Jesus In India — Page 61
CHAPTER ONE 51 and scope of this prophecy, for this community has yet only a few adherents to whom the term 'nation' cannot be applied. Jesus, the Messiah, on the authority of divine revelation, says that when a particular sign appears in the heavens all the people of the world who, on account of their numbers, deserve to be described as a nation will mourn; no one shall be excluded from this except those who are small in number and to whom the term nation cannot apply. Neither Christians, nor Muslims, nor Jews, nor any other denier, can keep out of the purview of this prophecy. Our community alone is outside its scope for God has only just sowed us like a seed. The word of a prophet can in no way prove false. And since the prophecy contains the unmistakable hint that every nation inhabiting the world will mourn so which of these people can claim to be outside its scope? Jesus, the Messiah, admits of no exception in this verse. But yes, that group which has not yet attained the size of a nation is in any case an exception, and that is our community. This prophecy has been very clearly fulfilled in this age, for the truth, which has now been revealed regarding Jesus, the Messiah, is undoubtedly the cause of mourning for all these nations, because it has exposed the error of their thinking. The tumult and uproar of the Christians over their manufacturing of a god turns into sighs of grief; the insistence of Muslims day in and day out that, “Jesus, the Messiah, has gone up to the skies alive," "has gone up to the skies alive,” changes into weeping and wailing; and as for the Jews, they stand to lose everything. Here it is also worth remembering that in the statement con- tained in the said verse, namely, that at that time all the nations of