Kids in the End Times - Kids in Ministry International

Do you believe kids will play a role of any kind in the end times, or right before Jesus comes again?  Does the Bible have anything to say about it one way or the other? Well, I’ll let you make up your own mind as I share four familiar scripture passages with hidden prophetic meanings on this subject.

Prophetic Meaning of Raising of Jairus’ Daughter

The Bible is full of hidden prophetic gems about children, and the story of Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead has been told so often, that we’ve missed the prophetic significance of what was going on there.

So, scripture # 1 with a hidden prophetic meaning. As a quick recap, we know that Jairus’ daughter had been sick, and her dad went to get Jesus to pray for her. But before they arrived, she died. But when Jesus got there, He said, “She’s not dead, she’s only sleeping.” Everybody laughed hysterically thinking he was a nut. They knew what a dead body looked like! Who was He trying to kid?

But He shooed the mockers out of the house and took the parents and a handful of his disciples into the room where the child was lying. He took her by the hand and said, “Little girl rise up!” And immediately she got up and began walking around.

Great story, right? We love happy endings! But look deeper! This is actually a picture of the church today and their attitudes towards the spiritual potential of children. In the eyes of many, our children are spiritually dead, spiritually non-functioning, they are often just put on the shelf till they get older before they are perceived to have any real spiritual value or contribution to the church.

But Jesus is saying, these children are not dead, they are just spiritually asleep. And all they need is for somebody to take them by the hand and bring them to life in the Spirit! We see this time after time in every nation on earth. When parents, church leaders, and children’s ministers take them seriously and begin to train them, get them saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, and teach them how to hear God’s voice, and heal the sick in Jesus’ name and so much more, they begin to rise up and walk in the power and authority that God gives to all believers. They do not have to wait till they grow up. God wants to use them.

Prophecy about Children in the Last Days

Here’s scripture #2 of what the Bible says about kids in the last days.

You know this scripture by heart! You’ve heard it a thousand times. Malachi 4:6, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I and strike the land with a curse.”

If there was ever a day we needed a prophetic word like this to hang on to, this one about fathers serves to give us hope for today. Fatherlessness has been a growing issue in the recent generations. Whether it’s a father who’s physically absent, or one who is emotionally distant or hurtful, the lack of a father has left a noticeable mark on our society.

The US has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households, and the vast majority of them are homes with no father. The UK is next in line, then Russia, Kenya, Brazil, and Uganda. It’s a worldwide issue.  In the us over half of native American families are single parent homes, 65% of African American families are, 40% of Hispanic and Latino families have only one parent, and 40% of mixed races have absentee fathers.

I could spend an hour just reading off documented data of the devasting effects of fatherlessness on children, and ultimately the culture. But that’s not our purpose right now. The thing to be pointed out is that God sees this, and it matters to Him, and in the last days He has promised to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.

Now check this out. Some recent studies say that as many as ninety percent of millennial and generation X dads say that parenting is their greatest joy. At no other time in history have dads been as passionate about and committed to the rearing of their young children as they are right now. But this is apparently in families where the dad is present and active. But that’s still a good sign! So, is this part of a prophetic sign of Malachi 4:6 coming to pass?  If it is, it’s on a small scale, but we need many more of them, if the previous statistics I quoted are true.

I Will Pour Out My Spirit

Scripture #3 – you know this one as well! And most of us love to quote it. Joel 2:28 (and repeated in Acts 2:17): “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.” My entire life I grew up hearing this verse and I knew that when the day came that I heard children prophesying, that Jesus had one foot in the door.

I can show you historical documentation that Christian children have actually been prophesying since the first century, but we’ve only begun learning about it in the past few years, because no one was really paying attention. However, today it is increasingly normal. I’ve had reports of hundreds of children in our ministry all across the world that have received very accurate words of knowledge, words of wisdom and prophetic words over the years, and so have many other ministries similar to ours! It’s happening in increasing numbers.  So, if this is a sign of end times, then are we getting close to the second coming of Jesus!

A Donkey’s Colt

Scripture #4 is the familiar story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on an untamed donkey colt. But wait till I tell you the prophetic implications of this that you probably have never heard before! You will remember that as Jesus and his disciples were preparing for Passover, He told his disciples to go look for a colt on whom no man had ever ridden. He gave a word of knowledge that someone would challenge them “What are you doing with the colt?” They were to answer, “The master has need of them.”

When the disciples brought the colt to Jesus, they threw their coats on the back of the colt. And Jesus got on it and road it through Jerusalem.

Let’s analyze this. I grew up in an area where there were lots of horses, mostly used on ranches to herd cattle. What little I know about horses is that if you take them to a livestock ring to be sold, the most valuable horses are those who are trained for livestock, or rodeos, or have a valuable pedigree and are old enough to be broken and ridden. But, in general, if you have an average colt, or pony just weaned, unless it has a super impressive pedigree, it has little marketable value.

Jesus was saying bring me a colt that has no value in the eyes of the world. One that nobody else wants and bring that one to me. Because the master has need of them! We can say that the little colt symbolized the children of today.

Jesus was showing us that what the world sees as having little to no value, Jesus sees as highly valuable. He is still saying today, “I need the kids in my end times army! They are important to the plan of God!”

When the disciples began to throw their coats, or their mantels on the back of that untrained, unbroken, un-ride-able colt, it was symbolic of them throwing their mantels of the apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, teaching, and pastoral anointings on the children. They were saying, we see your potential, and we are willing to invest our gifts and anointings in you to see to it you fulfil your destiny. We’ll cover you!

By this action Jesus fulfilled a prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion…behold, your king is coming to you; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, even upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Jesus is said to have ridden that colt into Jerusalem through the Eastern Gate. And according to Jewish tradition they believe that when their Anointed One, or their Messiah returns it will again be through the Eastern Gate. So, this was a prophetic picture, not only of Zechariah’s prophecy, but also, about when Jesus, the Messiah, will come back again to rule and reign.

Therefore, we can look at this again and see that if we compare children to that colt, they will play a strategic part in the last days and the second coming of Christ.

Let’s take our children seriously in the kingdom of God.