In Ezra 8:3–14, we find listed most of the same families that are listed in the first wave back in Ezra 2:1–60. Are you following me? The members of the second wave that we find here in Ezra 8:1–36 are from the same families. They are the descendants or relatives of the pioneers. So, the most fruitful field that he [Ezra] finds for recruiting are those who are the relatives and descendants of the first group that went. In other words, it is another sign of God's covenant, that faithfulness tends to run in families. It is sort of built into…the family piety or the faith that is passed on from one generation to the next…And we are seeing something of that to the encouragement of families.
Who goes in the first wave? Well, a group of faithful devout people. Who is it that is ready to go eighty years later? People and their descendants who did not go in the first wave, but who are related to the people of the first wave and are now ready to go. So, do not draw any significant conclusions if your children in their late childhood, or in their teens or early twenties are not as devout as you wish they were right now. Do not draw hasty conclusions. Do not give up. One of the great nineteenth-century Christians was asked, what about the promises of God, in light of this person's very adult child who was not yet a professing believer. And his answer was, I have not yet seen the fulfillment of the promise of God. The implication being, I will! Continue to trust. I will be a God to you and to your children; this promise is for you and your children.
These are the descendants and relatives of those who did go and also to those who did not go. But the ones who go in the second wave, in fact are related; they are the families of that first wave and are ready to go now. Even if they were not ready prior to this, or if they are the children of those who were not ready, they are now ready to go. [And the same goes for] our children, while they are not as devout as we might wish they would be, do not give up. Do not begin to doubt the promises of God. Do not think that they are lost and hopeless cases. The promise remains true. The meaning of their baptism is not lost. The mark of the covenant is on them. Christ has identified them as his own, as I sometimes remind my own children: his mark is on you. Those baptismal waters washed you. That is the sign of the covenant, the promise that God will not be just my God, but the God of my children. That promise is being claimed at baptism and we repeatedly remind God of that to honour that promise that he made.1
Terry L. Johnson
3 Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men.