During some 40 years up until Christ’s heavenly rule began in 1914, the Bible Students had been freed from many of the non-Biblical doctrines of Christendom, such as infant baptism, immortality of the human soul, purgatory, hellfire torment, and a Trinitarian God. But it took additional time to purge all wrong ideas. For example, in the 1920’s many Bible Students wore a pin featuring a cross-and-crown emblem, and they celebrated Christmas and other pagan holidays. However, for worship to be pure, all vestiges of idolatry must be discarded. God’s Word, the Holy Bible, must be the sole basis of the Christian’s faith and way of life. (Isaiah 8:19, 20; Romans 15:4) It is wrong to add to God’s Word or to take anything away from it.—Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18, 19.
One example will underline how important this principle is. In 1886 when C. T. Russell published a book that came to be called The Divine Plan of the Ages, this volume contained a chart linking the ages of mankind with the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It was thought that this memorial of Pharaoh Khufu was the pillar referred to at Isaiah 19:19, 20: “In that day there will prove to be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah beside its boundary. And it must prove to be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of armies in the land of Egypt.” What relationship could the pyramid have with the Bible? Well, as an example, the length of certain passages in the Great Pyramid was said to indicate the time for the beginning of the “great tribulation” of Matthew 24:21, as it was then understood. Some Bible Students became engrossed with measuring different features of the pyramid to determine such matters as the day they would be going to heaven!
This so-called Bible in Stone was held in esteem for some decades, until the Watchtower issues of November 15 and December 1, 1928, made clear that Jehovah needed no stone monument built by pagan pharaohs and containing demonic signs of astrology to confirm the witness given in the Bible. Rather, Isaiah’s prophecy was seen to have a spiritual application. As at Revelation 11:8, “Egypt” is symbolic of Satan’s world. The “altar to Jehovah” reminds us of the acceptable sacrifices made by anointed Christians while they are temporary residents in this world. (Romans 12:1; Hebrews 13:15, 16) The pillar “beside [Egypt’s] boundary” points to the congregation of anointed Christians, which is “a pillar and support of the truth” and which stands as a witness in “Egypt,” the world that they are about to leave.—1 Timothy 3:15.
As the years pass, Jehovah continues to give us further clarification of truth, including a clearer understanding of his prophetic word. (Proverbs 4:18) In recent years, we have been encouraged to look again with deeper understanding at—among other things—the generation that will not pass away before the end comes, the parable of the sheep and the goats, the disgusting thing and when it will stand in a holy place, the new covenant, the transfiguration, and the temple vision of the book of Ezekiel. It may be difficult at times to understand such updated explanations, but the reasons for them become clear in due course. If a Christian does not fully understand a new explanation of a scripture, he does well humbly to echo the words of the prophet Micah: “I will show a waiting attitude for the God of my salvation.”—Micah 7:7.
