That’s a dangerous thing, to give somebody unlimited time. But fortunately, we have my favorite lunch waiting. So, as long as there’s pizza there, we’ll make it.
Let’s have another word of prayer.
Lord, we are thankful for the sweet fellowship that we can have in You, and it does always come back to Your great love. We’re so thankful You’re the One who first loved us. Lord, we are those who are just so blessed upon this earth, and we’re thankful, Lord, that we can continue to call upon Your name.
And Lord, as we come to Your Word, we want to be encouraged in that too. We see Your love manifest through ones throughout history. We see Your life manifest, holding ones and keeping ones. As we look back at our great heritage, Lord, would it encourage us to continue to press on in the difficult, challenging days that we find ourselves in. In Jesus’ name, amen.
As we mentioned, we’ve been sharing on the testimony of Jesus throughout history—throughout church history—and we’re using two verses as our theme verses.
The first is from Matthew 16:17-18:
Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.
That precious promise there—“upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it”—is a statement of faith, not by sight. Because if you look around by sight, it can never get done. But we’re thankful that by Him, it will get done.
The other verse is from Revelation 1:17, when the Lord was revealing Himself in a fuller and greater way to John the apostle:
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man.
He laid His right hand upon me, saying, “Do not be afraid.
I am the First and the Last, the living One;
I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
And I have the keys of death and Hades.”
We’ve been using this verse to summarize and encapsulate what we’re talking about: the testimony of Jesus—who He is. He’s the all-inclusive One, that great I AM. That’s what He is looking for to be manifest among His people.
It speaks of His life, His very character and nature. That’s what He wants to have lived out in His people. That’s what He is looking for: the people that respond to His wife, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. That is seen in a very living way.
It speaks to us of what He has done and what He is doing, because He is the all-victorious One. He declared that His earthly work was finished, and one day His eternal work will be finished also. There will be that great capstone of grace upon grace.
As we continue on today, we’re not going to be able to do much review. The longer you go along in church history, you can’t do much review, or else you spend the whole hour reviewing.
So, just to quickly encapsulate, we know that the church was in God’s heart from eternity past. We saw that when our Lord came, when He was crucified, and in that great day of Pentecost, the church on earth had a glorious birth—a real healthy beginning.
We’re thankful that the church has been entrusted with the testimony of Jesus, that vessel to hold and testify of Jesus and Him alone, and for that Word to be spread throughout all the earth.
As we’ve looked through history, tragically, through dissipation, corruption, and persecution, there has become a great distinction between Christendom and the testimony of Jesus. There’s a lot of religious stuff out there, but there’s only one Jesus, and that’s the life. That’s what we’re focused on. That’s what we want to consider.
But we’re thankful, too, that in spite of man’s unfaithfulness, God remained faithful. He has maintained what we’re calling that silver thread through the darkest of times, throughout the Dark Ages. When things were such that there was nothing you would see outwardly, praise God, there were those remnants. There were those hidden ones maintaining the testimony of Jesus.
Today, we’re going to move forward into the pre-Reformation—the time that led up to the Reformation. The Reformation is generally dated in 1517, when Martin Luther nailed those ninety-five theses to the door. But we’ll look at that next time.
This is leading up to it, and we want to look at the conditions that were going on in the world that really facilitated the Reformation. God was doing a great work. He has always been doing a great work.
It’s interesting, as you look and see, the Reformation didn’t just pop out of somewhere. God was orchestrating; God was in control. He was moving ones throughout the earth and causing certain events to occur, so that this great Reformation came about.
Some of the events that occurred—and we’ll go over these in detail; this is just the summary—were these:
There’s nothing new under the sun. How did they finance the war between England and France? They raised taxes on the people. So the people were really frustrated. Here everybody was fighting, but the only thing they saw was their taxes going up and nothing getting settled. There was this general unrest going on.
These things combined, as we’ll see next time, to lead to the Reformation.
But first, let’s touch on the capture of Constantinople by the Turks. When we’re speaking of the Turks, we’re speaking of the Ottoman Empire—the Muslims. That’s who you’re talking about.
They crossed over and began to work their way toward Europe. This was a tremendous breakthrough, a tremendous battle. They remained in that area for another couple hundred years. Then, in 1650, there was a great battle at Vienna where the Ottoman Empire ended up being defeated.
But we start to see the Arabs, the Muslims, starting to have more and more influence. It was growing, and it was pressuring a lot of people.
