We turn together tonight to Isaiah 49, Isaiah 49, to read together verse 8 through the end of the chapter, our focus being in verses 14 through 16 tonight. Isaiah chapter 49, beginning at verse 8. Hear now the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says. In the time of my favor, I will answer you. And in the day of salvation, I will help you. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances. To say to the captives, come out. And to those in darkness, be free. They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar, some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan. Shout for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones. But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are ever before me. Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around. All your sons gather and come to you. As surely as I live, declares the Lord, you will wear them all as ornaments. You will put them on like a bride. Though you were ruined and made desolate, your land and your land laid waste. Now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, this place is too small for us. Give us more space to live in. Then you will say in your heart, who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren. I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these, where have they come from? This is what the Sovereign Lord says. See, I will beckon to the Gentiles. I will lift up my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground. They will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who hope in me will not be disappointed. Can plunder be taken from warriors or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says. Yes, captives will be taken from warriors and plunder, retrieve from the fierce. I will contend with those who contend with you and your children I will save. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh. They will be drunk on their own blood as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, and your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. May God add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word tonight. Beloved, in Christ the Lord, indeed, what a powerful message for God's people who were tucked away in captivity. A powerful message for them as He says to them in verse 16, See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Engraving, we know, points to a permanent sign. And we must confess that in this life which is constantly changing, mankind likes something permanent. Mankind likes and desires permanent signs, for example, permanent signs of recognition. For example, we like to carve our names in soft concrete and when it hardens, then our names stay there for as long as the concrete is there. Or think of the Hollywood Walk of Stars and the Hollywood actors and actresses receive recognition through that Walk of Stars. Mankind desire permanent signs of accomplishment, having their names engraved on trophies or a plaque of some sort. And people also like permanent signs of devotion. Think of a tattoo. I'm not in favor of tattoos, but there are some who have maybe a tattoo of a heart on their arm and it says mom in there to show devotion to their mom. Or maybe the name of someone special in there. Or someone will give someone that they love a piece of jewelry and have their name engraved on the back with love from so and so. But all of these illustrations, of course, are things that are not easily removed. They are not easily erased and they are ways of being remembered. and especially permanent signs of devotion stand for commitment. And they give comfort and assurance to the object of that commitment, to the devotion of the One who is making that commitment. And beloved, that is what we have in the Lord's Supper. As our souls feast by faith on the crucified body and shed blood of Christ, it is also a sign of our Lord's promise and commitment to and devotion toward His people. Israel, in captivity, needed this comfort and this encouragement of the Lord's commitment and devotion toward them because they doubted it. And God is faithful. And He never fails to give His undeserving people what they need as He comforts His doubting people. First of all, with a challenge to their accusation of forgetfulness. Notice the context. Isaiah 49, we didn't begin reading at the beginning, but Isaiah 49 begins with what is called the second servant song recorded in Isaiah's prophecy. He speaks in his prophecy about the suffering servant. And that servant is a clear reference to the Messiah who was to come. To Jesus. Talking there about His work of restoring God's people and of being a light to the Gentiles. And then verses 8-13 talks specifically about the restoration of Israel who would be saved, who would be restored to their land, who would be fed in abundance. And the last part of the chapter shows us just how complete this restoration would be. And they are called to respond in worship. Verse 13 says, Shout for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones. Indeed, throughout this entire chapter, we find words of comfort. And that is why its response by the people really is hard to believe. As verse 14 there, but Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. It's true indeed that the condition of the people is that this lament, this complaint comes in the midst of a period of suffering. Suffering captivity. And the captives of Israel, that they knew that Zion was their rightful home. They knew that Jerusalem is where God had dwelt in His holy temple. And well, at this time, they were far away. And they thought that they were far away from God. