remnant

Enoch is an enigmatic bible figure. Not a lot is known about him. He was seventh from Adam. He was the father of Methuselah, the bibles’ oldest recorded person. We know Enoch walked with God, and then he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:21-24)

And in the NT we know that God was pleased with Enoch, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5)

And we know that Enoch prophesied. Jude 1:14 has the prophecy-

“It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,”

Which is pretty cool because Enoch lived before the flood and the only people to survive the flood and thus record the prophecy are Noah and his sons and their wives. It was a prophecy that is obviously important for the succeeding generations to know about.

“The exact meaning of Methuselah’s name is somewhat uncertain: Dr. Henry Morris said it may mean, “When he dies, judgment.” Others say: “When he is dead it shall be sent” (“it” refers to the Deluge) (Cornwall and Smith, Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names). He was the oldest man of whom we have any record. This very ancient man lived before the Flood, and died at the age of 969 years, in the year of the Flood (Gen. 5:21-27; 1 Chr. 1:3). This fact, plus the former possible meaning of his name, suggests that Methuselah’s very godly father, Enoch, received a prophecy from God when his son was born, thus the name. Methuselah’s great age may be further evidence of God’s “long-suffering… in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 3:9).” (source)

My opinion is (and this is speculation but it’s based on logical bible interpretation) is that Enoch will be one of the two witnesses during the Tribulation. Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed for a man to die once and then face judgment. The verse obviously does not mean to die only once, because Lazarus and others died twice. And with the exception of the people who will be raptured, in my opinion the verse means that everyone has to die at least once. Enoch and Elijah never died. But if they are the two witnesses, they come down to earth and prophesy for an appointed amount of time and then they are killed. They eventually do die, fulfilling the general rule that Hebrews 9:27 states.

So even at that early date, God planned the second coming, precisely and perfectly, even down to the name of the Methuselah who was the canary in the coal mine, so to speak. His use of Enoch however was not just literal, but as with many lessons from the Old Testament, it was also a picture, or a type.

Enoch is a well-known type of the Church. He walked in fellowship with God and warned the world of coming judgment (Jude 14-15). Enoch had the distinction among the patriarchs of not seeing death. He was instead translated to heaven, being a picture of the Rapture of the Church. Enoch was translated to heaven before the flood came. After he was taken, God brought the flood upon the world, which is a foreshadow of the judgment to come in the Tribulation (2 Pet. 3:3-10; Lk. 17:26-27). (source)

Have you ever thought of Enoch in that way? He is a picture of the rapture, the church taken up to heaven alive before the long-prophesied judgment is unleashed.

Noah is a man of faith. There is no doubt that the lessons we can learn from his life yield many treasures of God’s character and might. He used Noah in a mighty way and Noah’s faith is a reminder to us today about being steadfast in trusting God.

But in addition to a literal lessons we can learn from Noah or about Noah, Noah was also a picture or a type. Noah was representative of God’s remnant of the Jews, going through a global judgment but being supernaturally preserved during it.

Lambert Dolphin has a good essay on the concept of the remnant. Numerically, the remnant has always been very small. Keep that in mind.

God foretold what will happen at the outset of the Tribulation and in a whistlestop discourse He marched the Apostles through the overview of it in Matthew 24. In Revelation, He gave more detail to John through a series of visions.

The remnant preserved through the Tribulation, though alluded to in Matthew 15-25, is slightly more specific in Joel 2:32, Zeph. 3:12f, Zech. 8:12; 13:7-9. It is a lot more specific in Isaiah 63:1-6, where the ancient name for Petra is called Bozrah.

In Revelation 12:6, we read a bit more about Petra being the stand-in for the Ark, where His remnant is preserved and protected through the global judgment:

“The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.” The woman in context here is Israel. Revelation 12:14-16 has a bit more. Zechariah 14:1-3 speaks of it also, and uses similar language.

The point is, the LORD always preserves a remnant. he has promised to do so and He will again. He will literally carry them through to be His glorious trophies after the judgment subsides.

So we have mentioned Enoch as a picture of the church, taken up bodily before the judgment starts. We have spoken of Noah, a faithful man and his family preserved through the global judgment which will be a picture of the Tribulation. But what about those who come to salvation during the Tribulation? The most vivid picture I can use here is an analogy of the movie The Poseidon Adventure.

I know that cultural references are usually no good for the obvious reason that they are not truth like the bible is. Just as obviously, if you haven’t sen the movie then the analogy fails. But here goes anyway, lol.

The Poseidon Adventure was a 1972 disaster film about an aging cruise ship heading to Greece from NY on its final voyage when it met up with a tsunami wave broadside and was capsized. Parts of the movie were filmed aboard the RMS Queen Mary, whose encounter with a rogue wave in 1942 inspired the book upon which the film is based. The movie was a critical and audience success. The original poster for the film had the tagline “Hell, upside down.” This is the analogy. The Tribulation will be hell on earth when everything everyone knew will be turned upside down.

The scene in which the wave turned the ship upside down was memorable. It happened on New Year’s Eve, and being a luxury liner, the ballroom was filled with people dressed in fancy clothes and wearing jewels and eating luxurious food. They are having a good time, oblivious to the danger that is coming their way.

