"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" Romans 11v5.
In this wonderful chapter, we are brought face to face with some mighty truths.
- verses 1 - 5 we have the principle of the remnant.
- verses 6 -10 we have the principle of Divine hardening.
- verses 11 - 18 we have the principle of Divine providence.
- verses 19 - 24 we have the principle of the goodness and severity of God.
- verses 25 - 32 we have the principle of Divine restoration.
- verses 33 - 36 we have the wonder of God's wisdom.
All this to explain the present position of Israel, and in the process revealing the wonderful ways of God. This is the very essence of the Bible, which exists to proclaim the glories of God, and in all our consideration of it, we should grasp that important fact.
In verses 1 - 5 Paul establishes the principle of the remnant in scripture. He firstly gives Himself as a present example, a true Israelite of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin, he also became one of God's elect. No one but God knows who are His elect, we only get to know after the event which is why Paul uses here the phrase "His people which He foreknew" Divine election is based on His foreknowledge, but it is not the same as His foreknowledge (which some are teaching that both things are the same ..... such teaching makes a nonsense of Romans 8v29) and He reveals it to no one.
In these verses, Paul gives examples of a present day remnant (that is people who are in right relationship to God) and an old time example of the same; he cites the example of Elijah and the story contained in 1st Kings chapter 19. A study of those two periods of time will show that what he is comparing are extreme examples of the darkest days in Israel's history. If we take the example of 1st Kings chapter 19, which he quotes here, there was certainly no darker time than this. Under Divine discipline, this nation had not seen rain for three and a half years; such was the wickedness in Israel in those days. Days marked with idolatrous Baal-worship, this by the Divinely favoured nation Israel. From the king on the throne, to the prophets of the Lord so called (of which there were 850) to the people themselves, extreme wickedness and departure from God was the order of the day. The prophet Elijah stood alone on Mount Carmel against the false prophets, funded by the wicked king Ahab and his consort Jezebel, Public Divine approval was given to Elijah, the result of which was him receiving a threat against his life and having to flee. In a state of depression under the juniper tree Elijah expressed his innermost feelings to God when he said " Lord I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, they have thrown down thine altars and have slain Thy prophets with the sword and I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it," Elijah repeated this prayer twice before the Lord as if God had not heard him, but the reply from the Lord came in 1st Kings 9v18 "Yet have I left Me 7000 in Israel, the knees of which have not bowed to Baal, and the mouths of which have not kissed him." The lesson is clear for all today. In the darkest of all times, God always reserves for Himself a remnant who remain faithful. The light of testimony for God (no matter how wicked this world), will go on and will never be extinguished. This is the principle of the remnant in scripture.
In the days just prior to Paul's conversion, Israel reached an all time low in their national history. They rejected the Messiah and crucified Him, and Peter laid the charge before them in public on the day of Pentecost, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Acts 2v23 Nevertheless, there remained a remnant of Jews who embraced the Messiah and remained faithful to God which included Paul and the apostles and many, many others who brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. A supreme example of the principle of the remnant in the testimony of God on earth.
Paul concludes the section by saying "Even so at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Only the grace of God preserves even a remnant of human kind. Human history has been an exposure of the wickedness of man; human history has also been a witness to the grace of God. None of us have any room for boasting, the expression coined by someone of old "there go I but for the grace of God" is true in every generation of mankind, and so it will be until the end of time.
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