In his address to Zechariah, the angel
of the Lord quoted the prophet Malachi,
repeating the very last words of the Old
Testament:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the great and awesome day of the
LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts
of fathers to their children and the hearts
of children to their fathers, lest I come
and strike the land with a decree of utter
destruction.” (Malachi 4:5-6)
Four hundred years after Malachi penned
these words, God sent John the Baptist
to announce the ministry of Jesus in the
spirit and power of Elijah, thus fulfilling
Malachi’s word. John declared, “Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus came
16 • Solutions
to restore our relationship with God and
restore the relationships of all God’s
children one to another. It is the power
of the cross that turns the hearts of the
fathers to their children and the hearts of
the children to their parents.
The transformation that comes when
God changes a person’s life affects their
relationships. Consider Paul’s words to
the Corinthians: “For the love of Christ
controls us, because we have concluded
this: that one has died for all, therefore
all have died; and he died for all, that
those who live might no longer live for
themselves but for him who for their sake
died and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:14-
15). Through the cross, God forgives us
and restores our relationship with him.
As a result, believers are motivated to