God's Chosen Remnant

Today for the sermon, I'd like to look at a topic that is like so many other topics in the Bible. It starts in Genesis, and it runs all the way through Revelation. It's amazing how the Bible does that. It seems like God had a plan from the beginning, perhaps, and is consistent throughout. This topic today is one that should give us particular comfort and encouragement as we consider the ramifications of it.

A title for the message is God's chosen remnant. God's chosen remnant. The purpose of the message today is to show that God has historically, and He will continue on into the future to preserve a chosen remnant of people that are called His own. He will preserve them for His own special purpose. Understanding who the remnant is and why God has preserved them will help us to have a better grasp, as well, not only on what God has purpose for His covenant people, but for all of mankind. To begin with, we need to define clearly what a remnant is, at least in Bible terms. If you've ever worked with fabric, that's what jumped to my mind when I first thought of remnant, the fabric that's left over when the bulk has been used on a project.

I think of ladies who are in quilting groups or who do various projects where you take these remnants and you put them together and you make an overall piece, but it's patched together with all these remnants. A remnant, as I would consider it myself and have considered it, is basically that which is left over from something greater. In the Bible, according to Holloman's Bible dictionary, a remnant is something that is left over especially of the righteous people after God's divine judgment. In terms of the biblical use of the concept of a remnant, it applies predominantly to people. There are several Hebrew words that express the remnant idea with different defined meanings such as that which is left over, that which remains, a residue, one who escapes, a survivor, one who is loosed from bonds. There's various different Hebrew words, but when they're translated, they in one sense or another, depending on how they're used, will describe a remnant. As we're going to see today in the message, the remnant are a group of people who God has preserved out of the masses for the intention of fulfilling His express will in them.

Again, I say this runs through the entire stream of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and it is something God has purposed from the beginning. I want to begin by looking at this concept of remnant as it begins in the beginning in the book of Genesis and pick it up there and see what it looks like, and then see how it carries on throughout the Scripture. So let's begin in Genesis 6 today.

Genesis 6, very familiar context. Here we find that the world has become a very evil place, and God is greatly disappointed into what it has become. As a result, God's going to destroy mankind, and all that is creeping on the earth. The fact is, though, He's going to separate out for Himself a select remnant for His purpose. Genesis 6 and verse 5, we see this remnant concept beginning to come out. Genesis 6 and verse 5, it says, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of men was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and had grieved him in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man who I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, every creeping thing, and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.

Notice verse 8. God says, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Right? Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. There was something different about Noah and something that God could do with Noah. He stood out as distinct in the eyes of God, and God could accomplish a very special task and purpose through him and through his family. And so, as we know the story, God commanded him to build an ark.

Right? The flood is coming, build an ark, gather the animals according to, you know, the specific specifications that God gave him, gather them onto the ark for saving, because the earth was going to be destroyed by water. All life would die.

Genesis chapter 7, in verse 17, we're just hitting high points. Genesis chapter 7, verse 17, it says, Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The water increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth. Birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth and every man.

Verse 22, in all whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died. And so he destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground, both man and cow, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days. And so what we find here, brethren, is that God preserved for himself a remnant. Right? Out of all of mankind, out of all human beings that existed on the earth to that point, that were alive at that time, as well as the animals, God preserved a remnant, small group of chosen individuals who would serve his purpose of going out then and repopulating the earth following the flood. Verse 8, or chapter 8, verse 13, Genesis 8, verse 13, it came to pass on the six hundred and first year and the first month of the first day of the month that the waters were dried up from the earth and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. It says in the second month on the 27th day of the month the earth was dried.

Then God spoke to Noah saying, go out of the ark. You and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and cattle, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so that they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. So again, it was God's purpose, right, for these specific people, for the animals as well that had been preserved as a remnant, that they would continue to move forward from that point because the remnant would be the starter seed once again for who God would have then go out and repopulate the earth. And God's purpose for mankind would not cease with the flood. Indeed, it would continue. Now, if we jump forward to Genesis chapter 45, we see God once again intervening to preserve a remnant for his special purpose.

