Revelation: A Remnant

 Revelation: Justification by Faith

A Remnant

Revelation 2:24

"But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden."

The word “rest” is also used to refer to a remnant.
The same word is used in these verses:

Revelation 11:13
"And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven."

Revelation 3:2
"Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God."

The idea of a remnant is also used by Paul in connection with the nation of Israel.
There was a kind of presumption in Israel that salvation was only for Israel, and that if you were a Jew, you could be confident in a kind of guaranteed salvation. However, Paul speaks against this in Romans.

As proof, in Romans 9 he uses the example of Ishmael and Isaac, and of Esau and Jacob.
Ishmael was just as much a descendant of Abraham as Isaac, but only Isaac received the inheritance.
In the same way, only the believing portion of Israel now receives the promise and the inheritance of Abraham: salvation, forgiveness, and rulership.

Paul then says in Romans 11:1–8:

1. "I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

2. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

3. 'Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.'

4. But what is God's reply to him? 'I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.'

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

6. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,

8. as it is written, 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.'"

So there was a remnant in the time of Elijah and also in Paul’s time among Israel who served God, even though the nation or the institution itself had fallen into ungodliness.
But some in Israel could easily quote the Bible to claim that Israel as a nation had received a promise. Why then would they not receive it—and only a few of them?

Paul answers:

Romans 9:6–7
6. "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7. and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but 'Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.'"

Not everyone from physical Israel was also part of the Israel that would receive the promise.
It wasn’t so much about the nation or the institution, but about the character and the spirit.
It was much more about those who followed the example of Abraham, and therefore would receive the inheritance of eternal life.

In Romans 11, Paul compares Israel to an olive tree.
Some of the literal Jews according to the flesh fall off through unbelief and no longer belong to the true Israel, while the Gentiles are grafted in.
In this way, the true Christians are a continuation of Israel.

Thus, all Israel would be saved and receive the promise in Romans 11 — but it is about the Israel according to the Spirit.

It is the same now in Thyatira with the church.
The church had fallen into corruption and Jezebel had a position of power. But although the institution had fallen, there was still a remnant.
In Elijah’s time, these 7,000 people who had remained were not clearly visible. Elijah thought he was the only one left.

It could seem the same way in Thyatira. The remnant did not have the upper hand and seemed to have left little behind.
But like a lampstand, this remnant still gives light in the small works that are often unseen by the world.

The institution of the church, just like Israel, must absolutely not boast in any promises given to it.
Just like the institution of Israel, it can fall.

But this does not mean that the promise — that the church will not fall — has failed, because not all who are part of the church are truly of the church that Jesus established and that will remain forever.

The remnant that holds on to God and believes will inherit the promise — and this remnant will always be there.