1. "Sometimes it hurts more to be the one forgetting than to be the one forgotten. Every parent knows that horrible feeling of not being able to locate a child. Panic creeps in, thoughts race, we imagine the worst."

2. "Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be alone to be lonely. A full house or a full table are no fail-safe remedy for loneliness. Some of the loneliest people are constantly surrounded by others."

3. "Servants don't speak or summon. Servants listen. But here we have a servant who summons. This servant says, Listen, nations. I'm speaking. This is a servant with divine authority."

4. "We read this and we immediately identify with the servant who was rejected, but friends, if we're honest with ourselves, that's not who we are in this story. You and I, we're the ones who rejected this servant. We're the ones who despised him and abhorred him and treated him as despicable."

5. "We don't need a fresh start. We need a new heart. We need a substitute, someone who could keep God's law for us."

6. "As Christ's cradle was made of wood no less than the cross, so too Christmas makes no sense apart from the cross."

7. "The only way for you to remain convinced that God has forgotten you is to keep your Bible closed. So rich are these promises that God gives us in his Son. The only way to stay in the darkness of disbelief is to put your Bible away."

8. "Missions doesn't exist to prevent God from embarrassing himself, as if we need to help make sure this doesn't fail. God has promised it. The nations shall come, all flesh shall know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior."

9. "Jesus doesn't ask for your admiration. He doesn't ask for your respect. He demands your worship because he is worthy."

10. "Come to the one who remembered you when you forgot him, the one who sought you when you were wandering. Come to the one who was despised and rejected so that you would never be ultimately."

Observation Questions

1. In Isaiah 49:1-2, how does the servant describe his calling and preparation by the Lord? What specific images are used to depict him?

2. According to Isaiah 49:4, what does the servant initially say about his labor, and how does the verse end with a statement of trust?

3. In Isaiah 49:6, what does the Lord say would be "too light a thing" for the servant, and what expanded mission does He give instead?

4. What complaint does Zion express in Isaiah 49:14, and how does God respond to this complaint in verse 15?

5. According to Isaiah 49:16, what has God done to ensure He will not forget His people, and what does He say is "continually before" Him?

6. In Isaiah 49:22-23, who does God say will come, and what posture will kings and queens take toward God's people and His servant?

Interpretation Questions

1. The servant in Isaiah 49:3 is called "Israel," yet in verse 5 his mission is to "bring Jacob back" and gather Israel. How does the sermon explain this apparent tension, and what does it reveal about the servant's identity?

2. In verse 8, God says He will give the servant "as a covenant to the people" rather than simply giving a covenant. What is the significance of this distinction, and how does it point to Jesus and His work on the cross?

3. Why does God use the image of a nursing mother in verse 15 to describe His relationship with His people? What does the comparison—and its limitation ("even these may forget")—teach us about God's faithfulness?

4. How does the brutal imagery of "engraved on the palms of my hands" in verse 16 connect to the suffering of Christ on the cross, and why is this significant for understanding God's promise not to forget His people?

5. According to the sermon, who are the "children" returning from afar in verses 18-22, and how does the New Testament (Romans 4 and 9) help us understand the full scope of this promise?

Application Questions

1. The sermon describes seasons when we feel forgotten—unnoticed birthdays, ignored grief, or simply feeling overlooked. What specific circumstances in your life right now tempt you to believe God has forgotten you, and how can the truths of Isaiah 49 speak into that situation this week?

2. Verse 4 shows the servant experiencing apparent failure yet entrusting himself to God: "my right is with the Lord." When your efforts for God's kingdom seem fruitless or unnoticed, how can you practically cultivate this same posture of trust rather than discouragement?

3. The preacher urged listeners to open their Bibles daily, saying the only way to stay convinced God has forgotten you is to keep Scripture closed. What concrete step can you take to establish or strengthen a habit of daily Bible reading as the new year approaches?

