What Do You Mean, The Remnant Church?
The following question was posed to us by way of e-mail: “Can you show me from the Bible how you are the remnant church? I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your time and response.” I believe the answer would benefit others.
Thank you for writing. If by your question you mean to imply that we believe that we – that is, Midnight Cry Ministries and the few assemblies that are directly connected – are THE Remnant Church, let me hasten to say that such is not the case. Just as men are unable to identify God’s Kingdom on earth (Luke 17:20-21) so it is with the “Remnant Church,” for they are one and the same.
I am aware that different people use this expression – as is the case with many religious expressions – to mean different things. Although the actual expression does not occur in the Bible, the concept is everywhere plainly set forth, both explicitly and symbolically, namely: the number of those in the earth who actually belong to God, His elect, is very very small compared both to earth’s population and also to those outwardly professing to be His.
In Noah’s day, despite 120 years of preaching and warning, eight people were saved (Gen. 6-8).
The entire history of Israel is one long litany of general apostasy with a sometimes almost invisible “very small remnant” of true believers. Isaiah 1:9. Elijah thought he was alone, but God revealed that He had 7000 left who had not bowed the knee to Baal (I Kings 19:13-18). See also Isaiah 46:3, 10:20-22, 56:8, 65:8-10.
Jesus plainly taught the same thing. In Matthew 7:13-14, “many” enter the wide gate, but “few” the narrow one. Both are “gates” people enter expecting to find heaven at the end of the road. See verses 21-23 where “many” will be rejected as workers of iniquity who had expected a home in heaven.
In Luke 12:32, Jesus referred to His followers as a “LITTLE flock” to whom it was the Father’s good pleasure to give the kingdom.
In Luke 13:23, the disciples, perhaps having begun to grasp this truth, asked Jesus directly, “Lord, are there few that be saved?” Jesus’ answer (verses 24-30) makes it rather plain that while MANY will be religious – that is, they will “seek to enter in” – they will find themselves shut out as “workers of iniquity.” The true entrance to the Kingdom is a “strait,” or narrow gate.
Several times Jesus pointed to a condition of general religious darkness and apostasy at the time of His coming. In Luke 18:8 He said, “... when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
The time of His coming is compared to Noah’s time (Matt. 24:37) – a day of great apostasy in which God’s program consisted of a final period of warning coupled with specific instructions that resulted in a tiny remnant of believers being preserved during a great day of destruction. Whereas in Noah’s day it was water, our world is “reserved unto fire” (II Peter 3:7). The tiny remnant of true believers today will be preserved through the coming destruction – a destruction that will be totally unexpected for the world at large – and will inherit “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Peter 3:10-14).
See Heb. 9:28 where the writer says that Christ’s coming is “to them that look for him.”
Read I Thess. 5:3-4 where Paul contrasts the world at large, in darkness, totally unprepared for sudden destruction, with “brethren,” God’s family, having light and not being surprised.
The entire passage of Romans 9-11 portrays natural Jews as consisting of an unbelieving majority and a believing remnant. Only the remnant were considered by God to be Jews (Rom. 2:28, Rom. 9:6-8, Gal. 3:29). See Rom. 9:27-29 and 11:1-10 in particular where the contrast is drawn between an ELECT remnant and the rest who are blinded. That blindness occurs as a direct result of their RELIGION.
See II Thess. 2:1-14 where a similar contrast is drawn. Most are swallowed up by “strong delusion” resulting from “power and signs and lying wonders” after a “falling away” or apostasy. (It is not difficult to account for Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:21-23 in the light of what Paul said here.) Paul’s “brethren,” on the other hand, are “called,” “chosen to salvation.”
The midnight cry is to awaken sleeping virgins and involves the message, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye OUT to meet him” (Matt. 25:6). There is presently a work of the Spirit to “finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness” (Rom. 9:28).
I believe we can echo Paul’s statement in Rom. 11:5: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” This ministry is to them, scattered abroad in the systems of men, known of God, needing to be awakened, warned and prepared for the momentous days ahead.
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