Only A Remnant Will Be Saved

Pastor Leslie Chua

“And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,”

— Romans 9:27 (ESV)

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

— Luke 13:24 (ESV)

We celebrate whenever we hear good reports of many salvations in evangelistic meetings. Of course, we rejoice because we want to see many people saved and come into the Kingdom of God. We dream and pray for great awakenings where the Spirit of God will move mightily stirring the hearts and rousing the souls of the lost. We are excited whenever we read those portions of the Scripture detailing massive conversions just like in the first few chapters of the book of Acts.

There were seasons of great awakening and revival in the church history where unusually large numbers of people fell under the Holy Spirit’s conviction and believed in Jesus. It had happened in the past and it will happen in the future again.

These are noteworthy mountaintop experiences of the church. Equally noteworthy is the fact that most people would reject God, including His people. This is an unpleasant truth that is seldom discussed except when we use the Israelites as an example of spiritual unfaithfulness and apostasy.

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The truth of the matter is it is always only a remnant that is loyal to God. it is only a remnant that is saved. The rest of the people perish.
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However, if you look at the Old Testament and the history of the church, there is hardly any discernible difference between the church and Israel. The church failed God in very much the same way as Israel had failed God.

The truth of the matter is it is always only a remnant that is loyal to God. it is only a remnant that is saved. The rest of the people perish.

This is an obscure but obvious truth. I know it sounds paradoxical. It is obscure because we do not talk about it often enough in the pulpit. Few people like to talk about unpleasant truths. Most prefer to say nice things and be encouraging. However, this unpleasant truth is obvious if you care to read the Bible unfiltered for yourself.

Let me highlight several examples from both the Old and New Testament Scriptures.

Only 8 are Saved

Consider Noah’s time.

The ancient world turned away from God. Noah, known as the preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), spent 120 years warning the people to repent from their wickedness and turn to God. He failed miserably in his evangelistic efforts.

It is believed that there were between 750 million to several billion people living at that time. The figures are reasonable, not wild estimates.

We are told in the Bible that out of this large number of people, only 8 persons heeded Noah’s warning and entered the ark. These were his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law. Noah convinced no one else except his family members. The rest of them ignored him and some probably ridiculed his warning of divine judgement.

8 out of about a billion people. That is quite a remnant.

Only a Remnant of Israel will be Saved

Barely 200 to 300 years after the Flood, the people began to rebel against God in the Tower of Babel incident. God intervened, divided the people into nations, and gave them up to the rule of the sons of God (Deuteronomy 32:8-9-ESV).

After that, God began all over again. He chose a man by the name of Abraham. From Abraham came Isaac and Jacob, also known as Israel. Israel would be God’s chosen nation. They were His treasured possession (Deuteronomy 32:9; Exodus 19:5-6).

Unfortunately, the Israelites repeatedly rebelled against the LORD. They worshipped other gods. The apostle, Paul, quoting from the prophet, Isaiah, wrote that ‘though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved’ (Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:22). While this is a historical fact, Paul was referring to the future salvation of the nation of Israel.

Only a remnant will be saved.

Only 7,000 are Faithful to Yahweh

The time of the prophet, Elijah, was a spiritually dark period for Israel. The entire nation fell into apostasy. The Israelites spurned Yahweh to worship the pagan gods, Baal and Asherah.

The spiritual condition of Israel was so bad that Elijah believed that he was the only faithful one left. He complained to the LORD, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:14).

God had to correct Elijah and assure him that He had 7,000 others in Israel who had not bowed their knees to Baal (1 Kings 19:18).

Well, 7,000 in a nation of about 2 to 3 million people is well below 1 per cent. That is a pathetically low number for God’s chosen nation.

Only a remnant of Israelites was faithful to Yahweh.

Hearing but Not Understanding & Seeing but Not Perceiving

Did things get any better after that? Not at all.

When God commissioned Isaiah into the prophetic ministry, He told Isaiah, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9-10).

Essentially. The LORD was telling Isaiah to be prepared for a very tough ministry ahead. He would see little result. The Israelites would not heed his prophetic warnings. They would hear but not understand and they would see but not perceive.

It is another way of saying that only a remnant would be saved.

Jesus’ Teachings

You would expect things to take a significant upturn during the New Testament period, but you cannot be more wrong.

When the disciples asked Jesus why He spoke in parables instead of putting His message across plainly, He said that the secrets of the kingdom of heaven would only be revealed to His true followers (Matthew 13:10-11), after which He quoted Isaiah’s prophecy – “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive…” (Matthew 13:14-15).

Once again, many would hear but not understand, and many would see but not perceive. The implication is that only a remnant will enter the Kingdom of God.

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Not everyone in the church is a true believer of Christ. This is a hard truth for many Christians to swallow, but Jesus’ words leave no doubt about this reality.
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As if to press the point further, in one of the 8 parables that Jesus told afterwards, Jesus revealed that there were wheat and weeds present in God’s Kingdom. Wheat symbolizes authentic believers while weeds are fake believers. Not everyone in the church is a true believer of Christ. This is a hard truth for many Christians to swallow, but Jesus’ words leave no doubt about this reality.

This truth is corroborated in numerous other teachings of Jesus.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus stated an inconvenient truth - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21).

On another occasion, someone asked Jesus, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” (Luke 13:23).

Jesus responded, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24).

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Yes, salvation is by grace, otherwise, no one can be saved. But according to Jesus, the way into eternal life is narrow and difficult. These words seem to be contradictory, but they are not.
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This is not the only time Jesus highlighted this truth. He also mentioned it in the Sermon on the Mount – “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14).

All these teachings of Jesus are the gospel. They are gospel truths. Yes, salvation is by grace, otherwise, no one can be saved. But according to Jesus, the way into eternal life is narrow and difficult. These words seem to be contradictory, but they are not.

Again, the implication is only a faithful remnant will be saved.

Jesus’ Letters to the 7 Churches

Jesus’ letters to the 7 churches also point to the salvation of only a faithful remnant.

Out of the 7 churches, only 2 churches are faithful. Of course, there are faithful remnants in the other 5 churches. We know that because Jesus promised the faithful remnants in these churches, who conquer or overcome, they would eat of the Tree of Life and receive eternal rewards.

Again, only a remnant will be saved.

The Great Apostasy Before the Rapture

Finally, consider the warning of Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians. He warned of a great apostasy before the Tribulation begins – ‘For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3). The original Greek word for ‘falling away’ is ‘apostasia.’

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For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first

(2 Thessalonians 2:3).
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From the pre-Tribulation rapture standpoint, this falling away of many Christians in the church will occur before the rapture. Something or a series of things will happen that will cause many believers to fall away from their faith in Christ. No wonder at the end of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus kept warning believers to be prepared for His return.

The Implications

Given that only a remnant will be saved, what are the implications for us as believers?

We ought to walk closely and faithfully with our Lord Jesus Christ. While we ought to be confident of our faith in Christ, we must not take things for granted. In the words of Paul, ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12) and constantly ‘examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves’ (2 Corinthians 13:5).

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