What should we prepare for our children?

“With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.  Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered.  When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.  Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time” (Daniel 11: 32-35).

We must prepare the things we must prepare in advance (Prov. 24:27).  For example, a single man and a woman who are about to marry must be prepared for their financial needs.  And if they want to build a house, they have to first sit down and figure out how much it will cost to build the house (Lk. 14:28-30).  If they start construction in a situation where they are not economically prepared, they definitely will not be able to finish building the house even if they lay the foundation because they lack money.  What would people say when they see the house that were not able to complete the construction but only lay its’ foundation? (Lk. 14:28-30)  It is important not only to believe that God will supply our financial needs, but also to make financial preparation which is our human responsibility.  In particular, the single man and woman must prepare to consider how much it will cost them to follow Jesus as His disciples.  In other words, they must be prepared to sacrifice their lives in the pursuit of the Lord [Note: Luke 14 - Preparation of the cost budget in building the Jesus' tower (vv. 28-30) and Preparation of strengthening the king’s army (vv. 31-32)].  Moreover, they must prepare their devotions toward each other in the Lord.  We, as parents, should have financial preparation for our children’s marriage (although it would be better if they could get married without our financial help), but we should teach them how to manage their finances.  We also need to teach our children discipleship of Jesus by word and life.  In particular, we must demonstrate a life of denying ourselves and a life of bearing our own cross and following Jesus.

                The background of Daniel 11:32-35 prophesies the future tribulation to the people of God.  Based on this passage, I would like to receive three lessons on what to prepare our children for the future tribulation as their parents, who are preparing for the Lord's return.

First, we must help our children to grow up in the knowledge of God.

Look at Daniel 11:32 – “"By smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.”  When I meditated on this word, I remembered the book called “Knowing God” written by James Packer.  Until I read that book, I, as a believer born in the Presbyterian Church in Korea, focused on the Bible commands of ‘Do’ and ‘Don’t’.  As I was doing so, I disobeyed the commandments by doing what I wasn’t supposed to and by not doing what I was supposed to do.  So I lived with guilty feeling in my conscience.  Then, the more I committed sin, that guilty conscience was slowly gone, and I lived a life of sinning against God without considering sin as sin.  Then, after reading the book “Knowing God”, I began to live a life of faith by focusing on who God is rather than on ‘Do’ and ‘Don’t’ commandments in the Bible and reluctant to live church life.  As I was living my life of faith like that, my first baby was very sick.  When I found out my baby was very sick, the indwelling Holy Spirit enabled me to ask the question “Who is my God?” rather than focusing on ‘Why this happened to my wife and I?’, ‘How did our baby get very sick?’ and ‘What is God’s will?’  And in the midst of that crisis, the Holy Spirit enables us to deeply, widely and greatly experience God's wonderful and marvelous love of salvation.  As a result, whenever I face any difficulties in my life, especially when I see our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ going through very difficult time in their lives, the Spirit enables me to confess who my God is and to pray, to expect and to wait upon the God’s sovereign to be fulfilled and manifest His glorious in their lives.  In this way God has worked in my life and has built up my faith up by giving me the knowledge of God, and I believe that He will continue to do so not only now but also in the future as well.  My responsibility is to know who God is that is revealed in the Scripture by meditating on the Word of God day and night for a lifetime.  As I grow up in the knowledge of God, the Lord will surely build me up on the Rock Jesus Christ and make me strong, bold and courageous.  In doing so, the Lord will cause me not to fear and not be overwhelmed and be shaken by any great enemies.  The more I realize this fact and the more I experience this in my life, the more I want to tell my God to my three children.  In particular, I want to devote myself in instructing and training my children to see God with the eyes of faith rather than by looking at the situation with the eyes of the flesh.  The reason I want to do that is because I want my children to stand firm in their faith and not be shaken in any future difficulties, tribulation and persecution.  For sure, "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land" in the future (Hos. 4:1).  More and more, we, God’s people, will reject knowledge of God (v. 6).  The more we increase, the more we will sin against God (v. 7).  In this last days, we should instill knowledge of God in our children so that they won’t leave the faith and the Church, defiling themselves and the church, and not setting up “the abomination of desolation” (Dan. 11:31).  In order to do so, we, as parents, must let our children to know more and acknowledge God (Hos. 6:3).

Second, we must nurture our children as those who have insight.

Look at Daniel 11:33 – “Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; yet they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days.”  As I was meditating this word, I thought my Korean name again “Jee Woun Kim”.  The name “Jee Woun” means ‘be the first in wisdom’.  When I was born, I think my father gave this name to me with this word of God Daniel 12:3 in his mind: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”  When I think of this Word and my name, I pray that by God’s grace I will be able to live my life as a wise man until I meet the Lord.  Especially in this evil last generation where there are countless fools who say in their hearts ‘There is no God’, I want to live wisely as God gives me the wisdom from above.  I want to live wisely and be wise like snakes (Mt. 10:16).  I want to discern and judge all the logic of things with careful discernment, and cautiously deal with the troubles that will come to me in the future.  Especially, there will be more false pastors who come to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves (Mt. 7:15, 10:16), I want to be wise as snakes so that I may be able to discern the false gospel and reject it and I may be able to preach and teach only the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Not only that, I want to teach my children the Word of God so that they may be able to judge everything on the basis of the Scripture.  That’s why I am still praying that the Lord gives wisdom to my three children.  I pray that God will give them wisdom so that they will not only live with spiritual discernment, but will also act wisely like snakes so that they may overcome any crisis and tribulation they may face in the future.

Third and last, we must ask God to refine and purify our children.

Look at Daniel 11:35 – “Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.”  When I think about the word ‘refined’, it reminds me Job 23:10 – “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”  God is the God who tests our hearts (Prov. 17:3).  He tests us in the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10).  God tests us and refines us through the sufferings that we go through.  Through sufferings, God refines us to be like pure gold.  In particular, God thoroughly purge away our dross and remove all our impurities (Isa. 1:25) through the furnace of affliction in order to make our faith like pure gold.  God refines and purifies us through suffering (Dan. 11:35).  God is the God who purifies us, the covenant people of God.  God is the God who removes all the abominations of our church.  Thus, God keeps the purity of the church.  Therefore, we must not be afraid of suffering.  Rather, we must expect and experience the work of God, who refines and purifies us through suffering.  In doing so, we must yield to our God who refines and purifies our children through suffering.  By believing that our Heavenly Father knows our children the best and loves them the most, we must yield to God when He refines and purifies our children through affliction and suffering.

In Matthew 24:44, Jesus says to us, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”  We must all be ready for Jesus' return.  The reason is because Jesus will surely come back.  We must also prepare for the great tribulation before Jesus' return (v. 21).  Not only ourselves, we must also prepare our children as well.  In order to do so, we must nurture our children to grow in the knowledge of God.  And we must nurture them as wise children of God.  We must let our children to be tested, refined and purified even through affliction and suffering.  Therefore, we pray that our children will not be shaken in the coming tribulations (1 Thess. 3:3) but rather cry out to God (Ps. 50:15, 120:1) and be purified more and more through tribulations.