The Descent of the Messiah — Page 164
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH is certainty becomes diminished, people recite the Word of God, but their recitation does not descend further than their throats. The Word of God then withdraws from them, does not touch them, and has no positive influence on them; it is as if it has abandoned them and ascended to heaven. It is then that a worthy spirit is born, whom the Word draws towards itself, and the power of the Word of God carries him to the level of perfect certainty, and the teaching that had risen to heaven returns to the earth through him. It is thus that certainty is always renewed through God's fresh discourse, and if God desires to abrogate a law, the hearts of the followers of that law become distorted, and none remains among them to whom the fresh Word of God is revealed. The scripture then becomes like putrid water that has become mixed with much mud and filth. Such a law does not benefit mankind at all, for it consists of nothing but stories, and its followers do not possess fresh heavenly water, i. e. , the fresh Word of God. It can thus be understood that God has left them. In short, the sign of a forsaken religion is that it does not possess the light of the fresh Word of God, and its followers always rely on the word that is corroborated neither by the fresh revelation of God nor by fresh signs. Hence, their hearts remain dead, and the light of faith that consumes sin does not come near them. The gist of all these statements is that the fresh Word of God is the mainstay of God's Law and it carries ashore safely the boat that was about to sink under the burden of sins. I reiterate, lest someone should forget, that the Word of God alluded to here is that which descends anew for the present age and demonstrates to the recipient of the revelation and his companions through its natural characteristics that it is indeed the Word of God. Of course, such a recipient does not differentiate between this and other Divine words revealed to earlier Prophets by virtue of their being revelations, though there may be differences among them 164