This is long, but there are so many lessons and wisdom in here, you may want to reserve some time to read this very slowly and thoughtfully. I have not read anything better on this subject and am very convicted by many things. Well worth anytime that you need to set aside for this.
The Song of the Remnant - By Oliver Peng
When we consider Gods work of creation, we inevitably are captivated by thoughts of perfection, fullness, life, beauty, goodness, wholesomeness, joy
. Job tells us that in creation, God laid the foundation of the earth, set its measurements, stretched its lines, laid its cornerstone
then the morning stars sang together, and all the angelic hosts burst forth with a symphony of joy (Job. 38:4-7). It is beyond our consideration that God would harbor thoughts of brokenness, outcast, lowliness, affliction, suffering, even death as ways to ultimately arrive at His good pleasure in His new creation.
Even when the old creation failed Him, His purpose remained unchanged and a remnant was soon called forth to pick up where man failed and pressed ahead toward that great purpose. Ever since Adam and Eve, this scene has repeated time and again. Is the Lord not trying to teach us the principle of resurrection whereby the old creation must give way to the new, the former glory concede to the latter glory, the first man Adam yield to the second man Christ, the earthly to the heavenly, the carnal to the spiritual, and the temporal to the eternal? In each case the cross of Christ operates to put to death not only that which is evil, but also that which is natural and naturally good in us until Christ is gained in resurrection. And as a result of the work of the Refiners fire, a lowly remnant is produced to carry on and continue pressing toward Gods purpose.
Unfortunately, however, mans attention soon focuses on the attainment of the remnant while the character of the remnant is largely overlooked; for the natural man loves glamour, he is incapable of appreciating the quality of being hidden, humble, and lowly. We pay no attention to the remnant until we discover that the Lord is using the remnant to accomplish His great purpose. Then, suddenly, everyone wants to be a remnant! It is the spotlight, the applause and the glamour that we crave for, not the lowliness, the obscurity, and the slow and painful process that goes into the making of a remnant.
Some time ago I went to a fabric store with my wife where she was looking for a certain pattern and fabrics to make home furnishing. After careful selection, she picked out what she wanted but still needed a small amount of remnant. I fancied her use of the word and soon found out what she meant as she headed straight for the scrap table. These seemingly insignificant and unglamorous leftover cut-up pieces were useless to most but possessed great value to one who had a vision of the final product and an understanding of how all the components would fit together. The real remnant are like those lowly and forgotten scrap pieces, but the Lord in His grand scheme and foresight has foreordained an important role for them, no matter how insignificant and outcast they appear to be.
It should be noted at the outset that the Lord did not cast away the whole in favor of the remnant. His calling is for ALL to come into His fullness, love, purpose and glory. The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof, and He wants the earth to be full of the knowledge of Him. Despite mans failure to enter into the good of it, His work to this end goes on by using the remnant to restore His purpose for all mankind, and by using the remnant to usher in His fullness.
In the Old Testament, God wanted all His people to return from Babylon to rebuild His house, but only a remnant hearkened and obeyed. During the time of the Assyrian captivity, Isaiah lamented, for though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return (Isa. 10:22). Gods desire is for all Israel to come back to rebuild His house, and this desire has been clearly revealed in the Old Testament. Why then, we might wonder, didnt all Gods people obey His clear command? Was it only because of their disobedience and unbelief? And does obeying Gods command necessarily qualify one to be part of the remnant?
Indeed, most of us who obeyed Gods revelations concerning Christ and His purpose for the Church and came out of religious institutions considered ourselves to be the remnant. Yet, un-Christ-like behaviors are often seen among the so-called remnant such as superiority complex, critical spirit, judgmental attitude, finger-pointing, stone-throwing and ridiculing. Something must be amiss, for we behave just like, if not worse than, our brethren in captivity. There must be a much greater qualification for becoming a remnant than merely coming out of religious captivity.
Before any attempt is made to address the makeup of a remnant, lets consider the makeup of the church since the remnant is a part of the church. Jesus said, I will build My church; but I wonder if we misappropriate this wonderful promise thinking, the Lord will build our church: the attendance will increase, Sunday School will flourish, people will get saved, services and missions will be well staffed and funded, and soon well be running out of space, and building projects will be underway
. Is that what the Lord had in mind when He said, I will build My church?
T. Austin-Sparks hit the mark when he said, The church is measured by Christ: more Christ, more church; less Christ, less church. Not only is the Lord the One who builds the church, He builds by incorporating, through the cross, His very own character and essence into the church; thus more Christ equals more church. The remnant, therefore, are a people who have allowed the cross of Christ to operate in their lives bringing them through death into resurrection life; and as a result, they are constituted inwardly with a greater measure of the element of Christ.
It doesnt matter how large or small the congregation, if we are devoid of the essence and character of Christ, we are not the remnant. And, contrary to popular belief, coming out of institutionalized Babylon does not one a remnant make. Dear saints, the focus should always be on the Beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased. The issue is always whether or not the Beloved Sons character and essence have been wrought into our being. Isnt it therefore our urgent need to consider matters related to the character of the remnant?
The Character of the Remnant
Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who constantly record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of My people of their rights, in order that widows may be their spoil, and that they may plunder the orphans (Isa. 10:1-2).
If we believe the Lords purpose is to be accomplished and His testimony upheld through His remnant, then we must consider the character, calling and ministry of the remnant. In chapter 10 verse 2, Isaiah presents four types of people: the needy, the poor, the widows, and the orphans. On the surface, Isaiah seems to seek vindication for these lowly people, but if we are to dig a little deeper, we may be able to find something of the character of Christ being portrayed through each of them.