The impact of Constantinople being conquered was that it caused many scholarly Greeks to flee and move to the West. What this brought about was a great revival of the arts, classical literature, and Greek writings, resulting in what came to be called the Renaissance—the new birth, new living.
In many ways, the Renaissance could be called a counterfeit to the Reformation. The Renaissance was of man; the Reformation was of God. Different people chose different things.
But we’re thankful that, through these scholars and Greeks moving westward, there was also an investigation of the Word of God. Through this movement, through this one event, there was a flood of scholarly, artistic, and classical ones moving into Europe—things to which Europe had never before been exposed.
All of a sudden, during this time, you have artists such as Michelangelo, Raphael, da Vinci, and Donatello. These are names familiar to anybody. In literature, you have Machiavelli, Shakespeare, and Cervantes. Even in science and exploration, you have Copernicus, Columbus, Balboa, and Magellan.
You see the mind of man beginning to expand and explore things. Many explored on the negative side, and you ended up with this worldly Renaissance. But praise God, many professors who fled to universities in Europe were also used in a positive way.
A couple in particular were John Colet in England, who was very learned in Greek, and who was saved. He taught at Oxford and greatly influenced Erasmus.
He was of a very influential family in London, and he was teaching more and more Greek literature. What that enabled people to do was go back and look at the Word of God in its original language. Before that, all they had was Latin—and an adulterated Latin in the Vulgate.
Colet actually translated it into English on his own. In St. Paul’s Church in London, he would read the Scriptures every day to people. At times, there would be twenty thousand people coming to listen to this man simply read the Scripture, because people had always had a hunger for the Word of God. They really wanted to know the original, real Word of God.
One of the characteristics we start to notice during this time is the significance of the Word of God: the love people had for the Word of God, and the impact that the Word of God had on lives.
There was another man, Reuchlin, who lived in Germany. What Colet did with Greek studies, Reuchlin did with Hebrew studies. His nephew was Melanchthon, and he also influenced Luther.
Reuchlin was able to expound the Old Testament in a way that people were able to grasp it as they had never done before. Some called him the father of the Reformation. That’s simply some people’s interpretation and impression of him.
But you’re starting to see these seeds working: one person here and one person there. These are names that we’re not very familiar with, but God used them in miraculous ways because they were faithful to what they had seen.
As Colet and Reuchlin studied the original Word of God, they were both saved. Praise God, the Word transformed their lives, and then they were able to share it with others.
Another thing that greatly impacted this time was the printing press. All of a sudden, Bibles could be printed in native tongues, so people could really read the Word of God in their own native language. This probably had the greatest impact upon the Reformation.
One of the significant developments was in 1516, when Erasmus published the Greek New Testament with translation notes. There had never before been a reliable Greek New Testament. Erasmus went back and compiled that original Greek New Testament, and he put translation notes in it.
Professors throughout many universities and various studies used it. They finally had a valid document they could use to really understand the original language.
Thank the Lord, Luther translated into German, and William Tyndale published the New Testament in English. These new translations, like those from Luther and Tyndale, were using Erasmus’s Greek New Testament. They were using the original Greek as the basis for translation.
Before that, they translated from the Latin. You went from Greek to Latin to whatever other language. Many of you who know languages understand that when you move beyond one or two languages, it really gets distorted.
Finally, in 1535, Coverdale published the first complete Bible in English. It’s wonderful to see the Word of God and the impact that it had in very dark days.
To me, one of the encouraging things in studying this section was seeing how we live in dark days and see so many impossible situations. These ones were living in an impossible time. Outwardly, it looked like God had disappeared from the earth, and man was just ruling in the darkness of things.
But the Word of God started touching individual hearts. The Word of God became living and real, and it brought about a great Reformation.
Brothers and sisters, we look around the world today and see there’s no hope for this world. How can anything change? How can this happen? How can there be a great revival? We could ask the same questions at this point in history.
Praise God, through His victory, through the Word of God, and through the working of His Spirit, He brought about a great Reformation. He is doing a great work, and He can continue to do a great work today if we have ones who will respond to Him like these dear ones.
I don’t want to get preaching too much here; I’m supposed to be talking about history. But some other conditions came about.
There was an enlargement of men’s minds, as opposed to superstition. This was good because people were open to explore things. It led them not only to explore natural things of the earth, like Columbus and Copernicus, but they were also open to study the Word of God.
Instead of just listening to priests and other things, they were actually studying the Word of God. We’re very thankful for that.
As I mentioned, nationalism was increasing. They were rejecting the overall power of the Roman Catholic Church to control all the countries.
