Malachi was written to address God’s people’s spiritual complacency, a highly relevant topic for our generation. M46 takes the words of the prophet Malachi seriously. With fatherlessness (the social crisis of our day) at an all-time historic high, we can take comfort knowing God’s message through Malachi is one of hope for our generation.

See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction. Malachi 4:5-6

There is a day coming when God will judge the arrogant and the evildoers to the point that “not a root or a branch will be left to them (Malachi 4:1-2). However, those who honor God’s name will experience His healing and provision, But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Malachi 4:3-4.

I promise that I will never leave you helpless or abandon you as orphans—I will come back to you!  John 15:18, TPT

In John 15:18, Jesus speaks of the spirit of adoption, the promise of the Holy Spirit to all those who receive Him becoming children of God. The Holy Spirit allows us to see God rightly as our loving heavenly Father. God’s kingdom is about family. God desires to redeem the relationship between fathers and children, beginning with redeeming our relationship with Him through Jesus. God created us to experience His love so we can then share it with the world. When we align with His Word and His ways, we will reap the blessing of restored family relationships before the day of the Lord comes.

Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-19: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

When Jesus reads these words from the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth, He left the congregation speechless. Why? Because the people there knew what Isaiah said in chapter 61. They also knew that as Jesus read, He stopped short and didn’t even finish the sentence. He ended His reading with, “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He sat down and said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” What was the part He left out? “…and the day of vengeance of our God.”

Had Jesus read that last part of the sentence, He would not have been able to say that this scripture was fulfilled. In this one passage, Isaiah prophesies both the first and second coming of Jesus. In His first coming, Jesus came as the Lamb of God, the suffering servant, the One to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. For those who mourn, He gives joy. For those who have suffered great loss, He offers comfort. For those who are sick, He brings healing. For those who are bound, He brings freedom. In His second coming, Jesus will not come as a lamb, but as the mighty roaring Lion of Judah, our conquering King, the one who will restore and make all things new, as it should be, bringing ultimate shalom.

Isaiah 61 is the mantle of Christ, the expression of the life we are meant to live with Jesus moving in us, with us and through us into the earth. This is our mission as His restored image bearers, moving in His love and His words, as His hands and feet on the earth. This is our mission, to restore the earth to the image of Eden (a place of pleasure and delight, God’s love gift to humanity and the blueprint for the earth), living in the fullness of life with God, co-ruling and co-reigning in His power and authority. With God, we are to all restore all things back to their original intent, bringing heaven to earth.

Our God is an all-consuming fire. Those who commit to Him fully will experience newness of life, deep inner healing, relational healing, restored hope, and a burning passion for Him. Bryn and I are testaments to the truth of these words.

At M46, our mission is rooted in the love of God and a dedication to usher in the transformative power of the Holy Spirit to set the captives free, heal the brokenhearted, and plant seeds of joy and hope, turning the hearts of parents to their children, and children to their parents. God’s Kingdom is in the hearts of His people. His Kingdom is family. Transformed hearts. Transformed family. Restoration of all!