Objectively, the church should provide for the needy and the poor, honor the widows and care for the orphans. These things the church by and large has dutifully administered and lovingly borne upon her broad shoulders for the past two thousand years. Subjectively though, the church should be in essence the needy, the poor, the widows and the orphans. But subtly and craftily the Enemy has shifted our entire attention to the objective and external agenda of doing good works. Many churches make social work their prominent mission busying themselves with a plethora of outreach programs. At the end of the day, they feel good about themselves because of the good deeds they have done.
Without a doubt, there is nothing wrong with doing good deeds. We should have a burning desire to do good deeds and to help our fellowman. But the Lord must always come first. The poor you have with you always, but you dont always have Me was the Lords answer to the indignant disciples who rebuked Mary for wasting a costly alabaster bottle of ointment on Him. The disciples top priority was doing good deeds for the poor. Marys was putting the Lord first, which required an inward seeing and humility. This inward seeing and humility surely came about as the Lord revealed to her both His precious worth and her profound neediness.
The Enemy loves to remind us of the need to help the poor and would be quick to reward us with fluffy feelings as long as we gradually shift our eyes away from the Lord and become oblivious to our own neediness. When the church loses her subjective essence of being the needy, the poor, the widows and the orphans, she usually turns to the external works of feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, helping the widows and providing for the orphans to assure herself of a sense of worth.
What then is our subjective essence? Paul told the Corinthian believers, for we have become a spectacle to the world
we are fools
we are weak
we are without honor
we are both hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed, roughly treated, homeless... reviled... persecuted... slandered
and we have become the scum of the world, the dregs of all things
(I Cor. 4:9-13). Paul was not advocating a Franciscan monks meager existence in self-abasement; he was rather showing us the inward qualities of Christ-like lowliness, absolute dependency upon Him, and reckless abandonment to Him. These essences cannot be taught, mimicked or legislated, they are hammered into our being only by the work of the Spirit through the cross. Since the church in Corinth and the Church in general (just like the disciples) have failed in this regard, these essences then became the character of the remnant who yielded to the hammering of the cross.
The remnant are, therefore, a people who have submitted to the work of the Spirit through the subjective dealings of the cross and have gained a measurable portion of the character and essence of Christ. We must be a needy people not in the material but in the spiritual sense. We need Him to be everything for us. We need Him to be our life, our love, our patience, our light and salvation, our comfort in trials and balm in pain, our joy and strength, our wisdom and might; for without Him our needs would be unfulfilled and our life vanity.
Not only so, we are also needy of the body of Christ. Though the Lord endowed us with some gifts, He also kept many of our deficiencies even in our new creation. He sovereignly ordained it this way so that we would learn humility and receive His grace and every joint of the supply (Eph. 4:16) from each member of His body. Any member, regardless of how gifted or spiritual, who does not need his or her fellow members is possibly filled with hidden pride. This is perhaps the single most difficult problem for those who are smart, gifted and spiritual.
I have seen some powerful preachers and some gifted and intelligent brothers and sisters who received extraordinary ability to teach, give, help and love only to spurn the love, help and fellowship of others. The brothers and sisters who are most able to give, preach and help
are often the last to feel needy of other saints especially the less gifted ones. And the root cause may possibly be a deeply hidden self-reliant and self-conceited pride. This problem is by no means confined to the talented, the smart, or the spiritual; it is the problem of all to different degrees. This sin not only hampers our own spiritual growth, it also hinders the life of the body. Oh, how the Lord must deal with us and expose this hidden sin!
One other prevalent misconception especially among Gods servants is the way they presume to have all the answers since they have been called to serve, they must maintain a dignified appearance and aloofness, and not be seen as being needy of the common brothers and sisters. Surely those untrained and non-ordained laymen have nothing to offer to the great pillars of the faith; but this is not what the Bible teaches, is it? Paul said in I Cor. 12, For the body is not one member but many
if the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If they were all one member, where would the body be? The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you
on the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor (vv. 14-23).
By examples, Paul also showed us that he was needy of the saints. He needed a virtually unknown Ananias to appreciate the value of the small members in the body (Acts 9:10-18). He needed Prisca and Aquila who risked their necks for his life (Rom. 16:4). He needed the unnamed mother of Rufus, himself a little-known brother, to provide him with affectionate motherly love (Rom. 16:13). He needed a runaway slave, Onesimus, to help and to minister to him (Philem. 11, 13, 16). How blessed we would be to learn to see our own inadequacies and be needy of others. Allow me to stress again: we need the Lord most supremely, but we also need the body most desperately.
Secondly, the remnant are also the poor. In this regard the Bible gives us a dual type: the Lord made Himself poor so we could become rich; and we being made rich in Christ, should learn to be poor in spirit. The Church has been positioned in the good land (a type of Christ) to feast upon all the riches and abundance of Christ. Thus positionally we are rich in Christ. Yet dispositionally, we are required to be poor in spirit. Since we are dealing with the character or disposition of the remnant, we should learn to appreciate the Spirits work of constituting Christs deep humility in us.
Isaiah portrayed His humility this way: He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground, He has no stately form or majesty that we should behold Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like One from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening of our being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed (Isa. 53:2-5).
Paul puts Jesus humility this way: Although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:6-8). In our disposition, we are anything but poor; rather we are filled with lust, ambition, pride, vainglory and self. Even spiritually, we can be so filled with knowledge and experiences that we become conceited. We are anything but poor in spirit. May the Lord expose our Laodicean pride (Rev. 3:17). May He empty us and work into us this precious character of being poor in spirit.