Genesis 45 takes us down the line to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You now have the twelve tribes, which are essentially, at this point, very small families, but will grow into multitudes of nations. Genesis 45, God had made promises of special blessings to the patriarchs, you'll recall, but there were still times when he would have to intervene, when he would have to preserve a remnant so that his plan and purpose would indeed go forward. And this is one of those cases. Genesis chapter 45 breaks into the story of Joseph, whom his brothers had sold into slavery out of jealousy. And Joseph then was brought to Egypt. He became the second most powerful man in the country. And again, God intending a very special purpose for that taking place. Genesis chapter 45 in verse 1 says, then Joseph could not restrain himself. This is the second time his brothers had now come before him. There's the famine in the land, and Joseph had had the grain stored up to preserve life, right, during the time of the seven years of lean times. They've come back. His brothers a second time appeared before him, and Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him. And he cried out, make everyone go out from me. So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Verse 2, and he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Does my father still live? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed as his presence. And I expect they would be. You know, this is that, right, that snot-nosed brat that used to irritate them out in the fields that they, you know, sent off into, you know, sold off into the caravans, and who knew what became of him. And lo and behold, he's this powerful man who has the influence and the ability to just say, you know, off with your heads. I imagine they were dismayed in his presence. Verse 4, And Joseph said to his brothers, Please come near to me. So they came near. Then he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. He said, But now do not, therefore, be grieved, or be angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. And I think it's interesting, because you go back to Noah, you go back to the flood, right? God brought Noah to the point where he would build that ark in order to preserve life.

And he says, this is a purpose that God had sent me here as well. Verse 6, this says, For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there shall still be five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity. I want you to note that word posterity. Sent me before you to not preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. This word posterity here in verse 7, if you have a marginal reference Bible, you'll probably have a number or a letter next to posterity, and look at the margin, and it'll say remnant, because that's what the word in the Hebrew means. He says, God sent me before you to preserve a remnant for you, to preserve your family in the earth. As in, God was preserving the twelve tribes who would grow into a great nation, but at this point the tribes were just a handful of people. They were just a remnant of what they would become, but God had to preserve their lives and give them an environment where they could, you know, grow abundantly. And he did so by Joseph. We won't turn there, but Exodus chapter 1 verse 5 tells us that they were a family of 70 people when they moved into Egypt. And then, of course, you jump forward into the book of Exodus, and when Moses is bringing them out, and by calculations of women and children as well, the nation was two and a half to three million people walking out of Egypt.

And so they were a remnant that was preserved by God's plan and purpose as they came in, and they walked out a great nation. Verse 8, so it is, or so it was, not only you who sent me here, but God. And we need to note, as we go through the scriptures today, who it is that preserves a remnant, it is God. Okay, and Joseph says, God sent me here, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord to all of his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Hurry up, and go to my father, say to him, thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, and do not, Terry, you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, and you and your children, and your children's children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. And so, as the story goes on, the family moves up to Egypt, again, a place where they can increase in abundance dramatically, and it was by God's hand and God's blessing.

Let's jump forward now to another account that we can see a select portion preserved by God for His purpose. Numbers chapter 14. We're actually just hitting high points. There's multiple stops we could make along the way between each of these scriptures, but you'll get the point. Numbers chapter 14. Here the children of Israel have been sent to spy out the promised land, right? 12 spies went in. They came out. 10 spies gave a negative report. We can't take the land, right? There's giants everywhere, cities walled up to heaven. We're grasshoppers in our own sight. You know, imagine what we are in their sight. We can't do this 10 of the 12 set, but two delivered a positive report, didn't they? Joshua and Caleb. Let's notice God's response to that. Numbers chapter 14 and verse 26 says, And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complained against me? Because you see, the 10 spies brought the negative report, and the whole generation there of those in the wilderness wanted to turn back to Egypt, and they wanted to kill those who said, No, God is with us. Let's go forward. And God said, I've frankly had enough of this generation. In verse 26, 27, How long shall I bear with this evil generation who complained against me? I have heard the complaints with the children of Israel made against me. And say to them, As I live, says the Lord, just as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will do to you. The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness. All of you who were numbered according to your entire number from 20 years old and above.

