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October 25 2020 “The Remnant” – Isaiah 10-11

THE REMNANT

Isaiah 10:20-23,10:33-11:4 (Prophets 75-76)

INTRODUCTION

On Labor Day weekend, a coworker of mine got an urgent phone call. She needed to evacuate her home in Walterville because of the looming Holiday Farm fire, that we all know about. She and her home survived, but the story that struck me was that of her mother. Her 81-year old mother lived in the family home in Blue River, was recovering from knee surgery, and had little time to grab her cats and a few belongings when she got the call to evacuate. As she left, she looked at her two miniature horses, knew they wouldn’t make it, but opened the barn door and let them out anyway. The family escaped to Walterville, then Eugene, as the blaze engulfed the McKenzie River valley. As the days went on, the family waited and waited. A week or two later when a handful of relatives went back to Blue River to assess the damage, they saw what survived. Nothing. Until they saw the two things this 81-year-old mother worried about the most – the two horses, alive and well. My coworker was praising God in spite of all the loss they underwent.

When we experience profound loss, or see things falling apart and fear the worst, what joy we find when we are reassured that all is not lost. That there is a remnant.

In the narrative flow and emphasis of Biblical history, the remnant of Israel is a critical part not only of people’s joy, but of God’s work in the world.

[READ Isa 10:20-23]

 

REMNANT IN THIS PASSAGE

In the immediate context of this passage, God is promising judgement on his people for all the evil and idolatry they have practiced.

  • God decided to destroy the entire land (v23)
    • God will “rightly decided to destroy his people”, ESV: “destruction is decreed overflowing with righteousness”, NIV: “Overwhelming and righteous”.

Wait! God had promised Abraham they would be like sand of seashore (Gen 22:17), but only a remnant will return.

  • Why just a remnant? What’s going on? God’s people are supposed to be as populous as the grains of sand on the Oregon Dunes!
  • If we look at the Biblical pattern, it’s not ever increasing growth, like some idealistic PowerPoint graph at a business board meeting. It is exiles and remnants everywhere!
    • Adam & Eve exiled from the garden because of sin, and within a few generations, only a minority followed the Lord – like Abel and Enoch.
    • Noah’s family a remnant of humanity survived on the ark.
    • Lot and his daughters a remnant from destroyed Sodom
    • When Elijah runs away to the wilderness, feels like he’s the only one left – the rest of the kingdom has rejected God. But God says he’s preserved a remnant – 7000 who didn’t bow to Baal.
    • There is a pattern building, which the prophets flesh out. God hasn’t finished his “sand on the seashore” promise yet. He is still at work.

The phrase REMNANT appears in the OT prophets a lot. These are survivors, those who escaped tragedy, horror, destruction, and especially in the OT – judgement. Today we’d call them refugees. Those who barely made it, who escaped with their lives. This is a minority, a ragtag group amidst foreigners, oppressors, in hiding, or just lying low. I can imagine them feeling alone, shaken, traumatized, grieving, or just focused on survival.

  • We hear their struggle for hope when they are so few:
    • “I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”” (Amos 7:2 NIV11)
    • “If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9 ESV)
    • “But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”” (Isaiah 6:13 NIV11)

And yet, they are surviving. God is preserving this group! They aren’t those who snuck away from judgement and somehow escaped God’s radar.

  • “God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant” (Ezra 9:8 NIV11)
  • “All the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (Isaiah 46:3–4 NIV11)
  • God called Isaiah to name his son: Shear-Jashub (a remnant will return), and that phrase is emphatically repeated here in Isa 10.
  • In this passage, it’s clear God will hold Assyria accountable for the atrocities they commit, for the evil they do. His justice is equal and fair. But for those who survive, it’s not just about national or ethnic survival.

When the judgement is for ethical & spiritual sins, restoration must be ethical and spiritual.

  • “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:14–15 NIV11)
  • God calls the remnant to be faithful, acknowledges the remnant isn’t preserved because it the perfect chosen few, but are equally sinners and prone to the same temptations. The prophet calls them to right living, to right just society, to covenant faithfulness, and he offers God’s mercy to them.
  • “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18–19 NIV11)
  • The remnant in the prophets is characterized by faith and repentance. The prophets stress an active turning around, coming back. Return to land and return to the Lord! Trust the holy one of Israel!
    • “But I will leave within you the meek and humble. The remnant of Israel will trust in the name of the LORD. They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths. They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid.”” (Zephaniah 3:12–13 NIV11)
    • “for I will forgive the remnant I spare.” (Jeremiah 50:20 NIV11)

 

REMNANT IN NT

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul picks up on this theme. In Romans 9-11, a fairly complicated passage for many, he reiterates that not all descendants of Abraham are God’s people, but only “children of promise.”