4. The sermon emphasized that Jesus knows rejection and loneliness because He experienced it Himself. How does knowing that your Savior has walked through suffering change the way you approach Him in prayer when you feel isolated or despised?

5. Isaiah 49 shows that God's salvation reaches "to the end of the earth" and that believers from every nation are evidence of God's unstoppable mission. How might this vision of God gathering people from all nations influence your prayers, your relationships with people different from you, or your involvement in evangelism and missions?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 52:13–53:12 — This fourth Servant Song expands on the suffering and vindication of the servant, showing how He bears the sins of many and is ultimately exalted.

2. Luke 2:25-35 — Simeon's prophecy at Jesus' presentation identifies Him as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles," directly echoing Isaiah 49:6.

3. Acts 13:44-49 — Paul and Barnabas quote Isaiah 49:6 to explain their mission to the Gentiles, demonstrating how the early church understood the servant's mission being fulfilled.

4. Romans 9:6-8 — Paul explains that the children of promise, not merely physical descendants, are counted as Abraham's offspring, clarifying who the returning "children" of Isaiah 49 are.

5. Hebrews 4:14-16 — This passage describes Jesus as a sympathetic high priest who understands our weaknesses, reinforcing the sermon's point that Christ knows rejection and can comfort the afflicted.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Pain of Being Forgotten and the Loneliness of Life

II. God Has Not Forgotten You: The Servant as Proof (Isaiah 49:1-16)

III. God Will Not Forget You: The Promise of Restoration (Isaiah 49:17-26)

IV. A Call to Worship the Servant Who Remembers You

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Detailed Sermon Outline

But, Mom, Caleb's not in the car. Those were the words that my older brother, just six years old at the time, spoke very helpfully to my mother from the back seat as she was driving away from the asparagus patch, which had been our outing for the day. He was right. I was not in the car. I was back at the asparagus patch, about a 10-minute drive away.

By the time my mom reached the asparagus patch, she was understandably frazzled and fearful. What she found was a blissfully ignorant version of my four-year-old self, helpfully working with the farmer to stack the produce. If you want to imagine what it looked like, just picture my oldest son in action.

Sometimes, It hurts more to be the one forgetting than to be the one forgotten. Every parent knows that horrible feeling of not being able to locate a child. Panic creeps in, thoughts race, we imagine the worst. What if? Other times, it hurts most to be the one forgotten.

A birthday passes, no one seems to notice. The anniversary of the death of a loved one comes and goes, and no one else seems to care. Christmas, this season of well-wishes of joy and goodwill and peace on earth can for so many feel like the loneliest time of year. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be alone to be lonely. A full house or a full table are no fail-safe remedy for loneliness.

Some of the loneliest people are constantly surrounded by others. When you feel alone, when you feel forgotten, where do you turn? What do you need to remember to find hope? We're spending these final weeks of 2025 really preparing our hearts for Christmas by studying a portion of God's word known as the Servant Songs. These are four chapters in the book of Isaiah containing prophecies about Jesus and perhaps more than any other place in the Bible.

These passages offer real hope, real light to those who find themselves in darkness. Turn with me in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 49. You can find it on page 619 of the pew Bibles in front of you. Isaiah chapter 49. As you turn there, let me set the context.

We've been in the book of Hosea a lot this fall.

Isaiah is really Hosea's more famous contemporary. He's ministering at the same time, but he's in the southern kingdom of Judah. Isaiah's prophetic ministry spans some of the most tumultuous years of Judah's history. Our pastor, Mark, has ministered faithfully at this church under five presidential administrations. Isaiah ministered under five kings.

Five distinct kings came and went. Isaiah kept preaching. He was there. He was alive when, when Uzziah You remember Uzziah who in his pride and presumption dared to enter the temple and offer a sacrifice only allowed by the priest and was immediately struck by leprosy. That was the year that Isaiah's prophetic ministry began.

