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Baha'u'llah has, if fact, fulfilled biblical prophecy. But before we can see how His life relates to prophecy we must `first' examine and understand its spiritual significance. We should keep in mind that the Jews did not realize that Christ had fulfilled the prophecies because they did not perceive the real significance of His station. this problem is only one of the reasons why prophecy is not a very conclusive form of proof. (125:2) Many prophecies, as in the Book of Revelation, are written in a very symbolic manner. How can we be sure we are interpreting these complex and mysterious prophecies correctly in order to know whether or not they have in fact come true? Even among Christians scholars there are numerous debates concerning the meaning of such prophecies. (125:3) 17 Some prophecies are impossible to verify. The virgin birth of Jesus is on such example. Even though we accept the reality of the virgin birth, which is the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:13-14 (see also mat 1:23), and which provides proof of Isaiah's prophethood, we nevertheless accept it solely on the testimony of the Scripture (the New Testament, the Qur'an and Baha'i writings), for otherwise it is impossible to verify. Therefore, if we accept the Prophethood of Isaiah, or even Jesus, on the basis of such a prophecy, and we accept its fulfillment as true solely on testimony and without any other evidence, then do we also accept other claims to prophethood even though we are only given testimony without verification? Proof without verifiable evidence presupposes acceptance and is, therefore, unconvincing. (126:1) see Another difficulty is that many prophecies only constituted circumstantial evidence in that they pertain to events and circumstances around the Prophet, but do not actually indicate one Prophet to the exclusion of others who make the same claims. If a prophecy states an event will occur, but when it does many individuals claim to be the promised Prophet, how do we know which one is the true Prophet? This is why we must ultimately rely on the evidence of their divine perfections.
(126:2)
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