Isaiah 49:18, commentary and pictures

The promise is addressed to Zion in her affliction, when she feels forsaken and says she is forgotten. She is commanded to lift up her eyes round about and behold, for all her children are gathering themselves together and coming to her from far. The certainty of their coming is sealed by God with an oath upon His own life. She shall surely clothe herself with them all as with an ornament, and bind them upon herself as a bride does her bridal adornment. Those gathered souls become her adornment and joy, proving that God has not forgotten her and that His promise to restore and enlarge His people is true and righteous.

That assurance rests on His having comforted His people and having mercy on His afflicted, so that He cannot forget her. It rests further on His having engraved Zion upon the palms of His hands, with her walls continually before Him, while those who destroyed her go out from her. In this gathering and adorning is shown the way by which Christlike attributes of character are obtained.

The chapter also foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to the world. That includes the camp-meeting work of giving people the information they desire about why the commandments are obeyed, and the raising of means for the presentation of the truth. It includes the establishment of sanitariums in different parts of the world as an educating power to reform people and restore the moral image of God, with men converted through the Word then giving their means and ability to extend the truth. It includes the arousing of slumbering senses to see departure from the Lord's ordinances through worldly policy and through transgression of the law of God.