22 Jan The Alien Remnant
2020 was a long year for many people with many unexpected twists, and that was certainly true for us as well. However, one of my personal highlights as I read through the Bible was my increased love and fascination with the Old Testament. While some people, even Christian leaders, may downplay the significance of the Old Testament, I found it to be more exciting than ever. I feel like it took me deeper into the nature, character, and person of God. I learned and understood things about God that made me know Him and love Him in fresh new ways. In the Old Testament we see what is important to God, what He values, how He loves, His patience, mercy, kindness, longsuffering, and grace. We see what is important to Him and His expectations of those who claim covenant relationship with Him. We see the priority and purpose of all creation and what He not only desires but demands from His followers: to GLORIFY GOD ALONE. We were created to treasure, honor, and give allegiance to the one true Creator God, and He will not and cannot compromise His glory; or share His glory with any idol or false god.
I spent some extra time as I read through the book of Ezekiel. I became enthralled with the specificity and depth of God’s sovereignty. Throughout the book of Ezekiel God says “I will…” hundreds of times. And most of those “I wills” are the punishment, discipline, and destruction for Israel’s unfaithfulness. However, God has a specific purpose for doing these things; He says, “I will…” so that “YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM GOD.” Fifty-Nine times (and I may have missed a couple) God says I am doing these things, “so that you will know that I am God.” In chapter 36 when God begins to talk about the restoration that is going to come after His judgement, He says I am not doing it for you Israel, I am doing it for “My Holy Name.” (Ez. 36:22) God is righteously and justifiably fanatical about the glorification of His Great Name. EVERYTHING GOD DOES IS TO BRING GLORY TO HIS NAME. If we do not understand this, we will not be able to make sense of the pain, chaos, viruses, and brokenness of this world. Neither will we embrace the urgency of taking the gospel to the nations where many peoples are giving glory to something or someone who is not worthy of their worship.
As I was reading this powerful book on God’s wrath, judgment, restoration, kindness, and compassion I couldn’t help but draw similarities to the religious culture in America. The passionate display of some “religious people” over the political and national issues of our day is troubling to me. They seem to be trying to bring a political or national solution to a Kingdom of God issue. The religious Jewish culture of Jesus’ day was trying to do the same thing. Israel was being ruled by a Roman pagan culture even though the Jews were living in their homeland. Religious Jewish leaders and zealots wanted to restore Israel to its former glory and bring back the good ole days when David was ruling, and Israel was number one. The zealots were bold and sometimes violent about attacking the Roman culture and bringing back the glory of Israel.
As I watched the riot on the Capitol building and some of the people holding signs about Jesus and Christianity, even some gathering for prayer after the violence, I thought about the religious zealots of Jesus’ day and their misguided desire for power. Jesus chose a zealot named Simon to be one of the 12 apostles and converted him from giving his life to restoring the Kingdom of Israel, to restoring the Kingdom of God. History shows that Simon, the former national zealot turned Kingdom of God zealot, became a missionary to Africa and England and history reports he was either crucified in England or cut into with a saw in Persia.
True followers of Jesus are to be passionate about “Seeking the Kingdom of God first…” (Matt. 6:33) and actively serving “to bring the Kingdom of God to earth” (Matt. 6:10). We seem to see a segment of the American religious culture confused about their ultimate purpose. They appear to be merging idolatrous beliefs into something they are calling “Christian.” This duplicitous syncretistic religion is adding something to Jesus Christ alone. And as Paul says in Galatians 1:6-9 if we add to or distort the true gospel of Christ, that is no gospel at all, and those who preach it should be cursed. It seems far too many religious people seem to be placing their faith and hope in the American Dream, our government, and even a human president. I have been in America for the last two weeks and I continue to see bumper stickers that say “God, Guns, and Trump” or “Jesus is my Savior and Trump is my president” or “Biden: Help is on the Way.” The devaluing of the Majesty and Glory of our Great and Mighty God and His Son Jesus Christ, by putting them in the same sentence with guns and Trump is a gross and monumental misrepresentation. As my blood began to boil, I thought of Jesus turning over the tables in the Temple as they were misrepresenting His Father. I wondered if I should rip the bumper sticker off the car. Then I realized that someone who has a gun bumper sticker probably is carrying one. In wisdom or cowardice, I drove on.
