Beyond The Sins of the Fathers
Background
Seen in the natural, after the coming “Perth revival” there will be a great falling away (cf. https://churchmodel.org.uk/revival/welsh-revival-1904-5/). The purpose of this teaching is to prevent this. This is one of the few occasions where I have prayerfully decided to radically alter the emphasis of a teaching, from the old covenant stipulation, “he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”” (Ex 20:5; 34:7), to the new covenant promise, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ”. (Eph 1:3) Following the Impact World Tour (YWAM) here in Perth, and the visionary exercises it prompted (e.g. https://cross-connect.net.au/explosion-or-implosion-the-future-of-the-coming-youth-revival/; https://cross-connect.net.au/the-coming-youth-revival/) I have long been prophesying a coming “global youth revival”. Many are now seeing this emerge in the gen z move (https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revival). I was not however prepared for the intensity I would encounter on the evening of the 15th of October in Cockburn W.A. The hosting was excellent, the young leaders present were passionate, spontaneous, optimistic about what they saw God doing and wonderfully evangelistic. I soon, un-trangely, discerned a deeper current than others seemed to sense. Whilst all are committed to “The Fellowship of the Unashamed” (https://www.mbcmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/The-Fellowship-of-the-Unashamed.pdf) , sincerely hungry to know the Lord Jesus, Christ warns of a deeper dimension of danger: “ But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matt 10:33)
Testimony and Jesus
Christ gave us test of the authenticity of Christian confession: ““ a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:44-45) Therefore Jesus responds to Peter’s heart terstimony, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. ” (Matt 16:16-17) Christ himself testifies: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” (John 14:6) Those who respond to evangelistic appeals and later fall away clearly were not drawn to the Son by the Father (John 6:44). Every mature testimony to Jesus also points to the Father. Paul emphasises this: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Rom 8:14-16; cf. Gal 4:4-6). Such a witness shares in and images Christ’s deep and costly submission to the Father: “ “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”” (Mark 14:36).
Mutaul Indwelling Love
A careful examination of the Gospels reveals there are times that the Son declares the “greater-ness” of the Father. (This should not embarrass us because he is speaking not as the eternal Son but as the enfleshed Word prior to his resurrection.) “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”” (John 10:28-30) This dynamic operational unity of purpose imparts total security of salvation to all the we sheep of the Lord’s pasture (Ps 100:3). Even more powerfully, “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28 cf. Mal 1:11) Likewise, in the face of the riskiness of his mission, the Son declares, “I lay it (my life) down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:18). We might say that in raising Jesus from the dead through the Spirit the Father manifest himself as the “Saviour’s Saviour” (Rom 1:1-4; 6:9; Heb 5:7).
Where are the Fathers in God?
Paul is not embarrassed to expose the Corinthians immaturity in spiritual leadership: “I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (1 Cor 4:14-15). Failure to know the Father amongst Christian youth exposes, not their nakedness and immaturity, but that of their shepherds in Christ. Praise God, I was mentored by a man of God (Geoffrey Bingham) whose two great gospel emphases were the Fatherhood of God and unconditional forgiveness*. Despite the current scarcity of mature fathers/mothers in God, I sense that Father, Son and Spirit (2 Cor 3:16-18) will soon release many to tend the young people of our city, and beyond. As I had a powerful immersion in the Spirit that overwhelmed me with tears of love for my Father decades ago, so the coming move of the Spirit of Jesus will immerse the emerging Church in the infinite love of the Father (1 John 3:1 etc).
Groaning in God: Father, Son and Spirit
In the meantime, I discern a groaning in the one united heart of God as Father, Son and Spirit (John 11:33; Rom 8:26-27). This is a pointer that he will do whatever it takes to bring healing and wholeness to his long-traumatised Church so that there will be nothing lacking in the maturity of her testimony to Jesus, the Spirit or himself as Father.: “”The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”.” (2 Cor 13:14). This order of Father, Son and Spirit imparted at baptism (Matt 28:19) will prove itself to be worth dying for. The coming youth revival will be marked by intense passionate prayer, especially through Christ’s Spirit to Jesus’ Heavenly Father (Luke 11:1-2). Whatever may transpire in other parts of the globe the long-term endurance of the coming Perth revival depends on this expression of holiness in the Christian life (John 17:11).
Conclusion
Jesus sternly warned us, “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.” (Matt 23:9). This must be interpreted spiritually, rather than literally, for the latter is shallower and narrower than the former. Where young people fail to testify openly to the Father, beyond Jesus it is evident that they are still in the grip of following immature father-figures. Praise God that “every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven” (Matt 12:31) and the trauma of “cosmic orphanhood” has already been healed by Jesus (Col 1:20). Jesus challenges Mary, “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”” (John 20:17 cf. Mark 15:34). Such is the full power of the Gospel which must be preached and lived.
*Books to Read on God the Father
The Father Heart of God, Floyd McClung; The Forgotten Father, Thomas Smail; I love the Father, Geoffrey Bingham