Berean Bible Students
The little gathering of believers at Berea is famous
amongst God's people by St. Paul's declaration: "They of Berea were
more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they searched the
Scriptures daily to see if these things [which St. Paul preached] were
true." (Acts 17:11.) They were but a little class, yet their
faithfulness to God's Word caused them to be known as Berean Bible
Students. The early Church met not in costly temples, nor did their elders
and deacons have rich robes of office, nor did the services consist of
showy display. They simply gathered as children of God, begotten of the
one Holy Spirit and inspired by the One Faith once delivered to the
saints. They gathered as the brethren of Jesus, that they might be under
His direction and care as the only Head of the Church--as He declared,
"One is your Master even Christ, and all ye are brethren." They
met to study the Message of Jesus and the Apostles.
Bible students in our day have much advantage over
these. We have convenient cheap Bibles, ability to read them, and good
lights such as our forefathers never thought possible.
Bible students today are encouraged also when they
consider that the Bible distinctly teaches that when men shall be running
to and fro, and world-wide knowledge shall be increased, then the Wise
Virgins, the Lord's people, will understand certain features of the Divine
Plan previously kept hidden by Divine intention. They perceive that we are
in this day of running to and fro by every means of conveyance, and that
free schools, compulsory education, etc., are bringing the foretold
increase of knowledge. These things mark the time for the wise of God's
people to understand the Bible. How needful for this special light, when
so many are falling away from all faith in the Bible, under the teachings
of so- called Higher Criticism, which denies that the Bible is the
Divinely inspired Message of God! (Daniel 12:1-10.) We should not only
awake, but "put on the whole armor of God."
