by Czechs and Balances
I love to quilt. I began quilting a couple of decades ago and never looked back. Starting with a good background in sewing, I found myself fascinated by the techniques of laying small pieces of fabrics next to one another and stitching them together to create something completely new and innovative. I learned quickly that this hobby generated voluminous amounts of scrap pieces that I have always been loath to toss into the trash. Indeed, I have often found that these remnants, these little snippets from some original yardage, become treasured one-of-a-kinds, that somehow slip beautifully and perfectly into yet another completely different quilt, wall hanging or collage. Remnants are treasured and, when I look at a finished product, I can always remember which pieces were especially hand-picked out of a massive stash.
Not everyone looks upon remnants with the same fondness as I do. Often, remnants are seen as waste, end lots to be discounted or thrown away, as is the practice of the garment and food industries. People can even be seen as remnants, leftovers from greater civilizations, surviving by their wits, or by the grace of God. I love remnants, and God does, too. He knows their inherent worth and beauty. He knows how they fit in and without them, He cannot build up his church.
The term “remnant” is used in the Bible to refer to people who have been chosen by God. They are survivors of catastrophes, plagues, and wars, and they are faithful despite seemingly unending challenges. Although not commonly referred to as such, the families of both Noah and Job could be considered “remnants” of God’s judgment. There are others, too; the family of Jacob in the Old Testament and Lot could be thought of as “remnants”, those few who carry on despite hardships or being despised. We find them sprinkled throughout the Bible, giving witness to the greatness of God.
Perhaps we see the concept of a “remnant” most clearly written in the book of Isaiah. Here, as the prophet is purified in Chapter 6, we are told that his nation remains unapologetic for its many sins.
Sound familiar?
Isaiah is given the task of warning his fellow citizens that their cities will become desolate and their land abandoned, with the Lord moving men “far away”. In other words, Isaiah was foretelling their future, their utter destruction, unless they would forego their tempestuous and godless ways. These people, the Judeans, were vain, arrogant, prideful idol-worshippers. They were a noisome bunch for sure,with little intention of listening to Isaiah, who they likely thought of as a dull and dreary sort.
Click the image to get a glimpse of the Bible.
With the rise of King Ahaz, a vile and godless man himself, the wrath of God was felt throughout the land, as prophesied. (“At the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land quakes and people are like fuel for the fire; No man spares his brother, each devours the flesh of his neighbor.” Isa 9:18.) It sounds dreadful indeed, and history supports the devastation of the kingdom at this time. It appeared that the damage was complete, with cities uninhabited and in total ruin. But we also read at the end of Ch. 6 that, like an oak whose leaves have fallen away, there will be a remaining trunk in which life will spring back. In other words, a dormant remnant remains.In the midst of the chaos, Isaiah, a good and true man, demonstrates his faith in God, even naming his son Shear-jashab, or “a remnant will return”. Indeed, in Chapter 10, verse 21, we learn “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.”
And return they did. One author characterizes this remnant as being “…obscure, unorganized, inarticulate, each one rubbing along as best he can.” They were already converted, but required encouragement and bracing up, because everything had gone to the dogs. To this scraggly bunch would fall the job not only of building society back up, but of building a Godly society.
This sounds ever so much like what we need today.
And Isaiah would be the one to lead them, to inspire them, and to boost their spirits and keep them going. He would have to keep at it for as long as it took. But that’s what he bought into. When the Lord asked who to send, Isaiah said “send me!”. So he would be in it for the long haul, whatever it took to whip this ragtag, frayed-at-the-edges group up to snuff. Isaiah saw it through and this little band persevered until, as we learn in Ch. 9, verses 1-4, the people who had been in darkness now saw great light, gloom gave way to brightness, there was merrymaking and the yoke was shattered. Isaiah was their leader, but it was the hand of God at work. And in Chapter 11 we read of the coming of the Davidic dynasty from whence our Lord Jesus will arise. We are told the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion shall browse together, and a little child shall guide them.
The remnant will live on.
But this all begs the question, where is Isaiah today? The Judean masses of Isaiah’s time had nothing on some of the narcissistic, lazy, do-nothings inhabiting our cities today. Tent cities in Austin, San Francisco and Seattle occupied by the terminally unemployed, drug-addicted or otherwise addled denizens give a glimpse of what some of those Judean multitudes might have looked like. Parades down our city streets raucously forcing “PRIDE” on local residents, with naked cyclers gallivanting in front of children must make the Judeans’ sins look like zilch. And of course, the Judeans did not have TV, but if they did, would they have overt homosexuality and promiscuity in every show? Would their equivalent to Major League Baseball have to pay homage to a powerful homosexual lobby by honoring the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” before a Dodgers game? Would the Judeans have a medical system that supported mutilation of children and called it “gender fluidity”? We don’t know what the Judeans would have done. We can only look at what we are doing. And what we see in front of us has got to be an affront to God. These depravities, combined with ever decreasing attendance at churches and synagogues, lead us to conclude that western civilization is in much the same state, or worse, as that of the Judeans of Isaiah’s time.
Yet I am certain that, as in Isaiah’s age, a faithful remnant remains today, and it is us. We are inside those sparsely attended churches praying for God’s forgiveness, mercy and love. We are watching immoral leaders send us into complete destruction by war, by destroying economies, by pandemic, or by societal breakdown. Yet we are seen by others as being inarticulate, unorganized, uneducated, and bitter, clinging to our guns and our Bibles.
Today’s remnant has been described as a basket of deplorables, and we are increasingly seen as overtly dangerous by a government which seeks to harass and criminalize us.
I cannot speak for everyone, but this little frayed, forgotten, stray piece of the remnant is ready for today’s Isaiah to appear and put us together. I don’t want to be lost amongst the voluminous rabble.
Will someone please say “Send me!”?
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I am one of the writers for Czechs and Balances substack. I had my awakening during the Clinton White House years. When the president of my country came out with the defense that it “…depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is”, I knew I had had enough of democrat prevarication and weasel words. The Clintons raised my hackles to an entirely new level. My interests in recent years have centered around the new level we seem to have achieved in which our struggle seems less and less political and more and more against evil itself. I can’t help but feel that the Clintons are instrumental in raising that bar, and their minions rushed in to assist at every turn. They are not the highest level of evil but they have been very successful in bringing people into their fold, cajoling and teasing until people do not even realize how very far they have fallen. It has been a hard 30 years watching my country fall into the hands of those who would do her harm. I am trying to wake people up but some never will.