Remnant


Romans 11:1-10
1I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
2God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
3“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”
4But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
6But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
8as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
9And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”


I’ve worked on so many crafting projects over the years that I’ve forgotten that I even did half of them. Last summer, my daughter, Bethany, brought me a striped piece of faded, pilly, thin fabric from a quilt I made for her 25 years ago. She had cut this fabric off of the original quilt which was worn out beyond repair. All that was left was this remnant of what used to be and she wanted me to make a new quilt out of this scrap for my granddaughter to put on her bed. After a few days of thought and consultation with a friend who actually knows how to quilt (thanks, Melody) we went to the fabric store and looked for quilting material that would complement this old piece of fabric. That was the easy part. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure this scrap was going to hold up under another treatment. Then came the task of piecing together the old and the new. What I found was that the new fabric gave renewed strength to the old remnant and the final product was a quilt that will last Anabel for a long time. Without the remnant to start the project we simply would have created a new quilt that would have just been another blanket in the house. Now she has something that her grandma made for her out of something that was (apparently) precious to her mom. All in all, it was pretty satisfying project.





I share this story because it represents fairly well the place that the Jews play in Christianity during Paul’s time and today. God promised throughout the Old Testament that He would retain for Himself a remnant of His people. God always keeps His promises and this time is no different. In 722bc the people of God who were living in Samaria (also called the Northern Kingdom or Israel) were carried off into slavery. They were never heard from again. But – God reserved the Southern Kingdom and the people of Judah were spared. They did spend 70 years in captivity but were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the City Wall and the Temple. A remnant of God’s people remained. By the time Jesus arrives the Jews have fallen victim to the Romans, just like everyone else. But they were still fairly organized and even recognized as a viable religion by the Roman government. They may have fallen into some questionable practices and Jesus was at odds with the leadership throughout His ministry, but they were still the people from whom God drew the Messiah. A remnant of God’s people remained. Paul even claims with pride his Jewish heritage on numerous occasions. He is a part of that remnant. As we discussed in a previous post, there are today thousands (perhaps even millions) of Jewish people who embrace Christ as their Savior. They too are a part of that remnant. When God makes a promise, He keeps it.


Remembering that God keeps all of His promises is pure joy for us today. The same God who preserved a remnant of an ancient people for Himself is also the God who has promised that He will return for us when the time is right. This promise keeping God is also the One who has prepared a place for us with Him in eternity. This promise keeping God has also sent His Holy Spirit to abide with us right here, right now so that we are never without Him. It’s all Good News for us today!

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