Ministers of Reconciliation

If there’s been one theme to my life and ministry during the past couple months, it’s been the increase of relational and social alienation within the circles I frequent. This has always been the case, of course, but the intensity and frequency of it has ratcheted up of late.

It seems that almost every day I hear of another marriage that’s on the verge of collapse or already beyond repair. I encounter parents who are at serious odds with their children and vice versa. I talk with neighbors who are mad at other neighbors, and church members who have bitterness toward other church members.

This isn’t even to mention what we see on a macro scale, where the world seems to be becoming increasingly polarized, with an intensifying inability to truly communicate and empathize with those with whom we disagree.

As I said, this isn’t necessarily anything new. Ever since the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve turned against each other, relational breakdown has been a tragic component—perhaps the primary component—of the human experience.

But it does seem as though, for many different reasons, the deep-seated social upheaval is crescendoing—which shouldn’t be much of a surprise to us, since Jesus Himself predicted that the “love of many will grow cold” in the days immediately before His return (see Matt. 24:12).

So it seems that those of us who are persuaded of Christ’s near return shouldn’t be taken aback by the intensification of relational and social hostilities, but rather expect it. Such a recognition should not lead us to a sort of relational resignation. In fact, we should also be aware of another important prophecy that tells the other side of the eschatological coin.

Again, as Seventh-day Adventists, we are quite familiar with this other prophecy, frequently citing it as one of our primary evangelistic “calling cards.” It’s the “Elijah message” of Malachi 4, where God promises that “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” He will send “Elijah the prophet” (verse 5), which we’ve traditionally identified with our prophetic calling. Just as John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus to come the first time, calling people to repentance in anticipation of His arrival, so we have understood our collective witness to be a manifestation of that “Elijah message,” in which we call people to a work of preparation for Christ’s second coming.

But I wonder if we’ve actually paid much attention to the type of work Malachi predicted Elijah would do. Notice: “And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” Malachi explains, “and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (verse 6). That’s it! Nothing more and nothing less. Literally.

The Elijah Message

So what is the basic thrust of the last-day ministry to which we’ve been called?

Relational reconciliation. Social healing. The turning of hearts toward one another. The restoration of families and friendships and communities.

I wonder if we’ve actually paid much attention to the type of work Malachi predicted Elijah would do.

Simply put, our primary task isn’t to disseminate information for information’s sake. We aren’t trying to merely convince people of the seventh-day-ness of the Sabbath, or that Jesus is going to return soon—or any other number of our “peculiar” beliefs, as important as those are.

What God is trying to accomplish, I believe, is a reversal of that initial relational breakdown that came to characterize humanity ever since the Garden of Eden. His grand project is the restoration of Eden so that where there was once social hostility, there is now peace; where there was once bitterness and resentment, there is now forgiveness and empathy.

I wonder, though, if we’ve adequately recognized the degree to which this is our prophetic task. It seems that for far too long we’ve thought our mission is to simply preach, proclaim, and get people to accept “the truth.” We are, in some ways, like a history tutor who’s trying to get her students to learn the proper facts about history, so that when they are tested on that information, they can pass the test.

To be clear: the information is important. It serves as a critical element of the process. We do want people to learn the truth about the Sabbath, the state of the dead, and any other “present truth” teachings we feel called to promote.

But ultimately that information is just one piece of the relational puzzle, ever keeping an eye toward the grand goal of the restoration of alienated relationships—first with God and then with our fellow men and women.

The Ultimate Goal

It reminds me of a conversation I had with a neighbor recently, when we invited him and his wife over to our house for dinner, along with a couple of other neighbors. When he discovered that the other neighbors were also coming, he got a serious look on his face and soberly said, “I don’t think that’s going to work. We’ve had a rift with them for the past year.”

It underscored in my mind this truth—that ultimately we’re trying to restore relationships and bring social reconciliation. Indeed, inviting people into a life of patient and compassionate love is as much a “testing truth” as anything else.

What good does it do, after all, if we convince people to keep the Sabbath, but they never move beyond their hatred for their neighbors?

Granted, I don’t know that the whole world will experience social reconciliation before Christ’s return. But I think the church—the people of God—are at the very least to experience an increase in relational harmony, serving as “signposts” that point toward what God’s coming fully-realized kingdom will be like.

It’s no wonder, then, that as Ellen White reflected on the eschatological work of God’s grace, she shared a hopeful vision. “The grace of Christ must mold the entire being,” she explained, “and its triumph will not be complete until the heavenly universe shall witness habitual tenderness of feeling, Christlike love, and holy deeds in the deportment of the children of God.”[*]

Let us therefore get on with proclaiming and living out the “Elijah message,” pursuing the important “ministry of reconciliation,” to borrow Paul’s phrase (see 2 Cor. 5:18), where we live as agents of relational restoration and healing. There is no greater and more important mission to be a part of!

[*] Ellen G. White, God’s Amazing Grace (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1973), p. 235.