Isaiah was there when Jotham reigned, steady, outwardly faithful but unable to stop the decay already creeping in under the surface. Isaiah was there when Ahaz ruled, a king who refused to trust in the Lord. He looked to foreign He brought in idolatry which tainted God's people. But then Isaiah was there when righteous Hezekiah ascended the throne. Hezekiah who drove out idolatry, who witnessed revival.

Hezekiah who trusted in the Lord when Assyria surrounded Jerusalem, 185,000 soldiers strong. And rather than pursuing a policy of appeasement, Hezekiah trusted in God. And what did God do? God routed the army in a single night, destroying 185,000 soldiers. You'd expect it to all be smooth sailing from there, but Hezekiah grew proud and his son Manasseh was even worse.

Manasseh reintroduced Canaanite idolatry, offering worship to Baal and Asherah, even child sacrifices. The Bible says that Manasseh led the people of Judah to do even more evil. Than all the nations that the Lord was driving out of the land. More evil. This was the time in which Isaiah was ministering.

The prince of prophets, as he has been called, faithfully ministering under five administrations, never compromising, never holding back, always speaking truth to power. He knew what it was to have the president's ear. He knew what it was like to walk into cabinet meetings and have the room hush because Isaiah was there.

And Isaiah was going to speak a word from the Lord. He also knew what it was to be rejected and sidelined and ignored. Now he was in his final years, an old man ministering under the very king who would one day kill him, as legend says, by sawing him in half.

What would it have been like to gather with Isaiah during those last days? Perhaps meeting in secret? Not meeting in open? I don't know about you, but I think Isaiah and his band would have felt lonely. I think they would have felt forgotten.

I think they would have wondered if God's promises were really going to come to pass. When you feel forgotten. When you feel alone. When it feels like God has forgotten you. What do you need to remember?

God has not forgotten you. God has not forgotten you and God will not forget you. That's the message of Isaiah 49. Listen as I read our passage. This is the word of the Lord.

Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me like a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, 'You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.' But I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.

And now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel may be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. He says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribe of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. Thus says the Lord, In a time of favor I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you.

I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, Come out, to those who are in darkness, appear. They shall feed along the ways, on all bare heights shall be their pasture. They shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them. For he who leads them has pity on them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up.

Behold, these come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exalt, O earth. Break forth, O mountains, into singing, for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me.

Can a mother forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.

Your builders make haste, your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. Lift up your eyes around you and see, they all gather, they come to you as I live, declares the Lord. You shall put them all on as an ornament, you shall bind them on as a bride does. Surely your waste places and desolate places, your devastated land, surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants. And those who swallowed you up will be far away.

The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears, the place is too narrow for me.

Make room for me to dwell in. Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away. But who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone, and from whence have these come?

Thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples, and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? For thus says the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued; for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Oh, friends, what did the people in Isaiah's day need to hear?

What do we need in our day? We need a message of hope, that there is a future, salvation coming. See, their foreign policy was in shambles, their domestic policy in tatters. Exile was coming, but exile was not the end. God had not forsaken his people.

God will not forsake his people. That is the message of Isaiah 49. If you feel alone, remember first, God has not forgotten you. We see this especially in verses 1 to 16. But first look with me at Judah's complaint in verse 14.

But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. Zion is a reference to Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah. Basically, the word on the street is we're all on our own. God's not coming.

I wonder if you feel that way this morning. Forgotten, overlooked. Maybe it's a sin you're struggling with.

Maybe it's a sin someone else has committed against you. Maybe you're a teenager in this church and it feels like other people have something that you don't have and you just feel forgotten by God. Notice what God doesn't say. He doesn't say here, at least here. Are you kidding me?

I've forsaken you?

It's exactly the other way around. You've forgotten me. You're the one engaged in idolatry. You're the one running away. I've forgotten you?

He doesn't say that. Instead, he speaks tenderly to his people, to his people who were in their sins, to his people who had forsaken and forgotten him. God says, listen carefully. And he cups his hands and he shows them his servant. He says, Look at this, this is how you can know.

This is how you can know that I haven't forgotten you. The servant is the proof. So who is this servant? Well, at first glance, it appears to be Israel. Look at verse 3.

