Good morning. One of the important concepts of the Old Testament that we may not spend enough time considering is “the remnant”. The remnant is that group of persons who remained loyal and faithful to God when almost all others had fallen away. In the days of Noah and the flood, the Lord deemed Noah and his family as His remnant. They were not perfect, but they were faithful to the Lord, and it was enough for God to preserve mankind through them. Throughout Israel’s history we see the ebb and flow of faith. There were times when it seemed all of Israel, God’s people chosen to be the conduit through whom would come the Messiah of God, had fallen away from their faith. They had chased after the lies of the enemy and worshipped false gods, rejecting the Lord. But even in the darkest moments of their history, there would be the remnant. They may have been few in number, such as in the days of Elijah, but the faithful never were completely swept away, and God worked through His remnant to preserve His plan for our salvation.
It is amazing to read how God’s love remained steadfast when those whom He loved rejected and refused Him. The prophet Zephaniah wrote in a time when God’s people had abandoned Him, all that is, but the remnant. Zephaniah writes that God would persevere in His love and in His plan for the Messiah to bring salvation. He wrote that God would work with the remnant, and when the rest of His people came to their senses, He would forgive and restore them. But always, God lifted praise for the remnant.
“But I will leave within you
the meek and humble.
The remnant of Israel
will trust in the name of the Lord.
They will do no wrong;
they will tell no lies.
A deceitful tongue
will not be found in their mouths.
They will eat and lie down
and no one will make them afraid.” Zephaniah 3:12-13
He goes on in verses 16-17 to speak of the salvation that will come to them:
On that day
they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
The remnant remains. It is not about the numbers, how many are for God and how many are against Him, it never was. The remnant will persevere, their faith will not fail, and God will work with them and through them until the trumpet sounds and the Lord calls home His own.
Vern