John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 1:9

"Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah." — Isaiah 1:9 (ASV)

Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us. Here he concludes what he had previously declared concerning God’s chastisements: that the desolation which will take place—or rather which is present, and which they now behold—may be compared to the destruction of Sodom, if it were not that the Lord snatched, as it were, from the burning a very small remnant. This verse confirms what I previously said: that the Prophet’s description of the calamities which had already taken place is interwoven with those events which were close at hand. It is as if he had said, “Do not be deceived by flatteries; you would be in the same condition as Sodom and Gomorrah are now, if it were not that God, in compassion for you, has preserved a remnant.” This agrees with the words of Jeremiah:

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed (Lamentations 3:22).

Therefore, we should observe two things. First, the Prophet here describes utter destruction; and yet, because God had to deal with his Church and his beloved people, that judgment is mitigated by special grace, so that out of the general ruin of the whole nation God rescues his people, whom he justly compares to a very small remnant.

But if God punished the crimes of the Jews by such dreadful chastisements, let us consider that we may share the same fate if we imitate their rebellion: for God had set apart that nation for himself, and had distinguished them from the ordinary lot of other people. Why then should he spare us if we are hardened in our ungodliness and treachery?

Or rather, what is likely to be the result of that mass and sink of crimes in which people throughout the whole world give way to their passions? Unquestionably, it will be the same as the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, unless his vengeance will be restrained by regard for that gracious covenant in which he promised that the Church will be eternal; and this threat, which is truly awful and alarming, applies to all obstinate and incurable people, whose vices no punishments can destroy or weaken.

Again, we should observe that saying of Jeremiah, which I have already glanced at: that it must be attributed to the tender mercies of God that we are not altogether destroyed (Lamentations 2:22). For if we consider the vast amount of wickedness that prevails among all classes, we will wonder that even a single individual is left, and that all have not been removed from the land of the living. In this way God withdraws his hand (Ezekiel 20:22), so that some Church may be preserved in the world.

This is the reason assigned by Paul, who is the best interpreter of this passage, when, by quoting it, he rebukes the arrogance of the Jews, so that they may not boast of their name alone, as if it were enough that they were descended from the fathers. For he reminds them that God could act towards them as he had previously done towards the fathers, but that through his tender mercies a remnant shall be saved (Romans 9:27).

And why? So that the Church may not utterly perish. For it is through the favor which he bears towards it that the Lord, though our obstinacy compels him to use the severest judgments, still reserves some small seed (Romans 9:29). This statement should offer us powerful consolation, even in the heaviest calamities when we are inclined to think that it is all over for the Church, so that, even if everything should descend into confusion and the world, as we say, be turned upside down, we may persevere with unshaken fortitude and rest assured that God will always be mindful of his Church.

A very small remnant. This clause may be connected either with what precedes it or with what follows it, and accordingly some render it, We would have been almost like Sodom. But I prefer connecting it with the former clause, so as to deduce that the number which God had reserved out of the destruction is small.

Some think that כ (caph) is used here affirmatively, to express the matter more strongly; and I have no objection to that view, though we may also take it in its natural and literal meaning, as if he had said, “and that will be a small number.” This declaration should be carefully observed; for if the Church does not spread far and wide, people are accustomed to despise her.

Therefore, hypocrites become proud of their numbers, and weak people, terrified by the pompous display of those numbers, stagger. We also learn from this that we should not judge by the size of the number, unless we choose to prefer the chaff to the wheat because the quantity is greater. Instead, we should be satisfied with knowing that, though the number of the godly is small, God still acknowledges them as his chosen people, and we should also remember that comforting saying:

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure
to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).