ses in which these symbols can be
interpreted. Baha'u'llah says that in another sense the words "sun,"
"moon," and "stars" are applied to the ordinances and instructions enacted
in every religion. As in every subsequent Manifestation the ceremonies,
forms, customs and instructions of the preceding Manifestations are
changed in accordance with the requirements of the times, so, in this
sense the sun and moon are changed and the stars dispersed.

In many cases the literal fulfillment of these prophecies in the outward
sense would be absurd or impossible; for example, the moon being turned
into blood or the stars falling upon the earth. The least of the visible
stars is many thousand times larger than the earth, and were one to fall
on the earth there would be no earth left for another to fall on! In other
cases, however, there is a material as well as a spiritual fulfillment.
For example, the Holy Land did literally become desert and desolate during
many centuries, as foretold by the prophets, but already, in the Day of
Resurrection, it is beginning to "rejoice and blossom as the rose," as
Isaiah foretold. Prosperous colonies are being started, the land is being
irrigated and cultivated, and vineyards, olive groves and gardens are
flourishing where half a century ago there was only sandy waste. Doubtless
when men beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning
hooks, wildernesses and deserts in all parts of the world will be
reclaimed; the scorching winds and sandstorms that blow from these
deserts, and make life in their neighborhood well-nigh intolerable, will
be things of the past; the climate of the whole earth will become milder
and more equable; cities will no longer defile the air with smoke and
poisonous fumes, and even in the outward, material sense there will be
"new heavens and a new earth."

Manner of Coming

As to the manner of His coming at the end of the age, Christ said:--

And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a
great sound of a trumpet.... then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats.--Matt. xxiv, 30-31; xxv, 31-32.

Regarding these and similar passages Baha'u'llah writes in the Book of
Iqan:--

... The term "hea