Isaiah 10:22

Sand of the sea. The promised return of the remnant was a message of hope, and also a message of doom. For those who refused to return to the Lord and continued in their hypocritical and worldly ways, the message of the “remnant” brought no hope. The promise of restoration and salvation was for the “remnant” only. All others were to be lost. The doers of evil and those who knew God only in name would find no way of escape from the judgments soon to overtake the land. Though the numbers of Israel were as the sands of the sea (see Gen. 22:17; 32:12), only the faithful remnant would be saved.

The consumption decreed. God would permit destruction to consume the land, but the result would be a higher level of righteousness. Though punitive, so far as the evildoers were concerned, the visitation would be primarily corrective. Judgment upon the wicked could not be averted, but a “remnant” would “return” to the Lord, and He would accomplish His work of righteousness in them. The apostle Paul applies this verse to the Lord’s great final work on earth (Rom. 9:27, 28; cf. 2 Peter 3:10-13).