We turn now to the third character trait of the remnant widows. The Church is the wife of Christ. Paul said to the Corinthians,
for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin (II Cor. 11:2). During the time of her Husbands absence, the Church lives as a widow. What characterizes her should be purity of devotion and simplicity of heart. But where is such a virtue when all around, we see nothing but her pomp and circumstance, gigantic cathedrals, traffic in commerce, entanglement in political and worldly affairs, vainglory and fame, lust for power and wealth? Is it any wonder the Lord rebuked the church in Pergamum, a church that is married to the world?
The remnant therefore must learn to keep herself pure, simple and devoted to Christ, longing for His soon return. Anytime we find ourselves attracted to the world, loyal to a spiritual leader, enmeshed in a religious system, devoted to a particular cause, or engaged in political maneuvering (in the church), we are in danger of committing spiritual fornication just like the church in Pergamum, and we will surely lose our standing as the remnant.
Lastly, we come to the character of the remnant as orphans. Spiritually, these are those who are defenseless, those who mourn, those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and who have been dealt insult, persecution and all manner of evil speaking on account of Him (Matt. 5). To them, the Lord says, Blessed are you. The orphans seek no revenge against their persecutors because their reward is great in heaven. Dear saints, have you been wronged? Have you been maligned? Have you been short-changed? Have your rights been violated? Have you suffered persecutions? Do not seek earthly fathers (comfort from men). Cry out to your heavenly Father He will wipe away your tears. And forgive, as our heavenly Father has forgiven us. May our heavenly Father expose and remove any root of bitterness in us.
The Calling of the Remnant
It is my observation that the Lord does not issue a calling without demanding the proper character; and, conversely, the Lord never builds character without matching it with a calling. One of the great dangers in young, zealous brothers and sisters who desire to serve the Lord is that of answering the call without being properly molded and prepared in character. Many a testimony has been tainted because of the un-Lamb-like blemishes in the character of the ministers. The Christian community in general places far too much emphasis on those men and women who claim to have received a calling from the Lord to serve, and not enough on the substance and the character of the called ones. It is certainly important that calling should be a criterion for service, but it is alarming that no one bothers to look into the substance and the character of the called ones.
How vastly off the mark too have been the efforts of the school of prophets! Stuffing seminary students with Greek and Hebrew, doctrines, theology, methodology and psychology, and sealing their academic achievements with a sheepskin will only steer them further away from the precious revelations and the character-building that can only be learned in the school of Christ. If the calling is genuinely from the Lord, why even bother to be certified by men, as if the Lord were impressed by our achievements and not able to use a non-degreed vessel?
Now it will come about in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God
. Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, O My people who dwell in Zion
(Isa. 10:20-21, 24a).
The first calling of the remnant is in the phrase: remnant of Israel. Israel means the prince of God where God takes a family and builds it into a kingdom. To be able to see past the crafty, heel-holding Jacob all the way to the prince of God requires vision. So, the first calling is to have a vision of Gods purpose, to have a sense of Gods ultimate goal kingdom and glory. In any spiritual service it is vital to begin with a vision, to know what God is after. It is a blueprint for building, a manual for service. At the same time, we must remember that we are of the house of Jacob that we still see Jacobean conniving and contriving reminds us that nothing good dwells in us. The remnant is not an elite group of super Christians, just forgiven sinners who have been captured by a governing vision of the Lord and His purpose.
The second calling is to escape. Whether it is Egyptian bondage, Babylonian captivity, or any other form of bondage, the Lords calling is, Come out of her, My people! There is no possibility of becoming a remnant when we are in bondage to the world or to religion. The remnant feels pain like that of the Psalmist who lamented, By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it we hung our harps. For there our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lords song in a foreign land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her skill. May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy
(Psa.137:1-6).
Even though the vast majority of Gods people found comfort, wealth and yes, religion, and settled in the land of captivity, thank God, a small remnant never compromised with the world or with religion. They never forgot Zion. Propelled by His enabling grace and a vision of His house, they escaped! Dear ones, have you discovered and lamented the deprived and deplorable conditions of your captivity? Has your soul been gripped by an agonizing longing for Him and for Jerusalem? Have you appropriated His enabling grace and escaped?
The phrase, they will never rely on the one who struck them leads to our third calling a crucified life. The remnant are those who have been struck. Jesus was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted
He was pierced through
He was crushed
. The cross of Calvary epitomizes the life of brokenness out of which the redeemed extract their life and peace, balm for healing, and joy for living. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, how shall we expect to feel the woes of our brethren when we have not undergone pain? How shall we expect to provide the healing ointment when our olives stay uncrushed? How shall we offer the wine that cheers both God and men when our grapes are withheld from the winepress? How shall we expect others to smell the fragrance of Christ when our alabaster bottles remain unbroken? How many servants of God vainly crave for power and notoriety without embracing the cross?
The Lord is looking for resurrection fragrance in our lives. If our service or ministry has not gone through death and resurrection, He cannot use it. Thankfully, many dear brothers and sisters in times past have learned to yield to the chastening hand of God. Their paths soaked with pilgrims tears and stained by martyrs blood have guided many wayward sojourners and smoothed the traverse of the remnant. In awe and adoring reverence, I bow before Him; the Lord has collected much ointment, His fragrance from broken vessels is starting to permeate the house
.