Notice, except for Caleb, the son of Jafuna, and Joshua, the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you to dwell in. So God was going to wipe out the entirety of that rebellious generation. Everyone 20 years and older who turned aside from him, who would not yield to him and look to his lead in their life, only Joshua and Caleb would remain, and they would be the remnant of a faithful, okay, this wasn't a faithful generation, but they were the faithful remnant from this generation that would then go into the land. They were the only ones. They were the remnant. Verse 36 says, Now the men who Moses sent to spy out the land who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land. Those very men who brought the evil report about the land died by the plague before the Lord.

But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jafuna, remained alive of the men who went to spy out the land. And so even among the spies, they were the remnant that remained, and they were the remnant of their generation that God would preserve to carry faithfulness forward into the land.

And so I hope we're getting to see a pattern here that emerges as it pertains to the remnant. It's a small group of people who God preserves for the furthering of his plan and his purpose.

Okay, it is God who decides who and where and how he will preserve that remnant.

But the remnant is there, and is there all throughout Scripture, from the beginning to the end, and it will not die out. As long as there is a plan of God, a remnant shall remain. They shall not be extinguished from the face of the earth, because God preserves them for his divine purpose among men. If we jump forward now, approximately 400 years in time, we find another example of a faithful witness of God's way and a remnant that is preserved by God.

This time, let's go to 1 Kings chapter 19.

1 Kings 19, the run-up to this account is God's victory over the 450 prophets of Baal, showing that the Eternal, the Lord, Yahweh, is God. Baal is not God. His priests were not priests.

But God identified truly who he was as king of the earth. What we have now is this story has taken place, and Elijah is now slain the 450 prophets of Baal. I recount the story after that, where he went and he ran ahead of the chariot of Ahab. He girded up his garments, tucked them in, and ran ahead of the horses before the rain came. Again, a miraculous event. Elijah is on a high here, but then Jezebel says, I'm coming for you. That was enough to turn him inside out for whatever reason. Elijah fled, and we pick up the story in 1 Kings 19 and verse 9. 1 Kings 19 verse 9, it says, And there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? After all that we've accomplished, after all that was shown before the prophets of Baal, and all this land of who is God, you've turned and ran, and what are you doing here? Verse 10, he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.

He had just had this great victory over the prophets of Baal, but Jezebel wants his head now, and he feels like it's me. There's no one faithful left in the land. Verse 11, and he said, Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, and behold, the Lord passed by, and a great strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice.

Now, sometimes I think we look for God to kind of bring out these great displays of awesome power to show and demonstrate that He is indeed in our midst. But I think oftentimes the answer is, if we could just learn to quiet ourself, allow His Spirit to work with us, we would hear that He guides and directs us most often by a still small voice. Verse 13, so it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in the mantle, went out and stood in the entrance of the cave, and suddenly a voice came to him and said, again, what are you doing here, Elijah? And Elijah repeats himself. He says, I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, and they've torn down your altars, they've killed your prophets with the sword I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. He's feeling pretty sorry for himself. Again, I'm the only one. But let's notice God's response. First Kings chapter 19 and verse 18, just a short response, but it's to the point God says, I have reserved seven thousand, right, in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, in every mouth that has not kissed him.

So what's God saying to Elijah? He's saying, you're not alone. Elijah, you're not the only one.

God has reserved for himself a faithful remnant. He reserved seven thousand who had not defiled themselves with Baal worship, and those seven thousand, wherever they were, you know, Elijah didn't know who they were or where they were, but God knew. But wherever they were, they would preserve the worship of the true God in their time and in their place in Israel. They were a faithful remnant.

