Zephaniah 3.13b-The Remnant of Israel Throughout Scripture
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 31, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:13b-The Remnant of Israel Throughout Scripture
Lesson # 83
Zephaniah 3:13 “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong and tell no lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down with no one to make them tremble.” (NASB95)
Zephaniah 3:13 “The remnant descending from the patriarch, Israel and a part of the nation of Israel will never act in an unjust manner because they will never speak lies. Indeed, a deceitful tongue will never be found in their mouth while they graze like sheep and lie down because absolutely no one will cause them to fear.” (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:13 contains five assertions which describe the impeccable character of the remnant of Israel which will exist in the future during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
Fruchtenbaum writes “The doctrine of the remnant means that, within the Jewish nation as a whole, there are always some who believe and all those who believe among Israel comprise the Remnant of Israel. The remnant at any point of history may be large or small but there is never a time when it is non-existent. Only believers comprise the remnant, but not all believers are part of the remnant for the remnant is a Jewish remnant and is, therefore, comprised of Jewish believers. Furthermore, the remnant is always part of the nation as a whole and not detached from the nation as a separate entity. The remnant is distinct, but distinct within the nation. The concept of the Remnant of Israel was true from the very beginning of Israel’s history as they began to multiply. As a doctrine, the theology of the remnant begins with the prophets and the development of the doctrine continues through the New Testament.”
Pentecost writes “Even a casual survey of Israel’s recorded history will establish the principle that God dealt with a believing remnant within the nation. Caleb and Joshua (Num. 13–14), Deborah and Barak (Judges 4), Gideon (Judges 7), Samson (Judges 13–17), Samuel (1 Sam. 2), the Levites in Jeroboam’s day (2 Chron. 11:14–16), Asa (2 Chron. 15:9), the seven thousand faithful ones in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 19:18) all illustrate this point.… God preserved for Himself a faithful, believing, witnessing remnant in times of apostasy, persecution, and indifference.
The concept of the remnant has appeared two times already in the book of Zephaniah (2:3, 7, 9).
In these verses, “the remnant” refers to those Jews in the kingdom of Judah who would survive the day of the Lord in Zephaniah’s day.
It refers to those Jews who returned to the land occupied by Judah before the Babylonian invasions in 605, 597 and 586 B.C. as a result of returning from the Babylonian exile.
In the Old Testament, in relation to the nation of Israel, a “remnant” referred to a percentage of the population of the nation of Israel who survived divine judgment in the form of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions and deportations.
The concept has its roots in Deuteronomy 4:27-31; 28:62-68; 30:1-10.
In these passages, Moses warns Israel that they would be dispersed throughout the nations for their disobedience but would be brought back to the land based upon God’s grace and covenantal faithfulness.
The prophets subsequent to Moses continued this doctrine when teaching the nation of Israel during the time each lived.
The Septuagint uses the noun leimma of a remnant in Israel during the days of King Hezekiah when Sennacherib invaded Israel and threatened to destroy Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13-2 Kings 19:37).
The prophet Jeremiah uses the word often of the remnant in his day (Jeremiah 40:11, 15; 41:10, 16; 42:2, 15, 19; 43:5; 44:7, 12, 14, 28; 44:28; 47:4, 5; 50:20).
In Jeremiah 42:2 and 50:20 the remnant refers to those Israelites returning from the Babylonian captivity.
Jeremiah uses the remnant of those Israelites who will experience the millennial reign of Christ (Jeremiah 23:3; 31:7).
Zechariah also speaks of a remnant of Israelites during the millennial reign of Christ (Zechariah 8:6, 11, 12).
The prophet Micah also speaks of a future remnant of Israelites during the millennium (Micah 2:12; 4:7; 5:7-8; 7:18) and so does Zephaniah (2:7, 9, 3:13).
The remnant doctrine appears in the writings of Isaiah (Isaiah 10:20-22; 11:11, 16; 15:9; 16:14; 17:3; 28:5; 37:4, 31, 32; 46:3).
It is used in Nehemiah (1:3) and in the writings of Ezra of the returning Israelites from Babylon (Ezra 9:8, 13, 14, 15).
Haggai speaks of this remnant that returned from Babylon (1:12, 14; 2:2).
Revelation 7 and 14 refer to the doctrine of the remnant since they refer to 144,000 Jews who will trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior during the tribulation portion of Daniel’s seventieth week.
Paul mentions this remnant doctrine in Romans 9:6 and then develops it further in Romans 9:27-29.
In Romans 9:6, he taught that the nation of Israel’s rejection of Jesus of Nazareth does not imply that God promises to the nation have been nullified because those who descended in a racial sense from Israel, aka Jacob are never considered by God to be spiritual Israel.
In Romans 9:27-33, Paul instructs his readers that the prophets of Israel had foretold this rebellion against the Lord and that only a remnant would be delivered from eternal condemnation in the lake of fire.
That a remnant has always been preserved by God in Israel is demonstrated during the church age where only a small percentage of Jews have trusted in Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah.
There will only be a remnant that will be saved during Daniel’s Seventieth Week and at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, in Romans 9:27-33, Paul continues to demonstrate his premise in Romans 9:6.
Romans 9:27-33 reconciles the promises of God to Israel with the small number of Jewish Christians and serves to substantiate the premise found in Romans 9:6.
So the doctrine of the remnant taught by Paul in Romans 9:27-29 serves to support his premise in Romans 9:6.
By doing this Paul is actually defending his gospel since its failure to attract the majority of Jews in his day to trust in Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah was undoubtedly used to discredit it.
Just as Israel was at fault in the past for rejecting her prophets sent to her by God, so during Paul’s day Israel was at fault for rejecting the greatest of her prophets, Jesus of Nazareth as well as Paul’s gospel.
Paul alludes to this remnant doctrine in Romans 10:16.
The concept of the remnant appears in Romans 11:5, where it refers to the “remnant” of believers in Israel in Paul’s day, in the first century.
In fact, Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11 is emphatic that God always leaves a believing remnant in Israel in every dispensation and every generation of history and He will continue to do so because of His unconditional promises to the patriarchs of Israel.
Specifically, the doctrine of the olive tree in Romans 11:16-24 teaches that there will always be a remnant of believers in Israel.
In fact, in Romans 11:25-32, Paul refers to the remnant of Israel which will worship Jesus Christ during His millennial reign.