The prophets have been coming to man from the beginning of the world to educate man.

 

184. Prophets have been coming to man from the beginning of the world to educate man and lead mankind on an ever advancing pathway towards God: Sabeanism: “And it was revealed to me (?) and to all of them (God’s other divine teachers) in this book, and they acted upon this reliable baser acting according to this (its) light and removing nothing from this writing of great revelation that was given to Adam the first man.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 75) 

  The Bahá’í Faith tells us that God has been sending divine educators or manifestations to mankind since the very beginning of mankind’s time on this earth; this is also hinted at in the Torah of the bible and openly declared in The New Testament and in the other religions of God:  Judaism: Deuteronomy 18:15 “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;” Deuteronomy 18:18 “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Isaiah 40:21 “Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?” Ezra 6:38 “And I said, O Lord, Thou spakest from the beginning of the creation,” “by the mouth of His holy prophets.” (Deuterocanonical Apocrypha, Esdras 2 (Ezra 4) Luke 1:70)  Christianity: Luke 1:68 “Blessed be The Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people,” Luke 1:69 “And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David;” Luke 1:70 “He (God) spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began:” Acts 3:21 “God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” 1 Peter 1:10 “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:” 1 Peter 1:11 “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them (The Holy Prophets) did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” Hebrews 13:20 “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” Hebrews 13:26 “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” 

 BABI RELIGION: “I am God; no God is there but Me. I have called into being all the created things, I have raised up divine Messengers in the past and have sent down Books unto Them.” 

          (The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 100) 

 ISLAM: 136. “We believe in Allah (God), and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord, we make no difference between one and another of them, and we bow to Allah.” 3. “It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the Criterion (standard) (of judgment between right and wrong).”  

          (The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 2 and 3) 

Islam: 196. “For my protector is Allah, Who revealed the Book (from time to time), and He will choose and befriend the righteous.” 101. “When We substitute one revelation for another, and Allah knows best what He reveals (in stages), they say, “Thou art but a forger,” but most of them understand not.” 102. “Say, the Holy Spirit has brought the revelation from thy Lord in truth, in order to strengthen those who believe, and as a guide and Glad Tidings.”  

          (The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 7 and 16) 

Islam: 23. “Allah has revealed (from time to time) the most beautiful Message in the form of a Book, consistent with itself, (yet) repeating its teaching in various aspects” “None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar; knowest thou not that Allah hath power over all things? Knowest thou not that to Allah belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth! And besides Him ye have neither patron nor helper.”  

          (The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs 2 and 39) 

Islam: “Allah’s Apostle said, “Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all the people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.” 

          (Islam, Hadith, Bukhari Vol 4, Book 55, # 652) 

Islam: “Let every nation follow what they used to worship, and now we are waiting for our Lord.’ Then the Almighty will come to them in a shape other than the one which they saw the first time, and He will say, ‘I am your Lord,’ and they will say, ‘You are not our Lord.”’ They will be blind to the new manifestation of God, Allah will send them. They have eyes to see, but don’t see the true light of Allah when it dawns, and fail to hear the truth of His words. 13. “The same religion has He established for you as that which He enjoined on Noah-the which We have sent by inspiration to thee-and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: Namely, that ye should remain steadfast in Religion, and make no divisions therein: to those who worship other things than Allah, hard is the (way) to which thou callest them. Allah chooses to Himself those whom He pleases, and guides to Himself those who turn (to Him).” 

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 42 and Hadith, Bukhari Vol 9, Book 93, # 532) 

 ZOROASTRIANISM: 3. “And we worship the former religions of the world devoted to Righteousness which were instituted at the creation, the holy religions of the Creator Ahura Mazda (God), the resplendent and glorious.” 2. “If by reason of these things the better path is not in sight for choosing, then will I come to you all as judge of the parties twain whom Ahura Mazda knoweth, that we may live according to the Right.” 

          (Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasnas 16 and 31) 

 Zoroastrianism: “The busy world is apt to forget the most important lesson of life so the merciful Mazda sends prophets now and then to remind men of their highest destiny.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan) 

 Zoroastrianism: “If one disbelieves in the spiritual experience of the prophet he deprives himself of the means of salvation. The gospel of the prophet enables one to have a glimpse of his spirit. All the prophets teach the same truth. The lamps are different, but the flame is the same.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 468)  

 Zoroastrianism: “The path, O Ahura, which You told me to be of conscience, and which happens to be the religion of all the prophets, and which, by good deeds promotes rectitude as well, and which brings to the righteous recompense of which You are the giver; the way of all the saints (saoshyants) may be said to be only one. For in essential matters, there is no difference between one prophet and another. In as much as the same God is worshipped everywhere. All of them are different phases of the same religion.” (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan pp. 314-316) 

 Zoroastrianism: Denkard. Zoroaster, “God, in order to give joy to the good creation, had, from the beginning of the world, created, in pure and luminous essence, the holy Zartosht (Spitaman pure spirit, Spitama Zarathustra) as an associate of the Amaha-spands, endowed with all their good qualities, thoughtful, and fully attentive. And his essence was made in the Spiritual World fitted for (the task of) proselytism, and of propagating the religion throughout the world. And at the right time he was sent down to the world as a man, invested with the earthly body. At that time (i.e. when the pure Spirit of Zartosht entered this tenement of clay).” 

