Articles
Will He Find Faith? Yes! The Remnant!
Barbara L. Klika, MSW, Undershepherd, Life Coach
September 2019
...Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ?
Luke 18:8b KJV
This is a searching question, and surely, a rhetorical one since we know that YHWH is omniscient, living outside of time. But for us...living in a time of great upheaval socially, politically, economically and in the natural world, too...it is an important question. Personalizing it, with all that is going on around us to cause us to question God's goodness and even His reality for that matter, will we be found in faith when Messiah returns?
Throughout the Scriptures from the very beginning until the end, there is a recurring theme of the remnant. This implies of course, that out of a larger number of people, a smaller number of people will be found faithful. Who are they? How do I know whether or not I am one of them?
We know that it is foretold that there will be an apostasy, a falling away, from His Truth and His ways. In fact, we know that the real Messiah will not return UNTIL there has been this falling away as the man of sin, the "in the place of" Messiah is revealed.
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 KJV
It doesn’t take much research to find that many churches are struggling to hold on to their people. As a result, many have made compromises and tried to soften God's expectations. In so doing, they are sadly, leading right into not only a falling away of individuals from the faith but the falling away of entire denominations as they preach a modified gospel that will not offend the people.
Yet His Truth remains. It is God alone Who is the source of our salvation and our peace. The remnant that is found faithful at His return will know Him and experience His peace. Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.
Psalm 62:1
There will be a separation, and indeed, already is, a separation of those who will look to our God and those who will not. As a shepherd leads his flock and separates those who are not of his flock, so does our Good Shepherd, Yeshua Messiah do the same. As we draw closer to His return, it seems that God has arranged for the differences to become even more pronounced.
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he
that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Revelation 22:11 KJV
Whatever path we choose, He will make sure it will become clear. He does have a sense of humor you know, or irony! Demanding things to satisfy our flesh is hardly wise! May we never fall into despising our Creator! When the Israelites were in the desert and bewailed the missing meat and leaks, He responded:
You will eat it not for one or two days, nor for five or ten or twenty days, but for a whole month
until it comes out of your nostrils and makes you nauseous— because you have despised LORD
who is among you, and cried out before Him saying, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'
Numbers 11:19-20
If we choose the path of being more righteous and holy/set apart still, we will come to know Him ever more intimately. And, no surprise, there likely won't be a crowd where we walk. So, the faithful remnant will be just a portion of all those who have named His Name yet refused to walk after Him in His ways. They will be choosing to separate themselves from the things of the world and refocusing on Trust and Obedience to the Creator of all things. He laid out the path for us to walk...that path of righteousness we are so familiar with from Psalm 23.
For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the
shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:25
Don't fail to notice that this reference is from Peter, who like David in Psalm 23, was referring to our Father God. It was Messiah Yeshua's finished work that brings us back to Him, and in so doing, He was not only the Lamb of God but also our Good Shepherd who will not lose any that the Father has given 0 Him. The faithful remnant will have a witness and testimony that He is their personal Shepherd.
And lest one argue that only those of Jewish descent will be saved and among that remnant, be reminded that Judah was only one of the twelve tribes of Israel, also called Jacob. Paul claimed his heritage as an Israelite even as he spoke the whole Gospel of Yeshua to the Gentiles.
I say then, Hath God castaway his people? God forbid. For l also am an Israelite,
of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Romans 11:1
So, anyone who would boast of his claim to being part of the remnant just because he is of a bloodline of the whole House of Jacob/lsrael, must remember that even the natural branches need to be grafted back in by faith in Messiah Yeshua.
And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
Romans 11:23
Ah, but probably more of WCN readers are those who count themselves among the gentiles. How grateful we are that He made a way for us to become part of His family! Really, those who believe in Messiah Yeshua are no longer gentiles, but have become a part of the Chosen People, the Family of God! Here, too, there will just be a remnant taken from among all the people for His Name's sake.
Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; asitis written, "After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old. "
Acts 15:14-18
How we praise and glorify our God for His wisdom and mercy and kindness toward us all! He has always known exactly who the remnant will be...those that He brings back around to the renewed Garden with the right to enter to the Tree of Life therein. Those who walk uprightly in His ways, not their own. He has remembered and made a way for both Jew and Gentile in Messiah!
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Revelation 22: 14 KJV
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in partis happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Romans 11:25-26
Yes, the great falling away, the "in the place of" Messiah, the filthy getting more filthy and the righteous more righteous; all of that happening while those who honor our God, the God of Israel are trying to draw near to Him like the five wise virgins! Where Christians have thought that Israel needs to be brought to the Christian style of faith, yet we see that the Word says otherwise. We will return to the ancient paths and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles!
Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. And should any of the families of the earth not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, the rain will not fall on them…..
Zechariah 14:16-17 Berean Study Bible
Our annual rehearsal for that Feast is nearly upon us this very year!
And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come!
Will_He_Find_Faith_Yes_the_Remnant.pdf