What does the Bible mean when it refers to a remnant?

The word "remnant" means "that which remains." In our daily conversation we use it of many different things. In the Bible, the Spirit of God uses it very often to describe the faithful godly portion of a people, more especially of the Jewish people, or of the nation of Israel, after the greater part of the nation had turned away from God. The prophets in the Bible make it perfectly clear that there will be such a remnant. Isaiah says (Isaiah 1:9) "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." In Isaiah 10:21-22, we again read of the remnant, and in these verses, it is evidently the remnant of a future day. "The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return." The reader may also compare the following scriptures: Isaiah 11:11, Joel 2:32, and 3:1-2, Micah 4:7. See also Romans 11. We believe these scriptures tell us of a remnant of Israel who will be saved on this earth after the church has been called away to be with Christ.

The scriptures also speak of the remnant of other nations as Syria, Ashdod, the Philistines, etc., but in nearly every case "the remnant" refers to Israel, and very often of Israel in a future day.

Throughout the Scriptures we find that no matter how great the ruin, failure, and moral darkness of the general testimony or times, God always had some true-hearted believers who were separated from the corrupt and godless masses or lifeless profession of those who claimed to belong to God, and were characterized by genuine devotion to God and His interests. We observe that God never leaves Himself without witnesses who shine as lights for Him in the darkness. Such are spoken of as a "remnant," meaning those who are left as a witness for God when the majority have departed from Him and His Word and have corrupted themselves with the evils about.

The word "remnant" is well known to signify "the residue," or "that which remains" of anything with regard to which it is used. In Scripture it is very frequently employed to designate the faithful, godly portion of a people, more especially of the Jewish people, or nation of Israel, after the nation generally had apostatised from God. Prophecy leaves no room for doubt, that there will be such a portion, or remnant, amid the scenes of matured evil and terrific desolation in which the nation at large will yet be involved, ere the moment of final deliverance arrives.

"Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah." (Isaiah 1:9.) Such is the prophet's acknowledgement, in view of the unnumbered calamities which even in his day had overtaken the nation on account of their sins. Still "the Lord of hosts had left a very small remnant." The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness." (Isaiah 10:21-22.) Here it is evidently of "the remnant" in yet future days that the prophet speaks. It is as obviously to a yet future "remnant" that the following passage refers. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, from Egypt … and from the islands of the sea." (Isaiah 11:11.) The same may be said of Joel 2:32; Joel 3:1-2. "For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel." It is here in manifest connection with the last great crisis in the land of Israel, that mention is made of "the remnant whom the Lord shall call." "And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." (Micah 4:7.) This passage depicts to us the triumph of the remnant, when the crisis of their sorrows and of the nation's final calamities is past. "The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies." Zeph. 3:13.) Here it is their moral character which is the subject of the prophetic pen. In the New Testament the apostle quotes Isaiah's words: — "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved;" and there can be no question that he refers these words for their fulfilment to the brief coming crisis in Israel's history. "For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." (Romans 9:27-28.) He acknowledged, however, the existence of a remnant in his own day. "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." (Romans 11: S.) These passages may suffice to show the sense in which the appellation "the remnant" is ordinarily used in Scripture. It is often employed of other nations besides Israel, as, for instance, "the remnant of Syria," "the remnant of Ashdod," "the remnant of the Philistines;" and it is sometimes applied to other subjects. Matthew 22:6, is an instance of this kind: "And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them." In the vast majority of cases, however, the phrase denotes the godly, repentant part of Israel, when the nation at large has utterly departed from God, and especially such a portion of that race in days yet to come. Many Scriptures treat of "the remnant," thus understood, where the expression itself is not used. Indeed, when once the mind is awakened to the fact, it is surprising to find how large a portion of Scripture is occupied with our present subject.

As long as the nation itself so far maintained the testimony and worship of Jehovah, as that He could own it as a whole, we hear nothing of "a remnant." But when the ten tribes had quite abandoned the worship of Jehovah, and established that of Baal, the Lord not only raised up Elijah as a public testimony to his power and Godhead, but in answer to the complainings of this distinguished prophet, who spake of being left alone, the Lord assured him, "Yet I have left me (reserved unto myself, see Romans 11:4,) seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him." The "seven thousand" were the remnant of that day. In Judah, in like manner, when Uzziah and Ahaz had so grievously departed from God, Isaiah's prophecy began to recognize the existence of a remnant, in passages we have already quoted. It was "in the year that king Uzziah died" that the prophet had the vision of the glory of the Lord, recorded by him in Isaiah 6 and it is in that chapter, after hearing the sentence of judicial blindness upon the nation — a sentence to be fulfilled throughout the period of their long dispersion — he is told, "But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten; as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." It is thus during the nation's long, dreary winter, that the remnant — the holy seed — are to the nation what the sap of the tree is to its leafless, withered stump. The sap rises afresh as spring advances, and new verdure appears where nothing has met the eye but the barrenness of death; so will the remnant ere long become the living nucleus of the restored and happy and prosperous nation in millennial times. Sad, however, are the scenes, and deep the trials, which await both the remnant and the nation ere that day arrives.

This word constantly occurs in the O.T. in the sense of 'the rest of the people.' In every crisis in the history of Israel there has been a remnant: this was seen in the time of Ahab (1 Kings 19:18), and so too in the introduction of Christianity (Luke 2:38), and that it will be so in the future is abundantly evident from the testimony of the prophets. There will be great prosperity in the land, and God will cause the remnant of His people to possess it. Zech. 8:12: cf. Rev. 12:17. When God's people are unfaithful to His calling, He secures His own purpose in a remnant.

