Father, I seek and desire to be a part of Your remnant, which is blessed, rather than being judged for committing sin. I desire abundant life and blessing, so that I may be able to contribute to your kingdom. What exactly is your remnant?
God has always preserved a faithful remnant. The elect of God, who He persevered in spite of difficult times, to overcome the advisory, and hold on to their hope and faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
(Ezek. 9: 4-6) (Rev. 7:3-4) They are sealed and protected with a symbolic mark on the forehead, representing their allegiance to the God of Creation in both New and Old Testament Scriptures.
Some will say; ‘it was originally the children of Israel, but now it has become the Christian Church’. This belief is called ‘replacement theology’, which believes the Church replaced the Jews, because they rejected Jesus Christ.
Because we are grafted into the olive tree, Paul says: that we are of Israel, called the Israel of God. The Remnant includes both the congregation of Moses and the Christian Church.
Israel meaning; Str.(410) strong as; as mighty, almighty, power & (8280) to prevail; having power as a prince. Combined (3478) means; He will rule as God. In His Kingdom, under His authority, we will rule as God. Only the decedents of Jacob, whose was renamed Israel, were of Israel. Because Israel had twelve sons, they multiplied into twelve tribal descendents. Only one tribe of the original twelve were Jews, of the tribe of Judah, from which Jesus came.
When the Land of Israel split, the southern portion was called Judah, and the ten northern tribes were called Israel. Israel, or the northern kingdom (is referred to as the 10 lost tribes), was taken over by the Meads and the Persians 250 years before Babylon took over the Judah, or Jews of the southern kingdom. Some of the Jews returned to Judah, and re-inhabited the land, where the ministry of Jesus began. The 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel were scattered or intermixed throughout the world, to become the fullness of the Gentiles. Hosea, a prophet for the northern kingdom say: (Hosea 1:2-11; 2:1-2) He describes in (v. 6-7) “—For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, will save them by the Lord their God,—.” Clearly the Jews were never divorced, but preserved, but Israel was (v.2:2) God says: (v. 10-11) “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, you are not My people there it shall be said to them, you are the sons of the living God.
Then the children of Judah (Jews) and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint for themselves one head (Christ); and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel (God scatters, God plants)! Say to your brethren, My people, and to your sisters, mercy is shown.”
Jesus said: (John 10:14-16) “I am the good Sheppard; and I know my sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; then also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one Sheppard.”
Stephen speaks to council: (Acts 6:37-38) “this is Moses who said to the children of Israel, The Lord your God will rise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear. This is He who was in the congregation (ekkilesia: means church, assembly, or congregation) in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected.”
(Rom. 10:12-13) “For there is no distinction between Jews and Greeks, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom. 11:1-29) “—Has God cast away His people? Certainly not! —God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. —At the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. —Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. —But through their fall, to provoke them too jealously, salvation has come to the Gentiles. —For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker or the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. ———Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins”.
(Ezek. 37:16-17) “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: For Judah and for the children of Israel his companions. Then take another stick and write on it, for Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions. Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will be one in your hand.”