We have explained before that what the Sacred Scriptures
most often mean by the Holy City or divine Jerusalem is the religion of God,
which has at times been likened to a bride, or called “Jerusalem”, or depicted
as the new heaven and the new earth. Thus in Revelation, chapter 21, it is
said: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and
they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their
God.”
Consider how unmistakably “the first heaven” and “the first
earth” refer to the outward aspects of the former religion. For it is said that
“the first heaven and earth were passed away; and there was no more sea”. That
is, the earth is the arena of the last judgement, and in this arena there will
be no more sea, meaning that the law and teachings of God will have spread
throughout the earth, all mankind will have embraced His Cause, and the earth
will have been entirely peopled by the faithful. Thus there will be no more
sea, for man dwells upon solid land and not in the sea—that is, in that
Dispensation the sphere of influence of that religion will encompass every land
that man has trodden, and it will be established upon solid ground whereon the
feet do not falter.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by
‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the
Baha’i World Centre)
