Lesson 3—How Was Bible Truth Rediscovered?
The Bible foretold that after the death of Christ, false teachers would arise among the early Christians and corrupt Bible truth. (Acts 20:29, 30) In time, that is exactly what happened. They mixed Jesus’ teachings with pagan religious ideas, and a counterfeit form of Christianity developed. (2 Timothy 4:3, 4) How can we be sure that today we have a correct understanding of what the Bible really teaches?
The time came for Jehovah to reveal the truth. He foretold that during ‘the time of the end, the true knowledge would become abundant.’ (Daniel 12:4) In 1870 a small group of truth-seekers recognized that many church doctrines were not Scriptural. Therefore, they began searching for an understanding of the Bible’s original teachings, and Jehovah blessed them with spiritual insight.
Sincere men carefully studied the Bible. Those earnest Bible Students, our predecessors, pursued a method of study that we still use today. They discussed the Bible subject by subject. When they came across a Bible passage that was difficult to understand, they looked for other verses to explain it. When they arrived at a conclusion that harmonized with the rest of the Scriptures, they wrote it down. By thus letting the Bible interpret itself, they rediscovered the truth about God’s name and Kingdom, his purpose for mankind and the earth, the condition of the dead, and the hope of the resurrection. Their search set them free from many false beliefs and practices.—John 8:31, 32.
By 1879 the Bible Students discerned that the time had come to make the truth widely known. So in that year, they began producing the magazine that we still publish today, The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. Now we are sharing Bible truths with people in 240 lands and in over 750 languages. Never before has true knowledge been so abundant!

 After the death of Christ, what happened to Bible truth?
 What has enabled us to rediscover the truth from God’s Word?

Pictures: Bible Students, 1870’s; First issue of The Watchtower, 1879; The Watchtower today