The Promise of the Remnant

Often, if you let the Holy Spirit speak, He says something you didn’t expect, or at least never would’ve planned to say at that time, for that particular crowd. Last night, I was called to give a prayer unexpectedly to an outdoor group. Wherever I am, over time I’ve come to look at it not that a particular PERSON is asking me to do so, but that the Lord wishes to have His people speak with Him at that moment. And if you’re really following what I’m saying, there’s a bit of circular logic in that: Where does the demarcation begin, if we’re speaking by the power of God, and praying to the same? –But, that is the mystery and the beauty of our Lord, as deep as the simultaneous uniqueness and unity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. … Great topics for upcoming sermons, perhaps.

Something a bit disappointing happened last night, and there was a desire in me to give the group encouragement to stay engaged and faithful, and then the words that came out of my mouth, which has happened a couple times before like this, was to call them The Remnant. To claim that WE are the ones ‘set aside’. And, whether it translated in all the words I said, it was not on my mind that it was a ‘generic’ statement, much as one might hear in a traditional pulpit. NO. This was specific, for those specific people gathered there with the fortitude to be out in the Saturday night cold with flags and signs of freedom, and hope in their hearts for a better future.

The most obvious example of God’s remnant in the Bible is Noah and his family. Genesis 7:23 tells us that “…every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, … and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” And in Genesis 45:7, Joseph, the son of Israelite leader Jacob, relates to his people how they had banished him previously, but that he had come to know that it was actually God’s doing, that he might be prepared to return to the people, that he might say to them during a time of occupation and famine: “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” In 2 Kings 19:4 and Isaiah 37:4, we have a Bible passage repeated almost verbatim, describing great evil in the land coming against God, and “wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.” And in a time again when God’s wrath was great because the Israelites had gone against His Word, practicing witchcraft, worshipping other gods and following the ways of the heathen, 2 Kings 17:18 tells us that “Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.”

God always seeks preservation amongst His people. And He gives that special anointment –that special protection– to those who have had the courage to stand with the Lord and with His truth. Jesus said regarding the end times of the tribulation that “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

The prophesies of Isaiah are replete with the Lord’s promises over His remnant. Isaiah 46:3-4 promises:

“Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: [4] And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” Isaiah 35:8-10 defines the ultimate glory of those who as Jesus says “endureth to the end”:

“And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. [9] No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there : [10] And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Those who are called ‘remnant’ of the Lord: Be not dismayed, but rejoice, for the Lord has called you to a special purpose. The Lord has made you strong unlike the strength of others. In these times of great persecution and evil in the land, “Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left.”

God bless you all. In Jesus’ name, amen.