By Pastor Bob Lawrenz
The Spiritual condition of today’s Church is reflected in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation. John’s letters to each of the seven churches in Asia give us insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the churches, and therefore, of leaders of them and the believers in them.
Within those letters, there is also a pattern developed that is applicable as the “Church Age” has progressed from that first Pentecost after Jesus’ Resurrection, to the final days of the Church on Earth, which ends at the Rapture of the Church. Ephesus to Laodicea, we can follow Church History during the era of the Church Age.
From the false professors at Ephesus, to facing the wealth, comfort, and deadness of the Loadicean Church, Solomon would remind us that there is “nothing new under the sun.” His and Jeremiah’s messages remind us that people are the same everywhere throughout history, and faith ebbs and flows as times change from peaceful and easy to difficulty and hardship. But it is always in the more difficult years when faith flows and grows!
Hardships that press us beyond our abilities cause us to drop to our knees asking for God’s help, and mercy. It is then that we realize that we are helpless, and He alone is our only hope!
“If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.” ~~2 Chronicles 7:14
