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Just as the Christians claim, and rightly so, that they have been given, through their belief in Christ, the true understanding of the Old Testament prophecies referring to Him, Baha'is claim that through belief in Baha'u'llah, they have been given the true understanding of the prophecies referring to the Second Coming. Baha'is see that the same spirit which enlightened the Christians at the time of Christ has returned to enlighten any and all who accept Him at His Return (95:3) This is the basis of the Baha'i interpretation of prophecies referring to the Second Coming. In the Baha'i view, Christ has returned, and he has given through His life and teachings the proper interpretation of prophecy. As in the case of the Christians interpreting prophecies referring to the First Coming, Baha'is see that their interpretation is based not on man's efforts, but on the divine explanation given by God's chosen messenger, the Messiah - the Christ of the First and Second Coming (95:4) An important aspect of Baha'i interpretation is that the prophecies of the Second Coming contain great spiritual and symbolic significance, which, until His Return, could not have been discovered by His followers. As in the case of His First Coming, He, Himself, had to reveal their meaning. Baha'u'llah states that Christ, in referring to His Return, intended none other than the coming of Baha'u'llah; He, Baha'u'llah, would fulfill all those things that Christ promised. With the coming of Baha'u'llah, Christ's divine love, His holiness, and power returned into the world. With His coming, Christ's sacred authority to judge the peoples of the earth returned. And with Baha'u'llah's coming, the exalted spirit of faith returned into the world, a spirit of Faith that thousands have manifested by sacrificing their very lives for His sake (95:5) Baha'is understand the return of Christ as a return of those qualities which make Him divine and through which everlasting life and salvation is bestowed upon the world. These same qualities have appeared in Baha'u'llah, through whose love of God, innate knowledge, unearthly power, and lifetime of sacrifice for God, they are made manifest (95:6) Although we have assumed, understandably, that Jesus Himself would come down from the sky upon the clouds, it seems, that just as the return of Elijah was fulfilled by a different individual with a different name though with the same qualities (namely, John the Baptist), so also the Return of Christ in our time has been fulfilled by a different individual with a different name though with the same qualities, namely by the individual whom history and prophecy alike proclaim as Baha'u'llah, the Glory of God
(95:7)
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