Malachi 4:6
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
God will send a messenger in the spirit and power of Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord to turn the hearts of parents and children to one another and back to God, or the earth will be struck with a curse. That promise was fulfilled in John the Baptist announcing Christ's first coming, and it is fulfilled again in those entrusted with sacred truth to warn of wrath and prepare the way for Christ's second coming. The turning itself is a work of repentance and reform that restores love in families, breaks down pride and reserve, brings confession and earnest prayer for relatives and neighbors, and turns the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. This preparation calls God's people away from idolatry, gluttony, extravagance, selfish habits and every evil, with temperance, self-denial, self-control and health reform bringing appetite and passion under the higher powers of the mind so truth can be understood and practiced. The warning belongs to a time when the day of God is right upon us, when national apostasy exalts the man of sin and makes void God's law, so Elijah's work stands with remembering the law of Moses given at Horeb while God's messengers lift up Christ, reprove sin and labor in lowliness to make a people ready to stand.
Elijah's Work of Preparation
The promise is of an Elijah messenger sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, fulfilled in John the Baptist who came in Elijah's spirit and power to announce Christ's first advent, and also in those who in the last days go in that same spirit and power to warn of the day of wrath and herald Christ's second advent. John's mission in that spirit and power was to turn the people back to God, to restore the hearts of parents and children to one another, and to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, thereby making ready a people prepared for the Lord. That turning was accomplished through preaching reform to Israel, and his temperate life with appetite and passion brought under control strengthened him for the work, while from birth all his habits were carefully regulated in temperance and self-denial.
John stands as the representative of those living in the last days to whom God has entrusted sacred truths to present before the people to prepare the way for the second appearing of Christ. As he came to prepare the way for the first coming and to turn the people to the wisdom of the just, so those who prepare the way for the second coming are represented by faithful Elijah. The character of the work that prepares people for Christ's coming is therefore the same in both advents, calling for reform in temperance, self-denial, and humility.
That preparing work is a broad reform that turns the people of God from idolatry, gluttony, and extravagance in dress and other things by agitating the great subject of reform and stirring the public mind. Temperance in all things is to be connected with the message, and health reform is one of the great branches of the work of preparation for the coming of the Son of man, with selfish harmful habits and disregard for light weakening the church and hindering the message's influence on new believers. Appetites and passions must be brought under the mind's higher powers so that people can understand and practice God's truths, and those who now warn the world of the coming of the Son of man must observe the same principles of temperance that John practiced lest the message be hindered.
The Millerite preachers shared in this Elijah work, laboring in Elijah's spirit and power with a call to repentance before the day of judgment, turning backslidden church members to God and preparing people for the judgment-hour message. The same end-time Elijah work is carried forward by messengers sent at the right time to preach God's Word, lift up Christ, and call sinners to repentance in order to prepare the way for the second coming of Jesus. They warn, plead, and pray earnestly, give faithful warnings and reprove sin even when opposition is aroused, carry the truth to new places, and labor in lowliness of spirit and humility before God, helping prepare a people to stand before God in the great day when He comes to punish the world for its iniquity.
Hearts Turned in Families
The promise is a call for parents and children to turn their hearts toward one another in restored love. It is an urgent duty to be met in a kindly, Christlike spirit in all dealings. To neglect it leaves souls in peril and brings the threatened curse upon the earth.
This turning appears as a result of the final warning of Christ's soon coming and the spiritual awakening it brings. Then pride and reserve are swept away, family barriers are broken down, heartfelt confessions are made, earthly affections are fixed on heaven, and household members labor and pray for the salvation of relatives and neighbors nearest and dearest. They intercede earnestly and wrestle in prayer through the night for pardon of sin and for the conversion of those closest to them. That softened and subdued unity of hearts comes when sinners and church members are convicted by plain Scripture testimony under the Holy Spirit. They see their backsliding, worldliness, unbelief, pride and selfishness, repent with humiliation, make restitution for dishonesty, and find peace in Christ.
Parents preserve and strengthen this bond by avoiding impatience and harsh reproof that sever the affection that should bind hearts together. They are to treat erring children with Christlike patience, tenderness, and longsuffering that draws them to Christ rather than driving them away. Such kindness softens hearts toward repentance, and when parents' hearts are softened by grace and love the Holy Spirit is poured out. Reconciled in this way, parents and children work together in God's work as part of preparation for the day of God.
Judgment, Apostasy, and Curse
Malachi 4 is a chapter that demands serious attention because the day of God is near and right upon us. Its closing promise stands as a warning for the final crisis, when the world has converted the church and both act together in harmony upon a short-sighted policy. That nearness gives the turning of hearts its urgency, for the great and dreadful day of the Lord is at hand.
The warning applies to a coming national apostasy in which civil power protects false religious principles and Bible truth is suppressed. Protestants will work upon the rulers of the land to make laws to restore the lost ascendancy of the man of sin who sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Roman Catholic principles will be taken under the care and protection of the state, and the protest of Bible truth will no longer be tolerated by those who have not made the law of God their rule of action. This national apostasy will speedily be followed by national ruin.
Elijah's restoring work stands together with the call to remember the law of Moses given at Horeb with statutes and judgments. He comes before the great and dreadful day to restore the hearts of parents and children to each other, so that the earth will not be struck with a curse. Christians are to act in anticipation of that great day, helping prepare a people to stand before God who comes to punish the world for its iniquity. When the law is made void, the voice from the graves of martyrs and the prayer of every true child of God will call for God to work.