What Does It Mean To "Turn the Hearts of the Fathers To Children and the Hearts of the Children To the Fathers?

# 532 - Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 9:13 "But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him."

If I were to paraphrase this verse, I would say something like this: I'm telling you guys that Elijah has come as it was written of him in Malachi 4:5,6, but the religious rulers of the day rejected his message and eventually killed him.“

(By the way, Mal 4:5,6 reads as follows: Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

When Jesus said that they “did to him whatever they wished,” the disciples thoughts would automatically be turned to John the Baptist who was beheaded, and of course who had arrived on the scene before Jesus and would go before Jesus, calling people to repentance “in the spirit and power of Elijah.” (Luke 1:15)

Now, notice what this modern day Elijah (the Baptist) would do According to Mal 4:6, he would, “turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

The idea of “turning” here is to restore. Last time, we talked about the meaning of restore and the the role of water baptism in the restoration process. In New Testament baptism, sins are washed and the Holy Spirit is received, “be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

It is the Holy Spirit then who “turns hearts” (restores) and consequently produces childlike faith in fathers, and initiates godly wisdom in children. Forgiveness, faith and wisdom from above, come to us packaged in the Holy Spirit in water baptism.

But this turning of heart must be constantly maintained, because the old man in us would have us turn back to our sinful ways. It's called daily contrition and repentance and we must never weary in practicing it. It's part of what it means to believe.

Mr 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Baptism, marks the beginning of our faith journey, but if we don't continue in our journey of faith (believe) we will be condemned, or as Malachi put it, “struck with a curse.”

Father, thank You for all the gifts You bring to us in baptism, but I pray especially for those who have been led to believe that baptism alone saves! God rekindle that true faith given to us in baptism, turn us back to that child-like faith that saves and keeps us from being struck with the curse.