~ A place to find answers to gnawing spiritual questions ~
Question: I have been in a heated debate with a friend of mine regarding Exodus 34:7 where the sins of the fathers are passed on even until the fourth generation, he claims God lifted the curse in Ezekiel 18. I tried to explain that God didn't lift the curse that the verses were intended to show us that as a prophecy that Jesus lifted the penalty for these sins (death) but that the consequences of the sins that had not been brought under the blood and appropriated by the next generation were still there and that the resulting spiritual ties (bondage) needed to be prayed against and broken by the blood of Christ. Will you please help us; we're not trying to "win" and argument but indeed are searching for the truth.Answer: As children of God, let us not engage in "heated debate."
Perhaps I could shed a little light on this question, although I admit that it is a very deep subject.
The statement made in Exodus 34:7 and also in Exodus 20:5, that God visits iniquity upon the third and fourth generation, is not necessarily a "curse," in my opinion. I would rather think of it as a sure principle; namely, that sin has consequences not only to ourselves, but to following generations. It ought to make us seriously ponder the path we want to take, lest innocent people should also suffer as a consequence of our choices. The consequences are not a direct curse from God, but the natural results of God's broken laws and principles.
If I jump off a building, defying the law of gravity, I will have to face the fact of serious injury or even death. We cannot blame God for making the Law of Gravity. In the moral sense, there are also laws and principles, which cause hurt and harm when they are violated. God does not necessarily "curse" people for violating them; the grievous consequences are the result of broken laws of the universe.
The passage found in Ezekiel deals with a different matter, namely, that God, as the Ruler of the universe, must punish sin. God, because He is God, must punish sin. He is perfect righteousness, and therefore He cannot allow moral creatures like us get away with sin. Even society recognizes this, and that is why we have police, law courts, and prisons. God will some day judge the living and the dead and will mete out just punishment for evil deeds.
But our God is not only the God of perfect righteousness, but also the God of perfect love. In sending His Only begotten Son to be our sin-bearer, He made provision for our guilt. We are culpable sinners; we deserve punishment for our sins, "but the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). The perfect justice or righteousness of God is fully met by Christ's death in our place. God is faithful and also just in forgiving our sins because our sin has been punished in that Jesus suffered the penalty for our sins (1 John 1:7-10).
Now stop and compare Exodus 34:7 and Exodus 20:4 to the greatness of His mercy: "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations" (Deuteronomy 7:9).
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