MAY WE NEVER SHRINK BACK TO DESTRUCTION

Why We Should Never Shrink Back to Destruction

True Christians today have equally powerful reasons for not shrinking back. First, let us remember what a blessing we have in the pure for of worship that Jehovah has given us. Like the first-century Christians, we live at a time when members of the more popular religions sneer at us and mock us, pointing proudly to their impressive religious edifices and the antiquity of their traditions. Jehovah assures us, though, that he approves of our form of worship. In fact, we enjoy blessings today that the first-century Christians did not have. You might wonder, 'How can that be?' After all, they lived when the spiritual temple came into operation. Christ became its High Priest upon his baptism in 29 C.E. Some of them had seen the miracle-working Son of God. Even after his death, there were more miracles. As foretold, though, such gifts eventually ceased. -1Corinthians 13:8)

However, we live during a significant fulfillment of the extensive temple prophecy of Ezekiel chapters 40-48. Thus, we have seen the restoration of God's arrangement for pure worship. that spiritual temple has been cleansed of all forms of religious pollution and idolatry. (Ezekiel 43:9; Malachi 3:1-5) Think of the advantages that this cleansing has given us.

During the first century, the future looked dark for the organized Christian congregation. Jesus had foretold that it would be as if a newly planted wheat field were oversown with weeds, making the wheat virtually indistinguishable from the weeds. (Matthew 13:24-30) And so it was. By the end of the first century, when the aged apostle John was acting as the final restraint against corruption, apostasy was already flourishing. (2 Thessalonians 2:6; 1John 2:18) Not long after the death of the apostles, a separate clergy class arose, oppressing the flock and wearing distinctive garb. Apostasy spread like gangrene. How discouraging for faithful Christians! They saw the newly established arrangement for pure worship become overwhelmed by a corrupted form. This developed less than a century after Christ founded the congregation.

Next time: Continue with: Why We Should Never Shrink Back to Destruction

Watchtower, 1999