He said to me, 'You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified.' But then that can't quite be because look at verse 5. The servant's mission is to bring back Jacob to him and that Israel may be gathered to him. So if Israel is the servant, how can Israel rescue Israel? So the servant is someone identified with and yet distinct from Israel. So who is he?

Well, clearly he's someone with divine authority. Look at verse 1. In verse 1, the servant summons the nations. Listen to me, O coastlands. This is something we only ever see of God in the book of Isaiah.

Only God has the authority to summon the nations to his court.

See, servants don't speak or summon. Servants listen. Remember Samuel who cried out saying, Speak, Lord, your servant hears. Servants listen, but here we have a servant who summons. This servant says, Listen, nations.

I'm speaking. This is a servant with divine authority. In verse 2, the servant is likened to a sharp sword and a polished arrow. These are a warrior's chosen weapons for close and long range combat. He's prepared, he's protected, he's even hidden for the perfect moment of his appearance.

And what is that moment? Verse 6 tells us, the servant will restore God's people. This is the hope that Judah had been waiting for. This is the longing. But then look at verse 6.

That is too light a thing for this servant. The very thing that Judah was tempted to disbelieve that God would do, God says, I will not only do that through my servant. That's just the beginning. That's just the preview. That is too light a thing, too small for his dignity.

God will make him a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth. In other words, God is raising up a servant who will rescue his people and reach the nations. That's what's happening in Isaiah 49. God is raising up a servant to rescue his people, to reach the nations. But Isaiah shows us something else about this servant.

Despite his nobility, despite his power, despite his calling, the servant's life will be marked by adversity. Did you see that in verse 4? I have labored in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing and vanity. From a human vantage point, his life looked like a failure.

Why the discouragement? Look at verse 7. To one deeply despised and abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers, the people he would come to save would reject him. Of all four servant songs in the book of Isaiah, so that's 42, 49, 50, and then 52 to 53. This is the first hint we get that the servant of the Lord will also be the suffering servant.

Despite the nobility of his mission, he will be hated and despised. This is strong language. To abhor means to detest as morally despicable. This is how God speaks of idolatry. This is how God speaks of his enemies.

To the people, the servant would come to save, the servant would be treated as someone who does not deserve to live. He's the person despised. Friend, do you feel forgotten, ignored, overlooked, rejected? God's servant was too. And he was rejected so that you would never be.

But notice that though discouragement may have had the first word, It doesn't have the last word. Look at how verse 4 ends. Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God. That word yet makes all the difference. In the face of hostility and apparent failure, the servant entrusts himself to God and to God's vindication.

We'll see this resolve more vividly in chapter 50 and especially in Isaiah 53 next year. But friends, is there any question about who Isaiah is describing? Is there any question who this servant is? He's talking about Jesus. Jesus is the one chosen in the womb before Mary ever held him in her arms.

Jesus is the sharp sword and polished arrow hidden for a season but ready to strike at the heart of sin and death. Jesus is the one who appeared weak in the world's eyes but his weakness was really his victory. Jesus is the suffering servant. His mission looked like a failure. It looked like it was all in vain, but it was really his victory.

Jesus is the light to the nations, the radiance of the glory of God shining in the darkness until every tribe, tongue, and nations comes to know him. This is God's servant. Friend, do you feel forgotten? Do you feel ignored? Isaiah is saying, Fix your eyes on this servant.

Look at Jesus. Look at him. He knows what it is to be rejected and despised. He told his disciples, It is written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt. And it's because he suffered when afflicted.

It's because he was rejected that he is able to comfort those who are in any affliction. Jesus isn't someone you go to who hasn't gone through what you've gone through. He isn't someone who hasn't faced loneliness or rejection. He never sinned, but he knows what it is to be despised. That makes him a merciful and gracious high priest.

