Wednesday: The Remnant
Despite Israel’s repeated cycle of apostasy, divine judgments, and repentance, what hope is found in these texts?
Image © Rolf Jansson at Goodsalt.com
Although God’s plan for ancient Israel was spoiled by disobedience, it was never completely frustrated. Among the weeds, a few flowers still grew. Many of the Old Testament prophets speak of this faithful remnant, whom God would gather unto Himself as a lovely bouquet.
The purpose of God in creating and preserving a faithful remnant was the same as it had been for all of Israel — to use them as His divinely appointed instruments for declaring “my glory among the nations” (Isa: 66:19, RSV). By this means, others would join the faithful to “worship the King, the LORD of hosts” (Zech: 14:16, RSV). Thus, no matter how bad the situation became, God always has some faithful people who, despite apostasy within the ranks of God’s chosen people, kept their own calling and election sure (2 Pet: 1:10). In short, whatever the failings of the nation as a whole, there were still those who tried to keep, the best they could, their end of the covenant (see, for instance 1 Kings 19:14-18). And though, perhaps, they suffered with their nation as a whole (such as exile from the land), the final and ultimate covenant promise will be theirs, that of eternal life.
Read John 10:27-28. What is Jesus saying there? Apply His words, and the promises in them, to the situation regarding apostasy in ancient Israel. How do these words help explain the existence of a faithful remnant?
A few years ago, a young woman gave up her Christian faith entirely, mostly because she was discouraged by the sin, apostasy, and hypocrisy she saw in her local church. “Those people weren’t really Christians,” she said, using that as an excuse to give up everything. Base your answer on the principles of today’s study. Why is her excuse not valid?
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Back in the early days of my working life I worked as a research chemist making deuterohemin. This chemical was needed by my supervisor for his PhD research. I would start out with a couple of pints of horses blood and dribble it slowly into boiling acetic acid to denature the protein and release the deuterohemin. Then the boiling liquid had to be filtered to remove the protein. This was followed by several rounds of dissolving, vacuum evaporation chemical treatment and finally a special filtration where we collected about 0.5 grams of pure deuterohemin. It was the bit that we were interested in. The whole process took several days and if I was to cost it these days it would have been worth several thousand dollars. It took a lot of processing and the use of specialised equipment to get to the pure remnant that was needed for the real research work.
Actually, in spiritual terms, I am very uncomfortable about the use of the term, "The Remnant Church" because self-labelling is quite dangerous. Consider that over the last couple of millennia people have been calling themselves Christian, but have been acting in a very un-Christian manner. Labelling ourselves, "The Remnant Church" carries with it a sense of finality and purity. In the illustration above it was not the deuterohemin that declared itself pure but the research chemist who did all the work on it. God is the one who does the work on us, and when he has finished that work of purification he can use the term, "Remnant". In the meantime, we are a work in progress.
And just in case we have our own definitions in mind about purity, here is the biblical definition:
I agree Maurice, it's not the "name", but the character we must have.
Mr. Ashton,
When reading your comments, I have the pleasure of hearing the songs of a neighborhood mocking bird outside my window singing Gods songs. God sings through that mockingbird a beautiful song!
i 100% agree. Remnant is the Scripture name for The Church, not Christian. i 100% agree Remnant describes The Church. Remnant focuses on personal relationship or "knowing" The LORD rather than being religious. Remnant describes a Church that is sifted, is refined, is purified, is holy and is eventually saved from death by knowing Who The LORD Is, What The LORD does, Where The LORD lives and Why The LORD loves His Creation.
Thank you very much mr mourice and the team,May GOD help you to understand more of the kingdom.Happy sabbath in advance saints
Everyone are prone to temptations as each of us are travelling in this trouble world. In our journey we really needs Christ like character, so much so to shine our light in this darkness. If we think it's not easy, please do it in a very tiny thing, second do it another thing, 3rd, 4th...until you become it is your character doing good/right things. People arounds you can notice that you're different in this world. Some may encourage by your acts, some may asks you why you are a such person. It's because Christ like character cultivates from your heart that you starts from a tiny thing, grows and show in your way as we travel in this world. It does not need, to tell everyone that we are belong to a remnant church, God knows our heart.
