Redeeming sacrifice: freedom, renewal, and the response of a life

The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish.

Say: Because He bore injustice, justice hath appeared on earth, and because He accepted abasement, the majesty of God hath shone forth amidst mankind.

Though beset with countless afflictions, We summon the people unto God, the Lord of names. Say, strive ye to attain that which ye have been promised in the Books of God, and walk not in the way of the ignorant. My body hath endured imprisonment that ye may be released from the bondage of self. Set your faces then towards His countenance and follow not the footsteps of every hostile oppressor.

Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things.

This is the reason why the universal Manifestations of God unveil Their countenances to man, and endure every calamity and sore affliction, and lay down Their lives as a ransom; it is to make these very people, the ready ones, the ones who have capacity, to become dawning points of light, and to bestow upon them the life that fadeth never. This is the true sacrifice: the offering of oneself, even as did Christ, as a ransom for the life of the world.

To sum it up, the Ancient Beauty was ever, during His sojourn in this transitory world, either a captive bound with chains, or living under a sword, or subjected to extreme suffering and torment, or held in the Most Great Prison. Because of His physical weakness, brought on by His afflictions, His blessed body was worn away to a breath; it was light as a cobweb from long grieving. And His reason for shouldering this heavy load and enduring all this anguish, which was even as an ocean that hurleth its waves to high heaven -- His reason for putting on the heavy iron chains and for becoming the very embodiment of utter resignation and meekness, was to lead every soul on earth to concord, to fellow-feeling, to oneness; to make known amongst all peoples the sign of the singleness of God, so that at last the primal oneness deposited at the heart of all created things would bear its destined fruit, and the splendour of 'No difference canst thou see in the creation of the God of Mercy,' would cast abroad its rays.

Now is the time, O ye beloved of the Lord, for ardent endeavour. Struggle ye, and strive. And since the Ancient Beauty was exposed by day and night on the field of martyrdom, let us in our turn labour hard, and hear and ponder the counsels of God; let us fling away our lives, and renounce our brief and numbered days. Let us turn our eyes away from empty fantasies of this world's divergent forms, and serve instead this pre-eminent purpose, this grand design. Let us not, because of our own imaginings, cut down this tree that the hand of heavenly grace hath planted; let us not, with the dark clouds of our illusions, our selfish interests, blot out the glory that streameth from the Abha Realm. Let us not be as barriers that wall out the rolling ocean of Almighty God. Let us not prevent the pure, sweet scents from the garden of the All-Glorious Beauty from blowing far and wide. Let us not, on this day of reunion, shut out the vernal downpour of blessings from on high. Let us not consent that the splendours of the Sun of Truth should ever fade and disappear. These are the admonitions of God, as set forth in His Holy Books, His Scriptures, His Tablets that tell out His counsellings to the sincere.

The glory rest upon you, and God's mercy, and God's blessings.

It is Our wish and desire that every one of you may become a source of all goodness unto men, and an example of uprightness to mankind. Beware lest ye prefer yourselves above your neighbors. Fix your gaze upon Him Who is the Temple of God amongst men. He, in truth, hath offered up His life as a ransom for the redemption of the world.

Say: The Youth desireth naught from you, as every fair-minded and knowing one doth testify. He hath sacrificed His spirit out of love for those who are in the heavens and on earth, that He might purify them from whatsoever preventeth them from ascending unto the Kingdom of God, the Mighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.

He desireth naught from you, and hath sacrificed His spirit for all who are in the heavens and on earth, out of His love for God, your Lord and the Lord of all worlds.

We, however, have offered up Our soul for the love of God and for the life of the worlds.

Say: "We have desired naught for Ourselves, but rather for your sakes, were ye to be fair-minded. We have accepted the swords of the enemies for your life, and every fair-minded, well-informed person beareth witness to this. We have turned away from all who are on earth for the sake of your turning unto the direction of the mercy of your Lord, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate."

By My life! I have sacrificed My soul for your sake, O My servants.

Thou seest, O my God, what I have borne for the liberation and salvation of Thy servants. I beseech Thee by Thy Most Great Name to draw them nigh unto what Thou hast desired for them through Thy bounty and favor.

He accepted abasement for the glory of all on earth and chose imprisonment for the salvation of the worlds.

We have accepted abasement for your glory and tribulations for your deliverance.

We accepted sorrows for the joy of all created things, and hardship for the ease of the worlds.

Thanks be to Thee for having sacrificed me for the life of the worlds, and thanks be to Thee for having imprisoned me for the emancipation of the worlds.

I swear by Thy glory! I have accepted to be tried by manifold adversities for no purpose except to regenerate all that are in Thy heaven and on Thy earth.

I implore Thee by Thine Ancient Beauty and Most Great Name, Whom Thou hast sacrificed that all the dwellers of Thine earth and heaven may be born anew, and Whom Thou hast cast into prison that mankind may, as a token of Thy bounty and of Thy sovereign might, be released from the bondage of evil passions and corrupt desires, to number me with those who have so deeply inhaled the fragrance of Thy mercy, and hastened with such speed unto the living waters of Thy grace, that no dart could hinder them from turning unto Thee, nor any spear from setting their faces towards the orient of Thy Revelation.

Say: We have accepted to be tried by ills and troubles, that ye may sanctify yourselves from all earthly defilements.

… We have sustained the weight of all calamities to sanctify you from all earthly corruption, and ye are yet indifferent.

He hath come for your salvation and hath borne hardships that ye might ascend the ladder of utterance to the summit of knowledge.

He hath sacrificed His spirit in the path of God that He might bring you nigh unto the seat of a mighty throne.

Say: He hath sacrificed Himself in the path of God, your Lord, that He might draw you nigh unto an exalted station of glory.

