The Lord's remnant, in the closing scenes of this present age prior to Christ's return, is
made mention of in many places in the prophetic books of the Bible. There is
considerable confusion as to whom this is in reference to; especially in some present day
Christian denominations.
I believe it is safe to say that this group is not selected at the present time except
in the mind of God, but let us see how we all should be able to identify them at the time
of God's selective process. I believe we can take for now that this group must be
selected from literal Israelites who will be living in the land of Israel at the beginning
of the Great Tribulation.
I believe Zechariah, whose book is almost completely devoted to the accounting of God's
end time events, has brought out the details of how God's selective process sifts out the
Israelites who will be struck down and perish from those who will be purified and become
the survivors, or remnant; and reconciled to God.
Zech. 13:8,9 -- "In the whole land, (of Israel) declares the Lord,
two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I
will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They
will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they
will say, 'The Lord is our God.'"
This is the scene when Jerusalem is surrounded by the One World Order evil military
combine -- headed by the Antichrist who in reality is Satan personified as a man.
The ten kings have given him their authority and support to advance his agenda.
The above account is what happens in their encounter with the country of Israel.
I believe this must be on the drawing boards at the present time, but awaiting for
the peace process to be concluded to extract every possible concession out of Israel
before they begin their war. Notice Paul's prophecy as to how the peace process fits
into these events:
1 Thess. 5:1-3 (NRSV) -- Now concerning the times and the seasons,
brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you
yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction
will come upon them, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!
I heard on the news this past week that the officials involved in bringing about the
implementation of the peace process between Israel and her neighbors have set the goal of
completing this and signed by this coming September (2000). I believe Isaiah has
given a clue as to how events will follow the signing of the peace process:
Isaiah 33:7-9 -- Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the
envoys of peace weep bitterly, no travelers are on the roads.
The treaty is broken, its witnesses despised, no one
is respected.
The land mourns and withers away, Lebanon is ashamed
and withers.
This is speaking of Israel during this time of her desolation and destruction at the
time of the end. Now we return to Zechariah for more details of the destruction of
Israel by the multinational conglomerate:
Zech. 14:1,2 -- A day of the Lord is coming when your plunder will be
divided among you.
I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to fight
against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped.
Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the
city.
It is important to see that God is arranging and in control of thispunishment and
destruction of the Israelites; the survivors of which will constitute His remnant.
Note Isaiah's contribution through prophetic vision:
Isaiah 10:20-23 -- In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of
the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on
the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the
sea, only a remnant will return.
Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and
righteous.
The Lord, the Lord Almighty, will carry out the
destruction decreed upon the whole land.
The entire first chapter of the Book of Isaiah is a prophecy that Isaiah received from
God as to Israel's condition at the time of the end; the time their country is destroyed
and the survivors are punished for their rebellion:
Isaiah 1:7-8 -- Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when over
thrown by strangers.
The Daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege.
Vs. 9 -- Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would
have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.
Vs. 9 (KJV) -- Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we
should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah.
Why would they have been like Sodom and Gomorrah if a remnant was not preserved?
It is because Sodom and Gomorrah were completely destroyed without survivors to repopulate
these people groups.
God will take care that in this end time destruction of the Israelites, living in the
land of Israel, that a small number of surviving remnant will be protected for His
purposes.
In 2 Kings 19 we have penned the account of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, when he came
to Jerusalem, to destroy it. Note this account carefully because God uses
Sennacherib and his encounter with God and the Israelites to make him a symbol or
application of what God will do to Assyria in a similar situation at the time of the end:
2 Kings 19:20-36 -- Then Isaiah son of Amos sent a message to Hezekiah:
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I have heard your prayers
concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. This is the word that the Lord has spoken against
him:
"The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and
mocks you. The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. Who is it
you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted
your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers
you have heaped insults on the Lord.
And you have said, "With my many chariots I have
ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its
pines. I have reached its remotest parts, the finest of its forests.
I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water
there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt."
Vss. 25-31 -- "Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified
cities into piles of stone. Their people drained of power are
dismayed and put to shame....
But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how
you rage against me. Because you rage against me and your insolence has reached my
ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return
by the way you came."
"This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah...
Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root
below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of
Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."
Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king
of Assyria: "He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not
come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came
he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city
and save it, for my sake and for the sake of my servant David."
Vs. 35 -- That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred
and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next
morning -- there were all the dead bodies.
Now that we can see how the Assyrian army was destroyed by God in the type, let us see
how He describes its destruction to be carried out in the anti-type. This is
Assyria, probably as represented by present day Iraq participating in the Battle of
Armageddon.
Isaiah 30:30-33 -- The Lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice
and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with
cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his
scepter he will strike them down. Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his
punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle
with the blows of his arm.
Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made
ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of
fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Once again it will be God doing the battle to preserve His remnant according to His
promise to Abraham.
Isaiah 31:4,5 -- This is what the Lord says to me:
"As a lion growls, a great lion over his prey - and
though a whole band of shepherds is called together against him, he is not frightened by
their shouts or disturbed by their clamor -- so the Lord Almighty will come down
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will
shield it and deliver it, he will pass over it and rescue it.
