Isaiah 49:20, commentary and pictures

Zion had lost her other children and was left desolate, captive, alone, and moving to and fro. After that loss she receives many new children gathered from far away, from the north and the west and from the Gentiles, until her waste and ruined places and the land of her destruction become too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and those later children she has after losing the other say again in her ears that the place is too strait for them and ask for room to live and dwell. In this God shows Himself true and righteous in fulfilling comfort, mercy, and restoration to His afflicted people. The verse also shows part of the way by which Christlike attributes and qualities of character may be obtained.

As prophecy, the verse foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to the world and giving people the reason for this faith. Applied to that work, the growth of Zion's family after loss until there is not enough room for all her children means room must be made for more people through an expanded work of proclamation, for which the chapters of Isaiah should be studied as guidance for the work to be done. The narrow place means the growth and pressure require camp meetings in various places to give the information the world desires. That presentation of truth requires money.

It means sanitariums must be established in different parts of the world as an educating power to reform people and restore the moral image of God in them. It means people converted through the Word will then use their means and ability to extend the knowledge of truth. It means slumbering senses must be aroused to see departure from the Lord's ordinances through worldly policy and transgression of the law of God.