THE KNIGHTS OF THE LORD
It is a premise of the compiler's that the prophetic appearance of
the "knights of the Lord", as the "chosen ones" or "apostles" of
the Manifestation, is a timeless theme replayed again and again
during the spiritual generations of the people of Baha and the
evolution of this Cause of God.
There is no one individual or
group of Baha'is that fulfill it completely. There were "knights
of the Lord" during the life-times of Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l Baha and
Shoghi Effendi, though they may not always have been known by that
description.
This may be understood by the mystery of the
"Return" explained by Baha'u'llah in the Book of Certitude (e.g.
p154) and other of His Tablets. [Note: all underlining and bold
type is the compiler's for emphasis.]
Baha'u'llah was assured:
"One night in a dream, these exalted words were heard on
every side: 'Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by
Thyself and by Thy pen. Grieve thou not for that which
hath befallen Thee, neither be Thou afraid, for Thou
art in safety.
Ere long will God raise up the
treasures of the earth - men who will aid Thee through
Thyself and through Thy Name, wherewith God hath
revived the hearts of such as have recognized Him.'"
(GPB p101)
Compare with the promise of Revelation 17:14:
"the Lamb will conquer them, for he is the Lord of Lords and
King of Kings, and those with him are called and chosen
and faithful."
Baha'u'llah, as the Manifestation of God for this Day, is the Lord
of Lords and King of Kings, and His companions are His chosen
ones.
One example of these chosen and faithful ones of
Baha'u'llah is the youth, Badi:
"Call thou to mind his honor Badi, who was the bearer of the
Tablet to His Majesty the Shah, and reflect how he laid
down his life. That knight, who spurred on his charger
in the arena of renunciation, threw down the precious
crown of life for the sake of Him Who is the
Incomparable Friend." (Baha'u'llah, ESW p73)
Other souls of the people of Baha, both during Baha'u'llah's lifetime and after, may be considered these chosen ones or faithful
knights in the service of the King of Kings that defend His
Kingdom and aid His victory.
"Verily I say, fear of God is the greatest commander that can
render the Cause of God victorious, and the hosts which
best befit this commander have ever been and are an
upright
character
and
pure
and
goodly
(Baha'u'llah, Book of the Covenant, TB p222)
deeds."
"This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything for your
idle fancies, nor is it a field for the foolish and
faint of heart. By God, this is the arena of insight
and detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none
may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of
the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the
world of being. These, truly, are they that render God
victorious on earth, and are the dawning-places of His
sovereign might amidst mankind." (Kitab-I-Aqdas, #178,
p84)
"O wayfarer in the Path of God!....By the righteousness of
God!
Whoso openeth his lips in this Day and maketh
mention of the name of his Lord, the hosts of Divine
inspiration shall descend upon him from the heaven of
My name, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
On him shall
also descend the Concourse on high, each bearing aloft
a chalice of pure light.
Thus hath it been foreordained in the realm of God's Revelation, by the
behest of Him Who is the All-Glorious, the Most
Powerful.
There lay concealed within the Holy Veil, and prepared
for the service of God, a company of His chosen ones
who shall be manifested unto men, who shall aid His
Cause, who shall be afraid of no one, though the entire
human race rise up and war against them. These are the
ones who, before the gaze of the dwellers on earth and
the denizens of heaven, shall arise and, shouting
aloud, acclaim the name of the Almighty, and summon the
children of men to the path of God, the All-Glorious,
the All-Praised." (Baha'u'llah BWF pp109-110)
[Note: the above Tablet in its entirety addresses the theme of
this compilation. Please read it completely and ponder it well.]
Baha'u'llah also explained there would be hosts of angelic souls
after His passing:
"Let not your hearts be perturbed, O people, when the glory
of My Presence is withdrawn, and the ocean of My
utterance is stilled. In My presence amongst you there
is a wisdom, and in My absence there is yet another,
inscrutable to all but God, the Incomparable, the AllKnowing.
Verily, We behold you from Our realm of
glory, and shall aid whosoever will arise for the
triumph of Our Cause with the hosts of the Concourse on
high
and
a
company
of
Our
favoured
angels."
