The Superficial & The Remnants

It's kinda hard  to comprehend the sufferings of the Jews throughout the history of their existence. It all started when they rejected their Jehovah and especially so when they rejected Jesus as their Messiah. God "abandoned" them and allowed Jerusalem to be trampled upon by the Gentiles until a said time. This is called the "times of the Gentiles" (Luke 10:24). Today we still see Jerusalem as it is, not as what it was. BUT in actual reality, God has not abandoned His people. When the "numbers/fullness of the Gentiles" (Rom. 11:25) is prophetically fulfilled then God will return His people to Himself. He will turn away the ungodliness of Israel. Till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, God has indeed hardened the hearts of Israel. They remain as they are today, a nation that has rejected their God. And God will always preserve a remnant who will, by all means, remain faithful to Jehovah.

Why the sufferings and atrocities that comes with the rejection? Why allow the Jews to experience near annihilation time and time again in history,  past and present? It's no wonder the hearts of the Jews have hardened. Israel was and is God chosen. Of all the peoples of the earth, God chose them to be His holy nation. The privilege and honour was theirs but they chose to reject the goodness of God and turn to wicked ways. So God had to "abandoned" them for a season. The reason being: to remove the superficial and to preserve a remnant who will yet glorify God.

To bring this home, let's look at the church at large today in our own country. We think we are doing fine. We think we are in the midst of a revival. Mega churches do not at all reflect the true state of the church today. Looking at the statistics alone will tell you that for the past decades the church has not grown at all. While we are happy church-ing, lost souls are still lost, yet to be found. If we continue on this trend, I fear we too may enter into a time where God will start removing the superficial so the remnant can shine. What's the superficial? The comforts, the prosperity, the music, the programmes, the buildings, just to name a few.

Now let's bring it a little more closer to home. We who are called of God, who professed to be a child of God, are too tied up with so much superficial that we don't give God our best. God is no longer first. Good Friday, Easter, Christmas are filled with travel plans and leisure. Gone were the days when these were great opportunities to introduce the Kingdom of God to friends. Church is no longer that important as long as we still belong. Prayer and Bible study are no longer of importance. Christians are after preachers who would preach those "make me feel good" sermons. From charismatic to cruisematic. Dare we say our faith in God is still strong and Bible based? Should the trumpet sound today, how confident are we that we will not be left behind?

I have been reading much of late with regard to Israel's past, present and future. It broke my heart to see the sufferings Israel  had to endure because they had turned away from God. Yet amidst the hardening of hearts, there's always the remnant who would not compromise on their faith, who would still hope against hope, trusting and believing that God had not abandoned them. These were the ones who would not be corrupted by the world nor would they compromise because of sufferings. These were those who would never lose sight of God's plan, purposes and promise. These were the ones who  would endure no matter what. These were the true believers. I believe in every church, there will always be the superficial and the remnant. The question is ... which are you?