the west of India. His ministry from the time of its beginning until his last days on earth was forty years.

The prophets of Syria and Palestine foretold the coming of the promised Messiah from the East. The prophets and seers from India and the Far East, said that he would appear in the West. Persia, the birthplace of Bahá’u’lláh lies in between these two, and fulfils the requirements of each.

In the book of Enoch, it is prophesied that the Messiah of the last days shall come from the East of Israel, and that He shall come from the land now known as Persia. Enoch foretells:

“And in those days the angels will assemble, and turn their heads towards the East, toward the people of Parthia and Medea, in order to excite the kings, and that a spirit of disturbance came over them, and disturbed them from off their thrones.”¹

Parthia and Medea make up what is now the land of Persia, the birthplace of Bahá’u’lláh.

The Jewish oracles, the Sibylline books, also mention the coming of the Messiah from the East, saying:

“And then from the sunrise God shall send a king who shall give every land relief from the bane of war … nor shall he do these things by his own counsel, but in obedience to the good ordinances of the Mighty God.”²

Joseph Klausner, in The Messianic idea in Israel, writes: “The ‘king from the sunrise’ is, without any doubt, the King-Messiah.”

The prophet Ezekiel also foretold that the Messiah would come to the Holy Land, Israel, from the East. He even gave the title by which He would be known in that day: The Glory of God [or the Glory of the Lord]. Ezekiel recorded his vision of the last days, saying:

“And behold, the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east …”³

In another place, Ezekiel says:

“And the Glory of the Lord came into the house by way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.”⁴

I had already learned that the name Bahá’u’lláh was Persian, and when translated into English means, The Glory of God or The Glory of the Lord.

His herald was called the Báb. This is also Persian, and translated into English means, The Gate.

The Báb was the Gate by which Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, entered into the hearts of men. Bahá’u’lláh had come to Israel in exile from Persia which is to the East.

I was more than satisfied by my findings. I learned that Bahá’u’lláh had completed the prophesies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Zoroaster, Buddha, Muhammad, and many secular prophesies as well—all of which pointed to the time and the place from which the Shepherd of the day of the ‘one fold’ would come.

I marked the first proof: Fulfilled.

2. Ancient land of mystery

When the people lamented their lack of a Redeemer to save them, Micah rebuked them severely. He also promised them that their redemption would come from Babylon. He denounced their faithlessness and said:

“Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee?”¹

Then Micah prophesied of the future, saying:

“Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; … there the Lord shall redeem thee …”²

Micah was speaking of the time of the end, for he begins this very chapter saying:

“But in the last days it shall come to pass …”³

This would be the day when Israel would be ‘gathered’, and the nations would ‘beat their swords into ploughshares’.

My task as a detective was to measure Bahá’u’lláh against this prophecy of Micah, to see if he had:

1. Given birth in Babylon;

2. Gone forth out of the city;

3. Dwelt in the field;

4. Come to Babylon, and there redeemed the people.

I had already learned that Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith had begun in 1844, and that on 12 January 1853, he had been exiled from Persia to ‘Iráq. He was taken under armed guard to the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates. His dwelling-place was called Baghdád, the section called Karkh.

There could be no doubt that this was the land of ancient Babylon. Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol, in his Dissertations on the Prophecies (1754) writes: “Tavernier, who is a very celebrated traveller, relates that ‘at the parting of the Tigris, which is but a little way from Bagdat, there is the foundation of the city, which may seem to have been a large league in compass. There are some of the walls yet standing, upon which six coaches may go abreast: They are made of burnt brick, ten foot square, and three thick. The chronicles of the country say here stood the ancient Babylon.’”

In Hanway’s Travels, the author, Hanway, writes of the famous city of Baghdád, saying that in its neighbourhood once “stood the metropolis of one of the most ancient and most potent monarchies in the world. The place is generally called Bagdat or Baghdad, though some writers preserve the ancient name of Babylon.”

Will Durant, in The Age of Faith, writes of the site of Baghdád, saying: “It was an old Babylonian city, and not far from

ancient Babylon; bricks bearing Nebuchadnezzar’s name were found … under the Tigris there.”

I discovered that Bahá’u’lláh came to the city of Baghdád on the banks of the Tigris. I also learned the following:

1. There, in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, in ancient Babylon, Bahá’u’lláh, in the midst of much pain and suffering brought forth his Faith.

2. As foretold by Micah, Bahá’u’lláh went ‘out of the city’ into the mountains of Kurdistán on 10 April 1854, as Christ had gone into the desert in the days of His first coming.

3. He did indeed ‘dwell in the field’ as promised by Micah. A record of that time states that Bahá’u’lláh was ‘entirely alone in His wanderings through the wastes of Kurdistán’ as he prepared himself for the fateful days ahead.

4. From these desolate wastes, Bahá’u’lláh did ‘go even unto Babylon’. He came to Baghdád, and there announced publicly that He was the Redeemer foretold for the last days.

When Ezekiel had his vision of the Glory of God Who came from the East, he was a prisoner in the land of Babylon. He says:

“I was among the captives by the river Chebar … the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”¹

In that same chapter, Ezekiel mentions that he saw the rainbow in the sky, the sign of the Covenant of God promised to Noah. This, too, was by the river Chebar. In the midst of Ezekiel’s vision was the figure of a man:

“This was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face …”²

I looked up the history of the river Chebar. It was known to ancient geographers as the river Khabar, as well as by other names. The Chebar had its source west of Baghdád and emptied into the Euphrates in ancient Babylon. It was in this very region that Bahá’u’lláh announced his Mission.

Ezekiel says further of his vision:

“Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place … Then I arose, and went forth and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar: and I fell on my face.”¹

Bahá’u’lláh appeared in the land of the Chebar, the land of ancient Babylon. His name means: the Glory of the Lord or the Glory of God.

I uncovered another prophecy. It came from India. It also referred to the appearance of the promised One in Babylon in the last days. It was called the Red Robe Tradition, as follows: “It is related that an account is given of an Indian Muslim, a holy man of the eighth century ad, who, speaking of the ‘Great Day of God’ to come, uttered these words: “In that day the Holy One will be found abiding in a land called Kharkh. He will walk beside the river, wearing the dervish turban, and wrapped in a red robe. He will be teaching His followers on the banks of the river. Would that I might be privileged to enter His Presence, and to shed my life-blood in His Path.’”²

I learned that Bahá’u’lláh wore such a red robe. It had been prepared for him by his wife and daughter while he was away in the wilderness of Kurdistán. They had made it from the pieces of tirmih (red cloth) which they had reserved from the few possessions that had not been stolen during Bahá’u’lláh’s imprisonment in Persia.

Bahá’u’lláh taught along the banks of the river Tigris.

The name of the section of Baghdád in which he lived was called Karkh. It was in the land of ancient Babylon.

What a fascinating story!