Say: He hath verily offered up the Manifestation of Himself as a ransom for summoning you to draw nigh unto the station foreordained for you by the Flowing Pen.

This is He Who accepted harm for your deliverance and sacrificed Himself for your life.

The Tongue of God declared: "I have come for the salvation of all the world and have sacrificed My soul for the purification and life of the world, and these tribulations are inevitable."

We have sacrificed Our self to exalt the Word of God above all else.

Glorified art Thou, O Lord, my God! Thou seest Me in the hands of Mine enemies, and My son bloodstained before Thy face, O Thou in Whose hands is the kingdom of all names. I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me, that Thy servants may be quickened and all that dwell on earth be united.

O Husayn! Hearken unto the call of this Husayn once again, and know thou that He hath sacrificed His spirit, His body and His frame for God, the Lord of the first and the last.

Therefore, O ye luminous concourse, grieve not over anything, nor over all that hath befallen Us at the hands of the company of the idolaters, for We have offered up Our spirit in the days of God ere the creation of the heavens and the earth.

If thou wouldst reflect upon the deeds of the Prophets, thou wouldst bear witness with absolute certitude that there are worlds besides this world. The philosophers of the earth, as revealed in the Tablet of Wisdom by the Supreme Pen, have mostly acknowledged and accepted what was revealed in the divine Books. … Now if such souls had considered divine worlds to be limited to this earthly life, they would never have surrendered themselves to their enemies nor endured unprecedented trials and tribulations.

That is, to outward seeming, the human condition of the Holy Manifestations is subjected to tests, and when Their strength and endurance have by this means been revealed in the plenitude of power, other men receive instruction therefrom, and are made aware of how great must be their own steadfastness and endurance under tests and trials. For the Divine Educator must teach by word and also by deed, thus revealing to all the straight pathway of truth.

When Christ appeared, He knew that He must proclaim Himself in opposition to all the nations and peoples of the earth. He knew that mankind would arise against Him and inflict upon Him all manner of tribulations. … Notwithstanding His knowledge of what would befall Him, He arose to proclaim His message, suffered all tribulation and hardships from the people and finally offered His life as a sacrifice in order to illumine humanity -- gave His blood in order to guide the world of mankind.

As it was the custom in the old times to offer sacrifices for sins, so did Christ (glory be to Him) say in substance, 'I offer myself as an example and as a sacrifice for the safety and salvation of the people, i.e. I am willing to accept every disaster and calamity for the sake of guiding the people' - even death, for He was necessarily opposing everybody. I have accepted all things that the people may know the truth as it is.

A man may be condemned to death because he is a murderer, another because he is a thief, or they may be punished for many different kinds of crimes, but Jesus Christ was put to death because He wished to become a sacrifice, so there are other causes of calamity.

If this physical life had any importance, Christ would not have accepted crucifixion.

V.15: Every prophet, or Manifestation of God, must know fully that he will be utterly destroyed, before he begins his work, for his teachings will be against the teachings of the whole world. Jesus knew His words would result in His crucifixion, and His lifting us would give eternal life.

One important reason I will unveil for you today: "Each Manifestation of God, from Buddha and Confucius to Baha'u'llah, lived a life in God, with God, for God, and such a life, according to the eternal and inscrutable laws of the Creator, is only possible through the creature's obedience and sacrifice. With His life Christ, the Holy One, proved His obedience, in His death he proved His complete sacrifice!

The self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ caused those who believed in Him to have eternal life. The mystery of self-sacrifice has been manifested in all the prophets, because this is the foundation- the basis of divinity. The self-sacrifice and martyrdom of all the prophets caused the sins of the people to be forgiven.

"When Jesus Christ came into the world He gave all His Bounties to mankind in order that they might see their own bounties therein; and this was the way in which He sacrificed His life to the world.

The first redemption is the giving of the human life in order to make known the truth.

The second redemption is the giving of the spirituality in order that the prophet or manifestation shall fill his disciples with the gift of spirituality.

The third redemption is the utter and entire annihilation of the self.

Americans at this time are in their winter season, and they donit realize the beautiful spring coming to them. If Jesus Christ had not been crucified, the Holy Ghost would not have been given to the Disciples. The three years Jesus was with them they didnit receive it, but after the crucifixion, it descended upon them.

His Holiness the Christ was fighting even upon the cross and his triumphs continued throughout all centuries and cycles!

For the protection and safety of the people of the world, He made Himself a target for the arrows of tribulations and subjected Himself to the attacks of fierce beasts so that the divine sheep might find rest from the aggression of cruel predators and the oppression of the wolves of self and passion, and attain eternal preservation and life.

Baha'u'llah endured every difficulty. He suffered every ordeal. He sacrificed himself for all mankind.

In short, the point is this:- His Holiness the Bab underwent persecutions and martyrdom; His Holiness Baha'u'llah accepted willingly sufferings, exiles and their attendant hardships - till at last this field was cleared from the thorns and tares of human selfishness; it was furrowed with the hands of thousands earnest souls the pure seeds of the divine Teachings were sown and watered with the blood of thousands of martyrs.

The great martyrdom or the sacrifice of life is like unto a mirror and when turned toward the sun, the temple and the body of the mirror become utterly effaced; that is, the martyrs efface themselves in the love of God to such an extent that the bodies and mirrors no longer exist. They become the rays of the sun.

The Blessed Perfection sacrificed His country, His household, His wealth, His glory, His affluence and even His Life for the progress of the Cause of God. If He so renounced everything, so that the heaven of the divine Faith be upheld, then the duty of the believers is plain.

During fifty years, many were his vicissitudes. He suffered all these catastrophes for us, that we may turn to God; that we may attain to faith; that we may attain to certainty; that we act in accordance with his teachings; that we may be the cause of the illumination of the world; that we may be the means of guiding the people.