“Remnant” means few, as we also often say, “these are remnants,” meaning a small part of the whole. Therefore Chrysostom, turning to his hearers, says with feeling: “Do you see that, according to Isaiah, not all are saved, but those worthy to be saved? I do not fear the multitude, says God. I am not alarmed by such multiplication of the race. I save only those who prove worthy of it. Why then are you troubled, calling the promise broken, when the Prophets declare that not all will be saved?”
If we examine this prophecy in the place where Isaiah uttered it, it gives no different thought. In chapter 10, Saint Isaiah speaks of the Assyrian people. They were appointed to be God’s scourge against the impious and lawless.
They would indeed strike them and seize the lands beyond Babylon, Arabia, Damascus, that is Syria, Samaria, and Jerusalem, that is Palestine. But when Assyria had accomplished this work of God, it too would be punished.
It would be punished because it became proud of its successes and ascribed them to its own wisdom and strength. For this the Lord would bring dishonor upon its honor, and a burning fire upon its glory. Everything would be taken from it.
Then the sons of Jacob who remained after its blow would no longer trust in it. They would not turn their eyes to it, expecting thereby to be delivered from final destruction. Rather, they would trust truly in God, the Holy One of Israel.
“And the remnant of Jacob shall return to the mighty God” (Is 10:21). After these words come the words cited by the Apostle (see Is 10:22-23), namely, that only the remnant shall be saved.
At first it may seem that, in the Prophet, these words refer to the Israelites’ return from captivity. Indeed, not all returned. Those who did return came back by turning to the mighty God, from whom they no longer fell away to foreign gods.
Yet even if the prophetic words are understood this way, they could still be cited to confirm that not all will be saved in the Lord and Savior. They could be cited precisely as a prediction of this latter event.
For the return of the Israelites from captivity was a type of the return of mankind from spiritual captivity, accomplished by Christ the Lord. Types had predictive significance. Therefore everything said of the first may be referred to the latter as a prophetic prediction.
But if we look more closely at the course of the Prophet’s speech, we come to this thought. Here he points directly to what was fulfilled over Israel in Christ Jesus.
Let everyone consider why the Prophet needed again to repeat the word about the salvation of only a remnant. He had just said, “The remnant of Jacob shall return to God.”
There was no other reason than this. Using the occasion, he wished to transfer his hearers’ thoughts to the distant future, when the remnant would be saved not in type, but in reality.
Therefore, instead of saying, “the remnant shall return,” he said, “shall be saved.” By this he recalls the awaited Savior and Deliverer.
The structure of the Prophet’s speech directly suggests that he wished to say something particular here. This is especially suggested by the words, “for He is completing and cutting short the word,” and so forth (see Is 10:23).
Here we see the same thing that often occurs in the Psalms. The holy prophet David, while singing to God on the occasion of current events, was often caught up by the prophetic Spirit.
He was lifted to contemplate what was to be in the awaited Savior. Suddenly he uttered words that can be understood only when referred to the Savior.
The same occurs here. The Prophet mentioned the return to God of the remnant of Jacob after his sons had been struck by the Assyrians.
Then he was carried by the prophetic spirit to the ordering of salvation in the person of the awaited Deliverer. He foresaw that then also not all, but only some, would enter the inheritance of salvation.
Therefore he said, “Though the people of Israel,” that is, “the number of the children of Israel, be as the sand of the sea, their remnant shall be saved” (Is 10:22).
It is as though he said, “There will yet be another time when something similar will be repeated.” Those who heard the Prophet’s word might not at once understand when this would be or what the Prophet wished to suggest.
But later this had to become clear to them, especially after the “remnant of Jacob” (Is 10:21) actually returned to the mighty God during the return from captivity.
As already noted, the return from captivity was the clearest type of that deliverance from captivity which the awaited Deliverer was to accomplish. In the attention of true Israelites, the latter was always contemplated in the former.
Consequently, they also contemplated that only the remnant would be saved. By citing this passage, the Apostle said nothing that could trouble a reasonable Israelite.
Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle cited this testimony with special aptness. He made known that the God of all foresaw from the beginning both those who would come to faith and those sick with unbelief. For the Jews, the unreasonable and blinded, said that few of them had received the preaching, while all the rest fled from it as deception. Therefore he showed that this had been foretold from of old. Not all would obtain salvation, but only those adorned with faith.”
THEOSIS