References to the Báb and His Dispensation in previous Dispensations

• He the “Qá’im” (He Who ariseth) promised to the Shí‘ahs,
• the “Mihdí” (One Who is guided) awaited by the Sunnís,
• the “Return of John the Baptist” expected by the Christians,
• the “Úshídar-Máh” referred to in the Zoroastrian scriptures,
• the “Return of Elijah” anticipated by the Jews, Whose Revelation was to show forth “the signs and tokens of all the Prophets”, Who was to “manifest the perfection of Moses, the radiance of Jesus and the patience of Job” had appeared, proclaimed His Cause, been mercilessly persecuted and died gloriously.
• The “Second Woe,” spoken of in the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine, had, at long last, appeared, and
• the first of the two “Messengers,” Whose appearance had been prophesied in the Qur’án, had been sent down.
• The first “Trumpet-Blast”, destined to smite the earth with extermination, announced in the latter Book, had finally been sounded.
• “The Inevitable,” “The Catastrophe,” “The Resurrection,” “The Earthquake of the Last Hour,” foretold by that same Book, had all come to pass.
• The “clear tokens” had been “sent down,” and the “Spirit” had “breathed,” and the “souls” had “waked up,” and the “heaven” had been “cleft,” and the “angels” had “ranged in order,” and the “stars” had been “blotted out,” and the “earth” had “cast forth her burden,” and “Paradise” had been “brought near,” and “hell” had been “made to blaze,” and the “Book” had been “set,” and the “Bridge” had been “laid out,” and the “Balance” had been “set up,” and the “mountains scattered in dust.”
• The “cleansing of the Sanctuary,” prophesied by Daniel and confirmed by Jesus Christ in His reference to “the abomination of desolation,” had been accomplished.
• The “day whose length shall be a thousand years,” foretold by the Apostle of God in His Book, had terminated.
• The “forty and two months,” during which the “Holy City,” as predicted by St. John the Divine, would be trodden under foot, had elapsed.
• The “time of the end” had been ushered in, and
• the first of the “two Witnesses” into Whom, “after three days and a half the Spirit of Life from God” would enter, had arisen and had “ascended up to heaven in a cloud.”
• The “remaining twenty and five letters to be made manifest,” according to Islamic tradition, out of the “twenty and seven letters” of which Knowledge has been declared to consist, had been revealed.
• The “Man Child,” mentioned in the Book of Revelation, destined to “rule all nations with a rod of iron,” had released, through His coming, the creative energies which, reinforced by the effusions of a swiftly succeeding and infinitely mightier Revelation, were to instill into the entire human race the capacity to achieve its organic unification, attain maturity and thereby reach the final stage in its age-long evolution. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Chapter 4, God Passes By)