Isaiah 59:21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

The life of a genuine prophet, one who perceives what is going on in the spiritual world, is not an easy one. From the beginning of the chapter Isaiah describes his perception of society as he sees it, and it certainly isn’t pretty. Then from the middle of verse 15 he describes the Lord’s response to all that, culminating in a marvelous promise of the Messiah in verses 19 and 20, but here the Lord turns personally to Isaiah, affirming him in a way that must have thrilled the depths of his soul. In the first place, He confirms that it is His Spirit that is on Isaiah, and His words that He has Isaiah speak. That in itself had to be incredible for Isaiah to hear, making his struggles with the society around him worthwhile, but then the Lord speaks of his children and grandchildren, and I have a feeling that Isaiah was a blubbering mess of grateful tears after this. What father who loves the Lord wouldn’t be thrilled to receive such a word? We all reach a point where we know our lives are limited, but we have hopes and dreams for our descendants. Isaiah probably remembered this promise of God to him to the day he died a martyr, and it enabled him to get through it all. Not everyone has physical descendants, but everyone has the potential for spiritual children, and the same principle should apply. As John wrote to a friend of his, not all of our children, physical or spiritual, will stay as close to the Lord as we would like, but it is a huge blessing when some do. (2 John 1:4) we all need to take this Word to Isaiah to heart, and allow the Lord to pour His Spirit and His words through us to our children of both kinds, for their blessing and His glory.

As a father and grandfather, this resonates very strongly with me. At 76, I am quite aware of my own mortality, but I certainly care about my physical and spiritual descendants. I’m definitely not on the level of Isaiah, but I am aware that God does speak through me at times. I am quite aware of the joy of His Spirit being on and in me, and I desire that above anything else for my descendants as well. I strive to lay a foundation in those the Lord has given me so that the storms of life will not shake them, but they will stand strong and victorious. (Matthew 7:24-27) They do bear personal responsibility for what they do with the truth I convey to them, but God is faithful, and He can guide and protect them as He has me, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all You have done and are doing in and through my children, of both kinds. I pray that they would press in to You more and more, allowing You to flow into and through them, for in turn, the salvation of many more, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!