IN SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST parlance, based on what I have always considered to be sound scriptural exegesis, we lay claim to the term remnant as applying to Seventh-day Adventists. This has been our position since the inception of the great Advent Movement—a position supported by Ellen G. White. She has spoken profusely about "the remnant." We find the term remnant mentioned 31 times, the remnant church 22 times, the remnant people 21 times, a total of 74 references in her writings dealing with the term remnant.
In the early days of the Advent Movement our leaders were often challenged by those who questioned their scriptural authority for claiming that the Seventh-day Adventist Church met the fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 12:17. For example, when Uriah Smith was editor of the Review and Herald, he was asked why Seventh-day Adventists claim to be the remnant church. (See Review and Herald, February 28, 1856.) And his answer was that Seventh-day Adventists are the only ones who meet the conditions specified in Revelation 12:17 for God's last remnant, for they alone keep all of God's commandments and have the faith of Jesus. (See The SDA Encyclopedia, p. 1069.)
The following year James White dealt with the same issue. Listen to his defense of the appropriateness of the term remnant as applied to Seventh-day Adventists. (1) "Satan's war on 'the remnant' is the last link in the prophetic chain of Revelation 12. The context assigns the remnant of Revelation 12 to a period of time after the 1260 days of verses 6 and 14. (2) The figurative word 'remnant' must represent the latest members of the Church of Jesus Christ living just before His second coming. (3) As a commandment-keeping people, Seventh-day Adventists meet the specifications given in Revelation 12:17."
You see, my brethren, there was nothing fuzzy or vague about the beliefs of these great Advent stalwarts. These three strong points by James White in defense of the position of our early pioneers, made more than 100 years ago, are just as valid and unassailable today in our defense of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as the successor to the long unbroken line of God's remnant from the time of Abraham to the present.
The Term Remnant—Its Origin
Before we pursue our topic further we ought to consider briefly the correct meaning of the word remnant—its origin. The word remnant originates from the Hebrew, and it comes from three Hebrew words. First, peletah or palet, meaning "what es capes," "those who escape," or "to escape." The second Hebrew word she'erith or she'ar, meaning "the rest" or "what re mains," "the remainder," "the remnant." And the third Hebrew word yether, "what remains," "remainder" or "remnant."
Now let us consider a few examples of the application of these Hebrew words from which our word remnant is taken.
Examples of the Remnant in Old Testament Times
First, Jacob's family was preserved during the severe famine, under Joseph's care. In Genesis 45:7 we read: "And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." And the marginal reading says, "remnant."
Our second example concerns the days of Ahab, which was the period of great apostasy. During this period Elijah considered himself the only true remnant. "I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord" (1 Kings 18:22). But God declared, "I have left," and the Hebrew word here means "to leave over" "to remain," "I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal."
A third example, a small "remnant" of the ten tribes escaped out of the hands of the king of Assyria. "Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria" (2 Chron. 30:6). Later Judah was left to function as a nation. The story is found in 2 Kings 17:18. Accordingly, it became "the remnant" of the twelve tribes and sole heir to the covenant promises, privileges, and responsibilities that originally belonged to all twelve of the tribes of Israel.
A fourth example, when the king of Babylon invaded Palestine a century later, he too left "a remnant" (2 Kings 25:22). A fifth example, finally, the Lord promised to leave "a remnant" of those taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. "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" (Eze. 6:8).
Now there are literally scores of references in the Old Testament dealing with the word remnant. Therefore, we would summarize by stating that "the remnant" of Old Testament times consisted of successive generations of God's chosen people. They survived calamities—such as wars, captivity, pestilences, famines—and continued as God's representatives.
The Remnant in New Testament Times
In The Acts of the Apostles, pages 376 and 377, we read: "Notwithstanding Israel's failure as a nation, there remained among them a goodly remnant of such as should be saved. At the time of the Saviour's ad vent there were faithful men and women who had received with gladness the mes sage of John the Baptist. . . . When the early Christian church was founded, it was composed of these faithful Jews who recognized Jesus of Nazareth as the one for whose advent they had been longing."
Then the apostle Paul in Romans 9:27 declared: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." And the word remnant here means in this context "only a remnant." Paul in Romans 11:4, 5 reinforces his earlier declaration. As in Elijah's day there was a faithful remnant, so in his day there was a "remnant according to the election of grace."
Thus the apostolic church became the divinely commissioned successor to Judaism as the trustee of the revealed will of God, as the corporate visible representatives of His purposes on earth, and as His chosen instrument for the proclamation of the gospel.
As we trace through the Biblical pages of sacred history, the unbroken line of God's true remnant people from the time of Abraham to the beginning of the Chris tian Era, we are constantly reminded of the fierce efforts of the devil to completely destroy "the remnant," God's true and loyal followers. His diabolical efforts continued unrelentlessly through the Dark Ages, climaxing in the dragon's supreme effort to destroy "the remnant church" just prior to the return of our blessed Saviour.
