Remnant

I will indeed gather all of you, Jacob; I will collect the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the middle of its pasture. It will be noisy with people.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

As Jesus left and was going out of the temple, his disciples came up and called his attention to its buildings.

He replied to them, “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.”

While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Jesus replied to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many.

You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

All these events are the beginning of labor pains.

“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name.

Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another.

Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

“So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand),

“then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.

A man on the housetop must not come down to get things out of his house,

and a man in the field must not go back to get his coat.

Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days!

Pray that your escape may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

For at that time there will be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again.

Unless those days were cut short, no one would be saved. But those days will be cut short because of the elect.

“If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Over here!’ do not believe it.

For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Take note: I have told you in advance.

So if they tell you, ‘See, he’s in the wilderness! ’ don’t go out; or, ‘See, he’s in the storerooms! ’ do not believe it.

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.

“Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

“Learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near.

In the same way, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near — at the door.

Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things take place.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows — neither the angels of heaven nor the Son — except the Father alone.

As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.

For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark.

They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. This is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be.

Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.

Two women will be grinding grain with a hand mill; one will be taken and one left.

Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.

But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into.

This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he comes.

Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But if that wicked servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’

and starts to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards,

that servant’s master will come on a day he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know.

He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I speak the truth in Christ  — I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit  —

that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.

The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

Neither are all of Abraham’s children his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac.

That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.

For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.

And not only that, but Rebekah conceived children through one man, our father Isaac.

For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand —

not from works but from the one who calls — she was told, The older will serve the younger.

As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.

For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth.

So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?

And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?

And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory  —

on us, the ones he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

As it also says in Hosea, I will call Not My People, My People, and she who is Unloved, Beloved.

And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved;

since the Lord will execute his sentence completely and decisively on the earth.

And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness — namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law.

Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

As it is written, Look, I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and the one who believes on him will not be put to shame.

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah — how he pleads with God against Israel?

Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life!

But what was God’s answer to him? I have left seven thousand for myself who have not bowed down to Baal.

In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace.

Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.

What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened,

as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day.

And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them.

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually.

I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.

Now if their transgression brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

if I might somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them.

For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

Now if the firstfruits are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree,

do not boast that you are better than those branches. But if you do boast — you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you.

Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

True enough; they were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but beware,

because if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Therefore, consider God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you — if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again.

For if you were cut off from your native wild olive tree and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these — the natural branches — be grafted into their own olive tree?

I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs,

since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.

As you once disobeyed God but now have received mercy through their disobedience,

so they too have now disobeyed, resulting in mercy to you, so that they also may now receive mercy.

For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?

And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.

After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”