A remnant will return. A remnant will be saved. A remnant chosen by grace.

Always, there has been a remnant—a small surviving group. Abraham and Isaac, Noah and his family, Lot and his daughters, Joseph and his family in Egypt, Elijah and 70,000 prophets, those who returned from exile in Assyria and Babylon, and now the Church of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah named his son, Shear-Jashub, because it means “a-remnant-will-return” (Is 7:3). This was a sign of hope for Judah that no matter the tribulation or the threat, God would save some.

• In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel, only a remnant will return. Isaiah 10:20–22 (NIV)
• Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” Romans 9:27–29 (NIV)
• Isaiah 1:9 (NIV) Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.
• In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. Isaiah 11:11 (NIV)
• There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt. Isaiah 11:16 (NIV)
• In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. Isaiah 28:5 (NIV)
• Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 37:31–32 (NIV)
• “Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:3–4 (NIV)
• God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. Romans 11:2–5 NIV

So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

If you are a follower of Jesus, you are part of a remnant. You are chosen by grace. He made you. He will carry you, he will sustain you, and he will rescue you.

PRAYER

Lord Almighty, thank you for always saving a remnant and for including all nations. This demonstration of your grace humbles me, confuses me, and gives me hope at the same time. I know that you offer salvation to everyone and I wish all would accept it. Keep revealing more of yourself to me and to the world so that we might understand the riches of your grace.