1. I ask, then: did God reject his own people? Certainly not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
2. God has not rejected his people, whom he chose from the beginning. You know what the scripture says in the passage where Elijah pleads with God against Israel:
3. “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me.”
4. What answer did God give him? “I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not worshipped the false god Baal.”
5. It is the same way now: there is a small number left of those whom God has chosen because of his grace.