Continue with Preparing the Nations for "the Teaching of Jehovah"

Whatever concerns they may have had, the disciples got busy preaching the good news not only in Jerusalem and Samaria but throughout the then known world.  Although the disciples experienced difficulties, within 30 years the good news  was being "preached in all creation under heaven"  and  was "bearing fruit and increasing in all the world." (Colossians 1:6, 23)  To illustrate:  Because of what the apostle Paul said and did on the island of Cyprus, the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus "became  a believer, for he was astounded at the teaching of Jehovah." -Read Acts 13:6-12. 

Jesus' disciples knew that they could not accomplish the preaching work on their own. Jesus had said that he would be with them and that the holy spirit would assist them.  (Matthew 28:20) In some respects, circumstances existing in the world of that day may have been favorable for Kingdom preaching.  The book Evangelism in the Early Church states:  "Probably no period in the history of the world was better suited to receive the infant Church than the first century AD. . . .By the second century Christians . ..began to argue that it was a divine providence which had prepared the world for the advent of Christianity."

To what extent God maneuvered first-century developments to make extensive preaching work possible,the Bible does not say.  But this much is certain:  Jehovah wanted the good news to be preached, and Satan did not. In this article, we will consider some factors that may have made the preaching work easier in the first century than it might have during other times in history. In the next article, we will examine modern-day developments that help us to proclaim the good news to the ends of the earth.

Next time: Preparing the Nations for "the Teaching of Jehovah"

From the Watchtower magazine, 2015