A Heart-Broken Remnant Rises to its Calling

My wife, Fiona, bought a bag of remnants – off-cuts of little obvious use or value – from the Harris Tweed shop, as a present for a very creative friend. The next time we saw her she was wearing an amazing jacket, entirely made up of remnant pieces of Harris Tweed cloth, which had been carefully sewn together to provide a unique and warm item of clothing.

In Nehemiah’s day the people of God lost their divine protection because of their rebellion against the living God. As a result, they were taken captivity into exile and Nehemiah was now in the service of King Artaxerxes. Only a small remnant  of God’s people were left behind in Jerusalem – probably those deemed to have been of little use or value to the invading armies.

Nehemiah was heart-broken when he heard news from one of his brothers of how the remnant left behind was faring, and of how the walls of Jerusalem were still broken down and the gates had been burned with fire. In many ways this is a picture of much of the church today, especially in the west, with the spiritual walls in ruins and a remnant of heart-broken believers longing for the restoration and fulfilment of God’s purposes for His people.

Nehemiah turned his personal heart-break into intercession for Jerusalem and the remnant of God’s people. Into his spirit came the vision to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. Then the Lord gave him the courage to ask the King for all the resources he would need to help the remnant rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore the gates.

Moral compromise with the godless principles of a secular society cause the walls of the church to be broken down and the spiritual gates to be destroyed by the fire of the enemy. Ezekiel warned of the dangers when the shepherds desert the sheep (Ezekiel 34:1-6). Jesus described what can happen when a ‘wolf’ comes in, ravages the flock of God and scatters it (see John 10:11-13). Devastation is the result.

Countless men and women, down the centuries, gave their lives to preserve the integrity of God’s Word and teach its truth. Today, it feels as though the blood of the martyrs has lost its relevance to a generation, especially in the west, who are willing to ignore the plain meaning of God’s Word and reinterpret it to satisfy the demands of a secular, pluralistic and multi-faith twenty-first century society.

The very idea that Jesus is THE way, THE truth and THE life has been cast on one side and swept under a carpet of convenience, forgetting that it is only through fearlessly proclaiming the Name and the Truth of Jesus that the Church has been built for two thousand years.

When we ignore the witness and courage of generations past, from the first century Apostles to those who, even today, are willing to die for their faith in the living God and the truth of His Word, we betray our own history. Through GOHI we are in touch with and encouraging believers who risk their very lives daily, simply to meet with other believers in fellowship and prayer.

In Elijah’s day there was a remnant of 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal in the reign of Ahab and his Queen, Jezebel. And today, in all the churches, there are many thousands of heart-broken believers who have not bought into the dismantling of God’s truth or sacrificed it on the altar of convenience and compromise. They are a twenty-first century remnant, precious to the Lord, just as the remnant of people that were left in Jerusalem was precious to the Lord.

In response to his vision, Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, surveyed the damage, harnessed the remnant into a team of warrior/builders and, with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, they rebuilt the walls and restored the gates. And, when the work was done, Nehemiah gathered the people together, so that Ezra the Priest  could read to them what the rediscovered Word of God said, “making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand” (Nehemiah 8:8).

Tears of repentance flowed down the cheeks of the people when they realized just how far they had gone from obeying the Lord and His Word. It became a day of restoration for the people of God, a day when tears turned to joy and Nehemiah made a statement, the truth of which still echoes down the centuries, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10).

Fiona’s friend took the remnants of cloth and made them into a coat, providing covering and warmth. I believe the time has come for the ‘Nehemiahs’ across the Body of Christ to rise from their knees and turn their weeping into vision. And then gather together remnant believers for the Lord to ‘sew’ them into a covering, which will be a safe place for people to rediscover the Word of God, understand the true meaning of the Gospel of the Kingdom and know the healing power of God restoring hurting and broken lives.

I write these words in fear and trembling, for I know deep in my spirit that what God has done in raising up the work of Gates of Hope International (GOHI) is a strategic part of calling the remnant church to come out of hiding and be part of God’s end-time restoration of His people – a people who will stand purposefully and true, like Daniel and his friends stood, unwavering in the face of contrary opposition. There is much work to do!

A Remnant Church is Rising

We are living in the era when a Remnant Church is rising – not as a denomination, but within and out of all the denominations, in direct response to the movement of God’s Spirit. An unseen Shepherd is seeking the leaderless, the hurting, the lost, the broken and drawing them into the protection of a safe and secure covering made up of remnant believers, brought together by the divine Craftsman to serve the purposes of God in these end-times.

We have seen it beginning to happen, especially in the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. God is drawing His people to Himself. They are rising up above the deceptions of the enemy and looking to the Lord once again. The remnants are coming together out of all the denominations and theological streams. The walls are being rebuilt and the gates restored. God’s church is on the move – with a ‘building trowel’ in one hand and wielding the Sword of the Spirit!

God has given me the courage to ask the King of Kings for all the resources we will need to play the part He is asking of us, in helping today’s remnant church rebuild the walls of the Church and restore the gates.

We are undoubtedly in a period of history that can only be described as the end-times. Jesus said that the end will not come until the Gospel of the Kingdom has been preached in the whole world. A King reigns over his kingdom – it is only when believers gladly recognise the authority of King Jesus and live according to the teaching of His Word that the Gospel of the Kingdom is being lived and preached.

For the remnant, loving and serving Jesus is more important than anything else on Earth, for it is the only way that when this Earth’s days come to an end the gates of Heaven’s glory will await. God is sewing these remnant pieces together to fulfil His end-time purposes. These are very challenging, but also very exciting days.

Copyright © Peter Horrobin 2024.

Peter Horrobin is the Founder of Gates of Hope International. To find out more about the work please go to www.gatesofhopeinternational.com or, in its abbreviated ‘Go-High’ form: www.gohi.world

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