Getting Ready for Restoration

“They will be called the Holy People, 

the Redeemed of the Lord;

 and you will be called Sought After.” 

Isaiah 62:12

This promise finds its fulfillment in Christ, where Isaiah’s vision becomes deeply personal. Many adoption stories echo Isaiah 62 powerfully. Children who spend years in foster care are often labeled temporary or overlooked. But the moment they are chosen, everything changes. They receive a new name, a new family, and a permanent future. They are no longer “available for placement,” but beloved son or beloved daughter. Isaiah uses this same language of transformation: those once abandoned are now Sought After. In Jesus, God does not merely improve our lives—He changes our identity.

Richard Foster reminds us, “God’s power is released in our weakness. This is where restoration begins.” Advent meets us precisely there—not at our strongest, but at our most honest. Timothy Keller reminds us that the heart of the gospel is not our search for God, but the discovery that God has found us first. Like adoption, salvation is not earned; it is initiated by love. In Christ, God comes to claim His people, clothing them with salvation and rejoicing over them with joy. What was once broken is being restored; what was once lost is being named and welcomed home.

Matthew Henry observes that the watchmen in Isaiah 62 are not appointed to announce doom, but hope—to keep reminding God’s people that the Lord is coming. Advent trains us to wait in that same confidence. As we move toward Christmas, we wait as people already sought, already named, and already loved—trusting that the God who came once will come again and complete the work of making all things new.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

As we wait in this Advent season, help us to trust that we are sought and loved by You. Restore what is broken, renew our hope, and shape our hearts for Christ’s coming. Teach us to wait with confidence and to live as people clothed in Your salvation.

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.