"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast...? 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."
(Isaiah 49:15-16)

Isaiah 49:8-26
The Hebrew word for wall here also means “an enclosure.” The Lord has enclosed us forever in His unfailing, steadfast love. Therefore our walls are continually before Him. And the wounds in His hands, wounds He bears forever, are the guarantee of this.


Only the sinless Lord Jesus Christ could pay the price for our sin. The sin which would otherwise pull down our walls will not do so because when He has led us to repentance and sees the wounds on His hands, He forgives us freely. His walls of love protect us from all harm and from all the ravages of sin.


The words of an old hymn by Cecil F. Alexander capture the wonder of this:

“There is a green hill far away
Without a city wall,Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there” (1847).

Let your refuge be within the enclosing arms of Jesus who guarantees His everlasting love for you (see Jeremiah 31:3), a love that cannot be shaken.



Scripture Focus

Isaiah 49:8-26

Insight

Jesus died outside the city wall of Jerusalem so that we might live eternally within the city walls of paradise with Him.

Bible In A Year

  • Ecclesiastes 9-10
  • Psalm 67
  • John 7

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