For more than 1300 years Israel was right in the middle of God’s plans and purposes. Then, with an historically sudden shift, Israel was gone. No longer, it seemed, would there exist a nation or a people called Israel. Even before the destruction of Jerusalem in the first century and the Roman occupation of Judea, Paul wrote to the church in Rome about the obvious rejection of Jesus by Israel. How could God’s promises for His chosen people be fulfilled if they rejected their messiah? The answer is found in Romans 11: The remnant. There has always been, in the purposes of God with Israel, a remnant (a faithful few who God would use to see His plan through). God used a Jewish remnant to start the church on Pentecost and it is a remnant of a different kind that God uses today to do his work in our world.