I see the remnant church as the body of Christ, not an institution. Therefore, there are people who make up the remnant in different denominations. Do SDA's really claim that the "SDA Church" as a whole is the remnant?
Ms. Hicks Gill....thanks for the question. Seventh-Day Adventist Theology teaches The Remnant is the Church of Disciples of the LORD Jesus Christ who "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12...keep in mind that the Remnant Church is those who will be in the New Earth, which will include men and women from all races, creeds, nations who believe in the LORD Jesus Christ and have repented of their sin and choose to be His Disciples.
As with the fiery furnace of Daniel 3, the final harvest will reveal the "remnant" people of God, and this will not include the tares now growing among the wheat.
How many of us examine ourselves(2 Cor 13:5) to see if we are among the tares, rather than just assume it is not us? Don't we usually think of the tares as being those in disagreement with us, especially those who demonstrate a more "progressive" manner?
Examination only helps if self is the one being examined. Examining others is nothing less than judgment, though we must be able to discern between right and wrong, and "take heed lest any deceive" us(Matt 24:4).
Robert, your last paragraph sums up a huge mound of words and even books. Thank you so much for the precise statement.
I love the “this, but this, but this” structure, because people so often stop at the first or the second but rarely get to the third thought as a part of the whole. And they are all connected. It’s helpful for a study I am working on. I copied it. Blessings
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Rev 3:22.
The Remnant
1.According to the bible, what is the role and duties of the Remnant people?
2. Does the remnant people have the marks of the Laodicean church? Rev 3:15-22.
3. Is there a remnant from or within the remnant? Does the remnant hate sins in all of its forms?
If Christianity and the church is comprised of all those who love Jesus and follow his words with the light they receive, then the remnant is made up of all those who follow Jesus from other religion. But it is only Jesus who determines who are those who follow him and his words with whatever light we received.
I personally like to speak out in love against sin both in my home, yes to my spouse and children that the Lord gave me to bring them up to fear him. My children are adults but I can see into a couple of them account and my spouse partial account. The way they spend money and where and how they do, is somewhat troubling. I use psychology to speak about it in doing my correction. I have nothing to fear of loosing from my spouse, or children or others therefore I can boldly speak out about sin.
I speak out about sins in my other relatives homes and in my church, even on this site because this is a SS site that I follow. My spouse at times call be Mrs Perfect because I point our wrongs. He says I cant judge other. There is a difference in judging others sin and speaking out against sin. The remnant love the sinners but hate the sins even in their own lives. Throughout the bible we see the remnant being used by Jesus to carry the message to a dying people dying in sin. Many people believe salvation can be gain by 'righteousness by works'.
The remnant goes through trials and tribulation yet their minds are fixed on Jesus. In every church, or religion or congregation there could be found the true ones and the evil ones. The young lady, like many other becomes discourage and leave the church because of the evil and wickedness they were seeing. I constantly behold evil and wickedness in my church but we cant leave the church, because of that. We can change the congregation but every congregation have sins in different forms. we have to be constantly praying and doing what we know is right in the sight of Jesus. Grievous sins are in the church.
Lyn, have you ever thought about how much time Jesus spent "speaking out against sin" compared to teaching about the positive principles of His Kingdom?
Yes, just before His final days, after three years of reaching out to the Pharisees, He had some hard words for them. He could read their hearts. But it seems to me that His reprimands for sin represent a very small fraction of what is recorded about His life.
Maybe it would be a wise course of action to spend much more time upholding the the love of the Father, the blessings of obedience, the "joy of the Lord," the attractions of heaven, etc. etc. than to speak out against sin?
