Salvation of the Remnant

January 24th, 2025
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 9:27-29 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; 28 for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.” 29 And just as Isaiah foretold, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, we would have become like Sodom… resembled Gomorrah.”

From about 740 BC until 692 BC Isaiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah. Like Hosea, a contemporary of Isaiah, he was given the divine revelation that God’s people would be conquered, scattered, and temporarily forsaken by God because of their unbelief—like Hosea was telling the northern kingdom of Israel around the same time. Whereas Hosea prophesied concerning Israel’s national apostasy, Isaiah directed his words to Judah in the south, for Israel in the north had already forsaken God, and Assyria had left her territory a desolation with only a few survivors (Isa. 1:4). But that is the point—a surviving remnant from the many. In fact, even Isaiah’s son was named “Shear-Jashub,” meaning “a remnant shall return” (Isa. 7:1). Keeping in mind that God had told Abraham that his descendants would be like the sand of the sea (Gen. 22:17), God fulfilled His promise, for Israel became numerous. The remnant, however, would be only a small portion of the many—the spiritual Israel from the physical nation. So by combining Hosea and Isaiah’s words, Paul reveals that the OT spoke of both Jews and Gentiles coming together as one. The irony of the passages is that Hosea speaks of many Gentiles being called God’s children, but Isaiah spoke of few Israelites with that designation.

Now the immediate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy was that the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah were judged and exiled to Babylon. Not many survived, and when they returned to the land from Babylon, only a remnant returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. God executed His judgment “thoroughly and quickly,” quoting Isaiah 10:23, both in 586 BC and later in AD 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem again. Isaiah had spoken of God’s grace in saving any Israelites by looking around at the desolation after her demise and saying, “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, we would have become as Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah,” quoting Isaiah 1:9. The “Lord of Sabaoth” means Yahweh of Hosts—a reference to God’s sovereignty over the universe. It was He who left the remnant of survivors, a “posterity” which is literally a “seed.” In context it refers to the descendants of the sperm of Abraham.

According to Paul, the intermediate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy was that Israel faced dreadful judgment for their unbelief and rejection of Christ. Their people had not only killed many of God’s prophets in the past, they had also crucified their Messiah. Now since that day, all Jews who reject Jesus as their Messiah continue to face the same judgment. Since that day, had God not been merciful to keep His promises to the remnant of Israel, they would have become like the annihilated people of Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Gen. 19). Yet they remain even today as a numerous people scattered all over the world so that God, by His grace, might bring forth their remnant chosen according to grace—a phenomenon that Paul later says will occur after the full number of Gentiles have come to Christ (11:25-26). Therefore, God’s word has not failed, for He will keep His promises to the spiritual seed of Israel and include all Gentile believers as well.

Food for Thought

In Lamentations 4:6 Jeremiah says that Israel’s sin was worse than that of Sodom. So why did God annihilate Sodom but leave Israel a remnant? The answer is that God did not have an unconditional covenant with the people of Sodom like He did with Israel. His covenant secured Israel’s survival. Their modern-day existence will bring forth a remnant of believers after the full number of Gentiles have believed. This ultimate fulfillment awaits the Tribulation period.