Dregs or Precious Remnant: Part Two

We’ve been discussing the truly horrendous state of affairs in which the book of Ezekiel was written. A city under siege, mothers eating their own children, the starving eating dung or the heads of dead animals, and a people who refused to turn to God for help!

And one lonely prophet in the midst of it all, whose message of repentance was repugnant to the hearers. It was indeed bitter and frustrating times for this man of God, standing alone in his reverence for the Lord.

He could have easily, as some of us have, questioned why another prophet received a more revival-centered city. He could have compared his talents with Elijah or Elisha, declaring how he deserved a following as well and miracles by the score. Or, he could have been discouraged by the lack of respect he received, opting to take a ‘pastorate’ in Jordan or somewhere else. Indeed, he came very close to giving up altogether.

At one point, having endured as much as he could handle, he withdrew from the people. So many times, I know that our ministers and indeed even our saints feel the need to withdraw from the battle when their witness is mocked and rejected. In fact, the situation can become so difficult that they become part of the enslaved people they are trying to reach, adorning themselves likewise in the garment of oppression and despair that pervades their world.

Ezekiel was in just such a situation, but rather than God delivering him from the physically and, indeed, spiritually diseased city of sin…He asked him to stay.

To stay…where no one would listen to him.

To stay…with a congregation that refused to change and live righteously.

To stay…in the face of mockery, taunts, and even threats against his well-being.

To stay…where death and depravity had consumed the city.

Just to stay….

Why?

Why would God want a prophet to keep preaching to such a people? Indeed, some of you may have wondered from time to time, why am I here if it doesn’t seem to do any good?

Reason #1 Ezekiel was specifically chosen for that people, that place, that time.

Ezekiel 2:5-7 relates: “And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.”

We find in Ezekiel 3:14 that Ezekiel wasn’t necessarily enamoured of his position in Jerusalem, but God had chosen him for that mission! God even transplanted him back into the midst of the fray when he had withdrawn! “So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.”

As one preacher said, sometimes we’re least wanted where we’re most needed!

Reason #2 To save the soul of the prophet himself!

Ezekiel 3:18-21 relates God’s call to Ezekiel and how that preaching the gospel actually saves the man or woman of God: “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.”

Reason #3 Someone will live for God!

Ezekiel 6:8 reveals that no matter how many reject the words of the Lord, there will always be a remnant. God said that despite the masses who had turned against truth, making it seem that Ezekiel would always serve God alone, “Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.”

Even Elijah had struggled with the feeling that his ministry was in vain and that he alone served God. God told him, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” Of the thousands or even millions you see who mock this truth even in the church pews, rest assured there is someone who will live for God!

Let us consider what a remnant is:

• A remnant is the smallest portion left behind.

• It is the few righteous who choose to live for God despite the siege and despite all the things that the backsliders claim forced them away from the promise!

• Scripture says, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against him.”

Let me ask you, is that standard the mothers eating their children? Is it those seeking to betray the city just to save their own skins? Is it those that will not heed the prophet of God?

No, it is the precious handful that do not look much like an army. It is that hodge-podge grouping of what we may perceive as ‘odds and ends’ who are willing to live for God! They are the few who appear to be dregs of a society long since past…but they are so much more!

Today, when the enemy floods against the walls of the church, threatening to buckle them under the strain, who is the standard that God will hold up against the tides?

• Is it those who backbite and destroy their spiritual children, causing them to walk back out those doors into the flood?

• Is it those willing to ruin the reputation of the church just to save their own face and prosper in the world?

• Is it those that forsake the teachings of the Word of God to fit into the modern landscape?

We all might easily answer…no. It is those whose life is pure and holy in His sight!

There are many reading this that feel they are completely alone in living for God—just as Ezekiel felt so long ago. They not only feel alone in the world…but sometimes they might even feel alone in the church as many attempt to break the boundaries that protect us…from within!

Indeed, such circumstances have arisen throughout biblical history…even into the New Testament. To learn how those in the Church Age dealt with spiritual siege, catch our next segment in “Dregs or Precious Remnant!”