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Turn back the heart of the fathers toward the children

by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf

"And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17 NIV).

We have often thought that this passage only had it's fulfilment in the natural realm, but the natural is often the reflection of the spiritual. I suggest to you that we explore this spiritual perspective.

We can see that in the spiritual realm there are hardly any true fathers. The leaders exercise their ministry selfishly and do not lead their spiritual children to become true sons. Those who ought to be true fathers abuse the children with their authority leading them to “rebellion”.

The grace of God comes with power

John the Baptist came as a forerunner to prepare the first coming of Jesus. Other 'John the Baptists' have appeared with the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the second coming of Jesus.

Let's consider the times of Elijah… the people had been abused by the false prophets of Baal, and the true prophets dare not show themselves openly. Elijah, then, had to confront the false prophets to turn back the hearts of the children of Israel to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

… And what of John the Baptist? the people were abused by the religious leaders who “put heavy loads on them” (Matthew 23:4), and “spoke but did not practice what they proclaimed!” (Matthew 23:3). John the Baptist had to confront the religious leaders (“voice of vipers” Matthew 3:7) who turned the heart of the children of Israel towards themselves and false ways (“Why do you brake the commandments of God for the sake of your tradition?” Matthew 15:3). With the spirit and power of Elijah, John the Baptist led about a million people to repent of their sins and to change their lives and turn their heart back to God.

… And today, the people of God are abused by leaders who lead the sheep for whom they are responsible to serve them (pyramid system) and to serve their denomination. These are the same leaders who say that the current generation of God’s children are “rebelling” against their authority. But the “John the Baptists to come” will walk in the truth with the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn back a large number of “rebels” towards the true fathers and the Lord.

The bad shepherds

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?” (Ezekiel 34:2 NIV)

In general, we all agree that the prophetic words of the Old Testament are also accomplished in the New Testament and they are even repeated several times. This happened in the first coming of Jesus and in the 15th century before the Reformation, but it will also be necessary for the second coming of Jesus.

After Ezekiel 34, we see three periods outlined, the announcing of the true Shepherd (Ezekiel 34), the re-establishment of Israel (Ezekiel 36) and the resurrection of the dry bones (Ezekiel 37).

So where are we today? the true shepherds having the heart of the Good Shepherd are going to be revealed, the Church is going to be restored before its removal and the Holy Spirit is going to show himself with power throughout the earth.

And the order of these events is important!

The true fathers

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20 NIV)

This father had already given his son his part of the inheritance that was due to him, as was the custom at that time – the son did not have to wait for the death or approaching death of his father to claim his inheritance.

The father allowed his son to freely manage his inheritance as he wished, he also acted towards him with true, unconditional love without any pressure or any control. It is this same love which caused the father to watch out for the return of his son in order to show him all his compassion and forgiveness. A true father, he knew how to welcome his “rebellious” son and give him back his dignity.

Because there will be, in the Body of Christ, true fathers capable of giving back dignity (a sound identity) to the lost sons (“rebels”), there will be this turning of sons towards the earthly fathers and towards the Heavenly Father.

God's field is full of sons who have left “churches” and who are unjustly considered “rebels” whereas in reality they are looking for true authority because they need a model of a fair-minded father. These “rebels” have preferred to go into new fields as willows near the streams of water (Isaiah 44:4), waiting for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on dry land (Isaiah 44:3). But these “rebels” have not stopped their relationship with God, they always declare the name of Jesus and speak with love the name of Israel (Isaiah 44:5).

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

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