Who is a God like You
pardoning iniquity, overlooking transgression,
for the remnant of His heritage?
He will not retain His anger forever,
because He delights in mercy. Micah 7:18, TLV
A Believing Remnant Throughout History. Our Heavenly Father angry? We don’t like hearing that, do we? Good thing Micah completes this verse with, “… because He delights in mercy.” Does God get angry? Yes, of course.
In this verse, Micah speaks of the “remnant of His heritage,” who are the remnant? The remnant were those who still believed and followed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promised there would always be a believing remnant of Israel.
God has not rejected His people whom He knew beforehand. Or do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “ADONAI [the LORD], they have killed your prophets, they have destroyed your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So in the same way also at this present time there has come to be a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.” Romans 11:2-5, TLV [Emphasis Mine]
Throughout history there have been great “fathers of faith” from the Jewish people.
- Rabbi Israel Zolli, appointed the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Italy, in 1939, was in the synagogue on Yom Kippur in 1944 when he had a vision of Jesus and became a believer.
- Rabbi Daniel Zion, the Chief Rabbi of Sofia, Bulgaria, had a similar experience as Rabbi Zolli, shortly before World War II.
- William Herschel was a distinguished scientist of the early 19th century who was credited with many astronomical discoveries, but is best known for discovering the planet Uranus. Herschel was also a famous musician, and his compositions – particularly those for woodwinds – are still played today.*
- August Neander (literally “new man”; born David Mendel) was a famous Professor of Church History at the University of Berlin in the early 19th century. He is considered the father of the modern study of Church History and wrote the foundational multi-volume work on that subject.
- Michael Solomon Alexander was an English Rabbi who came to faith in Messiah in 1825. The British Parliament appointed him the first Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem. He built the first Protestant church in the Middle East, Christ Church, which still stands in the Old City of Jerusalem and hosts a Messianic congregation.
- Benjamin Disraeli is best known as the 19th century Prime Minister of England who built the Suez Canal (with funding from the Rothschilds). He was also a very popular author who never hid his Jewish ancestry. He once told Queen Victoria, “Your Majesty, I am the blank page between the Old Testament and the New.”
- Henri Bergson, the brilliant French philosopher, won the 1927 Nobel Prize for Literature. He had been a “Christian” since 1921. Frail from rheumatic pain at age 81, he shamed the Nazi occupiers of Paris by demanding an armband to identify himself as a Jew.
These are but a tiny handful of the believing remnant of Israel who fought to retain their Jewish identity, yet were solid believers in their Messiah Jesus who atoned for their sins — as He did for us.
We are the remnant–Jew and Gentile, One in Messiah
We can also say we are part of that remnant of the believers of this age. Those who are “Christians” in name, but not in identity are many. Although Cultural Christianity is dwindling, there is a believing remnant — flawed though we may be — who are still here. Longing for more of our Heavenly Father. Seeking to follow Yeshua’s ways. Longing for His return. Working to spread His Good News.
We’re still here. Part of the believing remnant around the world. Thankful that our Father delights in mercy and grace.
G’mar chatimah tovah (גְּמַר חַתִימָה טוֹבָה), “a good and final sealing,” in The Lamb’s Book of Life.
*Take in full and part from https://www.chosenpeople.com/site/who-are-some-well-known-jewish-believers-in-jesus/
