Then you will think to yourself,
Isaiah 49:21 NET
‘Who bore these children for me?
I was bereaved and barren,
dismissed and divorced.
Who raised these children?
Look, I was left all alone;
where did these children come from?’”
Israel is pictured in Isaiah 49:14-26 as a people whose land is desolate and barren. But somehow, their land has become too small to hold all their children. And so they ask, “Where did all these kids come from?” They do not see how it could be possible to have this many children.
But the Sovereign Lord told them their children would be coming from all over the world. That God would be doing something that seemed impossible to them. The “something new” he had promised them in Isaiah 43:19 and Isaiah 48:6-7 was coming to pass.
Who are these children the Lord brought into Israel? Paul quoted Isaiah 49:6 in Acts 13:47 to refer to the gospel message going out to the Gentiles. And it is the Gentiles who believe that gospel message who are referenced in Isaiah 49:20-23. They are the children of the nations who are brought into Israel. We Gentiles who believe are children of Israel.
We who believe, both Jews and Gentiles, are the children of Israel, God’s special people (1 Pet. 2:9), in covenant with God (Heb. 8:10-13), and inheritors of the promises made to Israel (Eph. 3:6). We are citizens of an eternal kingdom—a kingdom where Jesus, the promised Son of David, reigns. We are a royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5). And a holy temple, a dwelling place for God (Eph. 2:19-22).
All that God promised to Israel in the prophets is being fulfilled in Christ (Matt. 5:17). And we are in Christ, participating in that fulfillment.
