Romans Chapter 11 Vs. 4

 

The Remnant of Israel

But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Rom 11:4

I have reserved... This illustrates how God can reserve 144,000 Jews to Himself after the rapture and during the first 3 1/2 years of Daniel’s 70th week (Dan. 9:27; Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5).

image of Baal... Baal-worship was the state religion of Israel under Ahab and Jezebel. It was with this god that Elijah had his great contest (1Ki. 18:1-46).

After Elijah had finished killing the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Ki. 18:40), Ahab had told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and she sent a message to Elijah saying that she would take his life by the next day. He fled for his life and ended up in the wilderness under a broom tree and prayed for death.

It was at this point he was so discouraged and didn’t want to go on. Elijah thought at this point that he was all alone. As he slept, an angel touched him waking him up. God had provided food and drink for Elijah in the midst of his distress and the surrounding famine. That’s when God told him:

I Ki. 19:18 “Yet I have left [me] seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

Paul points to himself (in verse 1), as an example that God did not make a blanket rejection of the Jews. He then proceeds (in verses 2 to 4), to draw a parallel with Elijah and the 7,000 from among the millions of Israel, who had not served Baal.

Paul asked, And what was God’s answer (lit., “the divine response”) to him? God was not limited to one fearful, depressed prophet; He had reserved for Himself a godly remnant in Israel that numbered 7,000 (1Ki. 19:18). The preservation of the faithful remnant was a work of God.