Malachi 4:6’s Shocking Warning About Fatherlessness and a Cursed Earth
In the absence of God turning the hearts of fathers and children, Malachi declared that the earth would be consumed with a curse.
It is impossible to exaggerate the horrific impact that spiritual fatherlessness has had upon the Church. We’ve understood its devastating impact within our homes but have minimized its impact on the Church family. In my generation, with very few exceptions, we experienced spiritual abandonment from the generation before us. They turned their hearts away from us, just when we needed our spiritual fathers and mothers the most.
Jesus warned us about a declining pathway of desolation that will bring destruction. “And knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Any kingdom that is divided against itself is being brought to desolation [decline] and laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will last or continue to stand” (Matthew 12:25 AMPC).
Jesus’ words are a spiritual dynamic directly connected to the generations living undivided. Jesus said in the absence of generational unity, any kingdom will decline, be laid waste to and fail to stand. The word any, includes the Kingdom of God! The opposite of desolation or decline is acceleration!
Only God can turn our hearts.
Only God can accelerate His Kingdom!
Only a God-breathed movement can lead us beyond simply tolerating one another. This is about becoming one. This is about experiencing the love of God across the generations that empowers all of us to do what love always does.
My friend, Doug Jones, describes God’s love as, “Always doing what is in the best interest of the other.” What a perfect picture of the God-kind of love. What a powerful image of a thriving marriage. Marriages in tolerance mode are in survival mode, declining to their end. Generations that are in tolerance mode are in desolation mode, declining to their end and should brace themselves for the stinging pain and sorrow of divorce!
Throughout the pages of this book, I endeavor to provide you with an understanding of what God is saying by His Word and by His Spirit, so you can yield to Him and hear His voice for yourself. God does not have “special children.” As I noted in the Preface, there are no “great men and women” in the Kingdom of God—only our great God who loves us and redeems us. He wants to use and multiply our lives in ways that will exceed our wildest hopes and dreams. However, this will only materialize if we walk with Him and obey His voice.
I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
God reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, showing that He works across generations. God literally defines Himself as the God of three generations at one time. The significance of this cannot be overstated. His covenant is not limited to one man but flows through multiple generations working together. This is His pattern for accomplishing His purposes.
Abraham laid the foundation of faith, obeying God step by step even when the destination was unclear. Hebrews 11:8 (NIV) says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going,” laying a foundation for his family and all generations to come.
Isaac inherited this generational foundation and built upon it, and Jacob, the youngest generation, expanded it even further.
We often think that Abraham had already died by the time Jacob came along, but they lived and worked together, representing the unity God desires across generations.
So, it’s very significant to realize He identifies Himself as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, emphasizing His faithfulness and covenantal relationship across generations. Let’s look at just a few of those moments from Scripture.
Old Testament Highlights
God appears to Moses. God reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush, reaffirming His covenant with Israel’s patriarchs, saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6 NIV).
God’s eternal name. God reinforces His identity as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to Moses, saying, “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation” (Exodus 3:15 NIV).
God speaks to Jacob. God continues His covenant promise through Jacob in a dream:“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying” (Genesis 28:13 NIV).
Elijah calls on God. Elijah invokes the God of the patriarchs during his confrontation with the prophets of Baal: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel…” (1 Kings 18:36 NIV).
God’s faithfulness to Israel. God’s enduring faithfulness to Israel stems from His covenant with the patriarchs. “The Lord was gracious to them…because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (2 Kings 13:23 NIV).
New Testament Highlights
Jesus affirms the resurrection. Jesus cites God’s covenant as proof of eternal life, saying, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:32 NIV).
The God of the Living. Jesus reaffirms God’s covenant with the living: “Have you not read…how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?” (Mark 12:26 NIV).
Resurrection and covenant. Jesus connects the resurrection to God’s ongoing covenant, saying, “…for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’” (Luke 20:37 NIV).
Peter connects Jesus to the covenant. Peter highlights Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises: “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…has glorified His servant Jesus” (Acts 3:13 NIV).
Stephen’s defense. Stephen references God’s historical covenant during his defense before the Sanhedrin: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Acts 7:32 NIV).
God works generationally, and His design is clear—three generations working together in harmony.
The Pioneers of Faith
Abraham carried the responsibility of laying the foundation through his obedience for this generational covenant. Abraham didn’t see the full picture—he didn’t witness the countless descendants or the global reach of God’s promise—but his faithfulness created a legacy that Isaac and Jacob inherited and expanded. In fact, God says He chose Abraham because he would have a multigenerational heart.
In Genesis 18:19 (KJV), God says of Abraham, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” Notice that the ongoing fulfillment of the promise of God depended on Abraham’s intentionality to live and think generationally.
Abraham, a father to Isaac and grandfather to Jacob, became a spiritual father to generations. Romans 4:16 calls him the father of all who believe—his faith extends beyond his place in time and becomes a template for how we relate to God today. His willingness to trust and obey shaped a legacy of faith that reaches us even now. God told Abraham, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:18 NKJV). Our very salvation and God’s great plan of redemption are connected to God’s generational plan and Abraham’s obedience concerning it.
