The prophet Elijah felt alone, he actually felt like the only person on planet earth who believed in the One True God of Israel, but the Lord strengthened Elijah by telling him there remained a remnant in Israel who did not bow their knee to false gods like Ba’al.
Moses had a similar experience when the Lord freed the people of Israel only a fraction of them left with Moses. We know this by a often overlooked verse in Exodus 13:18 that reads, “The sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt.” That phrase martial array is translated from a Hebrew word that means fifth or fifty and while is was assumed that this referred to how the Israelites marched it more accurately describes the fraction of people who still had the faith to follow Moses.
It is assumed that everyone in Israel obeyed the Lord by applying lambs blood to the doorposts of their homes but that is not what the bible tells us. The bible describes many Israelites who were disheartened by Pharaoh’s initial resistance to the Lord’s commands because the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was difficult to endure.
The bible makes clear that many people did not believe in the word of the Lord due to tough times and the interesting thing is that this is something we see play out again and again and we will see it in the last days too.
The New Testament describes a falling away in the last days. It is a time when the entire world takes the mark of the beast except for a remnant that do not take the mark but instead martyred for their faith or endure to the end.
When we observe the world around us today, we see so many who reject God and His commands, many who are banding together to make worship of Jesus not only politically incorrect but working to make following the Lord illegal.
There are many repeating patterns in Scripture and the teaching of a remnant is one of the most important. Following Jesus is not like being male or female or being an American or a New Mexican, no following Jesus is difficult at best and requires a faith of things not yet seen even when things get really bad.
Today, we have so many bad leaders who miss-teach the Christian life of faith as being free from worries and trials but that is not what Jesus taught us. He said “In this life you will have sorrow” and Peter said, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch.”
From the ancient Israelites to the early followers of Jesus to you and I, choosing God has brought such great peace and salvation but it has also tested our mettle to identify what sort of faith we have.
Difficult days lie ahead but the days are ones that the prophets of old longed to see because these are the days of Elijah and the coming of the Lord.
