I was sitting in the foyer of the chapel recently, waiting for a lift home, when my eyes were drawn to the memorial plaque for Edward Mote the first pastor of Rehoboth.
Edward died, or ‘fell asleep in Jesus’ in November 1874 which would be 150 years ago in November this year. As I reflected on this, I wondered what he would make of the church in the present day. Three thoughts came to my mind, and they are these:
Firstly, I am sure Edward would have been humbled that the Christian witness, started back in 1834 and for which he became the first Pastor in 1848, was continuing to this day in the thriving church we now have. We can look to the Lord with thankfulness for providing the various men since that time who have under-taken the role of Pastor and for those who sustained the church witness during those times in between, when we were without an appointed Pastor.
Secondly, I believe he would be amazed and even shocked that the hymn ‘My Hope is built on nothing less’ that he wrote to comfort a dying friend has been so popular to this day and has been sung across many countries.
Thirdly and most important of all, his epitaph claims ‘Preaching Jesus Christ and Him Crucified as all the sinner can need and all the saint can desire’. It is through the continued and faithful preaching of God’s word and the teachings of Jesus Christ the Son that this church can still gather each Lord’s Day to worship Him in praise and feed on His living word.
We are surrounded by a barrage of alternative teachings and ideologies which often challenge our belief in God’s word and would tell us that we have got it wrong, that the bible is outdated and cannot have all the answers. Yet so often these claims come from those who have not even read and studied the meaning of God’s word. A speaker I heard once described this as ‘starting from a world view rather than starting from a God’s word view.’ As we look across the world and see increasing conflicts between nations and persecution of Christian minorities, we can’t help but see these as the beginning of the end times.
Jesus said: ‘Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilence in various places and fearful events and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21 10-11)
We cannot know when this earth will come under the hour of judgement, but we are told to ‘Fear God and give him glory ‘(Rev 14:7b) as that time approaches, and so we are called to patiently endure and remain faithful. If we remain steadfast, we may yet celebrate many more anniversaries to come so let us pray that we remain faithful and glorify God as He calls many more people out of darkness into his marvellous light. Amen
Stuart
Elder
July 2024
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