You know, seven thousand doesn't seem like, you know, one sense it might seem like a lot of people, okay, but that doesn't seem like much, honestly, when you balance it against the whole nation, the population of a whole nation that was supposed to be God's people, frankly, it was a small remnant, a leftover of faithfulness that remained. So there's numerous other examples on the remnant. We're not going to look at nearly all of them today, but it's hopefully showing you that God, we have these snapshots of time and place where it seems like, God, your plan has failed, your purpose is dying out, that God says, no it's not. I've reserved for myself a remnant that will indeed carry this forward, and it's a small choice group of people who are carried forward those things that God intends to complete, because again, God's purpose and plan is from beginning to end.

In the day of Ezekiel, Ezekiel was told that a remnant would be preserved from the northern kingdoms of Israel after the Assyrian invasion, after they came in and hauled off the tribes to the north and brutally assaulted them, killed many, many were held captive, but there was a remnant that then was scattered among the nations, and they settled, they repopulated, they were then historically called by a number of people the lost ten tribes, but they're not lost.

God knows who they are and where they are. The people of God know who they are and where they are, but it was a remnant that God preserved from complete destruction that was, again, seed that went out and began to grow once again, and indeed in our day the modern nation of the Israelite descendants are quite numerable on the earth. The nation of Judah as well was carried off in the captivity by the Babylonians, and yet a remnant of those who were deemed poor and useless were left behind in the land. They liked Daniel kind of people. They could educate and put to work, or maybe other people that they could use as slaves to accomplish things for them, but there were people that were considered of not great use. A remnant was left behind in the land, and then you go down the line following approximately 70 years, an additional remnant was allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple ultimately and to re-establish worship of God in Jerusalem once again. So God, in these ways, through Israel from Abraham's time, as we see, through settling the Promised Land, through the tribes and their deportation from the Promised Land, though God has always preserved for himself a remnant. And it's interesting to look at these things, and up to this point what we've looked at are dots on a timeline of the past, right, from our perspective. We look backwards, and these are dots on the timeline, but that's past.

But what about the future, and what about today, and what does God have in store? Because isn't his plan still active? Aren't there still people? Isn't there still a remnant that God will use then to carry on what it is that he purposes? The answer is yes, and we need to see from Scripture that that is indeed so. What role will the remnant play in the future?

In order to answer that, we need to consider the context and the ministry of the prophet Isaiah.

So we're going to spend a little time in the book of Isaiah here, in the last portion of the message here. Isaiah primarily served in the south of Judah, and his ministry began before the Syrian invasion of Israel, and it continued on past that invasion in their defeat, in their captivity. But he also saw those things take place, and he wrote about them, and even prophesied about the future consequences of them and the remnant that would remain. Big theme throughout the book of Isaiah is the remnant of God's people and God's purpose for that remnant. His writings contain both current and future perspectives on the remnant, and some of the prophecies in Isaiah were for Israel and Judah's day at the time. Many of them are future. You know, we come up to Feasts of Tabernacles and Feasts of Trumpets in the fall holy days, and we read a lot of prophecies out of Isaiah that point towards future fulfillment. And then there's a number of prophecies as well that are dual in nature, an early and a latter fulfillment. So we recognize these things as we look at the book of Isaiah, and so much of it focuses on the remnant. Isaiah named his oldest son Sheer Jasheb, which means a remnant shall return. And that name was given to him as insight for us as to what his focus was and what the message was that God had given him to deliver. These people would be scattered into captivity, many killed, but a remnant would remain and a remnant shall return. We find a theme for the book of Isaiah in the first chapter. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 7.

Again, keeping in mind this concept, a remnant shall return.

Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 7. Catch up with you in a moment.

Okay, Isaiah 1 verse 7 says, Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers. We're talking about Assyrians coming in to devour Israel. We're talking about ultimately the Babylonians as well. We'll come in to devour the Judah and the kingdom in the south.

