Austin Bible Church
The four generation curse is the propagation of sins and resulting divine discipline from one generation to the next with parents and children of each generation willing in their negative volition and rejection of God. Each generation is responsible for its own negative volition to God and to Jesus Christ. Each member of the human race is responsible for their own decisions and the consequences of those decisions.
This curse does not apply to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ or to any unbeliever oriented to the Laws of Divine Establishment. Also, this curse never applies to the believer unless they remain in continual carnality. Continual negative volition is the basis for being under the four generation curse.
Moses received information from God regarding the four generation curse. This information explains why problems continue and become worse from one generation to another. Exodus 20:4-6 was a warning for the Exodus generation against idolatry and demonism that were practiced by the Canaanites that occupied the Land. This four generation curse is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 5:8-10, Exodus 34:6-7, and Numbers 14:18.
“"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6, NASB)
“'The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.'” (Numbers 14:18, NASB)
Even under the fifth cycle of discipline of a nation, God always shows mercy to those believers who live the spiritual life in accordance with the Word of God and what God reveals about His plan for their lives.
The Mechanics of the Four Generation Curse
Rejection of divinely-authorized authority is the greatest cause for suffering in life. Divine Institution #1 is Volition or free will. You are free to make your own decisions and choices. You also must accept the consequences and responsibility of all of your decisions and choices. You will never enjoy your freedom until you understand and accept authority.
In the home, your parents function within Divine Institution #2 – Marriage. They were your first lesson in authority orientation as part of Divine Institution #3 - Family. This is why national suffering is related to the proper function of families in that nation.
The first generation of a four generation curse rejects authority and begins doing so in the home. They reject the basic authority of their parents in preference to what they want. They have no authority orientation. The greatest suffering and instability in life comes from rejection of parental authority. Prov. 30:11.
“There is a kind of man who curses his father And does not bless his mother.” (Proverbs 30:11, NASB)
Your mental attitude toward your parental authority determines your mental attitude toward everyone else and everything in society. If you know drugs like marijuana are illegal, but you use them anyway, you are rebelling against legitimate authority. You know speed limits are to be kept, but if you consistently exceed them, you are rebelling against divinely-sanctioned authority. A nation of people with these rebellious attitudes will ultimately lead to its destruction.
“There is a kind of man who curses his father And does not bless his mother.” (Proverbs 30:11, NASB)
The second generation is self-righteous and a law unto themselves. They are filled with self-righteous arrogance. When the first generation of parents teach their children self-righteous arrogance, their children in the second generation carry it on by making that arrogance their own. For them, it becomes more intense and all consuming. Prov. 30:12.
“There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes, Yet is not washed from his filthiness.” (Proverbs 30:12, NASB)
The second generation is characterized by thinking of themselves as pure and clean and better than others. However, they are unaware that they are filthy and unwashed to the objective eye. They are similar to the priests in Malachi 2:3 who did not want God or Bible doctrine. They wished to live their lives their way apart from divinely-established authority. This is the second level of rebellion.
““Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.” (Malachi 2:3, NASB)
The third generation is characterized by a mature self-righteousness, locked-in arrogance, excessive pride, and self-sufficiency. They are also more defiant, rebellious, mocking, and sordid than the previous generation. Prov. 30:13.
“There is a kind—oh how lofty are his eyes! And his eyelids are raised in arrogance.” (Proverbs 30:13, NASB)
The fourth generation is the most corrupt of all, having repeated all the sins of the past three generations plus their own. The fourth generation has inordinate ambition and lust for power. They will do anything to get what they want. They are characterized by violence, a mental attitude of robbery, pillage, rape, and complete dissatisfaction with everything in the nation. They want everything from everyone else. They become traitorous, parasitic on society, and have little if any ambition to provide for themselves.
“There is a kind of man whose teeth are like swords And his jaw teeth like knives, To devour the afflicted from the earth And the needy from among men. The leech has two daughters, “Give,” “Give.” There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, “Enough”: Sheol, and the barren womb, Earth that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, “Enough.” The eye that mocks a father And scorns a mother, The ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.” (Proverbs 30:14-17, NASB)
This fourth generation mocks their fathers and scorns their mothers. This is way beyond just rebellion against parental authority. They deride, ridicule and hold their parents in contempt. “Ravens (buzzards) of the valley shall pick it out” is an idiom for violent death. Uncontrolled lawlessness in a nation will lead to severe divine discipline and even violent death.
God holds us responsible only for our own sins and not the sins of our parents or those of our children. Deut. 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.” (Deuteronomy 24:16, NASB)
The four generation curse never exists except where the children of the preceding generation commit the same sins as their parents with more intensity and add more sins to them. Divine discipline results when the children repeat the sins of their parents from their own volition or follow the volition of other apostates in their own generation.
Children have a tendency to repeat the sins of their parents, i.e., the arrogance, the vanity, and the mental attitude sins. Choosing to repeat these sins from your own volition results in passing these down to the next generation where divine discipline is intensified.
In Psalms 100:5, the word “good” refers to God’s perfect essence. God deals personally and graciously with those who break the four generation curse through positive volition.
“For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalms 100:5, NASB)
God administers divine discipline to the children regarding the sins of their parents only for those who make their parents’ sins their own and continue in the footsteps of their parents in rejection of God and disobedience to His mandates. Jer. 31:29-30.
“"In those days they will not say again, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.' "But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.” (Jeremiah 31:29-30, NASB)
The four generation curse can be broken in any generation. The four generation curse is broken by salvation through faith in Christ plus the intake and application of Bible doctrine by parents teaching their children the spiritual life. Deut. 7:9; Deut. 6:9; Psalms 100:5.
“"Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;” (Deuteronomy 7:9, NASB)
“"You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:9, NASB)
“For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalms 100:5, NASB)
The Solution to the Four Generation Curse
God’s solution to the four generation curse is always extensive training of the people in the Divine Institutions and the Laws of Divine Establishment, salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, and the believers’ spiritual growth in Bible doctrine. A nation rises or falls on the basis of adherence to the Divine Institutions, adherence to the Laws of Divine Establishment and dissemination of the Word of God.
The Thessalonians had heard about the future return of Jesus Christ at the Rapture of the Church and decided to do nothing since they thought He was coming back very soon. It has been almost 2000 years since 1 Thessalonians was written in 54 AD. They would have had a long wait.
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NASB)
Some of you may think that our nation’s degeneration cannot be stopped and get the idea, “What’s the use?” You think you will die anyway and the nation is going to be destroyed. So you go lazy, you sluff off the unpleasant things of life, your mental attitude is laziness, etc. So will our nation fall? Are we going to be judged? Will our nation be an occupied nation? Are many of us going to die?
The plan of God makes His grace resources available to all believers to live a contented life under all possible conditions and situations. His plan is always for the believer to use His grace resources to “handle everything” not to avoid it.