Salvation of the Remnant

Paul, in Romans 9, reveals that those Israelites whom God has actually chosen for Himself will be only a remnant out of all Israel.

It is significant that this word "remnant" is applied to Israel in Scripture more that 40 times. In most of these instances the reference is to the period that just prior to the close of the present age.

In Romans 9;27, Paul quotes a prophecy from Isaiah 10:22 concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved" (NKJV).

The phrase "the remnant" is specific. It denotes a precise number chosen out of all Israel. Paul returns to this theme of a remnant in Romans 11 - "I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abrahem, of the trible of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 'Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life'? But what does the divine response say to him? 'I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal'" (Romans 11:1 - 4, emphasis added).

When God says, "I have reserved for Myself," He emphasizes that these seven thousand were reserved by God on the basis of His grace, not of their good deeds. It was not something they had earned.

Paul goes on to apply these words to the condition of Israel in his day: "Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise work is no longer work" (Romans 11:5, 6).

Paul explains that grace goes beyond anything that we can earn by good works. In fact, grace begins in our lives precisely where our own ability reaches its limit. So it is with the remnant of Israel. Their presevation is due to God's grace; it is not something that they have earned or can earn.

Paul said: "And so all Israel will be saved, ..." (Romans 11:26).

In the light of what he has said previously about a remnant, it becomes clear that the "all Israel" who will be saved will be the "remnant whom God has chosen and reserved for Himself by His grace."

Many other passages from the prophets emphasize that those whom these promises of restoration are given are a remnant. For instance Zephanish said: "I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteiousness and speak on lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in the mouth; for they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid" (Zephaniah 3:12, 13, emphasis added).

God's end purpose in dealing with Israel as a people is to produce that remnant. For their sakes He has patiently endured the appalling wickedness with which, over many centuries, man has persistently violated God's laws and desecrated the earth. He has also permitted the many sorrows and sufferings with which it has been necessary to purify His chosen ones.

At the end of it all, God is looking for a meek and humble people who will trust in the name of the Lord. God is also aiming to produce a meek and humble people in the Church. This is one reason why many Bible scholars say Isreal is a type of the Church.

"The Israel of God" explained

The Lord spoke through Zechariah: "All it shall come to pass in all the land, says the Lord, 'That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third through fire, will refine them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; and each one will say, 'The Lord is my God.'" (Zechariah 13:8, 9).

Again the Lord is describing the process aimed at producing the remnant God has chosen. Even though it involves refining and testing by fire, God will not cease until His purpose is accomplished. Two-thirds may be cut off, but the remaining one-third will be brought through the fire to acknowledge the Lord personally as their God. This is the remnant God has set His heart on from eternity. They may appropriately be called, "The Israel of God."

Election and the Church

God's dealings with Israel are the expression of His sovereign decision, not made on the basis of works. In particular, the apostle Paul emphasizes that God rejected Esau and chose Jacob while they were still in the womb, in order to demonstrate that the basis of His dealing with nations is His own sovereign choice. Gentile Chriatians sometime have difficulty in accepting tthis principle, especially when emphasis is placed on God's choice of the Jews.

Nevertheless, a careful analysis of the New Testament reveals that exactly the same principle applies to Gentile Christians. In fact, it applies to all believers, irrespective of national or racial background. Every true believer in Jesus Christ has been divinely elected (chosen). Otherwise, he would not and could not be a believer.

Some sections of the Church do not recognize this. Those sections of the Church that do recognize it are often regarded with suspecion. This may due partly to the fact that while these believers have embraced an importnat truth, they have sometimes emphasized it to the point where they have ignored other equally important truths. In this way they have carried one particular truth to unbiblical extremes.

It is probably better, however, to press this truth to the extremes than to ignore it. To put it the other way, I believe there is greater imbalance in ignoring God's sovereignty and divine choice than there is an overemphasizing it. In fact, a great deal of superficiality and presumption in contemporary Christianity is due to the fact that we do not realize the divine, eternal origin of our salvation.

We are Christians not because we chose God but because God chose us. In much contemporary teaching, we are left with the feeling that salvation depends entirely on our making the right decision, when actually this is secondary. Salvation depends on the decision God has already made. Any decision we make is merely a response to the decision which God has already made. Furthermore, He made that decision before He created the world.

The Principle of Divine Election as applied to the Church

This principle of divine election, in other words, which we have seen applied to Israel, applies just as much to the Church. God has no other principle. He never endorses or blesses any decision or program which He Himself has not initiated. Many Christians would be less insecure if they realized that their lives are products of a plan that was conceived in eternity before creation ever took place.

There are a number of New Testament Scriptures which, taken together, unfold this principle of divine election.

