A Call To The Remnant

And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes. (Ezr 9:8)

In Ezra’s time, God had called a people to come home, He had called a people to return to a place of worship and repair the broken down walls. He was reviving a remnant in the midst of a very hostile world. In fact often times they would have a trowel in one hand and sword in the other as they re-built the wall. These were the ones who eyes had been enlightened by God in the midst of their bondage.

Yet it was vitally important for the remnant not to mix with the world so to speak. They were giving their children in marriage to the children of the world. In a sense they were selling their birthright to a pagan world by expressly disobeying the clear commands of God. To be in the world but not of it, to be set apart from the world was a clear directive from God. They had come out of Babylon and yet they were hurting themselves by mixing and intermarrying with the pagans of the surrounding lands.

God is calling out a remnant today, He is calling them out of the world and back to a place where they can stand in the breach and build up the wall of Jerusalem so to speak. My own worldview or church view is that the church small c lies in ruins, its walls are broken down and it is in a place of desolation. The world has invaded the church and the church has given its children to the world in marriage. The consequences have been devastating.

The influence of the world in the church is now so strong, that what passes for the church, Christendom can no longer hold back the tide of devastating compromise. It is in the process of giving itself fully over to the world. And so God enlightens the eyes of His people to see the situation through His eyes. Burning at the heart of His called out people is obedience to Him and to His word. They are sold out to His word and His commands even although by doing so they are ostracized and ridiculed and hated.