Second Coming Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Baháʼí Faith== [[File:Shrine-of-Bahaullah.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh|The Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh]]]] According to the [[Baháʼí Faith]], the Second Coming is a gradual process that coincides with the advancement of human civilization from the beginning of humanity. It teaches that the founders of the major world religions each represent a return of the Word and Spirit of God as a new, unique personification sent by God, who introduces new teachings, laws and revelations, such that all major religions are part of a [[progressive revelation (Baháʼí)|progressive revelation]]. Each Coming is said to build upon the major world religions emerging from earlier ages, verifying previous spiritual truths, and fulfilling its prophesies regarding a future return or coming. In this context, the Second Coming is depicted as a continuation of God's will in one continuous faith, with different names as presented by the founders of each religion as the voice of God at different times in history. [[Bahá'u'lláh]] announced that he was a manifestation of the returned Christ, understood as a reappearance of the Word and Spirit of God:{{blockquote|O thou who art waiting, tarry no longer, for He is come. Behold His Tabernacle and His Glory dwelling therein. It is the Ancient Glory, with a new Manifestation.<ref>{{cite book|author=J. E. Esslemont|title=Baha'u'llah and the New Era|date=2006|publisher=[[Baháʼí World Centre]] |location=Baháʼí World Centre|isbn=0-87743-136-1|pages=23|url=https://www.bahai.org/library/other-literature/publications-individual-authors/bahaullah-new-era/}}</ref>}} He wrote to [[Pope Pius IX]], {{blockquote|He Who is the Lord of Lords is come overshadowed with clouds... He, verily, hath again come down from Heaven even as He came down from it the first time. Beware that thou dispute not with Him even as the Pharisees disputed with Him without a clear token or proof.<ref>{{cite book|author=Baha'u'llah|title=The Summons of the Lord of Hosts|date=2002|publisher=[[Baháʼí World Centre]] |location=Bahá'í World Centre|isbn=978-1-931847-33-9|pages=54–55|url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/SLH/slh-5.html}}</ref>}} He referred to himself as the ''[[Ancient of Days]]'' and the ''Pen of Glory'',<ref name="summonspage57">{{cite book|author=Baha'u'llah|title=The Summons of the Lord of Hosts|date=2002|publisher=[[Baháʼí World Centre]]|location=[[Haifa]], Israel|isbn=978-1-931847-33-9|page=57|url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/SLH/slh-5.html}}</ref> and also claimed:{{blockquote|This is the Father foretold by Isaiah, and the Comforter concerning Whom the Spirit had covenanted with you. Open your eyes, O concourse of bishops, that ye may behold your Lord seated upon the Throne of might and glory.<ref>{{cite book|author=Baha'u'llah|title=The Summons of the Lord of Hosts|date=2002|publisher=[[Baháʼí World Centre]] |location=[[Haifa]], Israel|isbn=978-1-931847-33-9|pages=63|url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/SLH/slh-5.html}}</ref>}} Baha'u'llah also wrote, {{Blockquote|Say: We, in truth, have given Ourself as a ransom for your own lives. Alas, when We came once again, We beheld you fleeing from Us, whereat the eye of My loving-kindness wept sore over My people."<ref name="summonspage57"/>}} Followers of the Baháʼí Faith believe that prophecies of the second coming of Jesus (along with prophecies from other religions) were fulfilled by his forerunner the [[Báb]] in 1844 and then by the events occurring during the days of Bahá'u'lláh.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buck |first=Christopher |title=Studies in Modern Religions, Religious Movements and the Bābī-Bahā'ī Faiths |publisher=Brill |year=2004 |isbn=978-90-04-13904-6 |editor=Sharon |editor-first=Moshe |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=143–178 |language=en-us |chapter=The eschatology of Globalization: The multiple-messiahship of Bahā'u'llāh revisited |chapter-url=http://bahai-library.com/buck_eschatology_globalization}}</ref> They believe that the fulfillment of Christian prophecies by Baha'u'llah is similar to Jesus' fulfillment of Jewish prophecies, where in both cases people were expecting the literal fulfillment of apocalyptic statements that led to rejections of the Return, instead of accepting fulfillment in symbolic and spiritual ways. Baháʼís understand that the return of the Christ with a new name was intended by Jesus to be a Return in a spiritual sense, due to Jesus explaining in the Gospels that the return of Elijah in John the Baptist was a return in a spiritual sense.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/|title=Baha'i: Prophecy Fulfilled Homepage|work=bci.org|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990508221018/http://bci.org/prophecy-fulfilled/|archive-date=1999-05-08}}</ref><ref name="bahai-library1">{{cite web|first=Stephen |last=Lambden |url=http://bahai-library.com/bsr/bsr09/9B3_lambden_armageddon.htm |title=Catastrophe, Armageddon and Millennium: some aspects of the Bábí-Baháʼí exegesis of apocalyptic symbolism |publisher=Bahai-library.com |access-date=2009-11-21}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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