Fourthly, A remnant will return. The Lord does not just provide for the remnant a way of escape; He wants them to return to Him (v. 21). Escaping Egypt (or Babylon) is one thing, returning to the Good Land (Christ) is quite another. Many saints have come out of the Enemys bondage, but few have fully returned to Christ. I have seen many brothers and have myself fallen into this trap. Why? We dont know Him. We compromise. We settle for fluffy feelings. We go for the place where we can best utilize our talents
. The list goes on. But perhaps the biggest hindrance to returning to Him lies in the fact that to escape, one only needs to suffer deprivations. Take away his freedom, wealth, comfort and peace, and he is ready to escape and resettle wherever freedom, wealth, comfort and peace can be found. But to return requires a powerful longing for the place of his origin. Many other places offer equal or better living conditions thus prevent the wayfarers return, unless he is gripped by that powerful longing that would not be satisfied by anything less than returning home.
It is not enough for Christians to lament the degradation of Christendom; there needs to be a seeing of the abundance, riches and beauty of their home in Christ from Whom they strayed. There is no shortage of Christians who see clearly and criticize eloquently the degradation of the church, and some are even willing to suffer reproach by escaping outside the camp, but only a precious few have truly seen and returned to the fullness of Christ. The act of returning must be accompanied by a true seeing of the beauty of Christ and a heart of repentance; and we cannot repent unless we see how terribly far we have drifted from Him. Repentance depends upon our seeing both of the beauty of Christ and of our own depravity; only then can we hope to return to a fuller measure of His reality.
Throughout Church history, we see saints being set free from religious captivity; even in our time, we are not hard pressed to find a good number of brothers and sisters being delivered, by the Lords mercy, from cold, dead, or proud elitist groups. Sometimes the great trauma they experienced in escaping or being cast out left them dazed, hurt and confused. Some were quite ready to point fingers, voice self-vindication and evoke sympathy or applause. One day I met a dear brother who had himself gone through such a gut-wrenching experience in the late 1960s; he remarked about these disgruntled outcasts: Unless they (the outcasts) themselves come into repentance, perhaps they havent really come out of Babylon yet. Let me tell you, I have never before heard a wakeup call quite so loud.
The prodigal did not return to his father without seeing his own deplorable and pathetic state. His return was further hastened by seeing the riches of his fathers house. Yes, but we are NOT the prodigal son, one may be quick to protest, we merely spoke against the institutional degradation and were forced to leave. Quite right, but remember also Daniels prayer in which he repeatedly confessed, For we have sinned
(Dan. 9:5, 8, 11, 15, 20). And the prayer of Nehemiah,
we have sinned against Thee, I and my fathers house have sinned (Neh. 1:6). And what about Isaiahs desperate cry, Woe is me, for I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips
(Isa. 6:5)?
It may seem righteous of us when we have been wronged and suffered persecution at the hands of our pharisaical brethren in institutional degradation; but our righteousness, when measured against Christs, is nothing but smoldering self-righteousness! In the end, God is only looking for Christ. He is looking to see if we have returned to Christ, and He is looking to see if Christ has been wrought into our inner being. If He cannot find the character of Christ in us, smell the fragrance of the transcendent Christ in us, see the brand mark of the cross of Christ in us, perhaps we havent yet escaped let alone returned.
The prodigal was drawn home by a seeing of the riches of his fathers house. What are the riches of the fathers house? Christ is the riches of the Fathers house. Yet many have substituted other things for Christ. One big counterfeit the Enemy uses these days to substitute for Christ is, believe or not, the Church! More and more seeking Christians have been shown a vision of the Church the bride of Christ who is vastly different from the institutionalized edifice we call church.
Elated and excited, these dear brothers and sisters paid a great price to exit the institutionalized edifices where they had invested their entire being to start afresh in the newfound church. Many gifted and powerful leaders also came along to trumpet the Return to the Early Church movement. Many messages have been given on the Church; much attention has been focused on the wineskin; the mechanics of the New-Testament-styled Early Church have been studied, dissected, copied and implemented. Many such efforts have succeeded in attracting sincere and seeking saints who were offered a real taste of the sweetness of brotherly love. Drawn by the warmth of fellowship that was missing in institutional churches and released by the exercise of the priesthood of all the believers that was impossible in clergy-laity situations, they were overwhelmed by the sheer exhilaration of being set free from tradition and religiosity. Thus a movement begins to take hold.
In many House Church web-sites, there is no shortage of bold invitations to Come see the New Testament Church, Experience the radical and revolutionary Early-Church-Life, and Be a part of the life-changing Organic Church. It really sounds exciting, doesnt it? All the buried treasures concerning the Church that beg to be brought back to light! Except one thing where is Christ in the midst of all the clamoring about the Church? It is not at all uncommon to see each house church or New Testament church trying to outshine the other by presenting herself in the best light, or vie for new members by enticing them with some accomplishments related to the great recovery of the truths and practices concerning church. One line in a familiar hymn comes to mind: The bride eyes not her garment but her dear Bridegrooms face. The true bride, call her the New Testament Church, the House Church, the Organic Church, the Recovered Church, or what have you, never, I repeat, never talks about her own beauty and accomplishments. She only has an eye for her Beloved. He is the theme of her song. She considers her accomplishments all but rubbish!
Once a dear brother shared this true story with me: In the south Texas city of Corpus Christi, a group of brothers and sisters were drawn by the vision of the Early Church and began meeting to practice simple church life without religious trappings and clergy-laity distinctions. Having attained a level of success in duplicating the New Testament Church, they sought to impress others. One day, they took a group photo of themselves and signed each ones name in the back, and sent it along with a letter listing their accomplishments to an older and wiser spiritual brother in Christ. These are the things that we have done, and this is how far we have come along
. Hardly able to conceal their excitement, they continued, So, brother, whats next? Where do we go from here?
The wise old spiritual brother replied simply, The whole thing must die and be born of travail
.
