Understanding Jewish Followers Of Jesus And The Partial Blindness Of Israel
Today, I want to explain the biblical doctrine of the Remnant of Israel—one of the most important keys to understanding prophecy and the future of the Jewish people. In Scripture, the remnant is the believing minority within Israel. There are always two Israels: Israel as a whole, and Israel the remnant. Ethnically they are the same, but spiritually they are not. Only the believers make up the remnant.
This begins in the days of Elijah. Elijah thought everyone had abandoned God, but the Lord told him He had preserved seven thousand who had not bowed to Baal. That small faithful group became the foundation of the entire remnant doctrine. Isaiah developed it further, teaching that even though Israel becomes as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return—the faithful ones who depend on the Lord in truth. Isaiah even named his son Shear-Jashub, meaning “A remnant shall return.”
Paul picks this up in Romans 9–11. He says that right now, during the Church Age, there is a remnant according to grace. I avoid using the English word “election” here because of all the Calvinist presuppositions loaded into that term. The point is this: God chose that there would be a vehicle called the remnant within unbelieving Israel, a group that belongs to Him and is defined by faith in the Messiah. Grace is the basis on which salvation is offered by God, and people respond by faith. That’s why Paul calls it a remnant according to God’s choosing. Once a Jewish person responds by faith to the Jewish Messiah, he or she becomes part of that chosen remnant of Israel. God chose the vehicle of the remnant, and individuals become part of that vehicle when they believe.
Currently, Israel as a nation is in unbelief and has blinded itself, which is the penalty for denying the truth. That blindness is not total—it is partial, because there is a believing element within Israel who do see clearly and have not blinded themselves. Spiritual blindness is always a consequence of refusing to believe, and it applies to both Gentiles and Jews (see Matthew 13:13–15; John 3:19; Ephesians 4:17–18).
So the remnant of Israel today is made up of Jewish believers in Jesus. And that remnant also guarantees Israel’s future. Paul says Israel’s partial blindness lasts “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Then, at the end of the Tribulation, “all Israel will be saved.” Zechariah tells us that one-third of the nation will survive, and every one of them will believe. The entire surviving nation becomes the remnant. That is the future restored Israel that Messiah returns to rescue. This is why replacement theology is not just wrong—it is satanic in origin, and throughout church history it has been the theological fuel behind much of Christian antisemitism.
The doctrine of the remnant explains Israel’s past, Israel’s present unbelief, and Israel’s future national salvation. It shows that God’s covenant promises—including the Abrahamic Covenant, the Land Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant—are still in force. God is not done with Israel. As Paul writes, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!” (Romans 11:1).
