²⁰ Isaiah concludes this prophetic statement: “Unless Jehovah of armies himself had left remaining to us just a few survivors, we should have become just like Sodom, we should have resembled Gomorrah itself.” (Isaiah 1:9)c Against the might of Assyria, Jehovah will finally come to Judah’s aid. Unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, Judah will not be obliterated. It will live on.

21. After Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, why did Jehovah ‘leave a few remaining’?

²¹ More than 100 years later, Judah was again under threat. The people had not learned from the discipline inflicted through Assyria. “They were continually making jest at the messengers of the true God and despising his words and mocking at his prophets.” As a result, “the rage of Jehovah came up against his people, until there was no healing.” (2 Chronicles 36:16) The Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, and this time, there was nothing remaining “like a booth in a vineyard.” Even Jerusalem was destroyed. (2 Chronicles 36:17-21) Still, Jehovah ‘left a few remaining.’ Even though Judah endured 70 years in exile, Jehovah ensured the continuance of the nation and especially of the Davidic line, which would produce the promised Messiah.

22, 23. In the first century, why did Jehovah ‘leave a few remaining’?

²² In the first century, Israel went through its final crisis as God’s covenant people. When Jesus presented himself as the promised Messiah, the nation rejected him, and as a result, Jehovah rejected them. (Matthew 21:43; 23:37-39; John 1:11) Was this the end of Jehovah’s having a special nation on earth? No. The apostle Paul showed that Isaiah 1:9 had yet another fulfillment. Quoting from the Septuagint version, he wrote: “Just as Isaiah had said aforetime: ‘Unless Jehovah of armies had left a seed to us, we should have become just like Sodom, and we should have been made just like Gomorrah.’”​—Romans 9:29.

²³ This time the survivors were the anointed Christians, who put faith in Jesus Christ. These were, first of all, believing Jews. Later they were joined by believing Gentiles. Together they made up a new Israel, “the Israel of God.” (Galatians 6:16; Romans 2:29) This “seed” survived the destruction of the Jewish system of things in 70 C.E. Indeed, “the Israel of God” is still with us today. It has now been joined by millions of believing individuals of the nations, who make up “a great crowd, which no man [is] able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.”​—Revelation 7:9.

24. What should all take notice of if they wish to survive mankind’s greatest crisis?

²⁴ Soon this world will face the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 16:14, 16) While this will be a crisis greater than either the Assyrian or the Babylonian invasion of Judah, greater even than the Roman devastation of Judea in 70 C.E., there will be survivors. (Revelation 7:14) How vital, then, that all consider carefully Isaiah’s words to Judah! They meant survival for faithful ones back then. And they can mean survival for believing ones today.