We can't look to God and say, you don't know what I'm going through. He's been there. And he's interceding for you. He's not a friend you go to who's unsympathetic, and his ears are open to our prayers. How do you know that God has not forsaken you?

It's because Jesus has come. Look at verse 8. Thus says the Lord, In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, Isaiah is saying there's a day coming when God will answer his servant. He'll help his servant and through him he'll restore all the covenant blessings his people had forfeited because of their sin. See Israel's biggest problem wasn't their impending exile.

It wasn't their class of political leaders. As Chad said a few weeks ago, their problem wasn't their geography. What they needed was a change of heart. Their problem was their sin. And that is the problem this servant will come to address.

See, we read this and we immediately identify with the servant who was rejected, but friends, if we're honest with ourselves, that's not who we are in this story. You and I, we're the ones who rejected this servant. We're the ones who despised him and abhorred him and treated him as despicable. All of us have sinned against the God who made us. All of us have lived as if we were kings in God's place.

And what we need isn't a new law. We need a person. That's why God says in verse 8, I give you as a covenant to the people. He's speaking to the servant. He doesn't say, I'm giving you a new covenant.

He's saying, I'm giving you as a covenant to the people. The servant is the covenant. See, we don't need a fresh start. We need a new heart. We need a substitute, someone who could keep God's law for us.

This is why on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus said, this cup, referring to his blood, is the new covenant in my blood. He's saying, I'm the covenant. At Sinai, God promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. At Calvary, Jesus bore those curses for our disobedience in our place. And God is saying here to his servant, you,'re the covenant.

I'm giving you to my people. What that means is that if you have Christ, you have all God's blessings in Christ. If you have Christ, you have all God's blessings in him. That's why this servant addresses the prisoners, that's us, those in darkness. In verse 9 he says, Come out, and to those in darkness, show yourselves.

Jesus came to rescue his people from the bondage of sin and death and to bring us out. Friend, if you've never confessed your sin, If you've ever, if you've never acknowledged how you've rebelled against this God, how you've despised him and abhorred him, today, come to him. Come to this merciful and gracious servant who gave himself on the cross for sinners like you and me. Because here's what happens. The servant who is your substitute in covenant becomes your shepherd to guide you.

That's what we see in verse 10.

He guides his people, he leads them gently and tenderly through the wilderness and takes care of them. They shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind or sun shall strike them. This is language of God's covenant presence as he shepherds his people all the way home. And this isn't just for a few people. The camera widens as it were in verse 12 to include the ends of the earth.

You see that in verse 12, behold, these shall come from afar. From the land of Syene, as the servant calls into the darkness, a whole host assembles. Syene, that word there in verse 12, was a byword for remoteness. We don't even know where it was. It's like Timbuktu.

You say Timbuktu, it's not because you know where Timbuktu is, some of you do, but it's because you're saying the ends of the earth. The servant is calling and a host is gathering from the ends of the earth and the result fills the whole earth with joy. Verse 13, Sing for joy, O heavens; break forth into singing, O mountains. The servants' presence and summons produces a redeemed people drawn from the ends of the earth, bringing him praise. I wonder if this all sounds too good to be true.

Maybe you've heard it before. It's so familiar, it just doesn't match your experience. You say, that's all good and well. Maybe that means something to someone, but not me, not my darkness.

Look at verse 14.

Zion responds skeptically to God's promise. Zion says, the Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. God has just piled on promise after promise, blessing after blessing, and Israel's reply is, yeah, but what about right now? What about my pain right now?

What about my darkness? It feels like God has abandoned me now. Maybe that's coming somewhere, someday for someone, it's not for me, and it's not now.

To Israel's self-pitying doubts, God responds in verse 15 with a question: Can a woman forget her nursing child? This is an astounding verse. It's a simple question, and it, of course, demands a negative answer: no! Of course not!

And notice Isaiah isn't just talking about any woman, he's talking about a mother. And he's not talking about any mother, he's talking about a nursing mother. A nursing mother, not with any child, a nursing mother with her child. Every mother knows the bond is so strong, biologically, physically, emotionally. What Isaiah is contemplating here is an impossibility.

