A Remnant

But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." (Genesis 6:18-22)

This passage opens with the declaration from God that He will establish a covenant with Noah, speaking of a future hope and promise; something most encouraging to Noah who would spend many years building the ark and prophesying to all around him of the judgment to come. Noah experienced first-hand the mercy and grace of God towards him and his family through their rescue from the coming flood. God was merciful in that He spared Noah having to worry about or witness the destruction of his loved ones, leaving Noah free to attend to the task that God had for him. And on the other hand, Noah's children were blessed to have such a God-fearing parent, whose godliness procures for them this physical salvation, teaching them to choose wisely, as their father did, concerning their own relationships with the Lord God Almighty; unlike the children of the world at that time whose parents were corrupt before God, who would soon perish in the flood with their ungodly parents.

Of all the population of the earth at that time (which as we have said, biblical scholars believe to have been in the millions), only 8 people are saved: a remnant. Of all the animals alive at that time, only a remnant is saved. The remnant speaks of rescue or, better yet, of escape: escape from the judgment of God's wrath upon a wicked world.

Ezra 9:8 "And now for a little space grace hath been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape…"

Isaiah 10:20 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped out of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth."

Jeremiah 15:11 "The Lord said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant…"

Ezekiel 6:8 "Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered though the countries."

Romans 9:27 "Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.."

Whenever the term "remnant" is used in the Bible, it will speak of a small number of people who have been preserved out of a much larger number; and it will speak of their being preserved only by the grace of God towards those who seek Him.

God's method of preserving or saving the "remnant" is displayed for us symbolically here in the account of Noah and the ark. The Hebrew word for "ark" is: tebah, meaning a chest, an ark, or a coffer (from which the term coffin comes.) A coffin speaks of death, but certainly it was not Noah's death or his family's, as they were preserved alive in the ark. But the vessel that preserved Noah is symbolic of the vessel that saved us: Jesus Christ – by whose death we were saved. Thus, the ark of our salvation is Jesus Christ.

Matthew Henry, when speaking of the wisdom and faith of Noah, also compares the ark to Jesus Christ:

"As an instance of wisdom for himself [Noah], thus to provide for his own safety. he feared the deluge, and therefore prepared the ark. Note, When God gives warning of approaching judgments, it is our wisdom and duty to provide accordingly. See Exodus 9:20-21, Ezekiel 3:18. We must prepare to meet the Lord in his judgments on earth, flee to his name as a strong tower (Proverbs 18:10), enter into our chambers (Isaiah 26: 20-21) especially prepare to meet him at death and in the judgment of the great day, build upon Christ the Rock (Matthew 7:24), go into Christ the Ark."

Joel 2:32 "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."

Revelation 12:17 "and the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

This last scripture above reminds us of God's prophecy from the Garden, about the war that would take place between Satan's seed and the seed of the woman. And in this scripture we see who the remnant are: they are those "which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Thus, just as it was in the days of Noah, there will be, in the last days before the second coming judgment, only a remnant called by the name of Jesus Christ; for because of the sin of man's arrogance and pride, only a remnant will be seeking God and will be saved by His mercy and grace.