Verse 8, it says, So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, in a hut in a garden of cucumbers, just a very small spot in the middle of a great expanse. They're left as a besieged city. In verse 9 he says, Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah.

So go back in your mind, what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Was there a remnant? No, there was complete destruction that God brought on that region, and it says, Unless God had left us a very small remnant, we would have been like them.

Again, it is God who preserves this remnant for His purpose. God was patient with His people, and as a result, He did leave a small remnant in the land in Isaiah's time. The northern ten tribes were predominantly taken off by the Assyrians, but you see there was a remnant in the land in the form of the southern kingdom, which is primarily consisting of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. So you had this great nation that had built up in the Promised Land, but now, in the scope of the entirety of the Promised Land, the southern kingdom was just a remnant of what had been. So the book of Isaiah begins, again, talking about a remnant, and it's the theme. Let's go to Isaiah 6. I'm going to break into the middle of a vision of God on His throne in a temple that Isaiah is seeing. Isaiah 6 and verse 8 break in the middle of the context, because He's going now to get His marching orders from God. Isaiah 6, verse 8, also heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, here I am, send me. And He said, go, and tell this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull in their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, let's say, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and be healed. If that sounds familiar to you, brethren, it should. It parallels what Jesus Christ quoted from Isaiah, referring to his prophecies of his ministry. The disciples said, why do you speak in parables? And it's like seeing they will not see, hearing they will not hear. There was a purpose.

So, God is telling Isaiah this would be the form of message that would go out, and He was going to preach in a way that wasn't going to have any real effect on the nation. They weren't going to receive it right from the start. They were going to be blind to it. They were going to be deaf, and yet He was going to have to keep on preaching it anyway. And notice what Isaiah's response is to that calling. Verse 11, then I said, Lord, how long? Wouldn't it be nice to have a message you put out? People respond, and you go on your way. But to be told you're going to preach a message that they're not going to hear it, they're not going to see it, they're not going to be responding, and you're, well, okay, so how long do I preach this message is the question. And sometimes, maybe we wonder that same thing for ourselves when it comes to the gospel message, which is today an extension of Isaiah's message. And it's a message that goes out in a world that is blind and deaf, in large part to the truth of God, and yet the gospel is to be preached as a witness to the end of the age. And we might be thinking, how long? Because nobody wants to hear it. Nobody's responding. How long do we really keep this up, God? That was Isaiah's question. Notice God's answer, verse 11 again. I said, Lord, how long? And he answered, until the cities are laid waste, and without inhabitant, and the houses are without a man, and the land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men far away in forsaken places. The forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

So God's answer to Isaiah, and by extension to all of us as well, is that you preach it until my judgment has come upon the land. You preach it for as long as you have breath and ability to do so until you can no longer preach it, and then at that time, in that place, my judgment has come.

Church of God has long recognized this section of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 6 to be a prophecy of duality, applying both to Isaiah's day, but ultimately to an end-time fulfillment as well.

So, as I said, Isaiah's work and the type of message and the message in the gospel to the remnant continues today as well. Verse 13, again continuing with this prophecy that we believe is dual, it says, But yet a tenth will be in it, a tenth of the people in the land. Yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming, as a terebin tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down, so the holy seed shall be its stump. We're talking about a tenth, we're talking about a stump, we're talking about a remnant here.

It's talking about the fact, you know, you take a tree and you cut it down, but you leave the stumps and the root so that there is actually something that remains with hope of springing forth into new growth once again. And that's what God has in store for the peoples of Israel and Judah, yet in the future. It's a restoration of those peoples to their promised inheritance in the promised land, and there would always be a remnant that would survive and be in place for God then to gather back in and settle in the land.

Verse 13 speaks about a tenth that will return to the land, and it's again generally believed to be primarily millennial focus describing the remnant that will be regathered during the millennium, and it's speaking to the fact that the remnant that God will bring through the Great Tribulation, through the Day of the Lord, to re-establish the twelve tribes is going to be consisting of a tenth. A very small portion.