Vss. 8,9 -- "Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man; a sword, not
of mortals, will devour them. They will flee before the sword and their young men will be
put to forced labor.
Their stronghold will fall because of terror; at
sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic," declares the Lord, whose
fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
The population of Israel today is over five million, but for ease of computation, let
us assume that it is six million. In that case four million Israelites will be
killed and the remaining one-third will be divided into two equal groups. Fifty
percent (one million) will go into exile -- most likely to the ten nations
represented by the ten horns of the beast (or ten toes of the Image).
The other million will remain in Jerusalem and undergo trampling and brutalizing for
the same 1260 days. These will be set free by the arrival of Christ at His Second
Coming, at which time He destroys this destroyer and his multinational armies.
Following this, the exiles scattered in the various participating nations will be
gathered up and brought to Jerusalem and the holy land -- and not one will be
missing.
These two groups are called the remnant, or survivors of the literal Israelites who had
been living in the holy land at the time of the end.
Notice in Isaiah's prophecy how God gets the attention of this rebellious group who for
two thousand years have refused to accept Christ as God.
Isaiah 27:8,9 -- By warfare and exile; you contend with her (Israel)
-- with his fierce blasts he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.
By this, then, will Jacob's guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the
removal of his sins.
Following Armageddon with its setting free the exiles, which represent fifty percent of
the remnant, note how God deals with them:
Jer. 23:3-6 -- "The days are coming," declares the Lord,
"when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and
do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel
will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our
Righteousness."
And now after the Battle of Armageddon is over, the country is being cleaned up and the
exiles have been returned to their homeland -- the land of Israel, to unite with
those who have been trampled there for the preceding three and one-half years. These
are the survivors in the land of Israel that remain.
Isaiah gives us a beautiful picture of the changing scenes that follow, with Christ
taking charge personally from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 30:25,26 -- In the day of great slaughter (Armageddon) when the
towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every
lofty hill.
The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight
will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up
the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
Isaiah 4:2-6 -- In that day the Branch (Christ) of the Lord will
be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the
survivors in Israel.
Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will
be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem.
The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of
Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit
of fire.
Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and
over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night;
over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of
the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.
Jesus, in His prophecy of end time events in Luke 21 is referring to the prophecy as
given earlier by Zechariah. This concerns the punishment of Israel which God brings about
through an evil multinational army. It also describes the trampled and exiled which
will represent the remnant at His Second Coming.
Luke 21:20-24 -- When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you
will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the
mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.
For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of
all that has been written...
There will be great distress in the land (this
happens during the Great Tribulation) and wrath against this people. They will fall
by the sword (2/3 will be struck down and perish) and will be taken as prisoners to all
the nations. (50% of the remaining l/3).
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles (the
other 50% of remaining l/3) until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
After this graphic description by Jesus, He makes the following statement that fixes in
celestial cement that this represents an end time event associated with His Second Coming.
Vss 27,28 -- At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in
a cloud with power and great glory.
When these things begin to take place, stand up and
lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near.
Isaiah prophesies about this trampling of the remnant that comes as punishment to the
survivors in Jerusalem at the time of the end.
Isaiah 51:17-23 -- Awake, Awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you
who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you have drained to the
dregs the goblet that makes men stagger...
Vss. 21-23 -- Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not
with wine. This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God who defends his people:
"See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that
made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.
I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, 'Fall prostrate that we
may walk over you,' and you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked
on."
This is one of those places that Jesus referred to in describing the punishment of the
Israelites which had been prophesied in the Scriptures. What better way could one
describe someone being trampled? This is to show the relationship of these
prophecies to one another as expressing the same future event.
We know that this trampling will be brought to an end when Christ and His army destroys
the oppressor's armies in the Battle of Armageddon. The oppressors must have to
drink the undiluted mixture of God's wrath since they will be totally destroyed.
There is not an indiscriminate slaughter of the 2/3 of the land of Israel, although the
selection is made by God and not by the armies of the Antichrist:
Zeph. 3:9-20 -- On that day you will not be put to shame for all
the wrongs you have done to me, because I will remove from this city those who rejoice in
their pride.
Never again will you be haughty on my holy hill. But
I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the Lord.
The severe pruning (2/3) of the nation of Israel represents God removing those He is
listing above -- those that rejoice in their pride and the haughty. Those one-third
who remain will consist of the remnant or survivors.
Vs. 13 -- The remnant of Israel will do no wrong; they will speak
no lies, nor will deceit be found in their mouths. They will eat and lie down and no
one will make them afraid...
Vs. 15 -- The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned
back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any
harm...
Vss. 19,20 -- At that time I will deal with all who oppressed
you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them
praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame. I will give you honor
and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your
very eyes," says the Lord.
Now that we see how the Antichrist, with his multi-national armies attack and desolate
Jerusalem and the country of Israel, the time when the remnant survivors of the Israelites
begin their 3-l/2 years of horror, we come to the termination of this prophesied 1260 days
at which time Christ is scheduled to come to Zion with His heavenly armies to do battle
with this evil combine and to set its hostages free.
