Word Live: A Remnant Will Return
Coming home to somewhere you feel safe, known and loved is a wonderful feeling. There’s no need to pretend any more. No need to strive to fit in or to prove yourself. One day we will experience the ultimate homecoming …
Bible passage
Isaiah 10:20–27
The remnant of Israel
20 In that day the remnant of Israel,
the survivors of Jacob,
will no longer rely on him
who struck them down
but will truly rely on the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
21 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob
will return to the Mighty God.
22 Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel,
only a remnant will return.
Destruction has been decreed,
overwhelming and righteous.
23 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, will carry out
the destruction decreed upon the whole land.
24 Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty, says:
‘My people who live in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
who beat you with a rod
and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.
25 Very soon my anger against you will end
and my wrath will be directed to their destruction.’
26 The Lord Almighty will lash them with a whip,
as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb;
and he will raise his staff over the waters,
as he did in Egypt.
27 In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,
their yoke from your neck;
the yoke will be broken
because you have grown so fat.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
I enjoy dressmaking and love choosing beautiful materials from fabric shops. Tucked in a corner somewhere there is always a remnants basket. It is filled with fraying scraps of fabric. These are sometimes shop-soiled, usually crumpled beyond recognition, occasionally even ripped.
This is what I picture when I think about the remnant of Israel – a battered, crumpled, fraying bunch of people, devalued by the loss of their land and liberty. And yet, they are beloved of God. They are the faithful ones who have endured, despite great temptation and opposition, and God will bring them back and restore them fully.
And this is a dual-level restoration. He would bring them back to the promised land, but more importantly, because Jerusalem symbolised his presence, bringing them back would bring them back into full, close, holy relationship with him (v 21). Those who trusted him could cling to this promise, just as we can cling to its ultimate fulfilment when all his faithful ones are brought to the New Jerusalem.
Author
Jennie Pollock
Respond
Ask God for his strength and courage to stay faithful during current trials as you await the ultimate fulfilment of his promise, that we will one day be united with him in glory for ever.
Deeper Bible study
‘Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness … All you Israelites, trust in the Lord’.1
There are several things Isaiah wanted his readers to know and these become clear to us as we work through these verses. First, although a positive future is envisaged and should be an encouragement to all who remain faithful, nevertheless God will use other powerful nations to bring about Israel’s destruction and there will be no doubt that this is God’s judgement, which will be both overwhelming and righteous (v 22). Second, there will be those who will come through this, but they will be just a remnant. Third, this remnant will not necessarily all be righteous people. Verse 20 makes it clear that they are those who have in fact relied on the powerful nations in the past but will, in the end, come to rely on God. Fourth, don’t think that because God has used these powerful people it means that those forces are themselves righteous. Far from it: their destructiveness did bring about God’s purposes, but that doesn’t make it intrinsically right and they themselves will in turn face God’s fierce judgement for their policies. Although we may all disagree on exactly who God may be using in today’s world to bring judgement, we must be very careful about assuming that if God is using someone’s actions to judge another that means that the actions taken are in themselves righteous!
We, of course, need to remember that the church is not a nation and no nation today, not even one founded on Christian principles, stands as the people of God. That doesn’t mean that there are not lessons for us in Isaiah’s message. Paul urges us ‘in view of God’s mercy’ (that is, recognising that our own salvation comes freely from God’s grace) to nevertheless offer ourselves as ‘a living sacrifice’ not conforming to ‘the pattern of this world’.2
Lord, in today’s chaotic world, help us to identify the fallibilities of any human leaders we are tempted to rely on – and to trust and obey only you.
Author
Mary Evans
