As a father and son hiked up a mountain, the path grew dangerous, and they had to decide on the safest route. The father heard his son say, “Choose the right way, Daddy. I’m coming right behind you.”
Unfortunately, Isaac—the boy who climbed Mount Moriah with Abraham in Genesis 22—did follow in his father’s footsteps. In Genesis 26, Isaac ran away during a famine instead of trusting God, just as Abraham had—twice. He lied about his wife, calling her his sister, just as Abraham had (see Genesis chapters 12 and 20).
I mention this story because the issue of generational curses seems to surface every few years in the Christian church. It’s a false doctrine: If your parents sinned, successive generations will be cursed, and only certain kinds of incantational actions can break that curse.
This unbiblical idea is a corruption of the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image…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 generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:4-5).
Now, children will certainly feel the negative impact of a parent’s decision. For instance, if parents practice idolatry, their children are more likely to commit that same sin.
But do you have to commit a sin because there’s a “generational curse”? Absolutely not! That curse or pattern of sin can be broken by the power of God in your life. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Our faults—no matter how many—are like a grain of sand next to the mountain of God’s mercy. Jeremiah said, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Isaac failed, yet his merciful God blessed him over and over. Why? “Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:5). God blessed Abraham’s offspring because He had made a promise to Abraham. The story of Abraham and Isaac is a picture of God’s faithfulness, mercy, and grace.
It’s the same with us. God blesses us because of His wonderful Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The covenant made through His blood allows us to become children of God. It’s not because of our merits—it’s His merit alone.
But back to Exodus 20 and the idea of generational curses. First, notice that God referred to unbelievers as “those who hate Me” (see v. 5). A follower of Christ would hardly fit in that category.
In taking the idea of generational curses from verse four: “God [visits] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations,” people neglect the very next verse. “But showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (v. 6).
Sin, according to God, could affect three or four generations—but His mercy affects thousands of generations. This is God’s math. Whatever blessing your disobedience takes away from you, God’s mercy is able to multiply back to you.
If you want to pass on a real legacy to your children and perpetuate a good cycle instead of an evil one, have a covenant with the living God. Walk with Him. And when you fail, be honest about it with your children. Let your transparent honesty and that covenant reality guide you and your family.
Whatever the family you came from was like, you have a heavenly Father now. He’s perfect. Emulate Him. Follow Him. Let Him restore those three or four generations and give you thousands upon thousands of blessings.
That’s His math. I’ve watched Him do it.
