Human Relationships

by T.W. Fullerton, Melbourne | Category: General | Jun 1975

The proper relationship of parents and children is given priority in the divine arrangement of things. The preservation of such a relationship is fundamental to the well-being of any State. It applies to the people of God today as it did to Israel. We see something of the character of father and son relationship in the case of Abraham and Isaac as they went together to the place of sacrifice. We find it also in the mutual affection between Jacob and his son Joseph, and the due and proper respect in which the latter held his aged father.

The law, written on two tables of stone by the finger of God, was given to Israel through Moses. On the first table were outlined the requirements of God's people towards Himself. On the second table were inscribed the standards of behaviour between human beings which were required among His people. First came the divine command, "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long ,upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee" (Exod. 20:12) This is frequently emphasized in the history of the people of Israel. Likewise responsibility was placed upon parents to instruct their children in the words of the Lord "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (Deut. 6: 6,7).

Emphasis was also laid on the need for chastisement, not in anger, but as a means of correction and instruction when there was deviation from the standard of behaviour which the child had been taught. Solomon spoke wisely of such necessary correction, "A child left to himself causeth shame" (Prov. 29:15) and, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes" (13:24), and again, "Withhold not correction from the child:

for if thou beat him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol" (23:13,14). Combined with any chastisement should be faithful and kindly instruction in the ways of righteousness.

An outstanding childhood memory of the writer was a book in his home containing an illustration by Mr C.H. Spurgeon, "You can train the sapling; but not the tree". In the illustration a man had planted a sapling, and alongside was a strong straight stake driven into the ground to which the man was tying the sapling with strong string. Another man had driven a stake into the ground alongside an old gnarled and crooked tree, likewise tying the two together. The lesson was obvious and has never been forgotten.

Under the New Covenant the principle is the same. In Ephesians 6:

1-4 we find instruction both for children and parents who are viewed as "in the Lord". Children are reminded of the commandment to which we have referred, and of the attendant promise. Then fathers are instructed not to provoke their children to wrath by unnecessary harshness, but to nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord. Children are to be instructed and trained with firmness and to be frequently reminded of the paths of righteousness from which there is the natural tendency to depart.

Two characteristics of the last days described by the apostle Paul are "disobedience to parents", and, "without natural affection" (2 Tim. 3:

2,3). None can deny the evidence of such lawlessness on every hand today. The irresponsibility of parents towards the children God has given them, with corresponding disregard for parents by the children, has developed to such a degree that divine retribution must inevitably result. Such conditions will be in even greater evidence in tribulation days. The words of the Lord recorded in Mark 13:12, confirm this.

The closing verses of the Old Testament (Mal. 4:4-6) are a terrible indictment of this particular aspect of departure from divine standards in human relationships. The sending of Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord, is evidently a reference to the ministry of the two witnesses of Revelation 11. Although the identity of one of these is obscure, it is generally believed that one is Elijah. In the light of the last verse of Malachi 4, we conclude that deterioration in human relationships will have a prominent place in the ministry of the two witnesses, "And he (Elijah) 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". This, we believe, is one solemn aspect of the message proclaimed to the remnant of Israel who remain in those closing days.

Let us as the people of God seek grace to preserve a high standard of human relationships.

T.W. Fullerton, Melbourne | Jun 1975
General