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that they thought that God was far away from them. And then to hear these words was hard to believe because it's hard to believe something that seems far beyond our grasp. Just as Sarah, when she heard that she was going to have a baby, she laughed because of her age. It was hard to believe because it was beyond her grasp. Israel's complaint was that God had forsaken them. The idea of the word forsaken here means to depart from someone and to leave that one in a difficult situation when that one depends upon you. They depended, although they didn't always act like it, They depended completely upon the Lord. And their complaint was that God had forsaken them physically. They didn't believe that He was present with them anymore, but He also had forgotten them inwardly, they thought, as if they were saying, Oh Lord, You don't think about us anymore. And no doubt their captivity was proof to them that God had forsaken them, that God had forgotten them. In Psalm 25, verse 28, it was the psalmist's desire to be remembered by God. He says, look upon my affliction and my distress. As if to say, take notice of me. Take notice of these things. We too, beloved, who confess faith in our triune God, we who confess to believe that He will never leave us or forsake us, we're willing to say that with our mouths at times, we must confess that we don't always demonstrate the confidence of that confession. for example, when we have faced sickness or death or financial hardship or temptation of some kind, or when we have prayed about something or for someone for years on end, then it seems that God just simply does not hear us, does not answer us. Maybe you have said with your mouth, maybe you have said deep down inside, God, where are you? Why have you forgotten me as David did in Psalm 13? Oh Lord, how long will you forget me forever? When we focus on ourselves and on our own circumstances and take the eye of faith off of Him, unbelief sets in and we begin to doubt the promises of God. We begin to doubt that He alone is the refuge and strength and fortress of His people, especially in time of need. We begin to doubt that He cares for us as He has proven to us over and over again. Israel really, in a sense, blamed God for their circumstances and not their forsaking of Him because God had forsaken them. God had forgotten them. And therefore, here they doubted the very Word of God. They doubted the coming of the servant Messiah. They doubted the beauty of the redemption and the restoration which the Lord's prophet prophesied to them. Yet His loving kindness and tender mercy is illumined in the Lord's challenge to their accusation with illustrations of comfort indeed the lord will not forget his redeemed people and the first illustration is is is an understandable everyday example for each and every one of us verse 15 can a mother forget the baby and her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born whether you're a mother or whether you're a child. And that covers all of us, doesn't it? We understand this. We understand this illustration. Mother love for her children, especially infants, in some ways is the highest form of human love there is. That's not to devalue a father's love because dads, we would give our lives for our kids if we were called upon to do so, wouldn't we? Yet even when a child is in the womb, we know that there is a bond is so strong between the mother and the child. And especially a nursing child that is completely and utterly dependent for everything upon its mother. Dependent on mother for food. That child is always in the mother's thoughts. In fact, her life revolves around her child who needs the constant attention of its mother. And you see, this is the beautiful situation that the Lord places before the mind's eye of His people, including you and me, to demonstrate His affection for them. And He asks a question here which expects the answer, no way. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she is born? No way. We cannot begin to fathom that. That is a situation that is virtually impossible, but not totally or completely impossible, humanly speaking, as he adds, though she may forget, I will not forget you. As if to say, you say that I have forgotten you, yet the Lord explains that his love is as inalienable. It is not an alien love, a far out there somewhere love, but it is a very personal love. It is as inalienable as a mother's love, and it is even greater than maternal love. His love is more dependable. And, beloved, His love does not depend on if we feel like it or not. Our feelings or our sense of God's love do not make God's love true. If we don't sense God's love, it doesn't mean that it is not there, that it's absent. As Jeremiah 31.20 says, Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore, my heart yearns for him. I have great compassion for him, declares the Lord. What sweet consolation and comfort. The love of God is so strong and unbreakable for His own that He goes on to comfort His doubting people, secondly, with proof of His never-ending thoughtfulness. They said that He had forgotten them. Not only had He not forgotten them, but He goes on to explain that His thoughts toward them are never-ending. Verse 16, See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are ever before me. The proof of His never-ending thoughtfulness. He lays it before them with a summons to pay attention. See, the Word is behold or take notice. He is calling His faithless people to take their eyes off of themselves, to stop feeling sorry for themselves, and to look above, look to Him, and to remember His faithfulness throughout the generations. We are to remember His faithfulness to us throughout our lives. And He calls them to take action, to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to be confident in Him because of another vivid sign. I have engraved you on the palms of My hands. Now this is talking about cutting into something, inscribing, carving into something. It's talking about a permanent marker, not a wash-away tattoo or