It became prophetic. Within a few months, the whole thing did die.
Dear saints, the real testimony of Jesus never looks at her own accomplishments. The real bride of Christ never looks at her own beauty. The real church is born of travail. Duplicating the mechanics of the early Church means absolutely nothing without firstly allowing the travails of the cross to hammer the character of the Lamb deep into our inner being!
But, being mesmerized by a vision of the church, many chose to copy a prescribed formula to have church, or follow a leader who is a self-appointed Early Church expert, more than allowing the Holy Spirit to instill the character of the Lamb into them so that they can simply be the church. Besides, there is also a hidden desire to vindicate themselves to their former friends and associates who stayed in the institutional church. This urge to vindicate pushes them to spend all their energy and attention on the church. Subtly and gradually, the church is presented as a place of refuge, a source of life, and a generator of ambience, camaraderie and excitement until the church is placed on center stage and elevated even above Christ! Most regrettably, many unsuspecting and naïve brethren have been swept into this seemingly innocent but very deceptive trap.
While I was once enraptured by the utter ecstasy of seeing a vision of the heavenly bride of Christ many years ago, I must bow my head in shame and confess that I also erred tragically by emphasizing the Church far above Christ. In brokenness and humility, allow me to submit: the supremacy and centrality of Christ is not to be tampered with and overshadowed in any way. Not even by the Church no matter how New-Testament-like or how recovered she may be!
A brother once related what Fred Malir shared from Genesis: Jacob saw a vision of the house of God (the Church) when he fled from Esau and bedded down for the night at a place he called Bethel which means the House of God. Without a doubt, Jacob had been arrested by a vision. Twenty years later he returned to the same spot but called it, El-Bethel the God of the House of God. After twenty years of dealings from the Lord through the cross, the vision was finally calibrated into a proper focus God came before the house (Church)! It grieves me deeply that many saints and groups claim to have returned but have only returned to the church. Christ is left outside the door knocking.
A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. To the mighty God, not to the mighty church!
O My people who dwell in Zion (v. 24a) concludes the last calling for the remnant. Zion is the embodiment of the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and the purpose of Christ. It is where men have fully returned to God and found His good pleasure. It is where God is fully expressed in man and works into him His good pleasure. It is where the testimony of Jesus is upheld. Zion is the place of Davids throne, hence, it is a place of ruling, reigning and kingdom. Here, all the saints come under Christs kingship. Here, all the Kings subjects are His servants there is no intermediate class. Here, the brethren dwell in unity. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountains of His holiness; beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. What can ever compare with the remnant who have returned to the mighty God, dwelled in Zion, and the kingdom has become a spiritual reality?
May the Lord build the Lambs character of brokenness, lowliness and humility in us, so that we can answer the call of the remnant with a clear vision of Gods eternal purpose, an escape out of the Enemys worldly and religious systems, living a crucified life, returning to the mighty God, and dwelling in the reality of the kingdom under His Headship.
The Ministry of the RemnantA Prelude
A harsh vision has been shown to me: the treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, Elam; lay siege, Media. I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused. For this reason my loins are full of anguish; pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling (Isa. 21:2-4).
Here we find a most amazing description of the prophets delicate inner emotions and turmoil having seen the decline of the testimony and faced with the dreadful prospect of imminent attack and eventual deportation of Gods people. This inner travail for the testimony may be considered a prelude to ministry. Before any ministry is commenced, there needs to be evidence of the work of the cross in our lives: cutting, hammering, sculpting, shaping and forming to produce the character of Christ so that we may possess the feelings and emotions of the Lord regarding His testimony.
Our own feelings and emotions will always err and mislead us. But when properly dealt with through the cross, our emotions are wonderful vehicles to usher us into Gods feelings for His people. What better way is there to minister to Gods people than to have His feelings and emotions for His people? What better way is there to pray for Gods people than to pray with His feelings and His emotions? Understanding His feelings of sorrow regarding the degradation of the church produces a powerful burden, which pushes us into travailing prayer; and travailing prayer commences prophetic ministries.
In Matt. 4:1-2, we have a window into how the Lord Jesus commenced His ministry: He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted forty days and forty nights. We know that throughout the Bible, fasting is always associated with praying praying with great travail, intensity and burden. Paul also learned the importance of prayer before the commencement of his ministry (Acts 9:11; 13:1-2). If the Devils assault on Jesus prior to His ministry was any indication, His fasting and praying must have in some way clued Him in to the Fathers feelings and strengthened, prepared, and readied Him for the burden of the ministry. Not only so, Jesus also displayed tremendous inner agony when He lamented the ruinous condition of the House of God, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling
(Matt. 23:37-39).
Two thousand years of Church history confirms that no servant of God who has had a prophetic ministry failed to yield to the cutting of the cross and through it to possess Gods feelings for His testimony. Now Isaiahs agony and turmoil in 21:3-4 begins to make sense, does it not? May we not rush into ministries without having the Lambs character wrought into us which tunes us to His feelings which, in turn, symphonize into a prelude of travailing prayers that take us to our next intensified movement.
The Ministry of the Remnant An Allegro
Then the lookout called, O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, and I am stationed every night at my guard post (Isa. 21:8).
A watchtower symbolizes believers persistent prayers from the heavenly position. If our vision is clear and our burden genuine, our prayers are of enduring nature (every night). There were times in our lives when certain burdens did not stand the test of time. After a level of spiritual maturity and readjustment, those burdens no longer seemed important or even existed. But, by His mercy, there are some burdens that never lose their weightiness. In fact, their weightiness increases with time and maturity. This increased burden adds to the weight of our ministry and the clarity of our vision Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs. And one answered and said, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon; and all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground (Isa. 21:9).
