What is a Family?

Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 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.

- Malachi 4:4-6

These were the final words of the Old Testament. After this, the Canon was closed until the coming of the Messiah. Even though the Intertestamental Period produced numerous inspired texts which were generally ascribed with "deutero-canonical" status by the Early Fathers, Malachi was the last direct revelation from God.

When someone is about ready to give you his final instructions, he tries his best to summarize the most important things he wants you to know and remember. This text in Malachi was Yahweh's last word to His people, both in instruction and in warning: instruction, in the sense of directions of what they were to do to prepare for the next phase in the Divine plan; warning, in the sense of what they must do to avoid calamity when He revisits them.

In this text we find three important instructions.

First, Yahweh reminds His people of the abiding validity of the Mosaic Law. He specifically mentions the "statutes and judgments" which were given at Mt. Horeb. He is referring directly to the "Book of the Covenant" (Exodus 24:7) as it was given in Exodus 20-23. That was a separate historical event in which Yahweh Himself descended from Heaven and gave the moral law in the form of the Ten Commandments and their respective case laws. It is this law which is to be remembered and preserved "for all Israel." The ritual laws and later commandments (e.g. Deuteronomy) were inspired commentaries and applications of this first primordial revelation of Divine will. They can be modified to fit the circumstances, but the "Law of the Covenant" cannot.

Second, He tells His people that He will send the prophet Elijah to call the people back to this law, before the "coming" of the "day of the LORD." The Gospels tell us that John the Baptist was this Elijah who was to come to "prepare the way of the Lord" (Matthew 11:14; Mark 9:11; Luke 1:17; 3:4 et al) and that the subsequent Divine visitation came in the person of God's own Son: Jesus Christ.

Finally, the text tells us that the primary mission of this new Elijah was to restore the family as an institution in turning "the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers." The text ends with a warning that should this restoration of family government fail, God would be compelled to "smite the earth with a curse."

In the light of this final prophecy, it seems odd that the Church should present to us two historical figures in its fulfillment - John the Baptist and Jesus Christ - both who were, as we are told, unmarried men. Indeed, when examining the Gospel records, we find no reference to this prophecy, except in identifying John with Elijah. John preaches a "baptism unto repentance" and announces "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world" (John 1:29), but we have no proclamation of this Divine plan for the family as envisioned by Malachi.

Further incongruities confront us in the life and teachings of Jesus. In the Gospels, we find almost nothing to describe His personal life. He preaches "the gospel of the kingdom", but tells us that it will destroy families (Matthew 10:35), rather than heal them. He does display unusual affection for children, but spurns His mother and kinsmen (Matthew 12:48-50). In the final analysis, Jesus leaves the world with the condition of family life in the same state as it was before He came.

What is going on here?

We might be tempted with a number of explanations. Perhaps, Malachi's prophecy was wrong; or God changed His mind. Perhaps, John and Jesus represent a failed mission, or maybe, a change in God's priorities.

The pious mind will reject these possibilities, but we still have the troubling incongruity of an unfulfilled prophecy. How might we explain this?

The message of the angel to Zacharias confirmed this mission for John:

And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

- Luke 1:17

So it wasn't that he didn't try. Does the ministry of John the Baptist, cut short by his martyrdom, represent a failure or is there something about his message that we have overlooked?

The parting words of Jesus ought to be remembered if we want to understand what the intended effect of the Gospel was to have upon the world (Matthew 28:18-20). In the Great Commission, the disciples were commanded to teach the ways of God to the nations of the world. Christ's atonement empowered them for this task. And they were to "baptize them [the nations] in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." I have already pointed out the significance of these familial titles in my book Restoring the Foundations.

The central message of the Christian mission, then, is to adopt mankind into the family of God. Christ's covenant community is an extension of the family of heaven into the institution of the earthly family. So, immediately, we come to the realization that what Jesus did when He walked the earth was only the beginning of this restoration. In teaching the fatherhood of God to His disciples, Jesus began the process of restoring the bond between fathers and their children on Earth.

John's ministry accomplished the same thing in two important ways. First, in preaching a baptism of repentance, he called upon the people of Israel to renounce their covenant-breaking and to embrace, once again, the Law of the Covenant. As will be demonstrated later in this study, this ancient law created a family-centered social order that was built upon the enduring bond between fathers and their offspring.

Second, in introducing Jesus as both the Son of God and the baptizer of the Holy Spirit, we see John introducing the three persons of the heavenly family. In His baptism, Jesus is declared "the only begotten Son," and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him as a dove.

In other important studies, I have identified the Holy Spirit as the feminine manisfestation of the Triune Godhead. In declaring that Jesus was the great baptizer of the Holy Spirit, John has prepared us for the idea of being "born again", as Jesus elucidates in John 3. The Holy Spirit brings us to the Father, and in a symbolic way, She shows women how they too are the ministry which "turns the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to their fathers."

Churchists get all caught-up in the Gospel message of salvation, but fail to see its familial message. It is like a drowning swimmer who, after being rescued, decides to perpetually camp-out at the site of his rescue. He recounts the story and sings praises to his savior, but forgets the point of his deliverance. He forgets to live his life.

The Family of Heaven

In defining what a family is, we must look to three criteria: first, the pattern of Heaven ("Thy kingdom come"); second, the etymology of the word in the Biblical text; then third, how it is described in Biblical law.

Since we are made in the image of God, it seems logical to begin with the relationships of the heavenly hosts. In introducing Himself with familial titles, we can say that the family is first defined by the way God is.

God the Father establishes a ministry of headship.

God the Son establishes a ministry of succession.

God the Holy Spirit establishes a ministry of helps.

These three elements are necessary to the formation of a family: a ruler with heirs and helpers.

The Next Installment will continue this study.

The above represents an on-going study. Return here periodically for additions or go to our weekly Posts for publishing updates.

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