erasable ink or something like that. In Ezekiel 4, verse 1, we read, Now, Son of Man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you, and draw the city of Jerusalem. Now, we are to understand that what is being talked about here is more than just an artist's sketch on a piece of paper that can be erased or drawn over. But the idea in that verse is to cut into, engrave into a clay tablet the map of Jerusalem. A permanent map, just as the Ten Commandments were permanently carved into the stone tablet. Beloved, this demonstrates how deeply and fully God's people are fixed in His mind. More than just their names. We can know the name of someone but not know a thing about them. But here when He says that He engraves the names of His people in the palm of His hand, it's talking about the fullness of His children. Everything about them is engraved in His hands. It includes our joys and sorrows, our strengths and weaknesses, our needs and concerns, our sins and temptations. Everything about us is included in that name. And it's in both of His hands. Now, if I were to ask you to raise your arms like this tonight and look at your hands, what do you see? You don't see the backs of your hands. That would be unnatural, wouldn't it? You see the palms. of your hands our hands are always before our face they're always in front of us we work with them we emphasize with them we communicate with them in some ways our hands are the busiest part of our bodies God is always at work on behalf of His people and beloved every time He lifts His hands His church is lifted before His face and eyes He cannot look at His hands, as it were, without beholding His church. He cannot forget her unless He forgets Himself. That is how much she is a part of Him. Now, boys and girls, we know that God doesn't literally have hands like you and I. But He uses language that we can understand. So that we might be comforted. That believers are always in His thoughts. As David says in Psalm 139, How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast, how numerous, how many is the sum of them! God's providence, which we considered recently in our consideration of the Catechism, means that we live out of our Heavenly Father's hands. All things, the Catechism says, are so completely in His hands. We live out of our Heavenly Father's hands. And that means that not only are we inside of His hand, but that means that we never have to worry about being dropped by Him. That is security. That is the security and the protection that Moses enjoyed in the cleft of the rock hidden by God's hands so that he would not be destroyed by the brightness of God's glory. That security is pictured by walls. Verse 16 includes, Your walls are ever before Me. The walls of a city we know were a picture of strength and security and protection. these walls of God's people of the church are before His hands protected by His hands the Lord is the strength, the stability, the rock and the fortress of His church He is the one who provides peace and protection prosperity for His church and beloved, His is never ending thoughtfulness His thoughts for you and me are not on again, off again they're not just once in a while they are never ending his is eternal care for his people we are secured by Jesus Christ forever in his father's hands because he paid the penalty Jesus won the victory over sin he defeated Satan's sin in the grave and he lives never more to die and beloved nothing can snatch us out of his hand how do we know? Well, consider the hands of Jesus in His resurrected, glorified body, the same body that He now sits at the right hand of God in heaven with. Our Lord said to Thomas, put your finger here. See my hands? Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. His scars are with Him even at this moment. as the nails were pounded in His hands and feet, and as He hung on the cross, all of the sins of His people were laid upon Him as He paid the ransom price. He purchased us and His nail holes, His scars, are receipt of payment where our names have been engraved. Boys and girls, you know that scars remind us of the reason we have them. If you have a scar on your elbow or on your knee or if you have a scar on your side, It's a reminder of a fall or maybe a surgery and those scars don't go away. They are a reminder of the reason that we have them. Jesus' scars remind Him of those for whom He died, but even more than that, His scars are for us by faith. To remind us of our need for salvation and that that need has been met by Him. To remind us that our Lord Jesus Christ secured His church forever in His Father's hands. to remind us of God's love so amazing, so divine, that it demands my soul, my life, my all. And His scars, beloved, are a call to repent and believe for those who have not yet turned to Him in faith. A call to repent and believe and to know, look at His scars and know that there is forgiveness with Him. The Lord's table is a visible sign of that purchase. of that engraving to remind us as proof of the Lord's never-ending thoughtfulness and faithfulness toward His people. And therefore, beloved, is it any wonder that Paul can say with such confidence that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord? I realize that I seem to quote that verse often. But that verse is oh so precious. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are permanently engraved there. There is no greater joy than knowing that we belong to Him forever and ever. It gives no greater confidence as we wait for the return of Jesus Christ. And until then, beloved, we are called to represent Him to whom we belong. He has devoted Himself to us as the Lord's Supper reminds us and He calls us to be wholly devoted to Him who loved us and gave His life for us that we might belong to Him forever. And now to His people, He says, Come, for the feast is spread.