Horses symbolize the natural energy and raw power of the carnal man. Ever since the fall of man, sin entered and dwelt in our flesh. But the prophetic ministry at this stage is so exercised in discernment it has the Enemys troop movements (the troop of riders, horsemen in pairs) the activities of the flesh completely on its radar screen. There is no doubt that the matured ministry not only can now spot the Enemy, but engages the Enemy head-on and deals a knockout punch: Fallen, fallen is Babylon. A ministry that does not strike absolute terror in the heart of the Enemy will not do for the Lord. The conflict of the ages demands nothing less from our ministry than delivering a knockout punch to the Enemy. Martin Luther has a line in his powerful hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God: One little word shall fell him. If our ministry is to be useful to the Lord, it also needs to rely on a Mighty Fortress to deliver a little word that topples the enemy.
The Ministry of the Remnant A Crescendo
Watchman, what is the time of the night? Watchman, what is the time of the night? (Isa. 21:11b).
Now the prophetic ministry is gathered up into a fast-tempo major chord and consummated in a crescendo. The refrain of the above questions strikes a resounding chorus:
I) A sense of urgency. In the New Testament, Peters ministry, Pauls ministry and Johns ministry all carry a sense of urgency. Likewise in the Old Testament, the children of Israel in Egypt were charged to ready themselves, eat the Passover in haste and head out without delay. After the Babylonian captivity, the returned remnant failed to keep up the intensity of the burden to rebuild Gods house and allowed the work to slack off. It took the prophetic ministries of Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 5:1) to restore the sense of urgency to rebuild Gods house so that Gods purpose could be resumed.
Perhaps nowhere else in the Bible is this point quite as poignant as in Haggai 1:2-12. There we find the people of God saying, The time has not come for the rebuilding of Gods house. To that the prophet answered, Is it time for you to dwell in your paneled houses while Gods house lies desolate? Isnt it true that nowadays we are more and more settled into the comfort, convenience and luxury of modern living, chasing the elusive American Dream while the urgency of rebuilding Gods house is all but forgotten? And isnt it equally true that we usually care for our own ministries much more than the testimony of Jesus?
We devote most of our efforts and time to finding out what we can and want to do for Jesus; few have given any thought at all to what Jesus wants, and how He wants it done. In Nehemiahs time, he returned to Jerusalem only to find the entire city oblivious to the burnt gates and breached walls. The situation really hasnt changed today. While there is no lack of zealous brothers and sisters with burning zeal to serve the Lord, there is a real lack of urgency about the burnt gates and breached walls the desolate condition of the testimony of Jesus.
II) A present word Watchman, what is the time of the night? Watchmen, what is the time of the night?
Under the orchestrating hand of the Holy Spirit, the reverberating chorus continues to raise the level of intensity toward His purpose of the ages.
Our God is a speaking God who reveals His purpose through speaking. Even though God did speak to all His people in captivity, His ultimate intention was only hearkened by the remnant whose hearts responded to Gods stirring to return to Zion to rebuild His house (Ezra 1:3,5). His great purpose was etched and burned into the hearts of the remnant who longed for His presence and returned to Zion.
While God does speak to all His people regardless of where they are, the revelation of His hearts desire is often only seen and received by those who yearn for Him, those who delight in His presence. David, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel, had such a prolific ministry in Psalms because he learned the secret of yearning to dwell in the presence of the Lord. Mary who broke the alabaster bottle of perfume alone knew Jesus heart because she delighted in drawing near at His feet.
To these, the Lord always speaks a present word a word that reveals the richest and rarest and fullest thoughts and feelings of God concerning His purpose of the ages: His Beloved Son. Since the remnant are the ones who are drawn by His presence and purpose to return to Zion, His dwelling place, the prophetic ministry, therefore, must also rest squarely on the shoulders of the remnant, and it must be of such caliber that it reveals Gods hearts desire for the present hour. Historically, we have found the Lord speaking through His remnant in every generation a present word expressing the richest, rarest and fullest thoughts and feelings of God concerning His eternal purpose.
Commenting on the present nature of Gods word, T. Austin-Sparks said, A minister according to Gods mind must have a message for the time. It will not do for us to be giving out things just in a general way. Our Bible teaching must not be just of a general character. What God needs more than anything are those who have a message for the present hour
that our message related to a special time in the purpose of God (The Persistent Purpose of God). Dear saints, does your ministry bring out Gods purpose for the present hour? Do you have a timely word that ministers Gods full thoughts and feelings concerning His Son to your generation, or do you merely minister good Christian ethics, various issues and general teachings and re-hash yesterdays manna? Do you know what time of the night it is?
III) A watchman Watchman, what is the time of the night? Watchman, what is the time of the night?
It is no less significant that the whole question of the prophetic, present ministry should be addressed to a watchman. In fact, there should be a desperate cry going out: Watchmen, we need watchmen! At a time of spiritual decline when the Church generally slumbers into a spirit of deep sleep, when doctrines, teachings, experiences and Christian entertainment titillate our senses and capture our attention but dull our spirits, we need remnant who are awake like the watchmen.
