Year 5, Day 18: 2 Kings 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Obedience, Prophet

• Obedience: Genuine and satisfying obedience comes out of our identity.  Our true identity comes only from our Father.
• Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11.  The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God.  The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.

I think this is one of my favorite chapters into the relationship of a prophet to the Lord.  Put yourself in Isaiah’s shoes.  God tells Isaiah to go to the king and tell him that he will not recover.  So Isaiah is obedient and does so.  Then, when Hezekiah repents and before Isaiah can even get home, God tells Isaiah to turn around and tell Hezekiah that his repentance was heard and God is going to extend his life.  This is what it often feels like to be a prophet.

Prophets bring God’s Word to their contemporaries.  As God’s Word goes out and affects people, prophets must be able to be malleable to the changes in the people.  A prophet may be declaring judgment one day and then have to go back to the same people and declare grace and peace because the message of judgment was heard!  Imagine how difficult it must have been to go to Hezekiah and deliver one message and then as soon as the circumstances change to then go back and deliver nearly the exact opposite message.  And remember, Isaiah wasn’t necessarily privy to Hezekiah’s repentance.

Isaiah could have balked in his humanity.  Isaiah could have gotten upset at having to go say the opposite of what he had just said.  Isaiah could have challenged God for making him feel like a hypocrite.  But Isaiah does none of those things.  Isaiah is obedient.  Isaiah does the will of God.  Isaiah follows God’s leading.  This is an incredibly story to lift up what it looks like to be a true prophet of God.  This is what it looks like to set aside one’s own desire for approval and instead submit obediently to the call of God.

<><