“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep (obey) it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” Revelation 3:2-3
Jesus, as the head of the church is strongly exhorting His church to strengthen the things that remain. He is deeply concerned that many in the church are not responding as they ought and are unable to do so because they have fallen asleep spiritually. Jesus sees that there are certain works according to their name that need to be strengthened and if they are not then that which is about to die will die. How are we going to do this because no amount of human effort on our part is going to cut it? What can we do and where can we go to find the strength we need?
I want us to consider the example of Jesus and what He wanted to teach His disciples in that prayer meeting in Gethsemane. Upon leaving the fellowship of the Last Supper, Jesus proceeds to the Garden of Gethsemane. He invites His disciples to watch and pray with Him but they fell asleep. The weight of His work to be the Saviour of the world begins to fall very heavily upon Him at this time. This is the hour when the power of darkness unleashes its venom against Him. (Luke 22:53) Jesus though, does not waver in His resolve to do the will of the Father. He does not call on any prerogative He has as the son of God, but in complete weakness commits Himself to the Father. It then says in Luke 22:43, “Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.”
In reflecting on the application to us of strengthening the things that remain, I remind us again that we cannot do this out of our own strength or capacity. Everyone must join Jesus in His prayer meeting in Gethsemane so they too can be strengthened as He was. Although outwardly things did not get any better for Jesus, it did not matter because all the strength He needed to accomplish the work the Father had given Him to do was made available to Him. Hallelujah! The words of the apostle Peter, who learnt to rely on the Lord’s strength, resound to us all; “Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies.” (1Pet 4:11)