What is meant by the remnant, and how is it formed?
Isaiah prophesied that a day would come when a remnant’ of the people of Israel would (1) trust in God, (2) return, and (3) be saved (Isa. 10:20 -22; Rom. 9:27). This remnant will suffer terrible persecution during the tribulation period (Rev. 12:17) but they will confess their sins and acknowledge Christ as the true Messiah (Isa. 53 and Zech. 12:10). Their soul exercises are vividly expressed in the Psalms. A remnant is smaller than the whole from which it is taken and it bears the features of the original (think of a carpet, for instance). But this does not imply inferiority in value. God values the minority who maintain the character of God’s people.
