Unsealing the Choice Wine at the Family Reunion

by John S. Hatcher

About: Bahá’í scripture portrays human progress as propelled by two distinct but inextricably related capacities: independently acquired knowledge coupled with social action. A complementary ingredients of one integral process, this dynamic relationship is symbolized in the Bahá’í revelation by The Kitáb-i-Íqán, the principal doctrinal work and The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the means by which that doctrine becomes expressed in action. Shoghi Effendi states that the resulting changes wrought by the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh should be regarded as “the furthermost limits in the organization of human society.” The revelation of The Kitáb-i-Aqdas thus heralds the reunion of the human family and the fulfillment of various widely regarded prophecies about such an event: the marriage of the bride with the bridegroom, the New Jerusalem descended from heaven, and the unsealing of the “choice sealed wine.”