Scripture
“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.”
~Jeremiah 23:3, LSB
Quote
The remnant is distinguishable from the whole, but it will never be seen unless it stands out: it must be different from the whole.
~David Brickner
The Hebrew word sheh-ay-reeth’, translated ‘remnant’ is used 66 times in the Old Testament and almost half of these references are found in Jeremiah. Not all Jews are faithful to the covenant. Out of Jacob’s twelve sons, Joseph became the remnant. Joseph told his brothers in Genesis 45, So God sent me before you to establish for you a remnant in the earth and to keep you alive for a great remnant of survivors. In every succeeding generation of Israelites, there was a surviving believing remnant. A remnant is a remainder, what is left, a residue and in the case of Israel, it was a group of descendants who believed in Yahweh and were faithful to the covenant. Elijah was convinced that he himself was all that was left of the believing remnant but God told him, “I have seven thousand more that you know nothing of and they have never bowed the knee to Baal.” When you consider the population of Israel at the time, 7,000 is not that many, but the remnant is never larger than the whole. A remnant can be a fraction of the whole but it will stand out due to it’s uniqueness. It is not a part of the whole and this is what makes it unique. Jacob had twelve sons but one of them was different and he stood out.
Today we have the Messianic Jew. These are Jews who believe in Jesus. They make up less then 1% of the Jewish population, but this has always been true of the remnant, it is a fraction of the whole. Christians have always been a minority. June is known for her green beans which she cooks by the gallon. She buys the big cans from SAMS, adds a cup of onion, a cup of splenda, some cooking oil and a spoon of salt. Think of salt as the remnant, it is a small fraction of the recipe but it makes a huge difference. Of all the ingredients she puts in her beans, salt is the most influential. You could leave off the splenda, the onions and maybe the oil but you cannot leave out the salt. The morons who think they want a Christless society are fools. Washington DC is corrupt as it is but if you removed the few true believers that are there, we would have no hope at all. True believers are the salt of the earth.
One other thing; there is a remnant within Christianity. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian {when it suits them} is a true believer but there is a remnant. One stiff persecution will purge the church of these hypocrites. The church has never thrives in prosperity but it has always flourished in times of persecution. Those professed believers with a shallow commitment will depart when persecution comes.
Extra
PTL for the rain. I had just planted six rows of peas in the dust. We got a good one. I don’t have a gauge but I would guess an inch at least and it cooled things down a bit. June and I got my office fully restored yesterday and I am thrilled that the project is over. I’m like the bug who hit the windshield, I don’t have the guts to do it again. For the first time is years, we have more tomatoes than we can eat. I got most of my plants from Billy Parker and I have lost about half but usually, I have lost them all by this time.
No one is responding to my text on Jennifer so I am assuming things are going OK. Mrs. Willowdean’s COLS is Friday at Pecks, 11:00 am. Visitation from 10:00-11:00. I hope you have a great day, thanks for reading the blog.