Mothers, you know this. Every child who enters the womb is a gift. A mother remembers every single one of her children. But God isn't just making a statement about mothers. He's saying something about himself.

He's saying, I am like a mother with a nursing child. That's what my love for you is like. The cries of his people summon forth unending wells of compassion. Mothers, you realize that when you're responding to the cries of your child in the middle of the night for the 17th time, you are reflecting the character of God. This is what God is like.

One of our members shared his story with me. If some of you have gotten to know Robert Massey, I'd encourage you to get to know him. I asked him if I could share this with you, and he encouraged me to. Robert was adopted when he was an infant. He never knew his birth mom.

It wasn't until his senior year of high school that his guidance counselor accidentally showed him his paperwork that he was adopted. He found out right there. That led him on a quest to search to find his mother. It took him years, but when he found her, there was only one question on his mind. There was only one thing that he needed to know.

He said, Did you ever think about me? Did you think about me?

She said, Every single day. I thought of you every single day.

To his doubting people, God compares himself to a mother. What earthly power could separate a mother's love from her child? History tells of extraordinary feats that mothers have performed to protect a child, to get to their child, and yet this is where the point of comparison ends, because verse 15 insists that these may forget. The Hebrew is even stronger, these will forget. Human love, even the love of a mother, is still finite and fragile, but God says, I will not forget you.

These will forget you, but I will not. You may be despised and rejected. You may be ignored and excluded, but I will not forget you. He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He says, I am with you always.

I've sent you my son. I've united you to him. I've given you my Holy Spirit. I'm coming back to take you to be with you, and nothing can come in my way.

Not the powers of hell or the powers of man can stop this God from reaching his own. He says, I am with you. And he doesn't stop there. He knows that talk is cheap, so he shows. He says in verse 16, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

This is shocking language. The tender image of mother with child gives way to a brutal image of hammers and chisels and flesh. Scholars point out that sometimes the name of a master would be written on the slave, but never the other way around. No master was ever branded with the name of his slave. And we're not talking here about ink or branding here, we're talking about engraving, cutting flesh with tools of iron.

He says, you, want proof that I will not forget you. Look at these hands. Even here we catch a glimpse of how God is promising to fulfill his promise through his Son. On the cross, the hands of the Almighty were engraved. But not by a sculptor, but by the mallet of a Roman soldier.

Those soldiers did not know, but their hammers were quilts. They were writing in the ink of the blood of the Son, you, name on the hands of your Savior.

You want proof that God has not forgotten you? Look at Jesus' hands.

They have your name written on them. You remember Thomas, Thomas doubted. Thomas said, I can't believe it. It's too good to be true. When Jesus appeared to him, do you remember what he said?

He said, Look at my hands. Feel them. They have your name written on them. Oh friends, as you celebrate Christmas, remember the juxtaposition of verses 15 and 16.

As you think of Mary holding the son in her womb, in her hands, remember to the rough hands of Joseph the carpenter, hands familiar with hammers and chisels, not unlike the ones that would one day tear through the hands of that infant that Mary bore. As Christ's cradle was made of wood no less than the cross, so too Christmas makes no sense apart from the cross. Verses 15 and 16 are next to each other for a reason.

Friend, do you realize the only way for you to remain convinced that God has forgotten you is to keep your Bible closed.

So rich are these promises that God gives us in his Son. The only way to stay in the darkness of disbelief is to put your Bible away. Close it, put it up on a shelf, let it get dusty, let the binding remain intact, keep it unmarked and unused. You will be convinced that God has forgotten you. But open it, pour over the pages of Scripture, take in promise after promise, and you will know God has not forgotten you.

The new year is coming. Make it your ambition not to let a day go by without opening your Bible. God has not forgotten you. He sent his son. He's proved it.

He gave his life for you. All of this means that God will not forget you. He has not forgotten you and he will not forget you. That's what we see in verses 17 to 26. God will not forget.

