The “sons of the Kingdom are of two kinds. One is the real son and the other is the material one.”

 Akka 1901

It is stated in the New Testament that Jesus Christ was once drinking the juice of grapes and said he would drink no more except in the presence of the Father. This means that the spirit needs food for strength as well as the body. The appearance of the Holy Manifestations is for the purpose of causing the heavenly table to descend. This Table means the divine virtues and characteristics and is the means of strengthening the spirit and life. Therefore we hope that as this heavenly table has descended from the Kingdom of Abha in this marvelous period the believers and friends of God will have a great portion of it so that they will be the cause of eternal life and the means of enlightening the hearts of the people of the World.

In short, I hope you will ask God to bless you as being the real sons of the Kingdom. Because the sons of the Kingdom are of two kinds. One is the real son and the other is the material one. Judas Iscariot and Peter were both sons of the Kingdom but Peter was the real son, Judas was the material son. Consequently he was deprived. The real sons of the Kingdom are those souls who act according to the instructions and teachings of Baha’u’llah, the Blessed Perfection. They are drunken with the cup of Providence and are illuminated by the divine Light. They are honored by all the perfections and virtues of humanity, and are characterized with attributes which embellish the essence of man in such a manner that all the people even the enemies testify of their good actions, attractions, separation from the world, purity, sanctity, knowledge and belief.

In conclusion I most humbly supplicate that God will admit you as the real sons of His Kingdom in such manner that you may be an honor to the Cause of God. And that all the people being astonished may say: 'These young men are not the same. When they started for Acca they had a station but on their return they possess another station. They are baptized by the providence of God, by the fire of the love of God, and by the Holy Spirit. They have received a second birth. They have found eternal life. 
~ ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a table talk; excerpt from the transcript of a talk given by William Copeland Dodge relating the account of his pilgrimage to ‘Akka in 1901) (To listen to and read the entire talk please visit Baha’i Talks, Messages and Articles)

“calamities in the path of God will cause His truth to become more apparent”

Akka, 1901

When this blessed Cause was manifested in Persia some of the divines and famous learned men became believers and were martyred. The people murdered the Báb thinking they had ended the Holy Cause. They annihilated thousands of families, plundered the goods of the believers, killed men and captured women and children. However it was found that this had no destructive effect upon the Cause but that the flaming fire of God was kindled the more. The lamp of God became more brilliant, waves of the sea of bounty increased, the breeze of God blew stronger, and the fragrance of the Holy Spirit became more powerful. And after imprisoning the Blessed Perfection the government decided to banish Him to Baghdad thinking that through this banishment the work of the Cause would be destroyed. As it took one month to go from Teheran to Baghdad it was thought by the people that all trace of the Cause would be lost. On the contrary, the Cause of God became more powerful, His words more widely spread, His proclamation more generally heard and the power of His Cause is stronger. Consequently the government decided to send the Blessed Perfection from Baghdad to Constantinople. As Constantinople was a large city and as there were many Persians in the city who traveled freely this plan also proved fruitless. Through the power of the Persian government the Blessed Perfection was then sent to Adrianople, in Rumelia, a country very far from Persia and a possession of Turkey. Because there was no railway there was very little travel by the Persians to and from Adrianople, and therefore it was thought by the learned men of Persia that the Cause of God would have no effect upon the Persians. However it was soon learned that these places were not places of banishment for the Blessed Perfection, glory be to Him. And it was therefore decided that He should be sent to some small place, a place were murderers were confined, where robbers were imprisoned so that His cause would be weakened.