Changing the Family Line from Curses to Blessing

Throughout the Old Testament we read that the "sins of the fathers" are carried onto their children.

For instance, Deuteronomy 5:9-10 says,

I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands [of generations, see 7:9], to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

A few pages later, though, we read the opposite (Deuteronomy 24:16):

Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.

Not only are both of these verses found in the same Bible, they’re found in the same book— mere pages from one another.

What do we make of this?

What are these "sins" of the fathers, really?

The "sins of the fathers" represents the accumulation of all sins committed by our ancestors. It is the heart tendency (iniquity) that we inherit from our forefathers to rebel against God's laws and commandments.

It is the propensity to sin in ways that represent perversion and twisted character. The accumulation continues until God's conditions for repentance are met.

Quite simply, we learn from our parents and pick up their tendencies.

We’ve all experienced one of those moments: We’ve responded to one of our kids and then thought, “Oh! I sounded just like my Dad [or Mom!] when I did that!”

This is what that is…

It goes deeper, though, because we not only pick up their behaviors, we grab hold of some of their spiritual DNA, too.

Not guilty, but are predisposed to the issue

The Bible refers to this as “iniquity.”

And, whereas we’re not guilty of our parents sins (thankfully, they’re not guilty of ours, either— Ezekiel 18:20 says, "The father [will not] bear the punishment for the son's iniquity”), we do find ourselves walking in the same spiritual patterns.

Unless we stand up and intentionally make a change, that is.

Iniquity is likened to standing against a gale or wind in our face to sin. Iniquity pushes us to commit the same sins that our ancestors committed.

Create a new branch on the family tree

Here’s the good news.

God called Abraham from Babylon— from one of the most pagan nations to ever exist. His story begins just as God scattered everyone from the Tower of Babel.

From that dispersion, God intervened in the life of one man. Effectively, He launched a new family line through him.

No, his new family tree wasn’t perfect. In fact, his sons later grabbed hold of some of his deceit and other sinful tendencies.

But he did start anew, breaking off the old and giving his family a fresh start.

In the same way Abraham and Sarah began a new “family tree” by which all of their descendants were known, so also can we.

This video comes from Lesson 1 of “Liberty,” course 2 in the Transformation School of Ministry “Core Four.”