EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!
MONDAY JULY 13, 2026.
SUBJECT: INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS
Memory verse: "You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me." (Deuteronomy 5 vs 9.)
READ: Exodus 20 vs 3 - 7:
20:3: You shall have no other gods before Me.
20:4: You shall not make for yourself a graven image—any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
20:5: You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me;
20:6: But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me, and keep My commandments.
20:7: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
INTIMATION:
Iniquity denotes sin; implying perversion of heart and wickedness of purpose. The iniquity of the fathers implies the sin of the fathers God holds against them that didn’t repent of such sin. Consequently, God places a curse on them which affects their children, and children’s children, up to the third and fourth generations. And that is called “generational curse.”
These curses include and are not limited to various sexual sins, early deaths, alcoholism, drug abuse, broken homes, madness, poverty, failure, sluggishness, to mention but a few. Curses are pronounced of condemnation or judgement by God against sins or iniquities. Such curses on the fathers, when visited on their children, and children’s children becomes a generational curse, affecting up to the third and fourth generation.
Cases and mentions of generational curses exist in the Bible. But the most significant sin that attracted generational curse, according to the Scriptures, is the sin of having other gods before our Almighty God. It’s very important to note it is not only idols that constitute other gods, but any other thing that takes first place in your life outside God is an idol in your life, and another god to you. Instead of serving the only True God, you eventually serve other gods preferred by you. In my considered opinion, that is the greatest sin deserving of God’s condemnation or judgement, and attracts His curse upon your life. Follow after righteousness, obey God’s commands and be favored by Him.
Now, does God visit the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation? Some passages in the Scriptures say he does (see Exodus 20 vs 5; 34 vs 6 - 7; Deuteronomy 5 vs 9; Leviticus 26 vs 39). Some others say he doesn’t (see Deuteronomy 24 vs 16; Second Kings 14 vs 6; Ezekiel 18 vs 20, Jeremiah 31 vs 30).
However, the sins of the fathers are visited on the children through becoming the sins of the children. The Scripture says, “I the Lord...visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20 vs 5; Numbers 14 vs 18) The generations to come who experience the penalty of the fathers’ sins are those who hate God.
We are not told how the fathers’ sins become the children’s sins. But what we are told is that when the father’s sins are visited on the children it is because the children are really sinful; they hate God. That is the form in which the fathers’ sins are visited on them. Therefore, all judgment is really deserved by the person who is punished.
Therefore, the conclusion is that the visitation of the fathers' sins on the children is not a simple punishment of innocent children for what the fathers did. The children themselves are always thought of as sinful and rebellious as the fathers' sin is worked out in their lives.
However, there are two kinds of effects of fathers' sins in the lives of children: one is rebellion against God, and the other is the calamities of judgment that God brings on the children. We are not told how this rebellious condition is passed to or "visited on" the children. God has the right to punish fathers in the calamities that come upon their children, as the Scriptures note in Jeremiah 16 vs 10 - 11; "...Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we committed against the Lord our God?"... "Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the Lord; they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My Law.”
But He chooses to do this in a way that justly correlates with the children's own guilt; “And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me” (Jeremiah 16 vs 12.)
However, none of this should make anyone feel trapped and without hope because of his parents' sins. For the Scriptures in Ezekiel 33 vs 14 - 15 say, "When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die." The blood of Jesus conquers all sin and judgment for those who believe.
The Scriptures, In Ezekiel 18 vs 19 - 20, the Lord says, “Yes you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the Father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” No one who has a child who goes bad and forsakes the way of righteousness, should feel that it is all his fault.
Prayer: Abba Father, let the sins of my fathers not be visited upon me because I have followed after righteousness, and I am obeying Your commandments, and confessed Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior in believe of all Jesus wrought for us on the cross, that the blessings of Abraham are mine, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.
PRAISE THE LORD!
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