Silas
Beloved of All
I hear the hope and excitement in your words, and I share your joy in the way God brings new life into the world. Scripture is full of moments where a child’s arrival carried great promise, and it is right to welcome that with faith. Yet as you speak of the future, let me offer a few thoughts that have been pressed on my own heart over the years.
I, too, have longed to see the gift of miracles and have cried out to God for it. I even fasted and prayed in desert places, thinking that if I could just see such power, many would believe. But the Lord gently redirected me toward a more excellent way. The signs and wonders of Elisha were real, but they did not all come with a word from a distance. When the child lay dead, the staff alone brought no voice or hearing. The prophet had to go himself, stretch his body over the child, and wait as warmth returned only gradually, until that final sneeze and opening of the eyes. God often works through patient, hidden processes, not through sudden spectacle. Even in Jesus’ ministry, only one healing is recorded as gradual, and not all were given the same gifts. The body has many members, and the Spirit distributes as He wills.
What the world most needs to hear from any prophet is not simply displays of power but the good news that salvation is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The greatest sign given to a generation is death and resurrection, the sign of Jonah. When people saw Jesus multiply loaves or heal with a touch, many believed in Him, but He did not entrust Himself to them because their faith rested on the spectacular. It was after His resurrection, when the scriptures about His suffering and glory clicked in their minds, that true faith was born. So the ultimate goal for this little one is not that devils cry out at the sight of him, but that he points to the One whose shadow heals in a far deeper way: the Son of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings.
Think of that moment when Jesus took a small child, sat him in his lap in front of the disciples, and taught that receiving such a little one is receiving Him. Our care for the children God brings among us must guard their fragile faith, not set them on a pedestal that distorts the simple trust they need. What kind of twisted mind would crush the beautiful faith of a child by tying it to a demand for constant, visible wonders? The true preparation for this prophet is the same as it was for John the son of Zechariah: to grow strong in spirit, to be filled with wisdom, and to go before the Lord to give knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins.
So receive this promise with joy, but hold the child with open hands. Like the mother who would not leave Elisha, stay close to the Lord yourself, desperate not for a ministry but for the living God. The flesh warms only when His presence comes near, and the outcomes are His to determine. Let the child’s future rest in the hands of the One whose name is Jehovah-is-salvation. And as you wait, you echo the ancient question: what kind of child will this be? The answer is already written over the manger and the empty tomb. It is the child born to bring down and raise up many, and to pierce hearts with the sword of truth. That is the measure of any prophet’s voice. May your household be filled with that word, and may the Lord bless you as you walk in it.
I, too, have longed to see the gift of miracles and have cried out to God for it. I even fasted and prayed in desert places, thinking that if I could just see such power, many would believe. But the Lord gently redirected me toward a more excellent way. The signs and wonders of Elisha were real, but they did not all come with a word from a distance. When the child lay dead, the staff alone brought no voice or hearing. The prophet had to go himself, stretch his body over the child, and wait as warmth returned only gradually, until that final sneeze and opening of the eyes. God often works through patient, hidden processes, not through sudden spectacle. Even in Jesus’ ministry, only one healing is recorded as gradual, and not all were given the same gifts. The body has many members, and the Spirit distributes as He wills.
What the world most needs to hear from any prophet is not simply displays of power but the good news that salvation is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The greatest sign given to a generation is death and resurrection, the sign of Jonah. When people saw Jesus multiply loaves or heal with a touch, many believed in Him, but He did not entrust Himself to them because their faith rested on the spectacular. It was after His resurrection, when the scriptures about His suffering and glory clicked in their minds, that true faith was born. So the ultimate goal for this little one is not that devils cry out at the sight of him, but that he points to the One whose shadow heals in a far deeper way: the Son of Righteousness rising with healing in His wings.
Think of that moment when Jesus took a small child, sat him in his lap in front of the disciples, and taught that receiving such a little one is receiving Him. Our care for the children God brings among us must guard their fragile faith, not set them on a pedestal that distorts the simple trust they need. What kind of twisted mind would crush the beautiful faith of a child by tying it to a demand for constant, visible wonders? The true preparation for this prophet is the same as it was for John the son of Zechariah: to grow strong in spirit, to be filled with wisdom, and to go before the Lord to give knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins.
So receive this promise with joy, but hold the child with open hands. Like the mother who would not leave Elisha, stay close to the Lord yourself, desperate not for a ministry but for the living God. The flesh warms only when His presence comes near, and the outcomes are His to determine. Let the child’s future rest in the hands of the One whose name is Jehovah-is-salvation. And as you wait, you echo the ancient question: what kind of child will this be? The answer is already written over the manger and the empty tomb. It is the child born to bring down and raise up many, and to pierce hearts with the sword of truth. That is the measure of any prophet’s voice. May your household be filled with that word, and may the Lord bless you as you walk in it.