(Baha'u'llah, SCKA p16)
Jesus, the Christ, too had his heavenly hosts and chosen ones that
won His victory
crucifixion:
despite
His
outwardly
apparent
defeat
and
"O Czar of Russia!....Arise thou amongst men in the name of
this all-compelling Cause, and summon then, the nations
unto God, the Exalted, the Great....Consider and call
thou to mind the days whereon the Spirit of God [Jesus]
appeared,...God, however, aided Him with the hosts of
the unseen, protected Him with truth, and sent Him down
unto
another
land,
according
to
His
promise."
(Baha'u'llah, BWF p51)
"The stage is set. The hour is propitious. The signal is
sounded. Baha'u'llah's spiritual battalions are moving
into position. The initial clash between the forces of
darkness and the army of light, as unnoticed as the
landing, two milleniums ago, of the apostles of Christ
on the southern shore of the European continent, is
being registered by the denizens of the Abha Kingdom.
The Author of the Plan that has set so titanic an
enterprise in motion is Himself mounted at the head of
these battalions, and leads them on to capture the
cities of men's hearts." (Shoghi Effendi in Citadel of
Faith p26)
Abdu'l Baha also called upon all the people of Baha to arise as
knights in the service of our Lord:
"O ye servants of the Sacred Threshold! The triumphant hosts
of the Celestial Concourse, arrayed and marshalled in
the Realms above, stand ready and expectant to assist
and assure victory to that valiant horseman who with
confidence spurs on his charger into the arena of
service.
Well is it with that fearless warrior, who
armed with the power of true Knowledge, hastens into
the field, disperses the armies of error, who holds
aloft the Standard of Divine Guidance, and sounds the
Clarion of Victory. By the righteousness of the Lord!
He hath achieved a glorious triumph and obtained the
true victory." (Abdu'l Baha, SWA p264)
[Note: Abdu'l Baha in two other Tablets recorded in the Selected
Writings of Abdu'l Baha pages 250-252 further expounds on this
theme at length. Please read them.]
"O ye apostles of Baha'u'llah, - May my life be a ransom to
you!
The Blessed Person of the Promised One is
interpreted in the Holy Book as the Lord of Hosts, i.e.
the heavenly armies.
By these heavenly armies those
souls are intended who are entirely freed from the
human world, transformed into celestial spirits and
have become divine angels....Each one is holding in his
hand a trumpet, blowing the breath of life over all the
regions....These souls are the armies of God and the
conquerors of the East and West....This is the meaning
of the Hosts of God....Any soul from among the
believers of Baha'u'llah who attains to this station,
will become known as the Apostle of Baha'u'llah." (BWF
pp423-424)
This above Tablet should be read completely and meditated on. The
compiler considers the Apostles of Baha'u'llah to be the same
souls and in the same station as the Knights of the Lord. We may
all attain this station.
In fact, Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l Baha
call upon all of us to arise and win such a victory within our
selves and in service to humanity.
For instance, consider the
meaning: "Many are called, but few are chosen" as explained in
Some Answered Questions.
Abdu'l Baha predicted it would be the
service of such faithful, selfless souls that would continue to
manifest the truth that God's heavenly and angelic host conquers
and is victorious in each Day:
"How great, how very great is the Cause! How very fierce the
onslaught of all the peoples and kindreds of the earth.
Ere long shall the clamor of the multitude throughout
Africa, throughout America, the cry of the European and
the Turk, the groaning of India and China, be heard
from far and near. One and all, they shall arise with
all their power to resist His Cause.
Then shall the
knights of the Lord, assisted by His grace from on
high, strengthened by faith, aided by the power of
understanding, and reinforced by the legions of the
Covenant, arise and make manifest the truth of the
verse: 'Behold the confusion of the tribes of the
defeated!'" (Abdu'l Baha, WOB p17)
Such angelic souls did arise as promised in the time of Abdu'l
Baha:
"Had
not the promised aid of the Ancient Beauty been
graciously vouchsafed at every moment to this one
[Abdu'l Baha], unworthy though he be, he [Mirza
Muhammed
Ali]
surely
would
have
destroyed,
nay
exterminated the Cause of God and utterly subverted the
Divine Edifice.
