The Lord’s Remnant

Micah 2:12 “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel ; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold”.

Micah 4:7 “And I will make her that halted a remnant”.

Isaiah 1:9 “…the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant…”

God has always been interested in the remnant. A remnant is just a small part that is still left of the original. The bigger, main part is gone; there is one little, small part that is left. In general, remnants have very little value, but it is not so with God. God very highly values remnants. The remnants are often discarded and thrown away. You can’t sell them, as they have no value. They are thrown away, or given away.

A man had in his garage many boxes, and one was marked “String too short to use”. He was still keeping it. These pieces of string once were part of a big ball of string. The bigger part is gone. This is what God’s people are today. They are like little pieces of string too short to use. And, this is what God is after; He wants and desires nothing else.

Romans 11:5 “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” This was written a few years after Jesus was taken from the earth, and also at that time the Lord’s people were also merely a remnant. God has always kept His eye on the remnant, and He still is looking for the remnant.

Jesus came to the earth to show mankind the way of God, and when He was taken away, there were only a few who were faithful to what Jesus had given them. Even if they were small and few, they were still part of the original.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” It is quite possible that the remnant is even smaller than what we may think it is.

It may sometimes feel that there are too few who serve God; we may feel that we are alone. But, God is still working and He knows where they are and He knows how to gather them unto His fold. Even if the remnant is small, they love God, they love truth, and they love God’s true way.

One time a companion and I went to a factory where they were making bags. There was a huge box marked “Remnant”. I went through that, and it was mostly odd-shaped pieces of cloth. It seems they won’t fit anywhere, or with anything. They have been cut off, and tossed aside. Looking at the bags, I could see that the off-cut pieces were part of the original. This factory was giving these remnant pieces away…of no worth to them. They won’t bother to price them, market and sell them.

But there was one person who went through all those pieces, and we were told that he makes bags from those remnants. He sews them together in different patterns, and makes beautiful bags from them. They sure have character, and a story to tell. This is who God’s people are, and this is what God is doing. He takes the rejected, cut-off pieces and He can make something better and of worth from them. As in the days of Micah, God is gathering the remnant and making up His people from these little, unwanted remnants.

Revelation 12:17 “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.

The Lord’s people are those who keep His commandments, even when they have much against them. God’s true people will never be large numbers. Sometimes we hear people say they would walk in this way of God but there is so few. But that is the very reason why we should walk in this way. God looks on the remnant as His people, and He gathers them into His flock. They are His sheep, and they belong to His fold.

Over and over we read in the Bible of many who went astray; they left the narrow way of God. Through all the experiences we read of in the Bible God was still keeping His eye on a faithful few, the true remnant that were part of the original. His ear is open to their cry; His eye is always on them.

It says He gathers His remnant together as the sheep of Bozrah. This city Bozrah was the capital of Edom , and it was famous for its flocks. They would have good shepherds and good pastures. This city was destroyed, and what remained of their flocks were just a few, a remnant.

If you would want to make a masterpiece, you would have to use the best quality material to work with. But God looks for that which is discarded, not wanted by anyone else, the unwanted and rejected. When He has it in His hands, He works with it and He makes a beautiful masterpiece.

The book of Micah tells us what God can do with remnants. Micah 4:7 “I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast afar off a strong nation”. This is like a picture of God’s kingdom. It is interesting that God can take one that is halted, crippled and unable to walk and make that His remnant, and that they may be the chosen of God. In this way of God it is the lame that walk with God. They stumble, they fall and they get up again, and they fall again, but God has chosen them. He chose the blind to see Him, to be His remnant.

Luke 14:13 “But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind”. The outcast, rejected and unwanted are most welcome with God. Micah 4:7 “I will make her that halted a remnant”.

In Psalm 38:17 David said, “I am ready to halt”. I wonder, are we ready to halt? He repeatedly counted himself in with the poor, the lame. He felt he was part of the hurt (verse 5), the weak (verse 10); God’s remnant.

Micah 5:8 “And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest...” Jesus was the lion of the tribe of Judah . He was courageous. For us to be part of the remnant of God, we need to be courageous as a lion.

Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.” It is because of this mercy of God that we can become part of His remnant, and we can remain a part of His remnant until the end of our days.

Isaiah 6:13 “But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return… so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof”. This helps us to understand a little more how small the remnant is. Very small, but part of the original; it still bears the substance, the very thing that confirms it is part of the original. Here it is mentioned a tenth; sometimes it is a lot less than that. No matter how little or how small, the remnant is still the Lord’s.

A remnant is part of the whole, and it matches. It matches pattern for pattern, thread for thread. The bits are pieces of the whole. It fits perfectly with the original. We as God’s people, His true faithful people, fit perfectly with what was before, perfectly with everything we read in the scriptures.

This way of God is not a copy, or an alteration. It still is just what it was; it is God’s way, part and piece of the whole, that which was seen in Christ, and that which Jesus established on the earth 2000 years ago; the true remnant of God is still the same. It is still going on today. It is small and humble. It is forgotten and it is despised, but it is God’s remnant. Such as it was in the beginning, such is God’s true way today.

Isaiah 37:31 “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward”. The same seed produces the same roots and the same fruit. Nothing has changed, and it doesn’t need to change. It never will change.

This word remnant comes from the Bible. The first thought I got when I saw this word is that a remnant is something that is too small to be of any use or worth. But it has a different meaning in the scriptures. The real meaning is that which is genuine, true, authentic. It is small, but it is the real thing. Even if it is insignificant to the world, it still is all that God wants.

There have been times through the history that God’s kingdom has been at a low; maybe it has been hanging by a thread. We think of the days of Esther and all that was against God’s people. In Daniel’s time there were just a few who refused to bow down to those images. They were true; they were God’s remnant. Yet through that, God was able to restore and preserve.

When we read through the prophets, from Isaiah to the Malachi the last prophet, over and over again it speaks of God’s remnant. When they went into captivity, God knew that the fires of the experience would not destroy them, because they were genuine; they were true and loyal.

In the days of Micah, the kingdom of God again was at a low. There weren’t many who were going on, doing the right thing. 400 years later we read of Joseph and Mary. Right up until now God has been true, and as we are sitting here today, we are God’s remnant.

J. Chafee