Faithful Remnant

There is a perceptible cycle in the Scriptures that continues to repeat itself throughout Church history: God purifies His People through suffering and saves a faithful remnant to seed new growth in the next generation.

• Adam and Eve produce more children to continue the human race after Cain slays Abel.
• Noah's family is selected to re-seed the human race after the Flood.
• Shem and Japtheh preserve the covenant family when Ham sins against his father.
• A tiny remnant of Gideon's army defeats a huge enemy army. Three hundred soldiers were selected from 32,000 men (less than 1% of the whole); they routed a numberless horde from Midian (Judges 7).
• David, a youth fighting without armor, defeats Goliath, the giant Philistine.
• Judah survives the secession of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) from the kingship of David's descendants.
• A remnant of Judah returns to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity, rebuilds the Temple, and renews devotion to Torah.
• Jesus, son of David, single-handedly defeats sin and death, offering life to the whole world.
• The eleven faithful apostles repent of their sins and preach the gospel of Jesus.
• The Church perseveres in spite of the short-term success of various heresies:
  • Gnosticism.
  • Arianism.
  • Donatism.
  • Islam.
  • The Great Schism between East and West.
  • The Protestant Schisms.
  • Modernism.
• The Church has survived huge cultural upheavals that threatened her existence.
  • Death of the Roman Empire in the West (the "Dark Ages").
  • Rise of the print industry.
  • Enlightenment materialism.
  • The Age of Revolutions.
    • Destruction of the monarchies descended from the so-called Holy Roman Empire.
    • Industrial Revolution.
    • Media Revolution.
    • Sexual Revolution.
    • The Rebellion of the Culture of Death against life.
    • The Scandal of Priestly Sins.

John Henry Newman, Essay on the Development of Doctrine: The Church has died five times in the eyes of the world; each time, God has raised it from the dead and granted it victory over her enemies--not by violence but by the beauty of holiness.

Paul

"And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, 'Though the number of the Israelites were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved; for decisively and quickly will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth.' And as Isaiah predicted: 'Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom and have been made like Gomorrah' (Rom 9:27-29).

John

"You are the vine; my Father is the vine-dresser."

In our day

"Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God" (Rev 3:2).