(Romans 9:27) “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.”
In every generation going all the way back to the Book of Genesis the Lord has always had a faithful remnant of believers. In the time of Noah there were only eight people saved when the flood destroyed the population of the earth. Of all the people that came out of Egypt with Moses in the exodus it were only Joshua and Caleb who ended up entering the Promised Land. As for the rest of their generation of Israelites they did not enter because of unbelief.
When the prophet Elijah was having a pity party of sorts in the cave after escaping out of Jezebel’s clutches the Lord revealed to His weary prophet that God had reserved 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. When you consider the ministry of Israel’s prophets there were those who believed their word but by and large the majority of God’s people did not heed the warnings and persecuted the prophets.
When King Nebuchadnezzar commanded everyone within his empire to bow down and worship him and the image of his beast empire there were certain Jews who refused to comply. As for the rest of the people they all bowed down and this included the Jews. When you consider the believing Jews in Jerusalem before and after Pentecost it was a remnant only compared to the number of people in Israel. God’s chosen servants, circumcised in heart by the Holy Spirit have always been in the minority.
A true Jew according to Paul was one who was ethnically Jewish but who was not only Jewish outwardly and physically circumcised, but was one who had been spiritually circumcised in the inner spirit man by the Spirit of God and one whose praise was from God and not men (Romans 2:28-29). This circumcision of the heart by the Spirit of course is the New Birth which the Lord Jesus spoke about to the religious leader Nicodemus who himself should have known about this inner spiritual transformation deep down on the inside (John 3:9-10).
Down through history within the nation of Israel not all Israelites were born again. There was always a believing remnant who had been spiritually circumcised in their hearts by the Spirit of God, likewise within wider Christendom there has always been a faithful believing remnant that have been spiritually circumcised in their hearts by the Spirit of God. This remnant within Judaism and Christendom are spiritually connected by the same Spirit of God living on the inside of them. We are dealing with a remnant within both Israel and Christendom.
These are the ones that will inherit, and be part of the Messianic kingdom on earth to come. Together they will co-reign with the Messiah after having been raptured and resurrected at His Second Coming to earth, having been gathered to meet Him in the air at His coming (Matthew 24:39-31) (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). At present there is a remnant chosen by God’s foreknowledge within Israel and within Christendom whom He knows will all come to faith in Him by the end of this present age (John 10:27-30).
Having said this, we must also keep in mind that God’s end-time prophetic purposes for Israel as a nation still stands. Scripture is clear that the nation of Israel will be fully restored spiritually and nationally when the Lord returns to this earth. Israel will be the head and not the tail of the nations that survive the time of the Big Trouble which will last for three and a half years at the end of this present age (Jeremiah 30:1-10) (Isaiah 2:1-5) (Micah 4:1-5) (Zechariah 822-23).
Within the nation of Israel and within wider Christendom, even though their numbers be as the sand on the seashore, it is only a remnant that will be saved and inherit the full and eternal blessings of the New Covenant ratified for all time in the blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. Together, both believing Jews and Gentiles will be inheritors of the Kingdom of Israel with the Messiah reigning from Jerusalem. Indeed in that day it will be fully realised and recognised by both believing Jews and Gentiles that they are God’s chosen remnant and one flock under one shepherd! (John 10:16) (Matthew 8:11).
Even though the numbers of people within the nation of Israel and within wider Christendom are as numerous as the sand on the sea shore in the final analysis it is the remnant that will be saved, having believed and been sealed in their hearts and foreheads with the Spirit of God and kept by the Spirit of God for the Day of Redemption! (Revelation 7:3) (Ephesians 1:13). Whether it is the physical nation of Israel or wider Christendom with its denominational structures it is only a remnant that will be saved! If you have repented, believed in the Lord Jesus as your personal saviour and Lord, have been justified by and washed in His atoning blood, and have been baptised and received the gift of the Holy Spirit, then you are a part of that believing remnant whether you are ethnically Jew of Gentile.
God always plays on a level playing field. As Paul writes; “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism (Romans 2:9-11).
It is the remnant that will co-reign with the Messiah on earth when He reigns from Jerusalem over the nations of the world that have survived the Time of Great Tribulation (Revelation 5:10). All who are of the faith of Abrsham or who have the faith he had are his children because he is the father of faith and of all who believe, whether they are Jew of Gentile ethnically (Romans 4:16-17, 23-25). God is preparing a remnant within Israel and within wider Christendom that will go into the time of Great Tribulation but be saved out of it at the end. (Revelation 7:14).