Forget you. Look down at verse 18. After reassuring Judah of his love, God says, Look. And the obvious question is, Look at what? When somebody tells you, Look, you immediately look up, but you don't necessarily know what you're looking for.

Judah knew what they were looking for. We find out in verse 20.

Verse 20 says that what they're looking for is the children of their bereavement. Or verse 25 declares, I will save your children. Remember, Isaiah is prophesying at the end of the eighth century. Less than a hundred years later, the first waves of exiles would be taken out of Judah and into Babylon a thousand miles away. Perhaps the most frightening The only aspect facing Isaiah's community was the likelihood of family separation that would accompany exile.

This is what Isaiah had warned Hezekiah about in chapter 39. He said, Some of your sons from your own household will be taken far away. You feel the ache in the book of Daniel. It's not a sweet story. This is a story of boys being separated from their families, taken far away, and indoctrinated into Babylonian mythology and practices.

Family separation is the prospect of the exile. This isn't a pain unfamiliar to American history. One of the cruelest aspects of chattel slavery in America was the forced separation of families that often accompanied it. Whether a husband or wife, child or parent, Bonds women and bonds men alike feared the separation that often accompanied settling a debt. This was the very evil that convinced one of the great abolitionists of the 19th century, Nathaniel Colver, of the evil of slavery.

Nathaniel Colver would go on to be the founding pastor of Tremont Temple in Boston, where our brother Jamie Owens now pastors. But it was actually here in Washington, DC, that Nathaniel Colver first became convinced of the evil of slavery.

And it was over this very issue. One day on Pennsylvania Avenue, Culver witnessed an old man hobbling on crutches, crying out in anguish. My son, my son, he said, calling out after a slave driver leaving with his child. They promised me he would never be taken from me, but they have sold him, and I shall never see him again.

Colver wrote, I could endure it no longer. I hated a system that rioted in blood and in broken hearts. That was the pain that Judah was soon to know. That was the prospect that occasioned this declaration of despair in verse 14. The Lord has forsaken me.

My Lord has forgotten me. But Judah's problem wasn't just sentimental. Judah's problem was theological. You remember the very nature of the Abrahamic promise was offspring. It was children, it was a seed, it was descendants.

This was the very nature of the Davidic promise. I will give you a son who will sit on your throne. So if children are separated from parents, if the lineage is cut off, what of the promises of God? How will God make good on his promises? This is why God says in verse 18, look, this is why he says lift up your eyes.

He doesn't need to say what they're looking for. They know what they're looking for. They're looking for their children. And in verse 19, the Hebrew syntax breaks apart. He can barely get the words out because the children are coming.

Parents stare in disbelief as reunion commences. Who bore me these? Where did they come from? Isaiah is promising that exile isn't the end. The promise lives on.

Families will be reunited. God will not forget his people.

But who are these children? Here we need to step back and see the big picture of Scripture.

Is this fulfilled in the small remnant that returned to the land under Cyrus in 538 BC?

I don't think so. Nehemiah says that only 42,000 returned, hardly the multitude too great to number in verse 20 who cries out, this place is too small for us. So who are the lost children of Israel? Well, this is where we need to turn to the New Testament for the answer. Romans 9 tells us it is not the children of the flesh, but the children of promise who are counted as offspring.

Or as Romans 4 says, Abraham is the father of many nations. That is those who share the faith of Abraham. In other words, the children returning from exile aren't just the children of the flesh, but the children of promise, the children from many nations. Brothers and sisters, do you see?

He's talking about you. He's talking about us. Those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Those from every nation. Those who have placed their faith in Christ are those that Christ is gathering together for his return.

This is what verse 22 says. God will raise his signal to the peoples and the nations will come.

Friends, the signal was raised when the servant was lifted up on a cross, when he rose again and ascended to heaven, and now the nations are coming. This is why Paul and Barnabas quote verse 6 in Acts chapter 13, as we read earlier in the service, I have made you a light for the nations. He's saying this is happening right now. This is why Paul can quote Verse 8 of Isaiah 49 in 2 Corinthians 6 and say, Now is the favorable time. Today is the day of salvation.