A remnant represents morally the original whole, and does not imply an inferior remaining portion. It is of God's grace that any are enabled to be stedfast to the original truth and calling during a general apostasy from it.

As to the remnant, I believe it is properly Jewish. They are those who, in the midst of apostasy, are leaning only on God.

Isaiah prophesied that a day would come when a ‘remnant' of the people of Israel would (1) trust in God, (2) return, and (3) be saved (Isa. 10:20 -22; Rom. 9:27). This remnant will suffer terrible persecution during the tribulation period (Rev. 12:17) but they will confess their sins and acknowledge Christ as the true Messiah (Isa. 53 and Zech. 12:10). Their soul exercises are vividly expressed in the Psalms. A remnant is smaller than the whole from which it is taken and it bears the features of the original (think of a carpet, for instance). But this does not imply inferiority in value. God values the minority who maintain the character of God's people.

God has not Cast Away His People. — As it regards the first of these questions, he who dictated this epistle to his amanuensis, Tertius, was a proof to the contrary. Apostle to the Gentiles though he was, he was nevertheless an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. To that little tribe he belonged, which cast in its lot with Judah, and owned the king who reigned at Jerusalem on the throne set up by God. In perfect keeping with that which has been affirmed, viz., that God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew, we are turned to the history of Elijah the Tishbite, and to God's communication to him at Horeb. The kingdom of Israel, under Ahab, had sunk into awful apostasy. Dark indeed, spiritually, was that hour of the nation's history, yet God had reserved to Himself, unknown to the prophet, seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. The mass were in apostasy. A little company, comparatively, was all that remained true to God. "Even so," says the apostle, "at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace" (11:5-6). God's people, whom He foreknew, He had kept in Ahab's day. His people, whom He foreknew, He was keeping in the apostle's day, and keeps such still. Now the history of Elijah was well known. No Jew could gainsay it. No one had risen up in that day to dispute its authenticity. Telling then was the reference to it. Had his countrymen no perception of it? Would they elect to go with the mass, the crowd? How often since Paul's day have men done that, making shipwreck concerning the faith! In the prophet's day it was the few who were faithful, as every Jew acknowledged. Then too, the ruling power was persecuting the saints. So was it in Paul's day. The popular current in Elijah's day was not that of which God approved. Those who sought honour from men were not found in the faithful company which He had reserved for Himself. Had this no voice for them who would listen to it? A remnant there was of faithful ones. To that Paul belonged — a remnant according to the election of grace.

Rom. 11:1-10. Far be the thought, then, that God had cast away His people, Israel. For, as the apostle urges, himself also was one of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. It was a pledge of more, and a proof that God had not cast away His people as a whole, not about the elect remnant, but that remnant showed that God did not finally discard Israel. This leads the apostle to refer to the case of Elijah. "Know you not what the scripture says in [the history of] Elias? How he pleads to God against Israel, saying," etc. But what says the divine answer to him? "I have left to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Thus, then, at the present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace; "And if by grace, no longer of works, since [if it were,] grace is no more grace." That is, the apostle illustrates the remnant in his day by a reference to Elijah's day when he, the most energetic of faithful men in Israel, did not know of one but himself that owned Jehovah. But it was want of faith. God knew 7000, whose existence proved God's love and faithful care. If Elijah pleaded against Israel, it only drew out God for them, and the disclosure of a complete though hidden remnant, whom the prophet had failed to discern. There was a remnant still in the apostle's day. God showed thereby that He had not done with Israel. But if sovereign grace thus dwelt with an election from Israel, the mass were but lying under the tremendous maledictions which he next proceeds to quote from their own prophets. (Rom. 11:7-10.) The remnant were blessed, the rest were blinded, just as Moses, David, and Isaiah, had predicted. They might talk of their works, but they had eyes not to see and ears not to hear until this day. Their own scriptures were clear enough that it should be so — clear as to a little godly remnant — clear as to an ensnared and hardened mass in Israel.

We have here much to consider. The first proof was that there was a remnant. The apostle gives the instance of Elijah. The faithful prophet believed that he alone remained of godly men. Faithful though he was, this was pure unbelief. God had reserved for Himself seven thousand that had not bowed down to Baal. The eye of God better knew how to discern His own, was more faithful in taking account of them, than was the faith of the prophet, dismayed by the threats of Jezebel, to seek them out and find them. And so at the time of the apostle there was a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it was according to grace, it was not according to works, otherwise grace was no more grace. Thus Israel had not obtained what he sought for. The election had obtained it. The others were blinded, and that according to the words of the prophet; Isa. 29:10. What David had said was confirmed by the words of the prophet. Their table would become a snare and a trap unto them. Did they then stumble that they should fall? By no means. Rather through their fall salvation had come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if their fall had become the riches of the Gentiles and of the world, how much more their fulness! Consequently the apostle of the Gentiles magnified his office, because it served to provoke Israel to jealousy. He sought thereby to constrain some of them to this jealousy. For if the casting away of them were the reconciling of the world, what would the receiving of them be? For they shall certainly be brought back. But this gives occasion to the statement of the relation borne to the Jews by the Gentiles that were accepted, and of the responsibility of the latter in the position in which they were placed: a statement covering principles of the highest importance.*