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began this Work 1947 years
ago, in A.D. 27. This beginning God
the Father has given Jesus. individ–
ually. to do.
How did it start?
The prophet Malachi prophesied
that God would send a human mes–
senge r Lo prepare the way before
Christ's coming to earth . But this
prophecy describes
two
appearances
of Christ on earth - the second of
which, mo re than 1900 years after
his FIRST coming. is now imminent!
The prophecy reveals Christ's first
coming. as himself a messenger,
bringing a MESSAGE from God the
Father. He came at th at time as " the
Messenger of
the covenanc."
And
that "Covenant Message"
was his
gospel.
The word "gospel"
means
good news!
Jesus' proclaiming - or anno unc–
ing- that good news was the begin–
ning of the Work!
Was that IMPORTA T? You may
be sure that God th e Fath er who
sent
J esus with that tremendous
message from heaven, viewed it as
IMPORTANT! You may rest assured
that J esus, who brought it, thought
its announcement was important.
John the Baptis t was the human
messenger who prepared the way
before Christ's first coming. J esus'
MESSAGE was the wonde rful news of
the coming kingdom of God. Read
2
about it in Ma rk 1: 1: "The BEGIN–
NING of the gospel of J esus Christ,
the Son of God." That is the begin–
niug of the Work of God.
Cont inuing from this - verse two
of Ma rk o ne - the mini s try of John
the Baptist is brie fl.y re lated - th e
messenger preparing the way before
C hris t at his first com ing. Verses
2-
13 describe John's ministry. J esus
being baptized by Jo hn, and Jesus'
tempta tio n by Satan, in which he
QUAL! FIED to be the king of the fu–
ture kingdom of God.
Then verses 14-1 5: "Now after
th at John was put in prison. J esus
ca rne into Galilee, preaching the
gospel of the kingdom of God. and
saying. The time is fulfilled. and the
kingdom o f God is at hand: repent
ye, and believe the gospel."
J esus' a nno uncement of th e king–
dom of God was the START OF THE
WoRK.
J esus call ed and chose his dis–
cipl es. The word "disciple" means a
student - one lea rning. For
3Y2
yea rs J esus taught th em about the
coming kingdom of God. Also he
continued proclaiming - announc–
ing - teaching about the kingdom
of God.
Then Jesus gave his di sc ip lcs
(who became the original apos tles)
the GREAT COMMISSION - the com–
mission of"the WORK." "Go ye." he
MR. A NO MRS. HERBERT W.
ARMSTRONG
(left) produced " The
World Tomorrow" radio program
and the
Plain Truth
magazine from
a sma/1, one-room office in the
Hampton Building (center) on the
southwest comer of Sixth and Willa–
mette in Eugene, Oregon. At first,
the
Plain Truth
mailing list was kept
in cardboard cartons which served
as filing cabinets, and Mrs. Arm–
strong addressed each
Plain Truth
magazine in longhand. Before leav–
ing Eugene in 194
7,
the circulation
approached 1
00,000.
Volunteers
handled the daily mail (right).
sa id,
"imo al/ the world.
and preach
thc gospel ..." (Ma rk 16: 15 - em–
phasis mine). The commission was
wo rldwide.
The apostles, after receiving
God's Holy Spiri t on the day of
Pen tecost (Acts
2).
went forth an–
nouncing th e wonderful news. But
they needed help.
It
was going lo be
a b igger job than a mere twelve men
could accomplish. They needed the
inspired a nd inspirational backing
of the church.
Jesus had sa id. " 1 will bui ld my
church"' (Matthew 16: 18). On the
day of Pentecost - the annual festi–
va l God had ordai ned, called the
"Feast of Firstfruits." picturing the
sma ll
first
"spring harvest" of this
present time between Christ\ fir t
and second comi ng - on ly 120 be-
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1975