What in our childish heart needs to be turned towards the Father? Biblical instruction toward children often focuses on becoming one who gives honour and learns obedience.
An embittered child heart will choke on the idea of honoring those who brought you to life. Obedience is a dirty word that rings of oppression to the one who has a fear of submission.
Everywhere that sin rules, the family will suffer. Sin always erodes the parent-child connectedness. A heart that has been calloused by selfishness is ripe for divorce and estrangement.
Elijah’s mission was that of restoring a child’s heart to the parent. When a parent offends and embitters a child, there is God’s anger to confront the parental figure. There is a millstone necklace with your name on it. Again, God’s desire is to help the parent restore love to the child rather than being destroyed by their own offensiveness. We who are parents need to be humble and repent to those we offend.
A child with a good heart is open to instruction from the parents. A good-hearted child of God’s Kingdom is willing to submit and obey both God and man.
Where do we get the idea that submission and obedience are a violation of our rights? At the core, we are self-centered and resistant to love. This is what Elijah calls into question. What is the condition of your heart toward parental figures and toward your offspring? Do you know who your children are, both literal and figurative?
If we are to humble ourselves to see Jesus, we will let God soften our heart. We will become like the father who runs unashamedly to a returning prodigal. We will become like the son who longs for identity and belonging in the father’s house. The changed prodigal softens and surrenders to obedience. The humble child is open to the parents’ help.
Can you hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church?
Stare into the biblical picture of a father and see what comes into focus. We see God the Father and His Son Jesus. We learn that God is also our Father. The ancestors of faith are called fathers. The chosen nation is known as the Children of Israel. The Church is referred to as the Father’s House.
The heart of God is often described as that of a loving father toward children. Correction, judgment and instruction need to be filtered through an understanding of God’s essential love nature. Love brings order to chaos and creates potential. Love brings a deep sense of belonging.
The prophetic call for fathers of every context is to turn the heart toward the children. This is a call to the family unit and to the Church where spiritual fathers and mothers bear offspring.
So what is it in our hearts that needs changing toward children? How does our generational attitude toward next generation affect our willingness to see who Jesus is?
Elijah’s message calls people back to love like God does. God loves like a parent. Unless we have a heart that focuses toward the needs of the next generation, we have become calloused and will also miss Jesus’ arrival in our midst. You may have your experience of Jesus, but have you seen him at work in those who are younger? To be father-hearted requires us to play a role in the lives of others. A parent’s presence may instill security, direction and identity in the life of a child. Or parents can be brutal. What kind of parent will you be?
We need spiritual mothers and fathers who care for those who are young in the faith. Sometimes we do not turn our hearts in the direction of the people who need us, because we have not self-identified as a spiritual parent. Are you a spiritual father or an absent baby-daddy? As soon as your heart can turn like a loving parent, you are ready for Jesus.
Stare into the biblical picture of parent and child. There is a deeper relationship that God desires for humanity.
The prophet Malachi looked into the future and this is what he saw.
Malachi 4:
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Malachi saw that the ancient prophet Elijah was coming back. This powerful miracle worker from Hebrew history would reappear in time with a message that would change attitudes of parents and children.
If attitudes between generations do not change, total destruction will come. Was the real Elijah coming back from the dead? Or was it someone just like Elijah? Malachi saw a prophet coming who would address broken relationships between parent and child.
400 years later, a priest named Zechariah was in the Temple at Jerusalem saw the same picture.
Luke 1:
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah and Elizabeth had a son who became known as John the Baptist. Zechariah saw that his boy would have the spirit and power of Elijah. The heart change between parents and children was necessary to prepare people for the coming One—the Messiah.
Later on a mountain, Peter, James and another disciple named John saw Jesus, Moses and Elijah clothed in light. The transfiguration prompted a discussion about what it meant to raise from the dead. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets. They are gloriously connected to Jesus. As the conversation between Jesus and the disciples continued, the disciples raise an important question about Elijah.
Matthew 17:
10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
Are you staring into the picture here? Malachi says Elijah is coming back. Zechariah has a son who is given the spirit and power of Elijah. Jesus says that his cousin John is the return of Elijah.
John’s mission is like Elijah’s mission. The restoration of all things starts with hearts of parents turning toward their children. The hearts of children turn toward the parents.
Jesus notes that people stared at John and were blind to his prophetic identity. In the same way, Jesus true identity was invisible to a people whose heart was calloused.
John the Baptist says to prepare a way for the coming Lord. In the wilderness there is to be a road that is well engineered to get you to the King. The road to Jesus needs to be leveled. Mountainous obstacles need to be removed. Deep ruts must be filled.
What does an attitude towards parents or children have to do with road building in the desert? Are there obstacles to a healthy connection with parents and parental figures? Are there deep gaps in the way you relate to your children and those who need you in a parental way? If you can see the picture here, you will understand that there is a change of heart required if we are to see Jesus for who he is.
