the remnant

When you read your Bible you will discover that God has always had to deal with a remnant of His covenant people.  God’s promises are to all men but not all men will lay claim to His promises.  In order for all men to access the promises of God, He would need to compromise and He will not do that for anyone.  The remnant are the people who obey their Lord despite what the majority choose to do.
 
Isaiah 1:4 A sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, they have forsaken the Lord, they provoked Him to anger and have gone away backward.
 
The people were not ignorant, God warned them about mingling with other tribes, but they wouldn’t listen.  God would not deviate from His promise, if you were faithful you obtained the promise, if you turned away God left you to your own devices.  The people knew what they needed to do and when they turned away they went into captivity.  Early on they blamed God but when they became honest with themselves they began to cry out to God.
 
Isaiah 1:9 Except the Lord left unto us a very small remnant we would have been like unto Sodom and Gomorrah.
 
Everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah died.  If the remnant ever acted like the main body, there would be no one left.  They estimate that there were about 500,000 people in Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.  Only a very small remnant was spared in those cities, Lot and his two daughters.  Church attendance has dropped over fifty percent in the last couple of decades.  Not everyone who belongs to a church can be called a “Christian”, many do not accept Jesus as their Savior!  Once again God must deal with a remnant, He has no choice, the majority of people have their own doctrine.  Most folks believe that anyone who calls themselves a Christian will go in the rapture, but that is not true.  Some “Christians” know nothing about a rapture.
 
Mathew 24:44 Be ye also ready (willing) for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.
 
How many believers are looking for the return of Jesus?  Your lifestyle determines if you’re ready or not, not all believers will go in the first load!  The Bible clearly teaches that there are pre-trib saints, mid-trib saints and post-trib saints.  Some people choose one of the three and teach that all Christians will be in that one.  The Bible clearly teaches that the remnant will be the pre-trib saints, I don’t know how many will be in this group.
 
Revelation 7:14 A great multitude appeared in Heaven.  These are they which came out of great tribulation, they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
 
These are the mid-trib saints that did not come up in the first load, they were not looking for the return of Jesus.  They were the “great multitude”.  They were not a remnant, but they repented of their sins during the first half of the tribulation.  One thing I noticed about the remnant, they get a lot of attention from their Lord, they are all He has to work with. If you are a faithful, dedicated child of God, you’re the remnant and God needs you to hear Him.  Being of the remnant does not make you better than anyone, it means God can see you.

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