To Him Isaiah, the greatest of the Jewish prophets, had
alluded as the “Glory of the Lord,” the “Everlasting Father,” the “Prince of
Peace,” the “Wonderful,” the “Counsellor,” the “Rod come forth out of the stem
of Jesse” and the “Branch grown out of His roots,” Who “shall be established
upon the throne of David,” Who “will come with strong hand,” Who “shall judge
among the nations,” Who “shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and
with the breath of His lips slay the wicked,” and Who “shall assemble the
outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four
corners of the earth.” Of Him David had sung in his Psalms, acclaiming Him as
the “Lord of Hosts” and the “King of Glory.” To Him Haggai had referred as the
“Desire of all nations,” and Zachariah as the “Branch” Who “shall grow up out
of His place,” and “shall build the Temple of the Lord.” Ezekiel had extolled
Him as the “Lord” Who “shall be king over all the earth,” while to His day Joel
and Zephaniah had both referred as the “day of Jehovah,” the latter describing
it as “a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and
desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against
the high towers.” His Day Ezekiel and Daniel had, moreover, both acclaimed as the
“day of the Lord,” and Malachi described as “the great and dreadful day of the
Lord” when “the Sun of Righteousness” will “arise, with healing in His wings,”
whilst Daniel had pronounced His advent as signalizing the end of the
“abomination that maketh desolate.”
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