I had always accepted that Christ's' army was composed of angels, but there are several
Scriptures which cast some doubt on that concept. I would like to present what it
says to see if you agree that this is so.
Micah says, in prophesying about this multinational military force surrounding Jerusalem
-- The Battle of Armageddon:
Micah 4:11-13 -- But now many nations are gathered against you.
They say, "Let her be defiled, let our eyes
gloat over Zion!" But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not
understand his plan, he who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
"Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will
give you horns of iron; I will give you hoofs of bronze and you will break to pieces many
nations.
"You will devote their ill gotten gain to the
Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth."
The Daughter of Zion has to be referring to literal Israelites who are citizens of the
land of Israel. Let us see if this thought is shared by any of the other prophets.
Isaiah 41:14-16 -- "Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little
Israel, for I myself will help you," declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel.
See, I will make you a threshing sledge, new and
sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the
hills to chaff.
You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and
a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy
One of Israel."
Note a similar description of this event in God's vision to Daniel of the Awesome
statue of Chapter 2.
Dan. 2:34,35 -- While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but
not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed
them.
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and
the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor
in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace.
But the rock that struck the statue became a huge
mountain and filled the whole earth.
Vs. 44 -- In the time of those kings, (the 10 kings represented
by the 10 toes) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor
will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them
to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
According to these verses it is the kingdom that the God of heaven sets up at the
termination of the reign of the Antichrist that participates in this battle. Notice
the charter members of this kingdom who will have an excellent opportunity to participate
in this battle:
Rev. 5:9,10 -- You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its
seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every
tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to
serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.
I believe this has to be speaking of the 144,000 who were selected by God and sealed
with the Holy Spirit to present to the world the everlasting gospel during the 1260 days
of the Great Tribulation. At the finishing of their testimony the Antichrist-Beast
from the Abyss will make war on them, overcome them and kill them. After 3-l/2 days
they are called up to heaven by a loud command from God. See my booklet on the
144,000 for the Scriptural details. In Revelation 14, John sees these 144,000 with
Christ on Mount Zion.
Rev. 14:4 -- They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were
purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
Another description of this group in heaven reveals some of their identifying marks.
Rev. 7:13 -- Then one of the elders asked me, "These in
white robes -- who are they, and where did they come from?"
I answered, "Sir, you know."
And he said, "These are they who have come out
of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb.
So far we know that God has made them a kingdom, that they will reign on this earth for
a thousand years with Christ. They are also wearing a white robe and are purchased
as first fruits to God and the Lamb from
all the nations of the earth.
Now note the description of Christ and His armies leaving heaven for their participation
in the Battle of Armageddon.
Rev. 19:11-14 -- I saw heaven standing open and there before me
was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True, with justice he judges and
makes war...
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name
is the Word of God.
The armies of heaven were following him, riding on
white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
These heavenly soldiers are wearing the attire as described for the 144,000. Now
let us take the journey on its way to earth and the confrontation with the multinational
evil combine:
Rev. 17:12-14 -- The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not
yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with
the beast.
They have one purpose (the eradication of the
Israelites) and will give their power and authority to the beast.
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb
will overcome them because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings -- and with him
will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.
This is about as perfect a description of the 144,000 as it is possible to make in so
few words. "They follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (Rev. 14:4).
Now that we can see that God made the 144,000 "to be a kingdom" to serve our
God and they will reign on the earth (Rev. 5:10), we need to take another look at the rock
that struck the feet and toes of the great image of Daniel:
Dan. 2:44 -- In the time of these kings (10) the God of heaven
will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to other
people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will
itself endure forever.
What makes a nation a kingdom? Obviously having a ruling king. Who is their
king? Christ is their king. In speaking of the martyred witnesses, John
describes these 144,000.
Rev. 20:4 -- And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God.... They came to
life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
This is the kingdom that represents the rock that was cut out of the mountain, but not
with human hands. This rock was selected by God on an individual basis to those that
He chose to fill the vacancies of the 12000 allotted to each of the twelve tribes of
Israel; to represent their nation for eternity. This rock that crushed these end
time kingdoms at the Battle of Armageddon was none other than the 144,000, with Christ as
their King.
Jer. 50:18-20 -- Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the
God of Israel says:
"I will punish the king of Babylon and his land
as I punished the king of Assyria.
But I will bring Israel back to his own pasture and
he will graze on Carmel and Bashan; his appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephriam
and Gilead.
In those days, and at that time," declares the
Lord, "search will be made for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for the
sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare."
Yes, the remnant Israelites were protected during this battle for their liberation and
they were redeemed in response to God's irrevocable covenant to Abraham; but what a shame
that they lost that great honor of
having the 144,000 representatives selected from their individual nations. This we
know they couldn't have received because Christ turned His back on them at the cross and
Paul tells us that this rejection is to last until the last Gentile is called in.
The 144,000 have finished
their 1260 days of witnessing before that could possibly take place (Romans 11:25).