Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 167
Conclusion 167 hostility. They are never easily recognised as the true representa- tives of those who had promised their revisit. What happened to Christ as in his first appearance at the hands of the Jews was bound to happen to him again, but this time at the hands of the Muslims and the Christians who were expecting his return. The same distorted and unreal expectations regarding the way he was to revisit the earth, the same imaginary goals he was expected to pursue, the same unrealistic views of his performance and his achievements on earth as were displayed by the Jewish people of the time of Jesus Christ as were to be repeated by the Muslims during his second advent, and in this way history was to re-enact itself. Looking back now, one is in a better position to understand the failure of the Jews to recognise their Messiah. We can easily understand their difficulty and draw lessons from their tragedy. Their literal understanding of the scriptures misled them. All this has already been discussed, but to emphasise this important issue, we once again refer to it. It always happens in the history of expected religious Reformers that the people who await them most often than not fail to recognise them because the signs of their recognition are misread and misunderstood. Realities are mythified and metaphors are taken literally. Almost the same story has been repeated at the time of the Sec- ond Advent of the Messiah, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as of Qadian. Like the case of the promised descent of Elijah as from the heavens as was awaited by the Jews of Christ’s as time someone was again expected to bodily descend from heaven, this time the Messiah himself.