And look who's coming in verse 22 and 23. Friends, it's the nations. It's the ends of the earth. Kings and queens, those who once opposed God's people are now bowing before the servant. Those who once raged against the Lord are now bearing their sons and daughters in their arms.

How can this be? It's because the curse has been broken. That's the logic of verse 24. The strong man has been bound. The prey is rescued from the tyrant.

The mighty are plundered. Satan's grip is broken by Christ's cross. And now the ends of the earth are streaming to the throne of the servant. This doesn't mean that Isaiah is envisioning a world of perfect peace up until Christ's return. Verses 25 and 26 make it clear that some nations will persist in their rebellion to the Son until Christ's return.

Those who repent become part of God's family. Those who persist in rebellion will face the judgment described in verse 26. But brothers and sisters, you realize what this means for us. This means that there is a day coming when the patriarchs, Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac will lift up their eyes and behold the multitude greater than any eye can number and say, who are these? Who has borne me these?

And Sarah will laugh and rejoice that the children of the barren woman are more than her who was married. Brothers and sisters, you are the lost children of Abraham that God is gathering from among the nations. You are the sons and daughters who have witnessed Christ's cross and come running to him. Just look around this room. As Persian and Palestinian, as Brazilian and Burmese, European, South American, Middle Eastern, brothers and sisters from all nations are worshiping the Lord together.

And this is just one gathering of one church in one city in one nation. You realize that you are the evidence that God's mission is unstoppable. You are the evidence that God will make good on his promise that he will not forget his people. He hasn't forgotten you.

This is the work that God is doing in our day. This is why this church and other gospel churches are so focused on spreading the good news of Jesus. This is why we talk about evangelism and missions because the signal has been raised and God now commands all people everywhere to repent and believe in the Son. As verse 26 says, All flesh shall know that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior. Missions doesn't exist to prevent God from embarrassing himself, as if we need to help make sure this doesn't fail.

God has promised it. The nations shall come, all flesh shall know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. The question is, how will you respond? Did you notice the two responses that Isaiah documents in verse 7, two contrasting responses to the servant? Though the servant is despised, though he is treated with contempt, look at how the nations respond.

Kings shall see, and princes, and they shall prostrate themselves. Why? Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. Instead of taking counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, Isaiah foresees a day when the kings of the earth will recognize the Lord's servant and bow to him. And notice their posture.

They prostrate themselves, kings falling on their faces before a servant.

They fall on their faces rendering homage to one infinitely greater than themselves. Could Isaiah have known or imagined that seven centuries later kings would come They would come. They would see His star from the east. From the very place the people were about to be sent in exile, kings would come and follow a star to a newborn child. And do you remember what they do when they see Him?

They fell down and worshiped Him. They worshiped him. He may be called a servant in Isaiah 49, but don't be deceived. There is a day coming when all will bow to Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord. The question is, will you do it now with your whole life before it's too late for your salvation?

Or will you delay and continue to abhor him and reject him? Those are the only two options. There isn't a third way. Jesus doesn't ask for your admiration. He doesn't ask for your respect.

He demands your worship because he is worthy. So come to him because either in mercy or in judgment he will not forget you.

So come to him. Come to the one who remembered you when you forgot him, the one who sought you when you were wandering. Come to the one who was despised and rejected so that you would never be ultimately. Come to the one who entered darkness to bring you into his light. Come to the one who bears your name on his hands, not written with ink, but carved by hammer and nails.

Come to the one who has never forgotten you. Not for one moment has he ever forgotten you. Come to him and come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord. Let's pray.

Father, we praise you that you have exalted your Son. We pray that we would adore him. We pray that we would see and remember and worship your Son in gladness and joy and hope. Enter our darkness, cause us to see the light of your Son. It's in his name we pray, amen.