With resilience, resolve and an unquenchable and unfailing faith, in both the Old Testament (OT), and the New Testament (NT) church, the Scripture speaks to the restoration of a "righteous" REMNANT. By definition, these are the humble, holy, godly and faithful few who time and again demonstrate a distinct characteristic known as perseverance. And the price paid for such perseverance has always been in denominations of suffering. As we are reminded by the apostle Paul concerning the NT church, let us be filled with a spirit of a boundless and bold determination in not permitting this reminder to escape from our remembrance: "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12).
We must not despair, for we have been armed with the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). And thereby equipped, empowered and obligated to serve the Lord, one another and conduct the work of the ministry with tenacity and good cheer. This will result in the perfecting of the saints and the maturation of the Body of Christ. With joyful hearts, an unfeigned faith, an exemplary obedience, a mutual Love for one another and the Word of God, we will then be positioned to respond to the great commission: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:18-20).
The prophecy of Joel speaks of such a people of God who would be called, and through a repentant heart: "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." (Joel 2:32).
And a righteous remnant has also waxed bold and courageous in warfare against the enemy of our souls: the devil and Satan and his minions. As followers of Christ, the aforementioned remnant must not lose heart, nor lose sight of the objective of our enemy combatant. Specifically, his objective is NOT to hold hostages captive, but his prime objective is to seek, deceive, and thus terminate with extreme prejudice: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8). My beloved saints of God, our hope of glory or eternal existence is a function of our unceasing and relentless readiness: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:58).
The apostle Paul chimes in once again, and makes a convincing case for the spiritual thriving of a righteous remnant, and by various allusions to both examples and prophesies of OT writings. Through his zeal, and one who walked by faith, he was called as an apostle to the gentile nations. Because of the implanted Word that Christ imparted to him via His grace, Paul was more than qualified to address these truths of the unfeigned faith of a select few. Besides, he was an eyewitness so let us listen with our ears and hear with our hearts the apostle Paul's words concerning the original remnant: "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah." (Romans 9:27-29).
Christ himself, counted Paul worthy of such an undertaking, and in consideration of the fact that Paul expressed in one of his letters: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).
Furthermore, God shall preserve and secure His people. The Psalmist clearly illustrates this by reminding us that the invincibility of the Lord God's chosen ones is based exclusively on their trust in God. And thus, rivaling that of the unmovable Mount Zion, encompassed by the God of our salvation, and despite the ever present forces of a culture marked by continual evil: "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts." (Psalm 125:3-5).
The promise of REST in the Scripture should kindle a resounding and unprecedented praise and thanksgiving to Lord God Almighty! For He is our grand, great and glorious creator, forgiver, healer, helper, provider, savior, sustainer and more. There is absolutely and positively no limit to what He is to all, what He means to all, what He has done and continues to do for all. To summarize and restate the obvious, His Word puts it like this: "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (Ephesians 4:6, John 4:23-24).
Unless you have since made the observation, the remarkable ''He is" descriptors above are ALL action words, or verbs. Our God is a God of action, He is a doer and He is a worker. Consequently, Creator God put the idea of work in the minds of His creation. Categorically, and with respect to humankind, rest is expressed as either physical or spiritual, or both. And these rhythmic cycles occur both daily and weekly. On the basis of these aforementioned truths, God the Father instituted this "rest" the Holy Bible makes reference to, and the narrative reads as follows: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens," (Genesis 2:2-4).
Rest revives, revitalizes, refreshes and reinvigorates. Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16), was by no means exempt from the toil, weariness and the exhausting demands of His ministry. Without hesitation He was inclined to retreat to a place of rest with His disciples. Of course, Jesus assumes the role of our source of sufficient rest as well. Rest is also a form of emancipation or freedom. It is a release from the shackles of the day to day, and week to week drudgery of debilitating trials, troubles, uncertainties and travail.
But far more effective in terms of relief, rest and/or restoration is salvation rest. The subsequent passages clearly depict these truths: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately." (Matthew 11:28-30, Mark 6:30-32).
In conclusion of this message, my beloved righteous REMNANT and saints of God. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad as we, and with great anticipation, patiently wait for that promised reward in the Kingdom of Heaven! Our ultimate and final rest shall be realized, if we remain steadfast and without compromise. The spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ will faithfully lead us out of this earthly life, and then lead us into the final chapter of our journey here, and swiftly into His rest: our final RESTING PLACE and in the the PRESENCE of the LORD JESUS CHRIST: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." (Revelation14:12-13).
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4:9-11).
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