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:

Nothing defines the size of a remnant. Once in Isaiah the remnant was called small but even then, the size was not defined. If we go back to first use issues to help us understand how God intends a word to be understood, it was in Exodus 26:12 in which the curtains of the tabernacle were being cut to a pattern. The remnant was that portion that did not fit the pattern. It was to be hung on the backside of the tabernacle. Make of that what you will.

If I were to purchase a whole bolt of cloth some twenty-five yards in length and by design or pattern, cut out a nine inch square in the corner to make a handkerchief, the rest of the bolt would then be called a remnant. Size does not matter. The excess that is not used to complete the pattern, is a remnant.

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

A peculiar people, those who do not fit the pattern, excess, remnant, size undetermined yet designated to serve a purpose, to hang on the backside of the tabernacle.

We really should reshape our thinking about the word remnant and stop thinking of it as a small useless thing.

Romans 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Let me remind you again that Paul is addressing Jews in Rome. We who are on the outside looking in will not have the same perspective as those in the Jewish community. In many ways our trying to understand this brings about some serious error as to one of Paul’s primary messages. Predestination is foreknowledge. God knew all that would happen in all of history before He began the work of creation.

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

This is such an enormous issue that rendering a proper understanding is impossible from a viewpoint fixed in time. What amazes me more than the concept is the fact that God, knowing all the evil released into the world, all the hate, all the torture, murder, lusts, and evil mankind performs on mankind, He chose to set it all in motion anyway. This is how precious our love is to our God. He put up with all this to obtain just a remnant that would love Him.

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

I see much suffering in this world which is unbearably ugly. Then I must accept that God sees His Glory, Jesus Christ in us, to be so great that all the ugliness is nothing. I cannot in my humanity imagine something that wonderful. Yet God saw it before He created anything of this world.

Your take away here should be this; you were worth it.