The generation gap is a real thing.  Our children do not understand the world that many of us experienced. For instance, when I was a child and my family wanted to watch a Dallas Cowboy game on TV, I would go outside and turn a twenty-foot antenna in a new direction with the hope that we could get the game on one of our 4 channels.  Even this explanation will confuse the younger generation.  And in many ways, I do not understand the younger generation.  At least I’m very aware that I do not understand the slang words that teenagers use today.  It is easy to experience broken relationships due to the differences between the two generations.

While this verse appears to be about mending a relationship between parents and their children, it is so much more.  Malachi was the last of the twelve minor prophets that lived around 450 years before Jesus arrived on this earth.  His name means “my messenger.”  Malachi confronted the people of Israel for being unfaithful and corrupt.   They questioned whether God really loved them.  They even complained that God was not fair.  Due to their sin and lack of faith, there was a gap between God and His chosen people that damaged their covenant relationship. 

This last chapter in Malachi was a prophesy of restoration and destruction.  Malachi 4:6 uses the relationship between children and their parents as an illustration. It is symbolic of God’s covenant relationship between Him and His chosen people being restored.  It points toward the future hope found in Jesus Christ.  People will understand the great love that God has for them, and they will respond with love toward God through faith in Jesus Christ. Or, if they reject God’s love, they will experience God’s curse.  John 3:17-18 states that Jesus came to save the world, but those that reject Him condemn themselves.  What is the lesson from this passage?  You have a choice.  You can love God and others and live in peace, or you can deny God and experience God’s curse. How do you choose to live?

Read Malachi 4:1-6