Answer: by George Townshend, Hand of the Cause and former Canon of Anglican St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland
The Baha'is believe that the Return of Christ in the Bab and in Baha'u'llah is similar to the return of Elijah in John the Baptist, to which Jesus testified plainly in the Gospel. In Matthew 17 verse 12 Jesus said , “ . . . Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed." And verse 13, "Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." John 1 verse 21 records, however, that when he was asked, " Art thou Elias?" John said, "I am not." The explanation of the contradiction is that John was speaking of the individuality and physical substance of Elijah. He was not the same as Elijah in that sense. Christ was speaking of the qualities, the character, the virtues of the two men, which were exactly the same in both. In a similar way we say "spring has returned," meaning that all that was found in last spring exists in this spring; or that the blossoms have come back referrin g to their perfume, color, delicacy and form which are the same as last year. When Baha'is affirm that Christ has returned in the Bab and in Baha'u'llah they mean that the essence of the perfections of Christ are to be found in the Bab and Baha'u'llah though the individualities are different. (George Townshend, Questions About the Second Coming Asked by Baha'is of Kampala, Uganda, Africa: Answers by George Townshend; Wilmette, Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1953)
