God Working With All Generations at Once
In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.
When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
And say to him, ’Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.
There are a lot of strange names there, and some funny city names, but if you can sort that out there are some cool details.
Ahaz was the king and he was a really rotten guy. He had sacrificed his son to a foreign god by burning him alive. He had given up his mandate from God to be king of Israel by worshipping all kinds of religions and gods all over the place. Eventually, he would call the king of Assyria his father and master without any battle fought at all.
Isaiah probably knew how rotten Ahaz was, and he certainly knew how much power a king had. In spite of that, Isaiah obeyed God’s call and went to advise the king. He didn’t just go to advise the king, though. He took his son along with him.
What?
Like prophets had bring your kid to school day? Yes.
“Hello, King Ahaz, I’m Isaiah, and this is my son Shear-jashub.”
“You named your son Shear-jashub?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why would you name your kid ‘a remnant will return?’”
“Well, it’s a long story, but what I want to tell you today is to be careful, to be quiet, and not to fear.”
I don’t know how it played out, but I appreciate Isaiah’s boldness and God’s deliberateness to speak to Ahaz.
Maybe it was to encourage Ahaz that he’d get back something that he had lost. Maybe it was to train the next generation in obedience and boldness in God.
Maybe it was to remind us that taking your kids with you on your mission trip is something that God’s been doing since 750 B.C.
I’m sure it happened like this for a lot of reasons, but don’t miss it. In that sea of words, names, and locations, real people are doing real things at the call of God. God doesn’t change, either. He still loves to use us and our entire families in His work.
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