S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

A remnant is a left-over amount from a larger portion or piece, whether it is food, material from which a garment is fashioned, or even a group of people. Although remnants could be looked upon as worthless scraps, and many times are, God assigned high value to those of His people whom He had set aside for holy purposes, those He labels as "remnants" in several places in the Bible. To begin, in Isaiah 10 the story is told of the Lord's judgment upon the Assyrians. In verse 12 God says, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes." He continues in verses 17-18: "The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briars. The splendor of his forests and fertile fields I will completely destroy, as when a sick man wastes away." 

 God then relates how His people will turn back to Him as a result of this tremendous display of His strength-His utter destruction of most of Assyria: "In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house 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" (Isaiah 10: 20, 21). He goes on to assure the remaining Israelites that they need not fear the Assyrians, for soon He will destroy them.

 There are other remnants-those left over from a larger group-in the Bible, even though the word remnant isn't used to describe them. Noah and his family were the remnant saved out of the millions on the earth before the flood (Genesis 6). Only Lot and his two daughters survived the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a very small remnant, indeed (Genesis 19). When Elijah despaired that he was the only one left in Israel who had not bowed down to idols, God assured him that He had reserved a remnant of 7,000 "whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him" (1 Kings 19). 

 God's sovereign choice as to whom He will save and whom He will not can also be seen in the New Testament, as carried through from the Old Testament: "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'" (Romans 9: 27-28). This implies that great multitudes of the Israelites would be cast off. If only a remnant was to be saved, many must be lost, and this was just the point which Paul was endeavoring to establish. While the word remnant means "what is left," particularly what may remain after a battle or a great calamity, in this verse, it means "a small part or portion." Out of the great multitude of the Israelites, there will be so few left as to make it proper to say that it was a mere remnant.

 Of course, the most blessed remnant is that of the true Church, the body of Christ, chosen out of the millions who have lived and died over the centuries. Jesus made it clear that this remnant would be small when compared to the number of people on the earth throughout history. "Many" will find the way to eternal destruction, but "few" will find the way to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14). We who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior can, with great peace, rest in the fact that we belong to the "remnant."

See http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-remnant.html

July 01 2013 • 4 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Ariel HaNaviy Supporter Messianic Jew and Torah Teacher with Messianic Congregation 'The Harvest'

The question doesn't reference a verse so I have decided to offer my own:

Gal. 6:15, 16
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”

Even though the word “Remnant” is not in this verse, the context of the phrase “Isra'el of God” is likely a reference to the Remnant of Isra'el, those Jews and Gentiles who have faith in Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, and who will someday inherit the everlasting Kingdom of God in Christ. 

I hold to a theology that teaches that the Church is actually Remnant Isra'el, and she exists within National Isra'el (Rom 9:6-8; Rom 9:23, 24 Rom 11:1-7; Php. 3:3). I do not espouse to a view that separates Remnant Isra'el from the Church. For Paul the ekklesia (“Church”) existed within Isra'el, not outside of Isra'el. Moreover, since all in Remnant Isra'el have faith in the True Word of the LORD, members of Remnant Isra'el have existed since the earliest of times up until today. This means father Abraham, whose faith was counted to him as righteousness in Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Rom. 4:9; Rom. 4:11; Rom. 4:22; Gal. 3:6, was also a member of Remnant Isra'el.

Allow me to exegete Gal. 6:16 to substantiate my position.

Since this verse follows immediately after verse 15, I take the term “this rule” to refer to the standard of forensic righteousness previously spoken of in verse 15, namely: Genuine and lasting covenant membership into the eternal people of God is not procured by one’s ethnicity like 1st century Isra'el was teaching, but only by placing one’s genuine and lasting faith in Messiah.

Moreover, it would seem that Sha’ul (Paul) extends this blessing of ultimate peace and mercy exclusively to the group who conforms to this truth—a group Paul identifies as the “Isra'el of God.” Christian sources the Pulpit Commentary, Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible, and Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary all agree that the Isra'el of God is not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith.

We see that those whom Paul extends his blessing to in Gal. 6:15 are the genuine faithful Remnant, the “called-out ones” (Greek=ekklesia, viz, the “Church”) from among both Jews and Gentiles to bear the name of Yeshua the True Messiah, to bring glory to God’s Name and honor to his Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10; Heb. 2:12). They are those who have crucified the flesh with its old passions and volitions, and walk not by ethnic identity and Torah social status, but by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) and the Torah (Law) written on the heart (Rom. 8:4; Rom. 8:5; Rom. 13:14; Gal. 5:16). 

Conclusions:
In the mystery of ecclesiology, Isra'el exists on two levels simultaneously: National Isra'el and Remnant Isra'el. Messianic Jews are ethnic Jews as well as Remnant Jews (Rom. 2:28, 29). Corporate Isra'el of the flesh has been promised temporal, this-world blessings if she will remain faithful to God and obedient to the written Torah given at Sinai. Remnant Isra'el of the Spirit has been promised eternal, world-to-come blessings if she will remain faithful to God and obedient to the Living Torah—Yeshua the Messiah. The two Isra'els are not necessarily mutually exclusive; indeed God loves National Isra'el as well as Remnant Isra'el—which actually exists within National Isra'el.

And yet, those who choose to associate with National Isra'el without also appropriating genuine faith in the Quintessential Israelite from Nazareth will find that their this-world blessings will end when life expires for them, and it may not end up being God who’ll be waiting for them on the other side of the grave (if you catch my drift). Only those who have invested in the world-to-come blessings via genuine faith in Messiah will be able to enjoy blessings both in this world and in the world to come!

Which “Isra'el of God” do you want to belong to?

September 08 2015 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Tim Beeker Supporter

It refers to those people who are obedient. 99.999999% of people think they know what obedience is, but fail, when quizzed about it. A "remnant" is a very small number of people who will be delivered.

August 14 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report