  • He notes God’s pattern of working through the unexpected, the minority, the lessor in society, as he notes in 9:12 that God multiple times chooses younger siblings, those voted “least likely to succeed” in that ancient culture, like Jacob and David, to inherit the promise and lead his people.
  • In 9:17 God shows his power against worldly majority, against those in power like Pharaoh through ragtag group of slaves!
  • Paul speaks of how this remnant is called from both Jews & Gentiles in 10:12, that there is no distinction – God’s offer is equally abundant to all ethnicities and cultures.
  • Paul reiterates the prophets’ emphasis that the remnant isn’t “the deserving few”, but in 9:27 that they are saved by grace through faith.
  • Being a part of the remnant might make the feeling of God’s rejection hit home, but it is more so a sign of our rejection of God and his response of grace.

The remnant is a messy group, not sure what’s next, but trusting in God’s promises. Things might seem hopeless, dead-looking like a burnt down forest. But all hope is not lost. Like in a forest, after awhile we start to see something grow, we see a new sprout and notice something is happening! In the next chapter, Isaiah shows what God can do with a remnant. In this passage we see Jesus all over it, and as Bishop NT Wright says multiple times in his writings, we see in Jesus the embodiment of the remnant of Israel of God.

 

JESUS AS REMNANT

[READ Isa 10:33-11:4]

  • 11:1 Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. [THIS FRUIT IS US! THE REPLICATION OF CHRIST INTO THE WORLD, AS FRUIT REPLICATES A SINGLE PLANT. [also mentioned in Jer 25]
  • 11:2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— [like it did at his baptism in Matt 3:16] the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, [as mentioned in Eph 1:17 for us!]
  • the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. [Lord not given a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control! 2 Tim 1:7]
  • 11:3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
    • 7:21 – not everyone who says “lord, lord”, but those who do will of the father!
    • After all Paul’s talk about being the remnant, he says in the next chapter, Rm 12:1-2, to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, to prove the will of the Lord! The goal and practice of God’s remnant people is one of transformation.
  • He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay.
    • This is a big deal in our times! There are political and marketing experts and companies that specialize in getting me to react to appearances, to vote based on rumor and innuendo, to get met to read trashy gossip through click-bait headlines in the internet.
    • “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” (John 2:24–25 NIV11)
    • What if we hold up the presupposition Jesus did when we watch political ads or debates — it all comes from a heart and conscience blinded by sin, broken by evil, desiring at best imperfect goods and at worst, money pleasure and power?!
    • What if we held the plumb line of the Biblical ethic to public issues, to business decisions, to family conflicts?
  • 11:4a He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited.
    • Jesus proclaimed the fulfillment of this in the synagogue in Nazareth, in Luke 4:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind.”
  • 11:4b The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
    • Jesus calms the storm with a word, sword in his mouth – God’s word
    • “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” (Revelation 2:16 NIV11)
  • In all these verses, we Jesus embody the remnant of the Israel of God. He is the ultimate remnant, and he calls us to join him.
    • For example, just look at the Sermon on the mount.
    • The Beatitudes are a description of the remnant, esp the persecuted.
    • His people are described as salt & light –something small with a big impact.
    • He downplays the importance of the cultural majority, condemning the “things the Gentiles seek” in 6:32.
    • He calls us to enter the narrow gate of the kingdom in 7:13, saying that “few are those who find it”.
  • The remnant includes those who follow Israel’s messiah, people from all nations as the prophets talk about
    • “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.” (Isaiah 11:10 NIV11)
    • “The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for anyone or depend on man.” (Micah 5:7 NIV11)

 

APPLICATION

What do we do with these ideas about the remnant?

There’s a sense in which we instinctively see ourselves as a faithful remnant. When we see abusive churches, those who unjustly manipulate money from the poor, those who look the other way when racism or unjust war or abortions or other evils take place. The dark stereotypes of TV preachers, perverted priests and youth leaders taking advantage of the vulnerable, or those we label heretics who are too soft or too hard in their theology. We say we’re faithful, we will do better, we’re not like the religious rabble over there.

As protestants unfortunately, we are known for creating new groups, breaking off in protest, and seeing ourselves as a more godly (or at least more Biblical) group. Famously, Mormon groups and Adventists see themselves as a faithful remnant with respect to wider Christianity. Sometimes it’s even expressed as a sub-group within a congregation from which conflict explodes.

But if Jesus is the faithful obedient remnant of Israel, it’s not about a subcategory we define, but he does. It’s defined by faithful and sacrificial obedience as a minority usually rejected group.

A six-year-old blog post by pastor Brian Zahnd from St. Joseph, Missouri, flew around the internet afresh this year in light of social unrest and BLM movements. This white middle aged pastor in middle America entitled the article, “My Problem with the Bible.” This article has helped clarify my vision of a Biblical remnant.

