Ahaz reigned in Jerusalem for 16 years. The epitaph of his reign is recorded for us in this passage. It says, “And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”
Ogilvie writes, “Ahaz was the consummate syncretist. He tried anything from any body’s religion that might give him any kind of advantage. Bored by what he considered to be the humdrum routine of the faith of his forefathers, Ahaz wildly experimented, trying to inject the religion of Judah with new life. He seemed to be drawn to the most lurid elements in the pagan religions around him. He seems to have addicted to the lure of the sensational.”
Ahaz’s problem is also our problem today. It seems we too are bored with the basic manna of Christianity; we attempt to pronounce everyone’s religion as acceptable without honest evaluation of the obvious differences between them. It’s politically incorrect to have any opinion that insinuates anyone else’s religious convictions as being false or misguided. Everyone’s beliefs are of the same value. Like Ahaz the pundits of our day say, “let’s mix and match” and spice things up a bit.
Yet, the truth remains, as John Stott says, “Jesus cuts across our easy-going syncretism. There are not many good religions; there is only one. And so the options are only two—the true and the false, the right and the wrong, God’s way and humankind’s way.”
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come to the father except through me.” Did Jesus lie, or did he tell the truth.
Chuck
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loves us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17