Fitting this statement into the history of modern religion is difficult. It is easy to see the people generally in apostasy, but who are the “few” who have not gone astray? Yes, they are those of righteous intent, but such a differentiation is so subjective that a great many righteous people who simply lived at the wrong time seem unjustly condemned to a condition of “pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms.”
Rather than attempt to find among historical humankind some few who have remained uncorrupt, I argue for reading this statement in the light of Nephi’s literary technique of phrasing his depiction of the future using Isaiah’s themes. In this particular case, Nephi’s “few” parallel Isaiah’s historical remnant—the actual body of Israel that would be returned to the land of Judah after the Babylonian captivity.
Because Nephi is attempting to maintain a close parallel with Isaiah, both in language and themes, he is virtually obliged to include this temporal remnant (as opposed to the eschatological remnant).