But, praise be the Lord, the
triumphant assistance of the Abha Kingdom was received,
the hosts of the Realm above hastened to bestow
victory." (Abdu'l Baha, WT p4)
"Thereupon the loved ones of the Lord arose, inspired with
the greatest confidence and constancy and aided by the
power of the Kingdom, by Divine Strength, by heavenly
Grace, by the unfailing help and Celestial Bounty, they
withstood the enemies of the Covenant in well-nigh
three-score
and
ten
treatises
and
supported
by
conclusive proof, unmistakeable evidences and clear
texts from the Holy Writ, they refuted their scrolls of
doubt and mischief-kindling leaflets." (Ibid, p22)
In the days of Shoghi Effendi's Guardianship, Shoghi chose to
explicitly confer this title and honor on the many Baha'is who
again arose to answer the call to service of Abdu'l Baha's Tablets
of the Divine Plan as "pioneers" proclaiming the Cause throughout
the regions of the earth. He called them "Knights of Baha'u'llah"
and recorded their names and the territories they served on a
"Scroll of Honor". These facts are recorded by Shoghi Effendi in
the Citadel of Faith and Messages to the Baha'i World:
"the
ever-swelling
legions
of
Baha'u'llah's
steadily
advancing army, obeying the Mandate of Abdu'l Baha,
launched on the second stage of their world-wide
crusade," (Citadel of Faith, pp7-8)
"the hosts on high, having sounded the signal, are impatient
to rush forward, and demonstrate anew the irrestible
force of their might." (Ibid p21)
"...this irresistably advancing army of the chosen warriors
of Baha'u'llah, battling under His banner, operating in
conformity with the explicit Mandate voiced by His
beloved Son, has already achieved, over so extensive a
field, in such a brief time, at such great sacrifice,
for so precious a Cause,..." (Ibid p77)
"The followers of the Most Great Name, citizens of the great
republic of the West (the U.S.A.)...addressed by Him
(Abdu'l Baha) in His Tablets of the Divine Plan as the
"Apostles" of His Father;...conquerors of most of the
territories,...the
champion-builders
of
a
world
administrative
system,...the
names
of
the
first
American Baha'i conquerors to...be inscribed on the
Scroll of Honor," (Ibid pp118-119)
"To them, and indeed to the entire body of the followers of
Baha'u'llah, engaged in this global Crusade, I direct
my appeal to arise and...prove their worth as gallant
warriors battling for the Cause of Baha'u'llah." (Ibid
pp119-120)
"the all-conquering potency of the grace of God, vouchsafed
through
the
Revelation
of
Baha'u'llah,
will,
undoubtably, mysteriously and surprisingly, enable
whosoever arises to champion His Cause to win complete
and total victory....So magnificient a victory, won
collectively,..." (Ibid p149)
"Once again I appeal to members of all communities to arise
and enlist,...in the army of Baha'u'llah's crusaders.
The hour is ripe to disencumber themselves of worldly
vanities, to mount the steed of steadfastness, unfurl
the banner of renunciation, don the armor of utter
consecration to God's Cause...and scatter far and wide
to capture the unsurrendered territories of the entire
planet....Would to God that Baha'i warriors,...will
promptly
arise....Planning
to
inscribe,
in
chronological order, the names of the spiritual
conquerors on an illuminated Roll of Honor,...as a
permanent memorial of the contribution by the champions
of His Faith at the victorious conclusion of the
opening campaign of the Global Crusade which is
destined to attain consummation at the Most Great
Jubilee commemorating the Centenary of the Declaration
of
His
Mission.
Anticipate
making
periodic
announcements of the names of valiant knights upon
their arrival at their posts to discharge their
historic missions." (MBW p49)
Shoghi Effendi proceeded to do just that as recorded in his
Messages to the Baha'i World.
From the context of all the above, it would be a serious mistake
to conclude that only one or two individual Baha'is would ever
fulfill by themselves the prophecy of the "knights of the Lord".
Clearly, that is not the intended and evident meaning of the
Baha'i Writings on this theme. All the followers of Baha'u'llah
may arise to win this station by their selfless service as
"Apostles of Baha'u'llah". The Roll of Honor initiated by Shoghi
Effendi may be completed, but the eternal Book of Life is open for
all souls to arise and enroll themselves by their distinguished
service to this sacred Cause of God.
This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything for your
idle fancies, nor is it a field for the foolish and
faint of heart. By God, this is the arena of insight
and detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none
may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of
the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the
world of being. These, truly, are they that render God
victorious on earth, and are the dawning-place of His
sovereign might amidst mankind.
(Kitab-I-Aqdas, #178,
p84)
Peace.
Brent B. Mathieu
March 20, 1991
revised April 14, 1991 & May 27, 1993