1885 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

never be built in to the glorious spiritual temple--the true Church ofChrist.While the Lord declares his purpose to establish his Church on theenduring Rock of Ages, and to clothe it with power and glory, heshows us that before the realization of our hopes, we must all die--the head and every member of the Church must die, but he alsogives us the comforting assurance that "the gates of hell [hades, thegrave] shall not prevail against it." Through sacrifice, even untodeath, the victory over death is gained. Death cannot prevail againstDivine power and hold the Church captive. Though death swallowsup every member of the Church, all shall come forth to victory: avictory foreshadowed by the resurrection of the great Head of theChurch. 2 Cor. 4:14; 1 Thes. 4:14.R813 : page 6====================MRS. C. T. R.LIFE THROUGH DEATH.He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. --Matt. 10:39.Viewed only from a human standpoint, many of our Lord'sutterances seem like "hard sayings," which none can accept.The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: neithercan he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor.2:14). Many such, however, have undertaken to interpret "thethings of the Spirit of God" --and have thus become blind guides,leading multitudes into error, and filling their minds with grossdarkness.In this way those powerful organizations known as churches havebeen established, and by their opposition to the truth, and those whohold the truth, have become anti-Christ. (Adversaries of the trueChurch--the anointed bodyR814 : page 6of Christ.) The same spirit which in our day has become soformidable, manifested itself in Apostolic times (1 John 2:18), andhas been alive during the entire history of the Gospel Church.This accounts, in part at least, for the fact that the nominal church isso largely composed of the unrenewed, and that the many forms ofworldliness which are so pleasing to the "natural man" are not onlypermitted, but declared to be in harmony with the Divine will. Therenewed mind, however, readily distinguishes between the ways of"this present evil world" and the "path of life."The one is a narrow way with a strait entrance, and requires themost assiduous effort to tread therein; the other is a broad way witha wide approach, and many who presumably desire the way of life,find themselves drifting with the multitude in its seductive paths.