Jesus Remembered You

When God speaks in the book of Isaiah, he makes sweeping promises to a people worn down by their sin. He commits to the restoration of Israel—to answer them, help them, keep them, establish their land, free their prisoners, and feed them (Isa 49:8–12). Because of promises like these, God says, “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted” (v.13). But God’s people do not respond with joyful singing. Instead, they despair: “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me” (v.14). 

Why do they respond this way? Why do they despair when rejoicing seems called for? When these events occur, the Israelites are in exile. It is a dark time in Israel’s story: Nebuchadnezzar has overtaken Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and hauled off many of God’s people to Babylon. Perhaps God’s promises sound impossible given their desolation. 

But God hears them. When the people declare that he has forsaken and forgotten them, he immediately offers comfort. He shares two powerful images to reassure them. 

Here, God takes a nearly impossible scenario—a woman forgetting her child—to say that his commitment to remembering his people is even stronger than a mother’s bond. And to eliminate further doubt, he follows it up with an image of engraving, one that evokes permanence. How could he forget his people when he has marked them on his own body? He will not forget. 

Years pass. God’s prophetic words to his people get passed down from generation to generation. The Israelites return from exile and rebuild the temple. Yet not all of God’s promises are fulfilled, and they continue to question his love for them. How will God answer his people’s doubts? How will he prove that he has not forgotten them and will fulfill his promises? He will prove it by sending his Son. 

Jesus’s arrival embodies the truth that this God does not forget his people. The incarnation is the clearest revelation yet of who God is and the depths of his love for his people. As Jesus ministers, preaches, forgives, serves, and heals them, the relentless compassion of the invisible God is made visible. Even so, as Jesus’s ministry progresses, he encounters resistance. Though multitudes adore him, he is offensive to some, and a campaign develops that seeks his death. Jesus is aware of all this as it is happening. Perhaps if we had been living during that time, we would be concerned at this point. Will the people’s resistance cause Jesus to forget, to turn away from his mission? It will not. The comfort from the book of Isaiah holds. Just as a mother can’t forget her child, the God with his people engraved on his hands will not forget. And so even as he faces fierce opposition, Jesus turns his face like flint toward Jerusalem. He moves toward his death, where he will offer himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

On the cross, God’s promise to remember his people reaches its most profound demonstration. Despite betrayal, malicious plots against him, and brutal treatment, Jesus keeps his commitment to his people and chooses to give up his life for them. As Jesus hangs on that tree, his compassion endures. The criminal crucified next to Jesus cries out for mercy: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Would Jesus remember? Yes. Even as he endures hellish suffering, Jesus comforts the man: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (v.43). The thief will not be forgotten. More than that, he will be with Jesus in paradise, in a bond that will never be broken. 

This is the very same Jesus who remembers his people today. As we anticipate the celebration of Easter, we come to it with our own times of doubting and questioning God’s love for us. We each face our own exile-like experiences, as sins and sufferings still afflict God’s people. But each Easter is a new opportunity to hear what God has spoken to us through his Son. On Good Friday, we will remember: No greater love has ever been shown to us than Jesus laying down his life (John 15:13). We will remember his anguished cry from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). Then on Easter Sunday, we will marvel at the miracle that changes everything. He is risen. 

You know this story well. But sometimes we forget. Sometimes we despair. So this Easter, hear it again, brothers and sisters: Jesus did not forget you. To the cross, he remembered you. The exile that is life on this earth will not thwart the promises that he has made to you. He was forsaken so that you will not be—and so that each of his promises will be fulfilled in your life. Each day is one day closer to when you will see his face, and his name will be on your forehead (Rev 22:4), just as your name is engraved on his hands. You will bear his name as he bears yours, a seal that he belongs to you and you belong to him—forever. 

And for all of eternity, you will join the heavens in singing with joy, My Savior and my God, how you have remembered me!