THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH

  "Know assuredly that just as thou firmly believest that the Word of God, exalted be His glory, endureth for ever, thou must, likewise, believe with undoubting faith that its meaning can never be exhausted.  They who are its  appointed interpreters , they whose hearts are the repositories of its secrets, are, however, the only ones who can comprehend its manifold wisdom.  Whoso, while reading the Sacred Scriptures, is tempted to choose therefrom whatever may suit him with which to challenge the authority of the Representative of God among men, is indeed, as one dead, though to outward seeming he may walk and converse with his neighbors, and share with them their food and their drink..." — Bahá'u'lláh. The Baha'i World Vol. 9, p. 111

                                                  'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Center of the Covenant "He [Bahá'u'lláh] has brought the Kingdom of Peace upon earth, and as the point of guidance for the further establishment of His Kingdom, He appointed His beloved son 'Abdu'l-Bahá to be the Center of His Covenant, the establisher and promoter of His Kingdom and Peace in the world.  'Abdu'l-Bahá's life of service is the Center of the life of the Kingdom which is the Bahá'í Cause.  His servitude to God and service to mankind is the heart from which the life force of the Kingdom is flowing to all the members of that growing spiritual body.  He is the interpreter and expounder of the Holy Writings. Bahá'u'lláh commanded all to turn to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who is the Greatest Branch - branched from the pre-existent Root - the Center of the Covena...

"This Century is the Century of the Sun of Truth. This Century is the Century of the establishment of the Kingdom of God upon the earth."4—Star of the West, vol. ix, P. 7. In the last two verses of the Book of Daniel occur the cryptic words:— "Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days. But go thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." Many have been the attempts of learned students to solve the problem of the significance of these words. In a table-talk at which the writer was present, 'Abdu’l-Bahá said that these 1,335 days mean 1,335 solar years from the Hijrat. (Flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, marking the beginning of the Muhammad era.) As the Hijrat occurred in 622 A.D. the date referred to is, therefore, 1957 (i.e 622 + 1,335) A.D. Dr. Esslemont, (1937). Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, p. 303 (chapter XIV)

TEN - YEAR INTERNATIONAL BAHÁ'Í TEACHING AND CONSOLIDATION PLAN 1953-1963   OBJECTIVES OF THE TEN-YEAR PLAN TO BE CONDUCTED BY TWELVE BAHÁ'I NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES, 1953-1963     1.      Adoption of preliminary measures for the construction of Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher in the Holy Land. 2.      Doubling the number of countries within the pale of the Faith, involving the opening of:     41 countries in the Asiatic Continent     33 countries in the African Continent     30 countries in the European Continent     27 countries in the American Continent 3.      Over twofold increase in the number of languages into which Bahá'i literature has been translated and printed, or is in process of translation:                    ...