I can always tell when my wife has found something on sale. “Honey,” she cries as she rushes through the door, clutching her bargain, “look what I found!”
That was the scene recently when she came back from town. Then, out of her bag, she pulled a piece of cloth with small red and yellow daisies scattered across a dark blue background. “It’s a remnant,” she announced proudly. “I got it for half price!”
The King James Version of the Bible uses the word remnant 91 times. It is most often used to refer to a piece of cloth or leftover food. But it also uses this word about people.
When the Bible applies this term to people, it’s generally referring to those fortunate few who manage to escape such a disaster as a war or a famine. Usually, it either pictures these people as loyal to God, keeping His commandments when everyone else has turned away, or it is a call for them to become part of the loyal few.
Revelation 12:17 uses the term remnant to designate the people living just before the end of the world who are faithful to God: “The dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest [“remnant,” KJV] of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”
the dragon and the woman
One of the best ways to understand a verse in the Bible is to study the entire chapter where it is found. This is particularly true of this verse in Revelation 12:17. The first six verses of chapter 12 describe a conflict between a pregnant woman and an evil red dragon. The dragon wants to devour the woman’s Child as soon as He is born, but God catches the Child up to heaven, out of the dragon’s reach. Nearly all Bible commentators agree that the woman represents God’s church. Verse 9 tells us the dragon represents the devil. The Child represents Jesus Christ.
Frustrated that it cannot destroy the Child, the dragon turns on the woman. Verse 13 says “When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.” This text unquestionably refers to the persecution of God’s people after Christ returned to heaven. This persecution occurred in two distinct phases. The first phase took place under the Roman Empire during the first 300 years of Christian history. Christians were thrown to the lions and to gladiators, and some were even burned alive to provide lighting for imperial banquets!
The second phase of persecution began when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire. Naturally, Christianity became very popular. Many pagans joined the church without internalizing the faith. Within a hundred years, the persecuted became the persecutors. Sometimes, pagans who refused to become Christians were slain, but eventually, Christians who failed to adhere to the “orthodox” beliefs of the time were tortured.
Our text about the remnant follows with this scene: “The dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest [“remnant,” KJV] of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (verse 17). This verse describes the devil’s final persecution of God’s followers.
Revelation 13 and 14 expand our understanding of these closing scenes of persecution. Chapter 13 describes the final apostasy on earth when those who reject God receive the mark of the beast. In contrast, chapter 14 says that those who remain loyal to God receive the seal of God. That chapter pictures three angels calling people everywhere to worship God and to separate from those who reject Him. These angels warn of the terrible punishment that will fall on those who have the mark of the beast (see Revelation 14:1–11).
Revelation 14:12 concludes this section: “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.”
five characteristics
Together, Revelation 12:17 and 14:12 give us five characteristics of last-day Christians, God’s remnant people:
They are under bitter attack by Satan and the world.
They obey God’s commandments.
They hold to “their testimony about Jesus.”
They persevere.
They “remain faithful to Jesus.”
They are a people under attack. Revelation 12:12 says “ ‘Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.’ ” Jesus conquered Satan at the Cross. Ever since that time, Satan has been intensely angry with God’s people, and the closer we get to Christ’s second coming, the angrier he becomes. We, living at the very end of time, must suffer Satan’s bitterest attacks.
They obey God’s commandments. Most Christians recognize the Ten Commandments as the basis of biblical morality, yet many ignore the most fundamental principles they proclaim. God’s people in the last days will keep all of His commandments, not just the convenient ones.
They hold to the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 12:17 says that God’s remnant people have the “testimony about Jesus.” There are two ways we could take this clause: (1) God’s people receive a testimony from Jesus, or (2) they bear a testimony about Jesus. There’s truth to both. According to Revelation 19:10, “ ‘the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’ ” (NKJV). In the last days, we should look for God’s people to receive the gift of prophecy as a testimony from Jesus. (The Old Testament prophet Joel linked this gift with the last days—see Joel 2:28, 29.) And of course, by their faithfulness in the face of persecution, the remnant testify—bear witness—about Jesus.
They persevere. Jesus said that it is those who stand firm to the end who will be saved (see Matthew 10:22). The difficult times Revelation speaks of actually help to produce the quality of perseverance in those who trust God. Paul wrote, “We . . . glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3). Of course, through it all, the saints exercise “patient endurance,” trusting God and depending on the strength the Holy Spirit supplies.
They remain faithful to Jesus. In addition to obeying God’s commandments, Revelation 14:12 says that God’s people in the last days will “remain faithful to Jesus.” I believe this means that God’s people, in the last days, will live righteous lives by faith. They will not try to obtain salvation through their good works, but neither will they deny the importance of holy living as an obligation of the Christian faith.
Being a part of God’s remnant people will mean enduring the worst tribulation in the history of the world. However, Revelation assures us that, by God’s grace, His people will triumph. They will have learned what it means to be saved through faith apart from the works of the law, and through His power, they will obey the law. And, having the gift of prophecy, they will bear a powerful witness about Jesus through their patient endurance of history’s greatest tribulation.
This is a challenge for Christian faith and Christian living that I hope you and I each can share.
Marvin Moore served as editor of Signs of the Times® from 1994 to 2021.
