Who is the Lord who allows affliction and also brings believers through it?
He is God, the Lord who permits affliction and pressure and also has the strength to bring believers through it. This same God raised the dead, delivered His servants from so great a death, and will yet deliver those who trust in Him.
Les explains that these early believers were under constant pressure, but they had the promise that the Lord who was permitting the affliction and the pressure was also the Lord who had the strength to bring them through it. Paul described trouble in Asia that pressed them out of measure, above strength, so that they despaired of life. He said they had the sentence of death in themselves, so they would not trust in themselves but in God, who raised the dead, delivered them from so great a death, doth deliver, and will yet deliver.