“See, I’m trying to read the Bible for all it is worth, but I’m not a Hebrew slave suffering in Egypt. I’m not a conquered Judean deported to Babylon. I’m not a first century Jew living under Roman occupation.”

 “I’m a citizen of a superpower. I was born among the conquerors. I live in the empire. But I want to read the Bible and think it’s talking to me. This is a problem.”

“One of the most remarkable things about the Bible is that in it we find the narrative told from the perspective of the poor, the oppressed, the enslaved, the conquered, the occupied, the defeated. This is what makes it prophetic. We know that history is written by the winners. This is true — except in the case of the Bible it’s the opposite! This is the subversive genius of the Hebrew prophets. They wrote from a bottom-up perspective.”

This means that the Scriptures were written by the remnant, not the majority or those famous in power, not by rock star preachers or prophets. He goes on…

“Imagine a history of colonial America written by Cherokee Indians and African slaves. That would be a different way of telling the story! And that’s what the Bible does. It’s the story of Egypt told by the slaves. The story of Babylon told by the exiles. The story of Rome told by the occupied. What about those brief moments when Israel appeared to be on top? In those cases, the prophets told Israel’s story from the perspective of the peasant poor as a critique of the royal elite.”

This challenges me as a white heterosexual college-educated male from an upper middle-class family, a citizen of one of the most powerful and influential countries on earth, fully employed with benefits, and having few experiences of profound traumatic suffering in life. What do I know about being a remnant? It takes me more work than the Palestine Christian, the Chinese refugee who hears the Bible.

How would poor exiled Jews, maybe descended from one of the more obscure tribes like Naphtali, living in a majority pagan Greek town, hear passages like in Hebrews?

  • “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
  • “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
  • As the Jewish exile heard their story, with each hero in God’s remnant of faith, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, and others, about those “who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. [those who] faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. … put to death by stoning; …sawed in two; …killed by the sword. … the world was not worthy of them”
  • How their heart would be filled, how much greater was their God than the present political system in front of them! How much more compelling was the story of faith than the cultural stories of pleasure, popular figures, and power!

The remnant are those amidst a hostile world who follow Jesus only as Lord.  We do what he says, no matter how hard it is, no matter what privilege we might lose. If we’re going along with the majority around us, or if we feel comfortable in our practice of our faith in the world, let’s check ourselves. How am I truly living differently than the majority cultural values around us, whether politically, socially, sexually, or whatever?

The prophetic and Apostolic use of the remnant image calls us to faithfulness, to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles… [to] run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

Let us focus on Jesus the remnant, the Creator of the universe who prefers to look through our eyes incarnated as human, who prefers to let those on the bottom rungs of society tell his story, and be the salt and light the majority and powerful of the world need.

 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I want us to remember that “we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV11). Seeing the world from the eyes of the remnant is bottom-up, but it’s also top-down from God’s perspective. Listen to his promise in Micah, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the exiles and those I have brought to grief. I will make the lame my remnant, those driven away a strong nation. The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion from that day and forever.” (Micah 4:6–7 NIV11)

Christ’s resurrection shows the power that underlies the remnant faithful. We see God’s promises inaugurated, but not consummated. The world is driven by a fear of death, guilt, and shame. The risen Christ tells us “don’t be afraid”, “there is no condemnation”, “well done, good and faithful servant.” If we have ears to hear, not just the good news, but the hard news of obedience, we will remain in the remnant.

The mark of a Christian is acting like a member of the faithful remnant – God is present in one’s life, one embraces a lifestyle of repentance (as Luther said), continually praying “Lord have mercy”. It’s a life of “godly grief” – weeping over our own sin and embrace of evil, whether it’s taking privilege for granted and not sharing it, excluding others, or being selfish with our own material possessions. This godly grief leads to repentance and a profound desire to change our attitudes and lifestyle.

This godly grief also weeps over injustice in the world. Whether it’s the gulags in North Korea, modern forms of slavery, or injustices that brought BLM into the headlines. It recognizes that the proper response to police brutality and race-based bias throughout society is not just individual repentance – it’s the collective pursuit of ways to turn society around, to grieve our past, to correct what is wrong, and pursue healing for what is broken.

It recognizes that sin will be present in this world until Christ returns. But our calling in the present is to pursue Jesus’ way. Because the size of the remnant doesn’t matter. Only a few grains of salt can enhance a gallon of soup. Only a small keychain light can illumine the darkest places.

When I think about people like St. Francis of Assissi, Jan Huss, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, William Wilberforce, all the nameless faithful in the underground railroad and abolitionist movements, Dorothy Day, John Lewis, and many others whose names none of us will hear about, they sound like remnant people. I remember the economy of God. God doesn’t need this congregation to get huge, he needs us to be faithful. To be the remnant, not in a prideful way, but a biblical way. To let the Spirit’s work in us nourish the souls in our lives, show honor and dignity to the downtrodden on our midst, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.