There is today a remnant of Israel whom God is preserving – through thick and thin, through terror and wars until that great day arrives. Zec 13 describes this remnant:
“I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name, And I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ” Zec 13:8-9
The scriptures talk of the remnant of Israel – ‘only a remnant will be saved, Rom 9:27’. This remnant is 33% of the nation.
They are people whom God has elected beforehand, people whom He foreknew will turn to Him at the End of the Age and will be part of the Jewish nation that welcomes back her Messiah.
These 33% may go through the fire, they will face great dangers – yet God will sovereignly preserve them for that great day. The enemy will be given the temporary green light to attack and harm the nation of Israel – but God will say a very clear ‘this far and no further’. There is an iron boundary of God’s protection around this remnant, around the third, keeping them not only in that horrendous hour which is to come, but also keeping them today. Yes there is mindless terrorism happening right now in Israel and we mourn over the lives lost. But we can be confident that those who are called to be part of the final 33% will not be cut down now or in the future.
When we read of only 33% of Israel being saved, we can feel sad and wonder why the number isn’t greater. But if we were to look at our Gentile nations, how many will be saved out of them? Jesus Himself said that Broad is the path that leads to destruction and many there are that walk on it, but narrow is the way that leads to salvation and few there are that find it.
Right now most western nations only have 1-3% evangelical Christians. So a 33% salvation rate is pretty good!
Rabbi Baruch Korman said that the difficulties that lie ahead for the Jewish people are an expression of God’s love for His people – for He will use these difficulties to turn such a large percentage of the nation to Himself.
Let us pray for our nations too – that God in His mercy will allow whatever pressures are needed to turn more of our nations to Him. Let us pray that the remnant of our nations will increase, that God will preserve and protect each one He has chosen – and that He will in the fullness of time bring them into the kingdom. May God lead us as believers to sow seeds of God’s word and God’s love to those He has chosen both in Israel as well as in our nations – so that they will know who to call out to in the difficult days ahead.
Enoch Lavender was born in Australia, raised in Norway, spent time living in China and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been studying Hebrew and the Jewish roots of our faith for the past decade, and has a keen interest in the Middle East from a Bible prophecy perspective.
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