Again, a remnant, but even less than that. This appears to parallel Amos chapter 5 verse 3, which was written to the nation of Israel. Amos 5, 3, and that states, the city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.

So again, it's describing a tenth, a remnant of people, okay? But what is the context of the tenth? Well, if you take that and you combine it with other prophecies as well, it would appear to be less than a tenth in the overall sense. When you look at other end-time prophecies, in conjunction with these tenths, what you'll see is that two-thirds of the modern descendants of Israel and Judah apparently die from war and famine up front.

And then there's a tenth that remains that is scattered among, excuse me, a third that remains that is scattered among the nations, and out of that third then comes a tenth. I wasn't going to turn there, but I have it in my notes. Let's jump real quick to Ezekiel 5 verse 12. I've had this for a reference, but let's just drop in the middle and take a quick peek.

Ezekiel chapter 5 and verse 12. Again, the prophecy of the destruction of God's people says, one third of you shall die of the pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst. One third shall fall by the sword all around you, and I will scatter another third to all the winds, to all the nations, okay, that just scattered across the earth, another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. So that last third, these verses seem to be saying that only the tenth will remain to flourish and to multiply once again in the Promised Land, following great tribulation, following the day of the Lord.

And I want to point out that when I speak on prophecy, you will notice, if you listen, I'll use words like apparently, appears, would seem, perhaps, because we are talking prophecy. This is yet to happen. We see through a glass dimly. God has given us a glimpse, and yet these things are here. God will do what He will do, how He will do it, and we will hopefully be there to see how He does it. All right?

But the indications from Scripture is that there will be a very small remnant left of what will be end time Israel, the nations around the world, a tenth of one-third, as it would seem, of the remnant that would be brought back in and settled into the land again. The lesson for us, brethren, today is that God always preserves a remnant for His people.

And so He won't allow His holy people, that seed of Israel, to be completely blotted out, even if there's times that they need to go into captivity, be dispersed, be almost completely destroyed in order to learn a lesson, and turn and recognize who is God. You know, God will allow those things, but He will bring a remnant always through those things as well, because He has a plan, and He has a purpose, and that will be fulfilled in His timing. Isaiah chapter 10, verse 20, again, Isaiah is full of references on remnants, so is Ezekiel and Amos and so many of the other contemporaries in a snapshot of or window of time here. The remnant was preached because the people were facing what they thought was the end of their existence as the people of God, and they needed hope. They needed to understand that there was a future.

Isaiah 10, verse 20, it shall come to pass in that day, we're talking future, that the remnant of Israel and such as has escaped of the house of Jacob will never again depend on Him who defeated them. Who defeated Israel in Isaiah's time? It was the Assyrians who hauled Judah out of the land predominantly. It was the Babylonians, and yet at the end of the age, modern-day nations of Israel, the United States, Britain, Australia, so many other nations of the world will face an end-time adversary that will scatter and kill and destroy the people of God, the physical covenant people of God. And it says, they will never again depend on Him who defeated them, verse 20, but they will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth, saying there's a time coming when the remnant will depend on none other than God, when He brings them and He settles them back into the land, when His temple is in their midst and Jesus Christ is reigning as King and King and Lord of Lords, and people come up to worship God, learn of His ways, they will know who they must depend on. Verse 21, the remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God.

A beautiful prophecy. Isaiah 11 verse 11. Isaiah chapter 11 verse 11, it shall come to pass in that future that the Lord will set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left. Again, apparently 10% of a third of whoever is the remnant physical people of Israel at the end of the age. God will, a second time, set His hand again, second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Kush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the islands of the sea. You know, the first time He sent His hand then to gather His people and to bring them to Himself was when He brought them out of Egypt by miraculous power. This is describing the second Exodus by which God will bring the people who are alive from the nations into the Promised Land again. Verse 12, and He will set up a banner for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Yes, God will recover the remnant of those who are left, those who He has preserved, again, through the great tribulation, through the day of the Lord, wherever they may be, He will settle them into the Promised Land so that they may repent, they may learn of Him, they may turn to Him. He will be their God and they will be His people.