There were also many socioeconomic changes. In 1381, there was the Peasants’ Revolt in England. People were getting tired of being taken advantage of, and you start to see the rise of the middle class of merchants.
People were becoming self-supporting, not having to live based on the noble for whom they worked. There were no longer just two classes of nobility and serfdom. There were people becoming more and more self-supporting.
These various factors were all leading in and laying the groundwork for God to move in a very wonderful way at this point in time.
Thank the Lord, there were ones whom He touched—the ones we call the forerunners of the Reformation.
As you look at these ones, their names are famous to us today, but they really were just ordinary ones—ordinary brothers used in a mighty way.
They all started within the Roman Catholic Church. They were not trying to start something new. They were not trying to say, “Okay, I’m going to revolt against this and do this or that.” No, they were simply seeking reform.
But because they were contesting and questioning things that the Roman Catholic Church said—“This is the way you do it”—most of them were thrown out, executed, or excommunicated. One remained within the church, but he still had a great impact upon them.
All of this began roughly one hundred thirty to one hundred forty years before the Reformation. The Lord was starting to touch people and move in different parts of the world: Wycliffe, Hus, Wessel, Savonarola, Erasmus, Tyndale. We’re familiar with many of these names.
We’re thankful that they were faithful. The Lord could find these ones and use them in a great way.
As we think of John Wycliffe, he has been called the morning star of the Reformation. Again, he was a scholar at Oxford.
As he was studying there, he came to know the Word of God, and he was saved in a glorious way. The more he saw what the original Word of God was saying, the more he emphasized the authority of the Bible.
He said, “The authority of the Bible is the authority. The pope is not the authority.” So you can see where he was starting to get in trouble.
He said that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only source of true religion. It is not found in any other form or system out there. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only source.
Thank the Lord, he was greatly used in England. Many people were starting to come to the Lord, and they became what we would call lay preachers. These were not ordained ones. In the past, only the ordained ones were preaching.
But through Wycliffe, many ordinary people were coming to the Lord. He started sending them out two by two to share the Word of God and share the truth. They were called the Lollards.
They did not call themselves that. It is hard to know exactly what the word means, but in general it was a derogatory term meaning “babbler” or “mumbler.” They were not complimenting them by calling them Lollards.
Again, many of them were so faithful that they were imprisoned. At times, they regarded the prisons as their great mission fields.
The kings and the priests were troubled because they would arrest them and throw them in prison, and then the whole prison would get saved. So they weren’t sure what to do. That is when they started martyring them.
We see some tragic stories of martyrdom during this time. These were ones who were actually precursors to the Reformation in England, which came about one hundred or so years later.
Wycliffe said of the church:
The church is not an organization, but the living body of Christ made up of all believers.
For someone today, that sounds pretty obvious. But that was revolutionary back then. It was the discovery of something far beyond what the vast number of people believed. It was revolutionary, and it was called heretical.
He was branded a heretic for the truth. This is why they were branded heretics: for the truth of God.
Wycliffe published a book called The Truth of Holy Scripture. Because the Roman Catholic Church at that time had adulterated the truth so much, he said, “This is the truth,” and he published it.
He spoke about the unconditional authority of the Word of God. There was a great focus on personal piety, purity of life, and truly leading a holy life—set apart—because generally there was no teaching on holiness, piety, or holy living at all.
There was raucous living, debauchery, and it was common at that point in time—not only among the people, but among the clergy as well.
Again, we would think, “Why is it strange that somebody would preach about holy living and piety?” But that was a revolutionary thing.
We’re thankful that he was faithful, but he got in trouble. The pope condemned him, and he ended up being forbidden to preach because he published a denial of transubstantiation related to the Lord’s Table.
The teaching was that the elements actually became the body and blood of Christ every time. Wycliffe said, “That’s absolutely wrong according to the Scriptures.”
He was brought to trial for this heresy. In the middle of the trial, before they could reach a conclusion—and you know he was going to be found guilty; that was a foregone conclusion—there was a huge earthquake in England, and the trial was suspended.
At first, they were afraid to start the trial again because they thought it was God’s judgment. They had enough sense to recognize something there. So they did not bring him back, and a couple years later he died of a stroke.
But they hated him so much that about thirty years after his death, one council condemned him as a heretic. Then, another thirteen years after that, they actually dug up his bones, burned them, and threw his ashes into the river.
Out of that little incident came a very prophetic poem about Wycliffe’s ashes. The Avon was the little river into which they were thrown. If you are familiar with Shakespeare, you are familiar with the Avon.