I believe what is happening today in our culture seems foreign to many in the American religious community. For most of American history the American cultural waters have flowed in the same direction as the religious culture, at least in some social issues. (Of course, not all, i.e., materialism, greed, pride, power, racial issues, etc). However, the day that the cultural waters flowed in some of the same directions as the biblical values, virtues, and commands appears to be over. While the cultural slide toward secularism has been happening for over 50 years, Babylon appears to be the prominent culture and we have to ask the question, are the religious/church people equipped to navigate the turbulent waters? Have we made, as Greg Ogden defines, “self-initiating, reproducing, fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ?” Perhaps, we have not discipled in a way that the church knows how to handle this monumental seismic shift that has happened. We see religious/church people filled with irrational fears, truth based on feelings, unbiblical social media posts, unbiblical worldviews and perspectives, ignorance about the Kingdom of God and knowing how to live as a Kingdom citizen, and dialing up more hope in the government or a political leader to save America in the hopes of getting back to their version of “normalcy”. I read an article that said “The problem in our culture… isn’t the abortionists. It isn’t the pornographers or drug dealers or criminals. It is the undisciplined, undiscipled, disobedient, and Biblically ignorant Church of Jesus Christ.” Ouch!!! That hurts but I agree. The Bible has always called true followers of Jesus aliens or exiles in this world. But now our culture is actually treating us like that, and many do not like it or know what to do about it.
It seems difficult for some to embrace the reality that our nation, government, and culture is predominantly pagan just like most other nations in the world. In the last decade, and certainly others throughout history, we have had pagan presidents who are not followers of Jesus Christ and that doesn’t appear to be changing in the beginning of this decade. That doesn’t mean God did not choose, or allow, these men to be president. The Bible is clear “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1). The question is how do true followers of Jesus Christ navigate swimming against the rapid cultural waters?
Perhaps we need a reminder of what the Apostle Paul says about lost people. Ephesians 2:1-4, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” So unbelievers are (1) dead in their trespasses and sins, (2) Following the course of the world (3) following the prince of the power of the air, satan, (4) living by the passions of their flesh and carrying out the desires of the body and the mind (5) and our children of God’s wrath. This is true even if the lost person is a church going religious person, popular entertainer, famous athlete, politician, or even president. Why would we be following, defending, and loyal to people with this unredeemed nature? Just because we vote for someone does not mean they deserve our allegiance. As Yahweh and His prophets kept trying to remind the Israelites, “You already have a King.” And as Jesus kept trying to teach His disciples, “I am the King, but my Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Our allegiance must belong solely to King Jesus. He is our all or nothing at all.
Let’s go back to Ezekiel. In the first few chapters God dramatically explains the judgment and destruction that He is going to bring on Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem. However, as always God provides a ray of hope. In Ez. 6:8 God says, “I will leave a remnant.” God always has a remnant. Even when “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” (Gen. 6:5) God had a remnant in Noah’s family. A remnant by nature is small.
We see examples of the remnant God is talking about in Ezekiel in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 3 we read the famous story of the three Jewish young men and the fiery furnace. The Babylonian King made a gold statue 90 feet tall and commanded that everyone, including the “Jewish aliens,” bow down and worship the statue when they hear the music. When the music played everyone bowed down except Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now these three guys were not the only Jewish exiles in Babylon. So, while we celebrate the radical courage and potentially fatal commitment of these three men, we must wonder why all the other Jewish aliens bowed down? An alien remnant by nature is small.
The government in Daniel’s day said you cannot pray or petition any god or man except for King Darius or you will be thrown into the lion’s den (Daniel 6). Again, while we praise Daniel, why was he the only Jewish alien that continued to pray to the one true God knowing the consequences? In this case the alien remnant was one. Spurgeon said, “Truth is usually in the minority in this evil world.”
God is active and moving throughout the world and America and many are wondering, what is God doing? We know from the 59 times in Ezekiel and the rest of Scripture that God is doing what He is always doing; bringing glory to Himself and making Himself known so that all will know that He is the one true God. In America, with an increasingly anti-Christ culture we must ask, what does it look like for the alien remnant to stand and not bow down like the three Hebrew guys? What will it look like to stay consistently faithful in all areas like Daniel, even if it means persecution? What will it look like for churches to make Kingdom disciples who will be a faithful alien remnant swimming against the cultural waters that want to take us under and silence us? What does “church” need to look like or be in the midst of this cultural onslaught that only seems to be picking up speed? Will the alien remnant have to fight on two fronts in America like the disciples of the New Testament had to do: the pagan Roman culture and the religious culture of their day? What will it take to see religious zealots be converted to Kingdom zealots who bring heaven to earth?
I look forward to having these difficult conversations in the days ahead and being a part of what God is doing, and will do, as He raises up His alien remnant. I hope there will be many like the three Hebrew boys who say, “we want you, king Nebuchadnezzar, to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.” (Daniel 3:18b) We serve King Jesus and He alone is worthy of Glory.
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