In The Acts of the Apostles, page 581, Ellen G. White speaks of the fierce opposition faced by the early remnant church when John was exiled to Patmos. This, of course, was during the terrible days of pagan persecution.
The Remnant During Papal Persecution
Centuries later the church that survived the terrible years of pagan persecution experienced the great papal apostasy. The prophet John, using the pen of divine inspiration, graphically portrays in Revelation 12 the 1260 years of papal power of oppression and persecution that effectively suppressed and scattered God's true followers throughout the world. But through the Reformation of the sixteenth century, God's purpose was once more to lead forth "a remnant," this time from mystical Babylon.
The various early Reformers, men such as Luther, Calvin, Knox, and Wesley, were unquestionably chosen by God as His Heaven-inspired messengers to restore the pillars of truth that had been abandoned and demolished. The Protestant churches that emerged during the Reformation era, I believe, were God's faithful remnant after more than a thousand years of papal apostasy. But sad to say, group after group be came satisfied with a partially constructed temple of truth. And with each refusal to advance, God raised up another group, another "remnant," as His chosen messengers.
The Remnant Church in the Last Days
Finally, with the passing of the 1260 years of papal supremacy and the arrival of the time of the end, God raised up another remnant, the one designated in Revelation 12:17. The servant of the Lord places in sharp focus the solemn task assigned to God's final remnant people. Listen to her inspired word in Prophets and Kings, page 678: "God's remnant people, standing be fore the world as reformers, are to show that the law of God is the foundation of all enduring reforms, and that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to stand as a memorial of creation, a constant reminder of the power of God. In clear, distinct lines they are to present the necessity of obedience to all the precepts of the Decalogue."
From our very beginning we have boldly proclaimed to the world that the three angels' messages of Revelation 14, coupled with the loud cry of Revelation 18, constitute God's last message of invitation, God's last appeal, God's last reprieve, to the inhabitants of this world. And it is with deep humility, as well as an awful sense of our solemn responsibility, that we stand before the world and declare unequivocally that the Seventh-day Adventist Church, according to the Holy Scriptures, meets the specifications outlined in Revelation 12:17 and 14:6-12. Even though we claim, and rightly so, to be "the remnant church," we repudiate emphatically any thought that we alone are the children of God and have a sole claim upon heaven. We believe that all who worship God in honesty and in sincerity, living up to all the revealed will of God, are presently potential members of the final remnant mentioned in Revelation 12:17.
We believe that God has a multitude of earnest, sincere followers scattered through out the world whom we would like to refer to as the invisible members of His body. Ellen G. White in The Great Controversy, page 383, leaves no doubt concerning this vital fact: "In what religious bodies are the greater part of the followers of Christ now to be found? Without doubt, in the various churches professing the Protestant faith."
The great Advent Movement launched in 1844 by divine edict is the agency through whom God is working to gather His people out of mystical Babylon. Revelation 18:4 is the message being heralded to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people: "Come out of her, my people." As He called the children of Israel out of Egypt that they might keep His Sabbath, so He calls His people out of Babylon that they may worship Him, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The Master was very explicit when He said: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (John 10:16). These sheep are the people whom God calls His own (Rev. 18:4).
In Noah's day the ark was the place of safety, of salvation. Noah built one ark. Those who heeded the call to come out of the danger zone, to come out of superstition, unbelief, rebellion, went in and were saved. Just as Noah's ark was the only place of safety, of salvation, for the people of the antediluvian world, "the remnant church," the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is the only visible place or organization that God has designated as the place of safety, of salvation, for the people of our day.
They Will Come From Every Land
We are the people of prophecy. We must go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, "Come out of her, my people."
In Prophets and Kings, pages 188, 189, are these words: "Among earth's inhabit ants, scattered in every land, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. . . . God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law."
The servant of the Lord speaks of honest people who will leave the fallen churches. "I saw that God has honest children among the nominal Adventists and the fallen churches, and before the plagues shall be poured out, ministers and people will be called out from these churches and will gladly receive the truth."—Early Writings, p. 261.
So my dear fellow workers, there should be no reservations, no evasiveness, no doubting concerning the role of our movement and the fact that it represents the visible remnant church for these last days.
If at this momentous hour beginning the new decade of the 70's, standing on the brink of the year 2000, we have no mes sage from the Lord that is relevant, if we are doubting that this is "the remnant church" for this last period of the world's history, if we are going to water down the message of Revelation 14:6-12; 18:1-5, if we are going to compromise for the sake of ecumenicalism, then we might just as well drop the name "Seventh-day Adventist." And if we are not clear after 125 years as to the distinctiveness of our position, the distinctiveness of our message, our identity as "the remnant church," and our solemn commission to call men and women into this church as the place of safety and salvation, then I would say, "God have mercy upon our souls as a group of Adventist preachers."
My prayer is that God will awaken our sense of urgency, will deepen our conviction, will electrify us with "holy power," thus enabling us to hasten throughout the length and breadth of the earth, crying with a loud voice, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," "come out of her, my people," enter thou into the "remnant fold" of thy God.