The Avon to the Severn runs,
The Severn to the sea;
And Wycliffe’s dust shall spread abroad,
Wide as the waters be.
Praise God, it did. Man thought he had won a great victory, but through those ashes the Lord did a greater work.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes he never saw the end of that, and many during his time never saw the effect of it. Throughout history, many have done things, and we are sitting here today entering into the good of what many have done before us.
If the Lord delays, may we do good so that ones who follow us can enter into that blessing. Jerry was encouraging us about young families, and that is so true. I appreciated that word of encouragement to young families. If the Lord delays, they will be the ones raised up to be used of God in that next generation.
So Wycliffe was what we call the first forerunner to the Reformation—that morning star.
Then we come to a fellow over in Bohemia named Jan Hus. In English, it is John Huss, but the original is Jan Hus. He was born in Bohemia.
Now, Bohemia is not a term we usually use today, but it is roughly the Czech Republic and Moravia—that area over there.
After he was born, there was an alliance between England and Bohemia through a marriage. This enabled people from Bohemia to go to England and study at the major universities there.
There was a bishop out of Prague named Jerome, and he went to study under Wycliffe. He was saved there under Wycliffe, and he was so touched that he brought the Word of God back to Prague and taught Jan Hus about these things.
Hus began to preach, and most of the time there would be over three thousand people attending his meetings to hear him.
Again, he focused on personal piety, purity of life, and the truth of the Word of God. He sought to allow the Word of God to be given to the people in a wonderful way.
Obviously, he was against much of the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Since he was within that system at the time, he had the benefit of being excommunicated three times.
Now, I don’t understand that. How do you get excommunicated once, and you think that would be enough? But it was like, “Okay, we’re going to excommunicate you again.” If you’re not in, how do you get excommunicated? But anyway, he got excommunicated by the pope three times, just to really seal the deal.
Because of that, there were a lot of public demonstrations by his followers. He went into exile and continued preaching, writing, and encouraging the dear saints. For the peace within Prague, he left and went into exile.
But he continued ministering in a very hidden way.
They were going to bring him to trial, and he was promised safe passage by the authorities at that time. But he ended up being betrayed, arrested, and burned at the stake in a very tragic way.
Now, just as a bit of trivia, we use a common phrase today: “They cooked your goose,” right? That phrase came from Hus. Hus in Bohemian, or whatever that language is, is the word for goose.
So he got his goose cooked when he was burned at the stake. That’s where the phrase originated. Anyway, that’s here or there, but it’s just a trivial little point. Next time you cook your goose, just think about that.
But the impact he had was that there was a great awakening throughout Bohemia and Central Europe.
Remember last time, when we talked about the Waldensians? When they were persecuted, many fled from the mountains of Italy and France and went to Central Europe. They went through Bohemia and escaped there, while still being faithful and loyal.
As more and more came to the Lord through Jan Hus, they gathered together in a very dear and precious way. They gathered in simplicity, emphasizing the authority of the Bible, believers’ baptism, and the fact that everyone could take the cup and the loaf.
There was a simplicity about these meetings that was so precious. In many ways, it is a picture of what we are doing even today. We see the simplicity in which we try to gather, and they were gathering in a similar way.
Sadly, in 1416, Jerome ended up being burned at the stake. As he was getting ready to be burned, he said something I have always appreciated:
Place the fire before me. If I had dreaded it, I would have escaped.
Place the fire before me. If I had dreaded it, I would have escaped.
He knew he had to be faithful, loving not his life unto death. Praise God, that is a testimony.
During this time, we see the origin of the Unitas Fratrum, or the United Brethren. This is a group you will hear about. It is actually the modern-day Moravians.
If you look at the Moravians, their history and their title, they are the Unitas Fratrum. This group continued on, and it is beautiful because it speaks of brothers dwelling together in unity.
They were deprived of their rights, but several times over forty thousand of them would gather for the Lord’s Table in the mountains. That’s a lot—forty thousand.
They would flee and go out of the city. They would leave the different places and find areas in the mountains. At one time, there was a gathering of forty thousand.
It is precious how what man is trying to destroy, the Lord is able to sustain and uphold through it.
During these early days of the United Brethren, Bohemia was really divided into two political and religious parties.
One sad thing about the followers of Hus was that they became political and formed their own political party. The Utraquists were loyal to Rome, and the Taborites were loyal to Hus.
Because of the power of Rome, four crusades were sent against those Taborites. Finally, they defeated the Taborites, and Bohemia again came under the control of Rome.
