I’ve written about “the remnant” before – it’s an important concept that I was just reminded of while reviewing a scripture memory verse in 2 Chronicles. Let me take a minute to set it up.

As we move through the Old Testament books dealing with the kings of Israel (1 Samuel – 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles), we learn that after the first three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon, the kingdom splits into a northern branch (“Israel”) and a southern branch (“Judah”). See 1 Kings 12. Israel has no good kings and never lives in obedience to the law. Judah has a few good kings, including Hezekiah.

We learn in 2 Chronicles 30 that Hezekiah wants to celebrate the Passover, an annual celebration (see Exodus 12.1 – 3 and Leviticus 23.4, 5), which had not been observed in a long time. I hadn’t noticed before that Hezekiah invited the northern tribes to participate:

So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the LORD God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary… (2 Chronicles 5 – 8, ESV, emphasis mine)

And what was the result?

So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 30.10 – 11, ESV)

Look at the response:

• They laughed them to scorn and mocked them.
• HOWEVER, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun (from the northern kingdom) humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

It’s always the remnant. Our job is clear:

• Invite everyone.
• Expect rejection.
• Expect also that a remnant will respond. “Some”

Jesus predicted it:

Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. (Mark 4.3 – 8, ESV)

Paul experienced it:

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. (Acts 17.30 – 34, ESV)