In today’s post I want to address the issue of “Generational Curses”.
For those unfamiliar with the term, it implies that if you or someone you know struggles with an addiction, domestic violence, depression, or any other unfavorable trait it is likely because someone in your family tree has also had to deal with it.
Hence the “Generational Curse”. It is passed on to each succeeding generation.
Where does this idea come from? It comes from the Old Testament. After God had instructed Moses to ascend Mount Sinai with two new stone tablets (that He would again write the Ten Commandments on), the Lord appeared to Moses in a cloud and there He proclaimed the following:
“Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting (punishing) the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.” [1]
Here we find the Lord telling Moses that He will forgive acknowledged sin and transgressions but will punish unrepentant sin and transgressions for generations. This is where the common idea comes from that a child must pay for the sins of the father.
We find this same thought farther along in the Old Testament book of Lamentations. Having endured incredible persecution after having been carried away in the Captivity, the prophet Jeremiah calls upon the Lord for mercy.
In his passionate plea he refers to God’s chosen as orphans and fatherless, and their mothers as widows. He goes on to mention how that they are required to buy their own water if they are to drink, and describes their own wood being sold to them. He says their necks are under persecution, and they have no rest from their labor. [2]
In the middle of his humble prayer Jeremiah acknowledges the sinfulness of the people.
Our fathers sinned, and are no more; It is we who have borne their iniquities. [3]
He rightly lays the blame for what has come upon them at the feet of their ancestors that sinned. These unrepentant transgressions caused God to allow them to be carried away as captives, enslaved once again by a foreign army. These ancestors are now all dead, but it is Jeremiah’s generation who must now pay this awful price for what they did.
All of this brings us to ask the question: does this same Generational Curse ‘law’ exist for Christians today? Is it possible that the reason so many Christians struggle with specific areas of their lives is because they are still under a Generational Curse?
Well, to be sure there is no shortage of Christian ministers out there that teach that Generational Curses are still applicable to the Christian today. [4]
To find the truth however, we must look to the Word of God, not popular books written by popular ministers. When it comes to the subject of generational curses, there is no more definitive response than that found in Galatians 3:13.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”).
Through His death, burial, and resurrection Jesus Christ paid every sin debt and broke every curse. He accomplished this by becoming a curse in our place. He who knew no sin or iniquity became accursed for you and me.
He abolished for all time any curse, generational or otherwise that may have been placed upon your life. Curses have no hold on your life after you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. They are no longer the stronghold that you once struggled with.
Personally, I find it nearly unbelievable that these same people who want to declare that everything we could ever need, including physical healing, was provided for in the Atonement, also teach that this same Atonement couldn’t break the power of a Generational Curse.
This is mind boggling. Either Jesus Christ broke the chains of sin and death, or he did not. There cannot be an exception or any exclusions. Did not Jesus tell us that He came that we might have life, even an abundant life? How in the world can we live this abundant life while under the bondage of some Generational Curse?
The answer of course is that we cannot! Therefore, every curse was broken at Calvary, so that you would be free indeed to live out this Incredible, abundant life that God wants you to be living.
Does this mean that our struggles are over? Of course not! As long as we live upon this earth, we will be continually tested by an adversary that does not want to turn loose of you. Be that as it may, we are FREE in Jesus Christ!
The Apostle Paul very clearly tells us that he was free, completely free from any law of sin and death. Every Christian enjoys this same liberty in Christ. “Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed”. [6]
And yes, that includes any Generational Curse.
Be blessed on this Lord’s day!
Ron
[1] Exodus 34:7
[2] Lamentations 5:1-5
[3] Lamentations 5:7
[4] See “Breaking Generational Curses” by Marilyn Hickey, “How to Break Generational Curses” by Tony Evans, “Breaking Generational Curses”, “Free at Last”, by Larry Huch
[5] Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death”.
[6] John 8:36
“I am the Lord…”
January 5, 2018
Ron Whited Daily Christian living Catastrophic, Commentary, Crisis, God, Idolatry, Imposter, Israel, Jerusalem, Matthew Henry, Old Testament, One true God, Personal, Vanity 4 Comments
“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:” Isaiah 45:5 KJV
God revealed himself to his chosen people Israel as “I am The Lord” over 160 times. Repeatedly, God felt the need to remind his people that they need not look to another god because there wasn’t any other, that He stands alone as God.
This was necessary because Israel was surrounded by nations who served any number of false gods, and as Old Testament history shows us Israel went after these gods time and time again.
Indeed, idolatry was something that Israel struggled with throughout its ancient history, eventually leading to the destruction of both Jerusalem and the entire nation of Israel.
In today’s world however, many take offense at this verse, believing that it is the height of arrogance for anyone, including God, to declare Himself as the One True God. Today we seem to want to have options for everything, including our God.
Christians are, of course, fully aware that there are those that teach that there are many paths to God, just as there are many today proclaiming the existence of many gods. True Biblical Christianity however refutes such doctrinal error, as we believe God to be the One True God, Jehovah.
You may be asking why any of this should matter to you. Well, it matters because all of us will face the day in this life when we will need God. Whether it’s a crisis of faith or a personal tragedy that brings catastrophic news, all of us will need God at some point.
It’s in those times of crisis that we need assurance that the One we call out to is indeed the “I am The Lord” of the Bible, and not an impostor.
This is when having a personal relationship with God, through His Son Jesus Christ, becomes most real in our hearts. To know that we can call upon him and that he hears our cry, is worth more than anything we could ever acquire in this life, and is yet another aspect of this Abundant Life we live in Him.
One of the greatest commentaries on this passage of scripture was penned by none other than Matthew Henry. I enjoy reading the commentary of Matthew Henry for several reasons, not the least of which is that it was written long before the divisive seeds of “political correctness” were sown in the Church.
In other words, he explained the truth of scripture without regard to man’s opinions.
I have included his commentary on Isaiah 45:5 so that you may read his clear and concise rendering of this verse.
“That he is God alone, and there is no God besides him. This is here inculcated as a fundamental truth, which, if it were firmly believed, would abolish idolatry out of the world. With what an awful, commanding, air of majesty and authority, bidding defiance, as it were, to all pretenders, does the great God here proclaim it to the world: I am the Lord, I the Lord, Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God besides me, no other self-existent, self-sufficient, being, none infinite and eternal. And again (v. 6), There is none besides me; all that are set up in competition with me are counterfeits; they are all vanity and a lie, for I am the Lord, and there is none else.”
Be blessed,
Ron