Just what makes a man a watchman? Does a seminary degree make one a watchman? Does a persons giftedness and zeal make him a watchman? Is todays salaried professional preacher a watchman? Are those who bear the most fruit and command the largest assemblies watchmen? All of the above are legitimate issues that demand careful scrutiny, and one would do well to bring them before the Lord; my burden, however, is to pick out just a few positive attributes of a watchman:
1) He is one who waits. Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited
this is the Lord for whom we have waited (Isa. 25:9). One of the hardest things to learn is to wait. Didnt the Lord command us to trade and invest our talents? Didnt He rebuke the passive slave who did nothing with his given talent? Yes, but the exercise of our spiritual talent ought to be conducted in a spiritual context. He is never counting on us to do the trading, earning, and increasing, for in us, that is in our flesh dwells no good thing. It is the Christ in us who works, serves, and ministers to His good pleasure and results in an increase of Christ.
Moses in the flesh possessed great wisdom, power, and zeal, but the Lord could not use any of it. In fact, He had to bring Moses to the back forty and leave him there until ALL his wisdom, power and zeal were sapped out and drained dry! Jacob is another prime example. Even David had to spend many years tending his fathers sheep and many years on the run being chased like a stray dog, then had to wait seven more years before his talents could be fully put to use. Paul, too, possessed great raw talents, but the Lord had to teach him the secret of waiting before he mastered the art of serving.
So, does it mean in waiting, we do nothing? Not necessarily. In fact, one can engage in all kinds of activities outwardly yet remain in a calm and restful waiting on the inside. Nehemiah showed us such an example. His job as the kings cup-bearer probably equals todays presidential advisor; he was likely the kings confidant in the inner circle of power. Yet we find him communing with God while serving the king (Neh. 2:4). Furthermore, just because Moses, David, and Paul all learned to wait before they served does not necessarily mean that once they started serving, they no longer needed to wait. Waiting is first and foremost an inner condition and has little to do with outward activities (or the lack thereof). However, when the Lord is dealing with our flesh or with our natural zeal, He will require us to cease from outward ministries until we have learned to die to our self, as was the case with Moses, David, Paul and countless others.
2) He is the gatekeeper he who opens. Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter (Isa. 26:2). In the Old Testament, the city gate is the place of fellowship, a place where matters are settled through fellowship. The gate is also opened to its citizens, its welcomed guests, its kings and nobles. Spiritually, we need to learn to promote the fellowship of all the saints. Paul suggested that it was through fellowship with all the saints that the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ could be apprehended (Eph. 3:18). In the church, we need the ministry of gatekeepers who have learned the value of fellowship to help us apprehend the many aspects of the multifaceted riches of Christ.
Paul likes to use a single word to describe the unfathomable riches of Christ: mystery. In Col. 2:2-3 Paul said, that their hearts may be knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a full knowledge of the mystery of God Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Since in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, these hidden treasures remain a mystery until someone unlocks the gate of the treasure house. Oh, how we need the ministry of the gatekeepers in the church! Each time we meet, we need to open the gate and usher each other into Christ. Each time we fellowship, we need to open the gate and bring out a little more of the hidden treasures of Christ.
In the book of Revelation there are seven churches in Asia, but only one attained a level of normalcy: the church in Philadelphia. We find, among other things, an open door (gate) here. How blessed this church must have been to possess the little power in keeping the gate, the avenues of fellowship open among the brethren, and through such fellowship to have entered into the riches of Christ.
Then at the end of Revelation we find the New Jerusalem with twelve gates! Isnt this simply marvelous? Twelve gates, an eternally perfect number related to Gods eternal purpose Christ. In Gods consummate purpose and desire, His people should be abounding, nay, super-abounding in perfect fellowship concerning His perfect Son; and through such overflowing fellowship to usher each other to enter in, search out, experience and possess in full the unsearchable riches of Christ throughout eternity. Dont wait for that day to experience this reality. Even today in the church, there needs to be a microcosm of the twelve gates where the saints can help usher each other to Christ. Do not delay, open the gates today! Lord, recover the gatekeepers for us.
3) He is the gatekeeper he who shuts. On the negative side, a gatekeeper also keeps out unwanted elements by keeping the gate shut when it should be shut. Not all fellowship edifies, not all fellowship is unto Gods purpose, not all fellowship is according to sound doctrines, and unfortunately, not all fellowship ushers us into Christ. So, in order to keep out negative elements that hinder the edifying in Christ, the gatekeeper must learn to discern death from life. The knowledge that puffs up, the letter that kills, the myths and endless genealogies, the profane, the doctrinal debates that do not foster life and building, the every wind of teaching that leads astray, the heresies
these things ought not to be allowed in and wreak havoc among the saints.
Historically as well as presently, we have seen that when the hands of the gatekeepers are tied, many assemblies have left themselves wide open to be hijacked and taken over by fleshly, domineering and ambitious elements.
But do we really know how and when to shut the gates? I am not so sure. I have witnessed first-hand many precious brothers and sisters being devastated by the ruthless and careless slamming of the gate of rejection in the church. Christ is the real Gatekeeper. Only He knows when and how to shut the gate. We find a type of Him in Psa. 84:10, For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Here Christ is portrayed as a lowly butler standing at the gate. If we want to have the spiritual authority to be able to reject the undesirable fellowship from entering into the church, we had better first allow the Lord to instill His character into us; after all, it is His character that constitutes the gate.
Our zeal to keep out death by arbitrarily shutting the gate could ironically bring death into the camp. On the other hand, when Christ is constituted in us, His character will automatically expose and deny any questionable element from sneaking in. What an urgent need therefore it is to have Christ woven into our character!
The Prophetic Ministry A Grand Finale
Finally, the ministry of the remnant is a ministry of the recovery from ruin and desolation to the fullness and glory of Christ. Chapter 34 paints a gloomy picture of the desolation of the land that has been judged by God with its corpses, blood, dried-up riverbed, burning tar pits and smoke along with savage beasts and birds of prey
. Without belaboring the specific details of each item, suffice to say that it is a picture of our flesh in its manifold manifestations.