Jesus said to His disciples: "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you" (John 15:16).

The apostles had not become followers of Jesus because they made the right choice. It was not they, but Jesus, who made the choice. This principle applies to all believers whom God calls into His service.

Paul wrote to Timothy: "... God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" (2 Tim. 1:8. 9).

The process of divine election is unfolded in greater detail in Romans 8:

"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Romans 8:29, 30).

This passage contains a succession of verbs in the past tense: foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified. They mark out the only route that leads to God's glory. The first two stages - foreknew and predestined - occurred in eternity before time began.

The whole process had its origin in God's foreknowledge. From eternity He forknew each on of us. On the basis of this He predestined us - that is, He planned the course that our lives should take.

Personally, I am very grateful for this. Only in eternity will I know what God saved me from - had I tried to direct my own life. Even more important, eternity will reveal the fruit which came forth because I sought to follow God's plan and obey His direction.

1 Peter sheds further light on this process. It is important, however, to recognize that this epistle is addressed "to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, ..." (1 Pete 1:1, 2).

This epistle (along with Hebrews, James and 2 Peter) is addredded primarily to Jewish believers. However, the truth it presents applies equally to all believers.

"Elect" is, in modern English, "chosen." Thus Peter discloses one more stage of the process that occurred in eternity. God "chose" us. If we combine these words of Peter with the words of Paul in Romans 8:29, 30, we find that there are actually three stages that belong to eternity, before time began: God "foreknew" us; He "chose" us; He "predestined" us.

This revelation of God's "forknowledge" is needed to complete the revelation of His choice. Without this, we could conclude that God's choice is purely arbitrary. But it is not so. His choice of every individual proceeds out of His "foreknowledge." He knows exactly what He can make of each life.

Many times a person who is called by God to some special task feels entirely inadequate - as did Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, and many others. There is a temptation to respond, "But, God, I can't do that!"

However, God has already given His answer in Scripture: "I knew you before creation took place. My choice and My calling are based on My knowledge of you. I know better than you youself what I can make of you, and I have arranged the course of your life accordingly."

My greatest concern is to fulfill the plan God worked out for me in eternity. Free from pride or presumption, I begin to identify with the words of Jesus: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:34).

We need to trust the Lord who worked out your plan from eternity - "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24).

David, the psalmist said: "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring to pass" (Psalm 27:5).

The Remnant of the Church

An important question needs to be answered: "Will the Church that is saved also be a remnant?"

God promises a truly glorious future to Israel, but He also warns that the saved remnant of Israel will have gone through intense pressure to make them what He intends them to be. Will the Church likewise emerge as a remnant that has been purified by a pressure no less intense?

Several Scriptures concerning the Church seem to depict a remnant that has fulfilled certain conditions:

1. The Narrow Way - Jesus addresses the question: Are there few who are saved?

Jesus said: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, whee you are from,' then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity" (Luke 13:24 - 27).

2. At the close of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives a similar warning:

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matt. 7:21 - 23).

Personally, I do not believe that people who made these claims of working miracles were lying. They had actually done what they claimed. But being able to prophesy, cast out demons and work wonders does not necessarily prove that a perosn is one of God's elect.

In the Lord's answer to these people there is one significant pharse that occurs three times: "I do not know you ... I do not know you ... I never knew you." They had never been on the list of God's elect. From His perspective in eternity He had looked below their public ministry into their personal lives. He had searched for the nature of Jesus, the nature of the Lamb, manifested in meekness and purity and holiness. But in vain!

Outwardly, these miracle workers had been busy serving the Lord, but in their innermost character God had discerned something described as "lawlessness." This expressed itself in attitudes such as pride, arrogance, self-seeking, covetousness, personal ambitio. For such, He had no place reserved in heaven. There is one unvarying requirement of God that runs through the whole Bible - "Without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

3. Those who endure to the end

In Matthew 24 Jesus reveals another mark which characterize God's elect: endurance. He gives a brief but vivid picture of the period lesding up to the close of the present age. He describes a series of events which He calls "birth pangs" or "labor pains' because they climax in the birth of God's Kingdom on earth (read Matt. 24:4 - 13). He warns His disciples that they will be subjected to progressively increasing pressures - "But he who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt. 24:13). Notice that enduring to the end is a requirement for salvation! Only those who have endured will qualify.

There is a divine purpose behind these tests, to which both Jews and Christians are being subjected. As the present age draws to a close, God intends to bring forth a people for His name, who will be fit to share His Kingdom through eternity. Therefore He will not spare His people any test that is needed to produce the kind of commitment and character that He requires. The same type of testing that faces Israel likewise faces the Church.