A Rain Shower or a Remnant?

In “Christianity Face to Face with Islam,” published in the January 2009 issue of First Things, Robert Louis Wilken describes the growth of Islam over the centuries and how the church has responded—or failed to respond.  Christians have often ignored the cultural and political dimensions of Islam and its geographic growth.  He writes,

Most of the territories that were Christian in the year 700 are now Muslim. Nothing similar has happened to Islam.  Christianity seems like a rain shower that soaks the earth and then moves on, whereas Islam appears more like a great lake that constantly overflows its banks to inundate new territory. (23)

After recounting the geographical advance of Islam, he writes, “The question to be asked, then, is whether, face to face with Islam, Christians will be able to sustain, rebuild, and create strong and resilient communities that provide institutional anchorage for the faith to endure and flourish” (26). He points out several strengths of Christianity in its historical position, such as its “longer lineage than Islam” and its proven ability to exist “independently of political authority.” 

Yet Wilken’s article makes a curious omission.  All the legitimate historical reasons for hope that Wilkin offers pale in comparison to one great fact—the true God Himself.  Christianity’s historical record and reason for hope begins and ends with Him:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him . . . . In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5, emphasis added)

Is Christianity a passing rain shower?  Certainly not.  The Body of Christ will endure because He endures.  Like Elijah, we may feel defeated and alone, but God has always preserved a remnant (1 Kings 19:14, 18).