A City not Forsaken

Isaiah 62:12 

"And they shall be called the Holy People, 

The Redeemed of the Lord; 

and you shall be called Sought Out, 

A City Not Forsaken."

I am sitting here listening to a song by Sojourn Music called "A City No Longer Forsaken."  The base passage is Isaiah 62 above and it is a remarkable cry of and for the day when we will be finally redeemed by our Savior.  When we will be given new names in a new city under a new King who rules with love and premier authority.  A couple of lines brought me tears and caused me to continue to repeat the song over and over again.  

"A brand new name

Straight from the mouth of God

The orphaned ones now take

through the waiting years, he preserves his own

in a city no longer forsaken."

We've talked much about the parallel between our adoption in Christ and adopting a child into our family.  I'm always moved and affected by thoughts of the end of the age when Christ will make all things new.  In the same way the Jewish people looked for the Messiah, we wait for our Savior to return and conquer sin and death for good.  When I heard this line from the song, the Lord allowed my mind to connect the longing for Christ to return with adopting an orphan.  I've been given a new name in Christ.  I've been given the name Redeemed, Holy, Sought out.  There is nothing special about the name, "Howell," but this is the name that will be given to our adopted child.  He/She will have a new name as part of a new family, and Lord willing, he/she will also have their new name written in the Lamb's Book of Life.  We can't cause or guarantee our adopted child's salvation, but we are thankful for the opportunity to give a child a new earthly name and to give him/her and environment in which he or she is given the opportunity to respond to the gospel so that he/she too will be given the names Redeemed, Holy, Sought Out.  These thoughts moved me today.  By God's grace he will bring our little one home.  We long for the day when the earth will be called "A City No Longer Forsaken."