REMNANT CHARACTERISTICS
[p. 79] REMNANT CHARACTERISTICS
Brief notes on an address on Zephaniah 3: 11 - 20.
These verses describe the character of the faithful remnant of God’s earthly people just before the kingdom glory dawns on this poor world. They show us the spirit that befits the remnant in the moment before the glory.
“I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride; and thou shalt no more be haughty because of mine holy mountain”. The most fearful display of man’s pride is when he takes the tokens of God’s favour and plumes himself with them. The natural man always has his own glory before him; self is always his centre; and it is very easy for us to drift in that direction. When once we are born of God we can never go back and become natural men, but we may get as far as being carnal men. The saints at Corinth were carnal; they were setting themselves off with their divine gifts. Like those of whom this verse speaks, they were haughty because of God’s favour to them. Remember, beloved, there is such a thing as spiritual pride. Let us beware of haughtiness in divine things.
“I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord”. The remnant has no place or influence in the world; it is composed of those who are nobodies here. They are like Him who was poor in spirit and never asserted His rights. They have a “little strength”, but they keep His word, and do not deny [p. 80] His name. In their weakness they trust in the name of the Lord. Oh! that the Lord would draw our hearts away from everything to Himself.
“The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies”. The next characteristics of the remnant are holiness and truth. The blessed Lord presents Himself to Philadelphia as “He that is holy, he that is true”, and the overcomer takes his character from Him. Holiness is a great topic amongst Christians at the present day, and all kinds of methods are adopted for its promotion. I should like to impress upon you that there is no true Christian holiness that does not take its character from the Lord Jesus Christ in the place where He now is. There may be a great deal of religiousness without true holiness. The wonderful fact is that there is a Man not only separated from sin, but from sinners. That is, He is out of the scene of sin altogether, and in a scene where everything is suited to God and everything reflects the mind and purpose of God. He is there to be the Object of our hearts, and thus to take our minds and affections out of this scene where sin has desolated everything, into that scene where sin can never come. May God’s Spirit write it on our hearts that true holiness takes its character from that Blessed One at the Father’s right hand. “Every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure”.
“They shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid”. Satisfaction and tranquillity are the next marks of the remnant. You can never have the second without the first. In the first half of Psalm 23 the soul is satisfied as to all its needs and desires; in the second half it is tranquillized in the presence of all the [p. 81] power of evil. The Lord is a Sun to light up our hearts with divine satisfaction, and then He is a Shield to defend us from all our foes. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”
“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem”. If we have lost our old portion and our old joys, we have a new portion and new joys. Oh! that we knew the new joys as well, and pursued them as earnestly, as we once did the old joys! The old joy was like the crackling of thorns under a pot; like a strain of music that holds the ear for a moment and then dies for ever away. How different the joy that is in the Lord! Paul and Silas, when their backs were smarting and their feet were fast in the stocks, could sing aloud in their joy. The prisoners heard them singing praises to God. It was the new joy, and the circumstances never touched it. I can fancy the Philippian jailor reading that verse, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice”, and understanding it a good deal better than we do.
“The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy”. He has removed everything, by His work, that would hinder our peace or joy. If you are not happy it is because you are allowing or bringing back something which Christ died to put away.
“The Lord in the midst of thee”. Do we really know what it is to be in His company? We believe Matthew 18: 20, but have we proved it? An old woman had her Bible marked opposite certain texts with the letters “T” and “P”. The minister saw them, and asked what they meant. “Oh!” she said,
“it means TRIED and PROVED”. Have we proved the great reality of the Lord’s presence in the midst of His gathered ones? Nothing can imitate it; nothing can be a substitute for it. I am sure, if we knew the reality of it, it would not be a little thing that would keep us away from the assembly, and we should go with much self-judgment for fear that anything should unfit us to taste the joy of His company.
“In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack”. If we have done with the energy and restlessness of the flesh, let us beware that we do not fall into the sluggishness and indolence of the flesh. Are we like the men of purpose in Gideon’s host, who would snatch the water and press on to the battle? Are we here in real spiritual energy for Christ! Or are we like the great majority who were content to take it easy and to consider their own comfort first? We once did evil “with both hands earnestly”: shame on us if our hands are slack in the interests of Christ!
“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty”. What a blessed word for our hearts today! To Philadelphia He presents Himself as the One who has the key of David, who opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens. He is mighty if we have but a “little strength”. What we need is to have more confidence in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a day coming in which He will exercise His power in government, and everything in the vast domain of creation will be set right. He is exercising that power now in grace, in and for the assembly. If we believed it, should we look to any other source for power? Impossible.
“[p. 83] He will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing”. He can rest in what His own love has accomplished. He has made us everything that His heart longed for, and now He has His joy in us.
Is there anything more? Yes, He desires one thing more. “I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth”. He will display us to wondering worlds as the objects of His love. To Philadelphia He says, “I will make them to know that I have loved thee”. May His words thrill our hearts tonight, “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown”. We are just on the eve of His coming; the last grains of sand are fast running out. People talk about prophetic periods — the only prophetic period for us is the twinkling of an eye.