But even the ones who were still loyal to the Lord and followers of Hus continued meeting underground. They hid, and they continued to be very faithful.
Persecution is an interesting thing. Persecution in itself is neutral. You cannot say persecution is good or bad. Persecution is going to have an effect on you. It can be good, or it can be bad.
During times of persecution, there are those who faint and fall away. During times of persecution, there are those who are strengthened and call upon the Lord.
So persecution can affect you one way or the other, but it will have an effect upon you. You are not going to be able to stay neutral. It will impact you.
We pray much for those under persecution in various countries throughout Africa, China, and other places. Sometimes we say, “Oh, persecution will strengthen the church.” Well, there is an aspect of that which is true. But there are also ones who fall away from the church.
We need to see that persecution can have an effect one way or the other. Throughout history, thank the Lord, there have been ones strengthened through it, and there have sadly been ones who have fallen through it.
Through this persecution, however, there were many who remained faithful.
There was one brother used greatly during this time: Peter Chelčický. I’m going to say that again, but if you want to pronounce it another way, you can too.
He wrote The Net of Faith. What he was talking about was the glorious gospel we have and this net of faith that is undergirding us, holding us up, and sustaining us through whatever we are going through.
Whatever particular aspect of faith you need—whether it is financial, economic, physical, whether you are feeling weak, or whether you are wanting faith—there is a net of faith under us that holds us, keeps us, and sustains us.
Tragically, the persecution continued to intensify, and many fled to the area of Moravia. They continued to meet, and the United Brethren eventually became the seed of the Moravians. There is a direct line that we see here.
We’re thankful for the impact Hus had upon Bohemia and Central Europe.
One of his quotes gives some insight into him:
Seek the truth.
Listen to the truth.
Teach the truth.
Love the truth.
Abide by the truth.
Defend the truth unto death.
That is what he literally did. That was his life’s motto.
Then we come into Germany, and we have Wessel. This is a man most of us have never heard of. He is not one of the leading figures, but he was educated by the Brethren of the Common Life.
He was from the Netherlands. As he was studying Hebrew and Greek at the universities, he came into the truth of justification by faith.
He started writing about justification by faith—not by works, not by outward things that you do, but justification by faith. Because of his writings on justification by faith, many call him the forerunner to Martin Luther.
When Martin Luther was being accused by the Roman Catholic Church, they said, “You’re simply teaching the teachings of Wessel.” It is interesting that Luther had never heard of him.
Finally, Luther started to read about him. In 1522, Luther wrote a testimony concerning Wessel:
All along, I supposed myself to stand alone.
But I rejoice to see how there has been a secret remnant.
In Wessel, it is very plain he was taught by God, and not by man, as Isaiah prophesied all Christians should be.
I derive great pleasure, strength, and courage from him, knowing my thoughts are not wrong.
What a comfort that must have been, in a very real way, to Martin Luther. In the midst of everything he was doing, everybody was questioning everything he did. They were saying, “You’re a heretic. It’s lies.” But he found this comfort.
Do you ever do that when you are studying a portion of Scripture? You are reading, and you have a thought. Then maybe you pick up a commentary by G. Campbell Morgan, or an F. B. Meyer, and you read it and think, “Wow, I’m not crazy. That’s right.”
Praise God. This was such an encouragement to Luther. Sometimes we think these great men do not need encouragement, but here he was, and it was such an encouragement.
He ended with this little phrase:
I am surprised that such a great Christian should be so little known.
I believe that may be the testimony when we are with the Lord in His presence. We will say, “Wow, I’m surprised that such a great Christian should be so little known.”
There are many throughout Scripture who are very little known, but they are great lives and great testimonies. Would that be our testimony? We are not looking to be well known by man, but known by God and faithful unto Him.
That just encouraged me.
Another one who led up to the Reformation was in Italy: Savonarola. Savonarola was born into a prominent Italian family, and he lived in Florence.
Florence was run by the Medici family. The pope at this time was Pope Alexander VI of the Borgia family.
If you pick two evil names during this time, you combine the Medici family, who were evil in all of their desires, and then you have the Borgia family. There was even a television series about the Borgias to show how bad they were. It all speaks of immorality and corruption.
This was the influence Savonarola was under. Florence was really one of the cultural flowering cities of the Renaissance.
I lived in Italy for three years, and we would often go to Florence. You walk around and see all this work of da Vinci and Michelangelo, all these statues and grandiose buildings, the culture that was there, and the pride of man.