One of the many sad features in chapter 34 is perhaps summed up in the phrases, the hairy goat shall cry to its kind (v. 14) and, the hawks shall be gathered there, every one with its kind (v. 15). Not to mention the error of the denominations which divides the Body of Christ by doctrines, practices, experiences, cultures and personalities, they are also characterized by congregating with their kind. Likewise, among the remnant who have escaped the denominational error, one of the greatest danger is also the proclivity to congregate with our kind. Paul categorized division or the exclusive spirit under deeds of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-20). May the Lord convict our hearts that exclusivism perpetuates the desolate conditions of the church!
Yes, it is absolutely necessary to seek out and gather with brethren of kindred spirit and like vision, but it is entirely wrong to evolve into a clique of a Mutual Admiration Society. It is sad to see dear saints who left institutional errors only to form holy huddles of their own kind. It is divisive and destructive to despise, exclude and look down on precious members of the same Body who might not have the same vision and understanding of Scripture. May the cry of the remnant be, Lord, enlarge our hearts to embrace ALL Your children; and enlarge our circle of fellowship to include ALL Your people!
Regarding the necessity to seek out and gather with like-minded saints while maintaining fellowship with all Gods people, J.N. Darby said it well, We must have big hearts and small feet. The big heart is to include and embrace all Gods people for fellowship; the small feet are needed to restrict ourselves to traverse only the paths that lead to Gods eternal purpose through revelation. Sad to say though, the Brethren history has cast a distorted hue to the validity of this beautiful principle. Darby himself vigorously pursued to be faithful to the vision that was given him (the small feet) but sacrificed the need to embrace all Gods people for fellowship (the big heart), and his group fell into exclusivism.
The Open Brethren on the other hand, over-corrected by adopting and compromising with the teachings and practices of the denominations and groups, and departed from the original vision and the narrow path. The Open Brethrens eagerness to embrace all believers prompted them to sacrifice the light that helped make them the remnant in the first place. How we need Gods mercy to help us traverse the narrow path (with small feet) while maintaining fellowship with all Gods people (with big heart)!
Suddenly, chapter 35 reverses the gloomy story of judgment and gives us a joyful picture of the recovery of the fullness of Christ. Such a dramatic recovery now symphonizes into a grand harmony that includes: the wilderness and the desert that are glad, the Arabah that rejoices and blossoms like the rose, the glory of Lebanon and the majesty of Carmel and Sharon, the slack-handed the feeble- kneed, the anxious-hearted, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the dumb, and the fools. In other words, the genuine recovery of the remnant MUST include ALL different varieties of Gods people, and they are usually not a very pretty sight except for the inward beauty of Christ. Didnt Paul say that among Gods people there were not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble? Our own kind should never be the ground of fellowship. Even vision, as important as it is, should never be the only ground of our fellowship. Christ is our only common ground.
A genuine recovery must include every joint and every member that supplies life to the body. When we have yielded to the work of the Holy Spirit in dealing with us through the cross thereby causing the character of Christ to increase in us, then the pains of a woman in labor that Isaiah experienced shall become our reality and give birth to the remnant who minister the grand finale of the symphony of the recovery of the fullness of Christ. Let it be so! Let it be so!
The Ministry of the Remnant A Postlude
Enlarge the place of your tent; stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendents will possess nations, and they will resettle the desolate cities (Isa. 54:2-3).
The land of Canaan with its milk and honey, hills and valleys, brooks and fountains, fruits and produce, iron and copper
typifies the fullness of Christ. Such fullness can never be possessed and experienced by any single person regardless of his maturity or spiritual stature. It can only be possessed by a corporate entity. In the Old Testament this corporate vessel was the nation of Israel; in the New Testament it is the Church, the Body of Christ.
After Israel entered the land of Canaan, the land was divided and possessed by the tribes of Israel. Except for the tribe of Levi, each received a portion of the land as an inheritance. Some received bigger portions, some smaller, but all were equally important, necessary and precious when viewed as a single corporate vessel. To the Israelites, this apportionment was extremely important. It determined the boundaries of their properties. Severe consequence (curse) resulted if the boundary lines were removed or encroached upon (Deut. 27:17).
In the light of the New Testament, it is easy to see that this is a picture of the body of Christ with its various members having different portions of Christ enabling them to function in different capacities. Amazingly, David had discovered this long before the dispensational change. In Psalm 16:5-6, he declared, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; Thou dost support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. Oh, if only Christians could see what David saw! No matter how big or small, our portions of Christ are pleasant and beautiful.
When Christians are in firm possession of their portions and functioning accordingly, it is nothing less than awesome. But to our dismay, nothing of this sort is in plain sight. Alas, how carelessly we have surrendered our portions to members who have greater portions! Sunday after Sunday, the more gifted members encroach upon and swallow up the portions of the less gifted; and the smaller- portioned saints willingly forfeit theirs to the greater-portioned. The worldly thinking of the religious system has programmed and conditioned us to put the five-talent members on pedestals and to accept a depreciated value of our single talent. Beware, lest we allow the system to lure us into committing the grave error of the one-talent servant in Jesus parable.
Religious systems aside, even in places where Clergy-Laity distinctions have been done away, the same threat of encroachment by zealous and gifted members still exists. With all due respect to the gifted ones, the insignificant sparrows the common members also have their place in the House of God (Psa. 84). Much unnecessary grief can be spared by learning to respect each others beautiful and pleasant ancient boundary lines (Prov. 22:28; 23:10).
End of Part I
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