Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 115
115 CHAPTER VII SECOND COMING The world of religion is familiar with the concept of second coming of great religious teachers who have passed away. Curiously enough, all those who are looking forward to the fulfillment of prophecies relating to the second advent of their great teacher except that he would return to the earth in his physical body. This concept has been responsible for great confusion, bewilderment and conflict. In the case of Jesus himself one factor that reinforced the opposition and hostility of the Jewish divines to his claim of being the Messiah, whose advent had been foretold in their scriptures, was that it had been prophesied that Elijah, the prophet, would be sent before the advent of the Messiah 1. This question was put to Jesus himself and his answer is recorded in the gospels: "And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly must first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. . . Then, the disciples understood that he spoke unto them of John, the Baptist". 2. "If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come". 3 "And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias". 4 Thus, Jesus made it clear that a second coming of one who has passed away means the coming of someone in his power and spirit. Another aspect of this almost universal expectation of the second advent of a great teacher in the latter days is the purpose, the message and function of that teacher. Such an advent has been prophesied in almost all the principal faiths that flourish today upon the earth. Would the message and function of every one of them be identical or would each of them have his own message, different from and in conflict with the messages of the other great teachers in their second advent? If the messages of all of them are to be identical then not more than one would be needed to convey that message and to set an example in conformity with it. If the messages are to be different and conflicting, the advent of so many teachers instead of promoting unity, peace, accord, and spiritual fulfillment, would only foster hostility, discord, enmity, and chaos. Mankind has now started pressing forward towards a unity of aim and purpose. All the developments that have taken place towards bringing different sections into closer relations with each other afford the strongest indication that the teacher of the latter days would be a single person and there would not be a plurality of personages. The situation today is that while the children of Israel are still awaiting the advent of the Messiah, the Christians are looking forward to an early second coming of Jesus, the first Messiah. The Muslims have for nearly a century awaited the appearance of the Mahdi and Messiah, whose advent