“Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries.” Ezekiel 6:8
Judgment had hitherto triumphed, but here in Ezekiel 6:8, mercy rejoices against judgment. God leaves a remnant, a little remnant of the children of Israel. It is purely by God’s grace that they were spared. In other words, they deserved to be cut off from the rest, and they would have been cut off if God had not protected them (Is. 1:9). Why did God preserve a remnant of the people of Israel? Let’s understand it from two perspectives.
1) They are a preserved remnant. This remnant would be the seed of another generation, out of which Jerusalem would flourish again. In the midst of God’s wrath, mercy is remembered. There is a mixture of judgment and mercy here. There was judgment because they were carried away as captives to a foreign land. Yet mercy was present because they escaped the sword in the land of their captivity. We see this same principle repeating itself again and again regarding God’s dealings with His people, that in judgment, God always remembers mercy.
2) They are a penitent remnant. God is merciful. He gives us time to repent. This remnant here, marked for salvation, is a type of the remnant reserved out of the body of mankind to show forth God’s mercy. God was using them to show His salvation through man’s repentance. Sin takes place when we start forgetting God in our lives (Jer. 3:21). Repentance takes place when we begin to remember who God is, His love for us and His promises to us.
In Ezekiel 6:9, God says the remnant will remember Him. They could only do so by the grace of God. That grace shall find them out wherever they are, and by bringing God to their minds, “they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations” (6:9).
As with the prodigal son, we see how he came back to the father when he remembered how the servants in his father’s house had enough bread to eat. And when he returned, he was met with a loving and merciful father who embraced and restored him to his rightful place. God in his mercy is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). Let us not glory in our own strength, but in the mercy and grace of God, without which, we are nothing. “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4). God in His mercy laid on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, the iniquity of us all (Is. 53:6). Let us be thankful once again, that it is God’s goodness and mercy that leads us to repentance.
Judgment had hitherto triumphed, but here in Ezekiel 6:8, mercy rejoices against judgment. God leaves a remnant, a little remnant of the children of Israel. It is purely by God’s grace that they were spared. In other words, they deserved to be cut off from the rest, and they would have been cut off if God had not protected them (Is. 1:9). Why did God preserve a remnant of the people of Israel? Let’s understand it from two perspectives.
1) They are a preserved remnant. This remnant would be the seed of another generation, out of which Jerusalem would flourish again. In the midst of God’s wrath, mercy is remembered. There is a mixture of judgment and mercy here. There was judgment because they were carried away as captives to a foreign land. Yet mercy was present because they escaped the sword in the land of their captivity. We see this same principle repeating itself again and again regarding God’s dealings with His people, that in judgment, God always remembers mercy.
2) They are a penitent remnant. God is merciful. He gives us time to repent. This remnant here, marked for salvation, is a type of the remnant reserved out of the body of mankind to show forth God’s mercy. God was using them to show His salvation through man’s repentance. Sin takes place when we start forgetting God in our lives (Jer. 3:21). Repentance takes place when we begin to remember who God is, His love for us and His promises to us.
In Ezekiel 6:9, God says the remnant will remember Him. They could only do so by the grace of God. That grace shall find them out wherever they are, and by bringing God to their minds, “they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations” (6:9).
As with the prodigal son, we see how he came back to the father when he remembered how the servants in his father’s house had enough bread to eat. And when he returned, he was met with a loving and merciful father who embraced and restored him to his rightful place. God in his mercy is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). Let us not glory in our own strength, but in the mercy and grace of God, without which, we are nothing. “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4). God in His mercy laid on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, the iniquity of us all (Is. 53:6). Let us be thankful once again, that it is God’s goodness and mercy that leads us to repentance.
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