In man’s eyes, Florence was an epitome of the Renaissance. You could call Florence one of the cities of the Renaissance. There were several throughout Europe, but this one epitomized everything.
Within that, there was no place for the Lord at all.
But when Savonarola went there, he had been saved and started preaching for Christian revival and renewal. He was against all the secular art and culture, denouncing the clerical corruption of the pope, the despotic rule of the Medicis, and the exploitation of the poor.
Because the rule was so heavy, he had a great impact upon Florence at first. Thousands came to hear him, and their lives were impacted by his call to a pure, simple, holy life.
He said, “Don’t find all your pleasures in the world, but there’s a calling that God has.” Thousands were saved.
At one time, they had what they called the Bonfire of the Vanities in Florence. It was a great celebration. Many went throughout the city and found all their little trinkets, cosmetics, luxury items, obscene books, and all the other things they said they did not need anymore.
They brought them all to the square and built this huge bonfire. It was sixty feet high and forty feet wide.
It reminds you of Acts 19 in Ephesus, where they burned all the books. They burned all of this stuff, and there was a reviving there.
But this was not going to be long-lived under the Medicis and the pope. They started plotting and planning.
Through bribery and various things, a group of people within Florence was raised up against Savonarola. He ended up being burned at the stake, and two people were burned with him.
That is why I am trying to be careful when I speak of the Roman Catholic Church. When I use that phrase, I am not speaking of the people within it. I am speaking of that system.
Here he was within the Roman Catholic Church, but even in that, God was able to penetrate through all that darkness into the heart of one like Savonarola. He was able to stand there, proclaim the Word of God, preach it, and have an impact upon lives.
It cost him his life, but he was very direct. One sample of his preaching shows why the priests in the church did not like him:
In these days, the priests are chained to the earth by the love of earthly things.
The care of souls is no longer their concern.
They are content with the receipt of revenue, and they preach to please the princes.
Then came his final statement:
They have not only destroyed the church of God, but have built a new church after their own pattern. Go to Rome and see.
As he was proclaiming that, you can see why people would be upset with him. But he was faithful in that. We are thankful for the distinction he made, bringing people back to the reality of Christ and knowing Him in a very simple way.
We also have another one, Erasmus, from the Netherlands and educated by the Brethren of the Common Life.
Erasmus was basically negative about everything in the Roman Catholic Church. He was a great satirist, and he wrote a satire called The Praise of Folly about the failings of the Roman Catholic Church and the pope.
One thing he was very unhappy with was the music within the church. He did not—
There was a political move on his part because he had declared that he was now the head—the king was the head of the Church of England.
During this break—we’ll see this a little later, another time—Henry had a dispute with the pope over life, divorce, and everything, and the pope did not agree with him.
Henry VIII said, “Well, we’re no longer under the Catholic Church. I’m now the head of the church. I’m the king of England and the head of the church.”
But we’re thankful that even though Henry meant it for political purposes, at least the Word of God was released throughout England. We’re thankful for that.
As we’re looking at these things—and I’ve probably said it several times today—it is amazing how, against overwhelming odds and impossible situations with man, God was able to use the Word of God.
He found vessels, ones who had no intention of being some great hero or name and living in infamy. They were simply there. They were available to Him.
Would that we be available in this day and time, that He could use us however He desires. Would we be those willing to love not our lives unto death, whether that simply means denying ourselves or whether it might even come to the point of physical death?
We want to be those who are ready for what is before us. The thing we’re thankful for is that He has gone before us.
Next time, we’ll look at the Reformation itself. But we see how God beautifully orchestrated this whole situation and arranged circumstances in such a way that, at the right time, ones like Martin Luther, John Knox, John Calvin, and Zwingli could step forth.
They were simply stepping forth on the shoulders of others—the ones who had gone before them. That’s what we’re doing today. We’re going forth and standing on the shoulders of the ones who have gone before us.
Fortunately, as we continue on, the names will become a little more familiar to us, and we won’t be looking at as many strange names. Let’s close in prayer.
Lord, we are thankful for Your great faithfulness. Lord, we see how, in spite of man’s unfaithfulness, You remain faithful.
We’re thankful, Lord, for how You found ones You could use. We’re thankful, Lord, for the Word of God.
Lord, as we consider this, we want to say, “Lord, all we can do is offer ourselves unto You.” We want to be willing servants in Your hand, that You could use us as You desire.
Lord, we pray that the Word of God would be revived in this day, that there would be a greater and fuller appreciation of it, that there would not be a famine of the Word of God, but that there would be an abundance of it. In Jesus’ name, amen.