THE DELIVERANCE OF THE REMNANT.
By E. E. Andross
IN Isa. 11:10-16 the Lord speaks of the recovery of his remnant people, and this recovery is to be "like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." The meaning of the word "remnant," as everyone knows, is residue, remains, remainder, that which is left. Thus the remnant of the people of God is the residue, or that which remains of God's people in whatever period of their history reference is made to them. In the chapter that we are now considering, we read:— "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious." Verse 10. This, taken in connection with the first four verses of the chapter, make it clear that reference is made to Christ. "In that day," or the time intervening between his first and second coming, "the Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people." After enduring a long period of bondage and severe oppression in Egypt, the Lord "set his hand" to recover his people, and, accordingly, "led them [out of Egypt] by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name." Isa. 63:12. So God will manifest his glorious power in the recovery of the remnant, "for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Joel 2:32. The gathering, or recovery, of God's people here referred to is the conversion and uniting of his people to Christ. Then "they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." Isa. 52:7, 8. Zeph. 2:1-3 shows that the gathering and the call thereto is made just before "the decree bring forth." This decree is found in Rev. 22:11, and is as follows:— "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still." And that this is just before the second coming of Christ is seen from the verse which follows the above quotation: "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be." The decree also marks the close of the day of probation, which will be followed by "the fierce anger of the Lord." Zeph. 2:2. Then Christ will come. But while all this is near, the Lord says: "Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together." "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgments; seek righteousness, seek meekness." Zeph. 2:1, 3. I will quote one more text to show that the gathering is not a literal gathering into one place upon the earth, but a uniting in Christ. "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ." Eph. 1:10. When God undertakes to accomplish a work, he will do it, for he is abundantly able. And to know that this is preeminently so in this case, the reader is referred to Isa. 52:10: "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." This is "when the Lord shall bring again Zion." Verse 8. And his people need not fear, though there be enemies before and behind; "for ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight; for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward," or "gather you up," margin. Verse 12. I now call attention to Isa. 11:16: "And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people; which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." In order that we may know what this highway is, let us examine a few texts:— "And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; for He shall be with them; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Isa. 35:8, margin. First, what is the way?—Jesus says, "I am the way." And, second, what is the highway?—"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil." Prov. 16:17. Evil being sin, and sin being "the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4), to depart from evil is to depart from the transgression of the law. Therefore, the highway of the upright is to depart from the transgression of the law of God, or, in other words, the highway is the law of God, and to walk in the highway is to walk in obedience to the law. The Lord made man upright (Eccl. 7:29), and it was God's "purpose" that he should remain "holy and without blame before Him" (Eph. 1:4; 3:11). Had man continued to walk in the highway (which is holy, just, and good, Rom. 7:12) where God placed him, this purpose would have been accomplished without Christ's coming to this earth and dying for man; but man fell from this exalted plane, "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). God's ways are as far above man's ways as the heavens are above the earth. Isa. 55:8, 9. Man, therefore, of himself can no more reach the highway than he can fly to the heavens. Is he therefore without hope? He would have been had not Christ spanned the gulf which sin had made. This was revealed to Jacob in his flight from his father's house. Wearied with his journey, the wanderer lay down upon the ground, with a stone for his pillow. As he slept, he beheld a ladder, bright and shining, whose base rested upon the earth, while the top reached to heaven. Upon this ladder angels of God were ascending and descending. . . . In this vision the plan of redemption was presented to Jacob, not fully, but in such parts as were essential to him at that time. The mystic ladder revealed to him in his dream was the same to which Christ referred in his conversation with Nathaniel.—Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 183, 184.261Said Christ, "Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." John 1:51. So now we have Christ, the "ladder," or "the way," by which we get back to God and his ways, therefore to the highway. Then all who get back to the highway by this way can walk therein, "for He shall be with them." Isa. 35:8, margin. I now ask the attention of the reader to Isa. 62:10, 11: "Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." This is evidently the work of preparing a people to "stand in the battle in the day of the Lord." Eze. 13:5. And a part of this work is to "cast up the highway; gather out the stones," go "up into the breaches" and make up the hedge. The highway has been trampled underfoot, and it should now be exalted; the dust of tradition has been gathering upon it, and it should be blown away by the breath of God, which is his word. The stones of objections, such as the law being a yoke of bondage, and numerous others, must be gathered out, by letting the people see that "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3), and many other similar texts, which are abundantly able to remove every stumbling-stone from the path of one who is earnestly seeking for truth. There has been a breach made in God's law by the "man of sin" (Dan. 7:25); this must be repaired; the hedge must be made up. And this will be accomplished. Says the prophet: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words." Isa. 58:13. Inasmuch as we have reached the time when this should all be done, the Lord says to us, "Set thine heart toward the highway." Jer. 31:21. Now to return to Isaiah 11, verse 16: "And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." Moses was the leader of God's people when they came out of Egypt, and to-day Christ, of whom Moses was a type (Deut. 18:18), is leading the remnant out of the Egyptian darkness that is covering the earth (Isa. 60:2), into the antitypical land of Canaan. "And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, . . . like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." In a short time after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea Moses calls their attention to the law of God; then in a few days they are brought to Sinai, where God spake it to them in awful grandeur and glory. Christ was there, to enable them (1 Cor. 10:1-4) to walk in the highway, and if they had so done, they would have soon reached the land to which they were journeying. When they were at Kadesh-barnea they were on the very borders of the land, but because they were rebellious and would not walk in the highway, they had to go back into the wilderness and wander thirty-eight years longer, until all of the male members of that vast company who left Egypt over twenty years of age, except Caleb and Joshua, the two faithful spies, had fallen by the way, and the others had learned obedience by the things which they suffered. But how did God prove them, whether they would walk in his law, or no?—By calling their attention to the Sabbath. Their loyalty to God was to be tested upon the Sabbath commandment (Ex. 16:4), and when they broke that commandment, the Lord said, "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?" Verse 28. To-day there is a "highway for the remnant, . . . like as it was to Israel" then, and their loyalty to God is being tested upon the same commandment. So we see the people's attention being called to the Sabbath of the Lord all over the world as never before. The commandments and traditions of men are losing their hold upon the earnest seekers after truth, and the faithful everywhere are rapidly turning their feet into the way of God's commandments. They see that Sunday is a rival of the Sabbath of the Lord, and are therefore forsaking it; and for this very reason men are seeking human laws in its support in order to enforce its observance. But it will be seen that there are a few to-day, as there always has been in the past, who, when the laws of men come in conflict with the law of God, will obey the latter, no matter what the consequences may be. But now where are we in the journey to Canaan?—Evidently, as all the signs show, in the Valley of Shittim, preparatory to entering the heavenly land. It has been abundantly demonstrated through these columns that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh," that soon the faithful will behold the King in his beauty. The signs of Christ's coming are spoken of; then his revelation, and the effect it will have upon the righteous; then follows this blessed promise, which we find, by reading Isa. 44:2, 3, to be the outpouring of the Spirit of God: "Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." The reception of this is but the fulfillment of Joel 2:23: "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first" (see Revised Version); or, as rendered by Spurrel, "even as before." We will not only be glad and rejoice in the Lord, but will also be patient until we receive the latter rain, and will establish our hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. James 5:7, 8. We will not attempt a description of the transcendent glory of the heavenly Canaan, but suffice it to say that:— Though thousands have sung of its glories,
The half has never been told. Yes, we will "speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom." Ps. 145:11, 12. But hark! there is something more precious
Than all of these pleasures so rare,—
The hope of beholding my Saviour,
The promise of knowing him there
Who trod the rough pathway before us,
Those portals of bliss to unfold—
Who suffered and died to restore us.
His love can never be told. Sinner, "you can join the army of Christ's followers if you will; you may share in its conflicts and triumphs. But if you choose not to do this, the self-denying army under the blood-stained banner of the cross will move on to certain victory, and leave you behind. If you choose to guide your own frail bark across life's stormy waters, you must answer for the presumption, and be held responsible for the result." "We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you; come thou with us, and we will do thee good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." Num. 10:29.