 HINDUISM: “I come, and go, and come. When Righteousness Declines, O Bharata! when Wickedness Is strong, I rise, from age to age, and take Visible shape, and move a man with men, Succouring the good, thrusting the evil back, And setting Virtue on her seat again.” 

          (Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 4) 

 Hinduism: “As I before have been So will I be again for thee; with lightened heart behold! Once more I am thy Krishna, the form thou knew’st of old!” 

          (Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 9) 

 BUDDHISM: “I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise…. He shall reveal to you the same eternal truths which I have taught you. He will preach to you His religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter.” [Sermon of the Great Passing.]   

 Buddhism: “All the Buddhas of the past, present and future, are of one sameness.” “The Lord Buddha continued: (through) Numberless ages ago, Subhuti, before the advent of Dipankara Buddha, there were many other Buddhas and I recall my difficult experiences while serving them and receiving their religious instruction and discipline, but I endured it patiently and, because my conduct was entirely blameless and without reproach, I was reborn in the days of Dipankara Buddha.” ((Buddha, Lankavatara Sutra and Diamond Sutra) 

  SABEANISM: “Thou wast in existence before all.” “In the name of The Life (Haiyi, God)! I worship The First Life. Thou art immeasurable, infinite and (for) ever.” “Arise, worship and praise The Great Life And praise His Counter-part, that is the image of the Life.” “I worship and praise that channel of light, The messenger of all rays-of-light.” (The manifestation of God on this earth) (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 35, 75, 114 thru 116)  

Sabeanism: “In the Name of The Great Life (Haiyi, God). Vines shone in the water And in the Jordan mighty they grew. Ye are flourishing offshoots. Messengers hither I bring you.” “Establishing Your likeness and giving us light, Let your radiance shine upon us.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 177 and 382)

 BABI RELIGION: “With each and every Prophet Whom We have sent down in the past, We have established a separate Covenant concerning the Remembrance of God and His Day.” “The Lord of the universe hath never raised up a prophet nor hath He sent down a Book unless He hath established His covenant with all men, calling for their acceptance of the next Revelation and of the next Book; inasmuch as the outpourings of His bounty are ceaseless and without limit.” 

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 68 and 86) 

BAHA’I FAITH: “The great ones are from all time in their glorious station, their reality is luminous from the beginning, the reality that causes the qualities of God to appear, but the day of their manifestation is the day when they proclaim themselves of this earth.” 

          (Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 52) 

Baha’i Faith: “From the days of Adam until today, the religions of God have been made manifest, one following the other, and each one of them fulfilled its due function, revived mankind, and provided education and enlightenment. They freed the people from the darkness of the world of nature and ushered them into the brightness of the Kingdom. As each succeeding Faith and Law became revealed it remained for some centuries a richly fruitful tree and to it was committed the happiness of humankind. However, as the centuries rolled by, it aged, it flourished no more and put forth no fruit, wherefore was it then made young again.”

   “The religion of God is one religion, but it must ever be renewed. Moses, for example, was sent forth to man and He established a Law, and the Children of Israel, through that Mosaic Law, were delivered out of their ignorance and came into the light; they were lifted up from their abjectness and attained to a glory that fadeth not. Still, as the long years wore on, that radiance passed by, that splendour set, that bright day turned to night; and once that night grew triply dark, the star of the Messiah dawned, so that again a glory lit the world.” 

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 51)

 BABI RELIGION: “Verily He doth exercise undisputed authority over His revelations unto all mankind.” “Thus is divine revelation inaugurated in each Dispensation at Our behest. We are truly the supreme Ruler. Indeed no religion shall We ever inaugurate unless it be renewed in the days to come. This is a promise We solemnly have made. Verily We are supreme over all things…” “Thy Lord hath never raised up a prophet in the past who failed to summon the people to His Lord, and today is truly similar to the times of old, were ye to ponder over the verses revealed by God.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 33, 158 and 160)

BAHA’I FAITH: “His creation no end hath overtaken, and it hath ever existed from the ‘Beginning that hath no beginning;’ and the Manifestations of His Beauty no beginning hath beheld, and they will continue to the End that knoweth no end.” 

          (Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 167) 

 BABI RELIGION: “He (The Bab) bade them declare that whoever believes in Him has believed in all the prophets of God, and that whoever denies Him has denied all His saints and His chosen ones.”  

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 94) 

 Babi Religion: “He laid stress on the continuity of Divine Revelation, asserted the fundamental oneness of the Prophets of the past, and explained their close relationship to the Mission of the Báb.” 

          (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 437)