Do You "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself"?

GATHERING "A GREAT CROWD"

The vast majority of Jehovah's servants are part of "a great crowd . . .out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues."  They are "standing before the throne [of God]  and before the  lamb [Jesus Christ]."  Who are they?  "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," for they exercise faith in Jesus' ransom sacrifice. Members of the growing  "great crowd" love Jehovah and his Son and "are rendering [God]sacred service day and night." -Revelation 7:9, 14, 15. 

Soon God will destroy this wicked world in the "great tribulation." (Matthew 24:21; read Jeremiah 25:32, 33.) But because of his love for his servants, Jehovah will preserve  them as a group and will usher them into his new world. As foretold nearly 2,000 years ago, God "will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry not pain be anymore." Do you yearn to live in Paradise after "the former things have passed away"? -Revelation 21:4. 

When the last days began in 1914, there were only a few thousand servants of Jehovah worldwide. Motivated by love for neighbor, and with the backing of God's spirit, a small remnant of anointed Christians persevered in the Kingdom-preaching work. As a result, today a great crowd with an earthly home is being gathered. Our ranks have grown to about 8,000,000 Witnesses associated with more than 115,400 congregations throughout the earth, and we continue to grow in number. For example, over 275,500 new Witnesses were baptized during the year 2014 service year-an average of some 5,300 each week. 

The scope of the preaching work is remarkable.  Our Bible-based literature is no published on over 700 languages. The Watchtower is the most widely  distributed magazine in the world. Over 52, 000,000 copies are printed each month, and the magazine is published in 247 languages. Upward of 200,000,000 copies of our Bible study book What Does the Bible Really Teach? have been printed in more than 250 languages.

The remarkable growth that we see today is the result of our faith in God and full acceptance of the Bible-Jehovah's miraculously inspired Word.  (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Especially outstanding is the spiritual prosperity of Jehovah's people-despite the hatred and opposition of Satan, "the god of this system of things." -2 Corinthians 4:4. 

Next time: Is Honesty Just Outdated?  

From The Watchtower magazine