Suddenly and without warning, their world literally turns upside down. It happens fast and nothing looks like it did before. Mangled catwalks bar their way. Lumps of fire-glowing infrastructure are a menace. The lights go out. Many try to find a way to survive but they make wrong decisions and are killed in constant disasters such as explosions, steam pipe breaks, drowning, fires, etc.

A very small band of people fight their way through by going toward the propeller room, which is counter-intuitive because in a sane world the propeller room is down, under the waterline. But in an upside down world, the propeller would be above water. It was difficult going because everything is backwards and is so unlike the world they had been living in just a few moments before. Even at that, many in the small party die. Only 5 people on the entire ship of thousands make it to daylight.

The Tribulation will be hell in a world turned upside down.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

“Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:4)

The world will be upside down! A hellish struggle with death at every corner!

You have a choice in which group to belong as this age winds to its end. You can be saved by the blood of Jesus now, repenting of your sins and escaping all these things in the rapture. If you are Jewish you can wait and be supernaturally converted to Christianity during the Tribulation, if you aren’t one of the billions who die first, and hope that you will be included in the very small remnant who make it to Petra to be protected by God. Or you can shake your fist at God, hope you don’t die along with the billions of others, and become one of the very, tiny few who become born-again, and escape the guillotine of the antichrist and live through the Tribulation to emerge in the morning after.

I am saved by the grace of Jesus, I KNOW that I KNOW that I will go in the rapture, which will occur prior to the tribulation. I often wonder what the morning after the rapture will be like. How bright the glory! How peaceful the lands! How beautiful His brethren! How faithful His angels!

Listen to the song from The Morning After (from the Poseidon Adventure) and listen to it with a Jesus-tinge. I hope to see you there, the morning after.

We love God because, “God does not do many things that he can, but he does all things that he will.” (George Swinnock).

One of the things He can do is wipe out humanity. He was grieved with us in Genesis before the flood. But He did not erase us from the earth. He CAN do it. He did not. He preserved a remnant, Noah and his family. He always preserved a remnant of His people the Jews.

There was a remnant returning from the Babylonian captivity. A remnant of 7000 was preserved when Elijah killed the false prophets of Baal when he thought he was the only one left.

It is promised, “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.” (Isaiah 10:21). Paul reiterated that in Romans 9:27, “Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;”

The Jews were set aside for a time so the Lord could build His church out of the Gentiles. He will return to fulfill the promises to the Jews at the culmination of the Tribulation and save the remnant who had been hiding at Petra throughout the remainder of the Tribulation and establish His promised Kingdom for 1000 years. We praise the LORD for His promises to always preserve and protect a Jewish remnant.

But I want to bring another thought to your mind. Christians are a remnant too. We know the multitudes which are His bride will be singing praises to Him after the rapture. We read passages like this “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev 5:13) and think, ‘Wow!’ Lots of Christians!’ But it is not so.

We are a remnant too. Romans 11:5:

“So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.”

The odds are not good for making it in Christianity. We know that the road is narrow and FEW FIND IT. (Mt 7:14). The road to destruction is broad and MANY FOLLOW IT. (Mt 7:13). We know that Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Are you getting the picture? Many/Few. It is a theme. How many righteous did Abraham ask the LORD to find in Sodom? “He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” (Gen 18:32b). But it ended up there were less than ten. So four cities were destroyed that day: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim. And of the four that were found to be righteous, Lot, Mrs Lot, and the two daughters, one of the four was revealed to be a false righteous and was turned into a pillar of salt.

On Judgment Day, books will be opened, and a book will be opened. “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” (Rev 20:12).

The books – plural – is the book of the dead. The book that was opened, singular, is the book of life. Many /Few. All the names of the living will fit into one book.

Christians are a remnant. There seems to be a lot of us but we can’t see the wheat from the chaff. The enemy has sown seeds that grew, too. St. Augustine said, “O you Christians, whose lives are good, you sigh and groan as being few among many, few among very many.”

Félicien Rops, Satan Sowing Seeds, pencil, c. 1872.

My reason for bringing this up is that my heart and life’s blood beats in yearning that every person who believes himself to be a Christian examine him or herself to see if you are in the faith!

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor 13:5)

Here is an essay that helps you test yourself and see if you bear the distinguishing marks of being a Christian.

“Examine Yourself“

Of those that fail to meet the test, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt 13:41-43)

I want to sing with you in heaven, and I do not want to see you thrown into outer darkness, weeping and gnashing your teeth, screaming, LORD, LORD did I not do many mighty works in your name? And He will say to you, I never knew you, depart from me you evildoers!

Are you in the remnant??? Praise Jesus if you are. Let His light of glory shine in you and through you. Let us give it all back to Him in thanks for salvation which He delivers through grace plus nothing. No works of ours, mighty or mild, will earn us heaven. But believe on the Son whom the Father sent, and ye shall be saved.

Category: remnant

The Rapture, the Remnant and the Poseidon Adventure

The Christian remnant