1Ⅳ Jehovah said that He would gather the remnant of His flock out of the lands where He had driven them and that He would bring them back to their pasture, and they would be fruitful and multiply—Jer. 23:3:
42 Only a small number came back to the chosen land; those who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple were the remnant of God’s people—Ezra 1:3; 2:1-67.
53 God promised that His people would return to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:11; 29:10); in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah a remnant returned according to this promise.
6B In the Lord’s recovery today we are a remnant of God’s people who have come back to His original intention while so many genuine believers are scattered and remain in captivity—Psa. 126:1-4:
82 The majority of Christians remain in captivity; only a small remnant have returned to the proper ground for God’s building—v. 11; 16:2; Psa. 132:13-14.
14d Without the return of the remnant to the Holy Land, there would have been no way for Christ to come to the earth through incarnation—Luke 1:35; 2:4-7.
152 Likewise, Christ’s second coming depends on the return of a remnant of His New Testament believers from their captivity in Babylon, degraded Christianity, to the unique ground of oneness for the building of the church, God’s spiritual house—Eph. 2:21-22; Rev. 2:1; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 2:5:
16a The Lord is calling a remnant of His people to meet His need by coming out of Babylonian captivity and returning to the proper ground of the church—Rev. 18:4; Isa. 52:11; Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 9, 45.
17b The Lord’s intention is not to revive Christianity as a whole but to call a remnant of His people who are willing to pay the price to follow Him for the fulfillment of His purpose and to be built up as a part of the Body—Matt. 16:18; 18:17; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:21-22; 4:16; Rev. 1:11; 22:16.
26Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 2, lsn. 33; CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 4: Other Crucial Matters concerning the Practice of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 11