From Adam to the Messiah

FROM ADAM TO THE MESSIAH to interpret dreams, and the King of Egypt, impressed by his power, went so far as to entrust state affairs to him. But the King remained head of state, and his subjects continued to adhere to their pagan religion. This aggressive treatment meted out to the prophets throughout the ages deprived people of true guidance and, what was even more serious, made the preservation of the scriptures and teachings of the prophets impossible. Only a prophet’s followers can preserve his teachings after him, but the prophets either had no followers or so few as to be unable to counter the challenges of their society to the preservation of the Holy Scriptures. The knowledge of God is eternal. He sees the future just as He does the past. Before sending the prophets, he knew this would be the fate of the human race. So He decreed that He would remedy this situation at the end of the prophetic era by sending His special envoy to the world: a prophet whose task would be to preach religion and exalt it above all others on earth. God would grant him special succour, enabling him to convince his people to bow to the truth. God would keep him on earth until he had rectified the perversions of the society around him. God’s might would assist the Prophet in vanquishing his opponents. In this way, true religion would be established on solid foundations, and God’s word would be perpetuated, as it says in the Bible, “for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.”6