You write, "There is a difference in judging others sin and speaking out against sin." I wonder if those whose sins are being spoken against can tell the difference? Are they drawn closer to Jesus by this "speaking out"? Or does it serve to focus their attention on their sins and thus on self. (The devil doesn't care whether we focus on our sins or on our supposed righteousness, as long as we do not focus on Christ, our only hope of salvation.)
I agree with Maurice. I believe that the teachings of our SDA church reveal the characteristics of the remnant . But many members do not live out the truth as taught by the church and therefore fail to reflect Christ and thus are not part of the remnant. May we ,each of us earnestly ask for guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we may be among the remnant, faithful when God welcomes His children. Let us live as remnant without claiming to be.
This lesson addresses a difficult topic, especially since ‘Remnant’ is used as a religious marker, denoting one’s 'affiliation/identity’. To me, a ‘Remnant’ is the evidence that something happened to that which was once larger; a ‘shaking of the whole’ producing a remnant – i.e., the product of a process. I am interested to understand what this process is that produces a remnant.
Trials and tribulations are the constant companions during the life of mankind; this is the setting wherein God’s Work of the salvation of mankind takes place.
I always attempt to peel away the onion skins to reveal the core, the essence, the beginning, to discover the context of an issue. I see this Remnant to be a spiritual Remnant, shaken out from mankind throughout its history.
I do not think we can exclusively look for the spiritual ‘Remnant’ to be a particular group unless we define it based on God’s righteousness. Following God’s righteousness by faith is what produces the Remnant; those who live their life according to His Will by faith. I see this Remnant made up of individuals; even if it were just one, it is still a Remnant.
The process of Salvation through purification has been ongoing for thousands of years; it started with the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, continuing with Cain and Abel and on through the ages of time to this dispensation. A ‘remnant’ is what God’s Righteousness as a process is meant to produce – it is the end product of living one’s life according to His Will!
I do not believe that ‘God ‘creates and preserves’ a faithful remnant to use them as His divinely appointed instruments... .’ If so, than the word ‘a’ would need to be changed to ‘the’; it is the special group who will be saved. This Remnant is being ‘created/produced’ and ‘preserved/established’ from those who kept the faith, it is their choice to be part of the remnant, their lives being a living testament to God’s Glory.
There is no arbitrary ‘setting aside’ of a remnant, these are living souls from all nations who have freely chosen to live their lives according to God’s Will; that is what sets them apart from the rest. If they continue living their Faith, they will be among the Remnant in the last days.
Yes, His sheep have always heard His voice and followed Him; this is how His Remnant eventually comes to be. It is the process established by the Creator to separate His spiritual children from the children of rebellion, unbelieve, and iniquity. The faithful join the ranks of those already living in the Father’s kingdom or have died living in His Will. They are save in their faith, maintaining their relationship with the heavenly Father and each other, basing their living on the teachings of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
I fail to see accurate reasoning in the account of the young women ‘who gives up her Christian faith mostly because she was discouraged by the sin, apostasy, and hypocrisy she saw in her local church’. It does not make logical sense to me that someone who is able to recognize - make a distinction between spiritual right and wrong – to give up her faith because of the failings of other Christians. It would make more sense if she chooses to leave this particular church family and found herself a new faith-family to worship with.
Using the word ‘excuse’ leads me to think that this question really addresses an ongoing problem in many organized churches; people leave the church, but they do not necessarily ‘leave’ their Faith behind. I do not think that anyone who truly believes, having the Faith of Christ, can give up this Faith because of issues with the members of a particular church-family. If so, God help those in leadership in these churches to amend their ways and address this issue immediately. Matt.18:5-7KJV; Luke17:1-4KJV.
You appear to disagree with the lesson author's statement that
That's too bad, because that teaching is found throughout the Bible - that God always preserves a remnant to carry His truth from age to age. While there is what we might call a "final remnant," that is not the only "remnant" found in the Bible.