Being the Remnant

God always promised to save a remnant. Who is this remnant? The remnant is an undeserving group of people like you and me God saves by grace. The remnant is therefore God's elect. This is not the popular notion. For many, the remnant is the faithful few. Churches often have this erroneous view. We are the faithful few fighting for the full truth of God. Only we are left. Such an understanding breeds pride. We have the idea God saves the remnant because of our faithfulness. We self-righteously puff ourselves up in the sight of God because we are the faithful few. We take our stand on the position of works righteousness.

What does the Bible say about the remnant? Consider Isaiah 10:20-23. "[20] Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. [21] A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. [22] For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. [23] For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord God of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land."

The remnant is a group of people who rely upon the very one who strikes them, that is Assyria and Babylon (Isaiah 10:20). The remnant is therefore not faithful but apostate. As a result, the remnant goes into captivity just as the rest. The remnant must return to the Lord (Isaiah 10:21). The remnant learns to trust God in the midst of judgment (Isaiah 10:20 and 22-23). The remnant does not escape from judgment but escapes through judgment. This escape is a second exodus. "And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt" (Isaiah 11:16). In other words, God graciously saves this remnant. Isaiah 1:9 puts it well. "Unless the Lord of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah." The remnant realizes it is faithless and like Sodom and Gomorrah worthy of God's judgment.

Whereas a false view of the remnant fosters pride and self-righteousness, a biblical view of the remnant accentuates personal sin plus God's mercy and grace. The apostle Paul makes this clear. "What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles" (Romans 9:22-24). To validate his claim that some undeserving clay pots receive mercy, Paul quotes from both Isaiah 10:22-23 and Isaiah 1:9 cited above. In other words, from the New Testament perspective, the remnant is a people who receive mercy from God. Far from having ground to boast, the remnant is an undeserving people whom God graciously saves.

What is your outlook? Do you have a smug remnant attitude declaring yourself among the faithful few? Be careful. You are on shaky ground. You deserve hell. The solid foundation is grace. As a part of God's remnant, you are "a brand plucked from the fire" (Zechariah 3:2).