Kingdom Lessons #17 The Remnant. By Jim Banks www.jimandpatbanks.com www.traumaprayer.com
I have been mulling over the term ‘remnant’ for the last few days in retrospect of our recent most ministry experiences, which was absolutely superb. God dis a number of things through us that I am still processing. Why this word? I am not sure, except that it won’t go away and therefore it must be looked into. Biblically the term remnant describes what’s left of a people group following a harsh act of God, usually judgment following prolonged acts of idol worship. This would be the case in the aftermath of an invasion where the vast majority of the inhabitants are either killed or hauled off into captivity, leaving behind the halt and the lame, as well as those who hid in the hills. In other words, a less than heroic group of survivors.
Isaiah 10:16-20 “Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire. 17 The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day. 18 The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away. 19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down. 20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.”
Historically, “the remnant” are those who left behind after an invasion and captivity by a foreign nation, or those who had returned home following their escape from captivity. Either way, these are a small portion of those remaining after God’s judgment fell upon the nation. (See 2Kings 19:4, 30-31 & Ezra 9:8, 13-15) If you look at Zechariah 8:11 noted below, the remnant could easily be classed as that group of people that God chose to be good to because He felt sorry for them – the bunch that could just never get it.
In some sense this is a form of what we are experiencing in the church today, albeit without the carnage. The church’s poor response to all the covid isolation is ample justification for such an act. We are now experiencing a separation between believers, those who have chosen to be directed by the Holy Spirit, from those who faithfully followed the traditional institutional church. (See 2Timothy 3:5-7 below.)
In our current Christian culture we might even choose to think of the remnant as “the called out ones.” Regardless of our denominational affiliation there is a desire to ‘special’ because of our “correct” doctrine and practices. For instance, those who practice the gifts, or at least those who make a concerted effort to make room for the Spirit and His gifts would naturally be among those who have chosen to be directed by Holy Spirit to be among the ‘remnant.’ I doubt that to be the case as there is so much mixture for many in Pentecostal and Charismatic congregations that can easily be identified as tradition as well. We are acquainted with a local ‘spirit-filled’ church whose chief desire is quantified as “revival.” When asked what that would look like, the response was, “Well, people will come back to church.” In other words, they would resume 40 year old charismatic traditions. Some would consider the remnant to be those who stayed in church when millions left following covid, despite the fact that the number of “formerly churched” has been steadily growing for the past 20+ years. Covid simply accelerated it.
Certainly, the “not-remnant” group would be considered as those, “holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away. 6 For of these are they that creep into houses, and take captive silly women laden with sins, led away by diverse lusts, 7 ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2Timothy 3:5-7)
My thought is that the Remnant will likely have the following characteristics.
- People who consistently live out John 15:14-15. Folk who only do what the Lord tells them to do.
- They will be the worshippers Jesus noted in John 4:23. Those who consistently seek His face rather than His hand, while knowing that if they have His face, they automatically get His hand.
- They will be those who are both restrained or urged to move by the Spirit to respond to a Macedonian call. Acts 16:6-10
- They will be both men and women who are healers. Acts 8:7 “Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power:” Psalm 110:3a
- They will be men and women noted for their love (John 13:34-35) and for the residual fruit of their lives. (John 15:16 noted below)
So what then could the term (or title) of “remnant” mean and what does it require of us, if anything? Rev. Dr. Dennis Sempebwa recently described one aspect of it in this manner. In Africa the population is very used to the rule of monarchy, which means that when the king or monarch decrees something, the people do it. Whether they understand it or not is immaterial. In the US the President may decree something specific, then the people try to understand it. If they understand it, then they’ll choose whether they want to obey it. If they don’t understand it or refuse to believe that it applies to them, they will never voluntarily obey it.
The Kingdom of God operates as it does in Africa, as opposed to how we choose to operate here in the US and in other Western countries. This is what will distinguish the remnant from the general class of believers known as Christians. We see this noted in the following verses.
John 15:14-16 “You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide,”
I would summarize it as obedience out of relationship, not out of duty or tradition. However, the interesting thing is when we are told to do something, we are not told how to do it, which leaves execution open to interpretation through your individual personality, through your gifting, maturity and experience. So while the end result may be the same, the manner in which it is accomplished will look different depending upon who does it.
Zechariah 8:11-12 “But now I will not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts. For there shall be the seed of peace; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.”
I am certainly aware that I may well have to revise this definition at a later date, but I think what I would now define as the “remnant” isn’t actually what’s left from the larger herd after some wide spread carnage, it’s either … A) more like the cream of the crop, or those who have acquired battle-hardened Seal Team level faith and spirit led skills as a result of what they’ve been through. These are the folks who are instantly obedient to the slightest Holy Spirit nudge and as a result, who will declare each verse of Psalm 91 as though it was a result of the confidence they now have in Him, by virtue of their own personal experiences with the Lord. Or B) like those noted in A above except because He knew He had to do something special for them because they weren’t getting on their own.
Now in spite of my somewhat less than scholarly conclusions, I don’t want to paint a picture of this group as being some sort of super-Christians, yet such an obviously lofty goal is for all Kingdom dwellers to attain to, such that the consistent fruit of our lives would cause us to be known as “those kind of people.” That goal can only be achieved as we submit ourselves to the discipline and leadership of Holy Spirit on a moment-by-moment basis in the face of direct opposition from the enemy. The challenges we’ll see in the balance of 2024, along with the trials we’ll experience during the following seven years will give us all abundant opportunities to grow into being known as “those kind of people.” We do have a choice in the matter.
Recent Comments