Note: The following article was translated from the Portuguese original which was published yesterday to our site at cristaos.org. Although intended for the Brazilian context, it has enough cross-cultural application to merit its inclusion here.
The Bible versions use the term “remnant” or similar words to speak of a sad reality within the people of Israel. The majority of the people were stubborn and rebellious. God punished the people for this. A smaller number remained. It was an act of mercy when God gathered what was left. Everett Ferguson wrote that “only a few were what the whole was meant to be” (The Church of Christ, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996, p. 78).
The remnant of Israel was eventually reduced to one person: Jesus, the Righteous One, Acts 3.14; 7.52; 22.14. From his death a new people arose; the church was established. It is what Israel should have been, 1 Peter 2.9-10. But even within the church, not everyone is what they ought to be. Jesus said to the Twelve, “You are clean, but not all” John 13.10. The Lord also made this clear in his words to the seven congregations of Asia, Revelation 2–3. One of them was already at risk of losing its place.
It is a human desire to know how many will be saved. Someone asked the Lord: “Lord, will only a few be saved?” Luke 13.23. He implied that only a few will be saved, but he made it clear that the greatest concern is for each person to take care of his own salvation: “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” v. 24.
Earlier, the disciples were amazed at the terrible death suffered by some Galileans and thought that the cause was the terrible nature of their sins. Jesus told them to take care of their own repentance, Luke 13.1-5. God knows who His people are, 2 Timothy 2.19 citing Numbers 16.5. He knows the heart and mind of each person. We should not judge our brothers, Romans 14.1-19; James 4.11-12.
At the same time, Jesus commands us to judge teaching and actions, John 7.24: “Do not judge by appearance, but judge righteously.” The standard of holiness is clear and defined. The truth is simple and verifiable. The model must be followed. Faithfulness is not optional. God’s will cannot be relativized.
The divided state of religions is regrettable. Even sadder are the factious people who arise in our own midst, although the Lord Jesus and his apostles and prophets had warned us. But in the midst of error, the truth stands out, 1 Corinthians 11.19: “For there must needs be differences among you, that it may be known which of you are approved.” Regarding this text, brother R.C. Kelsey wrote: “Factions are regrettable but at time unavoidable; some good comes from them, in that those who are true and faithful are openly manifested to be such” (First Corinthians, Austin: Sweet, 1967, p. 51).
The same sentiment was expressed by brother AntĂ´nio Roberto Andrade: “Since evil exists in human nature, God sometimes allows it to appear in all its power, to preserve his own and to exercise judgment on the guilty who do not take advantage of the opportunity to repent and return to him” (“Cartas aos CorĂntios”, Belo Horizonte: Centro de Treinamento CristĂŁo, n.d., p. 94).
This statement is reminiscent of the apostle John, writing about false teachers: “They went out from us, but in reality they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; the fact that they went out shows that none of them were of us” 1 John 2.19.
The church continues to be a remnant. Every effort is made by the faithful to correct those who teach error and to encourage the weak in faith. In the end, however, a remnant will remain within God’s people, because it is made up of those who preserve the original teaching: “As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father” 1 John 2.24.
God can create, or allow the formation of, the remnant at various times in history. This occurred at the end of the 19th century in the United States, when the brotherhood was decimated by progressives, with the loss of most of the congregations, and their buildings and schools. However, this allowed, from about the 1940s onwards, a growth that made the brotherhood the fastest growing group in that country.
It may be that it is our time in Brazil (and again in the USA) now, in a similar situation, to be a remnant, after the majority has abandoned the truth ─ we must confess that only the Lord knows the future.
The time has come when they can no longer tolerate sound doctrine, 2 Timothy 4.3. They run after teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Brothers will “gather” false teachers. They accumulate such people, looking for people to approve “their own desires,” as if the number of teachers outweighed than the truth. In such moments, Timothy had to preach the word of truth at all times.
To do this, Timothy could not be a coward, but rather depend on the Spirit “of power, love, and self-control” 2 Timothy 1.7. He had to be willing to suffer for the gospel, 2 Timothy 1.8-12. He needed to retain “the pattern of sound doctrine” that he had heard from Paul, 2 Timothy 1.13. Timothy needed to imitate Paul’s conviction and certainty, 2 Timothy 1.12. He needed to continue in the things he had learned and become convinced of, 2 Timothy 3.14.
It is precisely this certainty of the gospel and this conviction of the truth that drives disciples today to proclaim the unchanging gospel. God wants everyone to be saved. More people can be saved through our obedience to evangelize. One thing is certain: those who fail to obey, even among the disciples, will not be among the saved, no matter how small or large their number.
Israel trusted in pagan gods, in ritual worship and in the physical building of the temple in Jerusalem. The remnant “will learn to truly depend on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 10.20 IEB. This is what all the saints who walk faithfully in the ways of the Lord will do.
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