They will be that model nation to the world. Verse 15, still in Isaiah chapter 11, says, The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt. With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the river and strike it in seven streams and make men cross over dryshod. You know, they're not going to be swimming. This is going to be a route to the Promised Land. Verse 16, There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will be left from Assyria, and as it was for Israel in the day that He came up from the land of Egypt.

So God's going to create a highway. He's going to gather His remnant together. He will assemble them once again, and it's an exciting future to consider what God has in store for the physical, His covenant people of the nation of Israel. Isaiah chapter 28 verse 5 and 6.

Isaiah 28 verse 5 and 6, In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people, for a spirit of justice to Him who sits in judgment and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. What we have to understand, brethren, is that there always has been and there always will be a remnant of the physical covenant people of God until all that God has purposed is fulfilled. That plan began in the beginning, and before the beginning of mankind, Jesus Christ slain from the foundation of the world. This plan has been in place from the beginning, and it will be fulfilled until the end, and the physical covenant people of Israel will not cease to exist as a physical nation because God's plan for them has not ceased. In fact, His future for them is glorious, and a remnant must remain in order to see that it is fulfilled, and they will remain by God's hand. Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 3.

Isaiah 46 verse 3. Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by me from birth, God says from the beginning, I have upheld you, who have been carried from the womb. Even to your old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made and I will bear, even I will carry, and I will deliver you.

Beautiful prophecy. It's a message of encouragement, and it's not only to the church today. We get to read it and be encouraged by it, but Isaiah wrote it in his day for the people of God that were being hauled off in every direction, slaughtered, destroyed, desperate about what their future as a people might be. It is a message of hope to the remnant that God has a plan and a purpose.

I think sometimes, brethren, we forget that God's work with physical and ethnic Israel is not done.

You know, just because Jesus Christ came and now the church has been established, and we are a portion of the church of God today, doesn't mean that God has forgotten about the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that nation of Israel. Doesn't mean his work is done or that he has abandoned his purpose for that nation. Indeed, the preparatory work for what God has in store yet ahead for them continues even today. And you can, if you just even look at history, David and I were talking about this, we were texting this morning, and then we were talking more here before services about how God intervenes in the history of nations. And you can just look and see how God has intervened in the history of Israelite people down through time to preserve them, to bring them into certain places in the world. And sometimes we maybe think that's because we're so righteous that God has set us up as we're set. But the fact is, it's not our righteousness. It is Abraham's righteousness and the fulfillment of promises that God made to him by which these things come about. But also, you know, the greater your standing, the greater your fall when you as a nation allow yourself by immorality to come down as well, and that is prophesied in the Scripture, too. But God's work is not done, and he continues to guide and direct Israel's course in the world today. He intervenes on behalf for the people of Israel in the world today, guiding and directing their course for his purpose. And he will continue to do so.

And the question is, why?

Well, again, it comes back to the fact that they are a covenant people of God.

People God has made promises to. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, he made promises to them and to their descendants that those things would be fulfilled, and that is the purpose that a remnant must remain, because God will bring to pass what he has promised from the beginning. He has not abandoned Israel. Romans 11. Let's bring it a little closer to our day in context. Romans 11.

Apostle Paul, writing, chapter 9, 10, 11, run through a lot of concepts that can be tied into the physical people of Israel and what it means then for the church to become the Israel of God.

But Romans 11, verse 1, Paul says, I say then, has God cast away his people? Talking about the physical nation of Israel. Certainly not. For I am also am an Israelite, Paul says, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people, whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scriptures say of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets, torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. Verse 4, but what does the divine response say to him?

I reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So Paul here is saying, look, God did not cast aside his people in that day. He preserved a remnant. He has not cast aside his people today either. I am of the stock of Israel, and I have hope in what God will do, not only for me as a Christian, but as what God will do for my people, Israel. Verse 5 says, even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

There is a remnant according to the election of grace. Who is that? Who is the remnant according to grace? Well, it's the church of God. It is the people, the spiritual people of God today. It's those who have, by grace, come under the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, entered into a covenant relationship with God through baptism. It doesn't mean that physical Israel doesn't have a remnant that continues. And frankly, I think we could describe all of God's intervention for the remnant as grace, but there is a specific remnant of grace that exists today as well, and we are that spiritual remnant of grace. This is an important concept to understand, brethren, because some theologies teach that this scripture means that the modern-day church of God replaced Israel. It's replacement theology. There was Israel, the covenant people of God, to a certain point, and then along came Jesus Christ in the church, and now Israel is sort of pushed off over here, replaced by the church, and that is not so. All right? It's not that there was a remnant of physical Israelites, and now there's a remnant that's the church only. This is not replacement theology. The prophecies we've just read through prove that it is not so, because, you see, the fact is God has not cut off physical and ethnic Israel. It has a future for them and a purpose and a remnant of physical, ethnic Israel will remain, but that is separate from and distinct from the church. What the Bible calls the remnant is physical Israel, while the church is a remnant according to the election of grace. The church is a spiritual remnant that does include ethnic Israelites, right? Paul was part of the remnant of grace. He was an Israelite. God called him, put his spirit in him, but it also includes Gentiles, neither bond nor free, right? Neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, male nor female, are part of this remnant, but the church is not the replacement remnant for physical Israel. Bible prophecy shows that at the return of Jesus Christ, the remnant of grace, which is the church, what will the church do at the return of Jesus Christ? Well, under the New Covenant relationship with God, that remnant of grace will be raised to glory at the return of Christ as the bride of Christ, part of the glorified kingdom of God. What will physical Israel be? There still will be a remnant. On the other hand, remnant of physical ethnic Israel will be gathered back into the Promised Land to serve as the model nation they should have been from the beginning. And so what we see is that there are actually two remnants at this point. There's the remnant according to grace, which is the church of God. There is the remnant that God will preserve of physical Israel, and they're actually on two different trajectories at this point, but they're not exclusive and unrelated to each other either. The day is coming when the spiritual remnant will have the opportunity to work intimately with the physical remnant after their regathering. And I don't know if you've ever given this a lot of thought, but, you know, if the church is the remnant and there's a physical remnant God will bring through as well and regather to the land, the remnant will work with the remnant. Help them as they become established, again, in the Promised Land and come to understand the truth of God. The bride will reign alongside Jesus Christ, helping to usher in God's physical covenant people into that Promised Land once again.

And so for us today, the remnant of grace, we've been called to interact with the remnant of Israel even now, even though we can't know who the remnant is, because the remnant is who God will preserve out of the masses. We can look around and see the masses today of Israel and those tribes on the earth, all right, but we can't know who the remnant will be. But we do have a commission from Jesus Christ to carry on an Isaiah-type work of preaching to the remnant today through the gospel message. Isaiah's message was a message of hope to the remnant, not to lose heart. There's a future for the covenant people of God, and that indeed is a part of the gospel message the church preaches today. The message to the remnant of Israel from the church of God is that there is still hope.

The message to the remnant of Israel from the church of God is that God is still on his throne, and his kingdom will come. The gospel message declares in part that modern-day nations of Israel will experience the time of Jacob's trouble, and their calamity will be huge, because their sin has been huge. But again, God is on his throne, and his purpose will be accomplished.

There is encouragement and hope in the gospel message today, brethren, and it declares that God's purpose for Israel is not finished, that God will preserve a remnant of his chosen people in order that he might accomplish in them his good purpose, which was promised from the beginning, which was handed down generation after generation. God will fulfill for that remnant that he brings back his promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.