The Bible says that the Lord God brings the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children to the third and fourth generation. Is it fair? PRETTY LONG.

See Exodus 34:6-8 where the Lord spoke to Moses:

"And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

See the NIRV: "As He passed in front of Moses, He called out. He said, “I am the Lord, the Lord. I am the God who is tender and kind. I am gracious. I am slow to get angry. I am faithful and full of love. 7 I continue to show My love to thousands of people. I forgive those who do evil. I forgive those who refuse to obey Me. And I forgive those who sin. But I do not let guilty people go without punishing them. I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

Now recall the time that Joshua and Caleb as well as the ten unbelieving Israelites came back from scouting the Promised Land. The children of Israel sinned by complaining and questioning why God was bringing them into the Land. They even wanted to kill Joshua and Caleb for trusting in the Lord to give them the land! See Numbers 14-

10" But all the people talked about killing Joshua and Caleb by throwing stones at them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting. All the Israelites saw it. 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people not respect Me? How long will they refuse to believe in Me? They refuse even though I have done many signs among them. 12 So I will strike them down with a plague. I will destroy them. But I will make you into a greater and stronger nation than they are.”

Moses knew that God the Righteous Judge can never sweep sins under the carpet. Even we would be appalled if an earthly judge let those who break the law of the land go free. With God, perfect reckoning for sins is not negotiable. God's Righteousness and Justice demand that every sin be punished to the uttermost - Death. Yet Mercy and Truth go before His face- Psalm 89:14-

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.”

You know what Moses response was to God after He made known His intent of destroying the Israelites in this chapter? He pleaded with the Lord for mercy on their behalf by asking Him to show His strength in a way that would seem very strange to many of us today. See how in verses 15-19 of the same Numbers 14-

15 "Suppose You put all these people to death and leave none alive. Then the nations who have heard these things about You will talk. They’ll say, 16 ‘The Lord promised to give these people the land of Canaan. But He wasn’t able to bring them into it. So He killed them in the desert.’ 17 “Now, Lord, show Your strength. You have said,

18 ‘I am the Lord. I am slow to get angry. I am full of love. I forgive those who sin. I forgive those who refuse to obey. But I do not let guilty people go without punishing them. I cause the sin of the parents to affect their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.’

19 Lord, Your love is great. So forgive the sin of these people. Forgive them just as You have done from the time they left Egypt until now.”

In verse 18 above, Moses quoted to the Lord what the Lord Himself said earlier concerning the generational curse in Exodus 34:6-8. He used this word of God to plead to the Lord to have mercy on the children of Israel when He was going to destroy them in the wilderness.

Plus, notice what the Lord said in the first portion of His word that Moses quoted:

‘I am the Lord. I am slow to get angry. I am full of love. I forgive those who sin. I forgive those who refuse to obey.'

And immediately after this, the Lord says - "But I do not let guilty people go without punishing them. I cause the sin of the parents to affect their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.’

What has the Lord's being slow to get angry, His fullness of love and His forgiveness of sins got to do with Him punishing sins and causing the sins of parents to affect their descendants?

How is it that the Lord can “forgive those who refuse to obey” yet “not let guilty people go without punishing them”?

Believer, God "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations" is God showing His Love and Mercy without compromising on His Righteousness and Justice.

For churchgoers that are under Law (rejecting Christ by trying to be godly by human effort and believing that Christians are still subject to the generational curse) and who think God's visiting of sins to later generations is unfair, understand that “all have sinned,” including you. The wages of sin is death. You also have your own sins. If God were to pour out the wages of your own sins alone on you right now, as it was with Judah's son Onan whose action displeased the Lord (Genesis 38:8-10,) you would cease to exist on earth and still have the second death in hell to contend with- as would have been the fate of the unbelieving and complaints-filled children of Israel but for God's mercy in spreading their punishment across their generations.

God cannot bend His law for anybody. His righteousness demands that every sin be punished to the uttermost; the wages of sin is death. One death. The same death that Adam died after he sinned and passed on the curse of death to all of his descendants. See 1 Corinthians 15-

21 "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."

“….all have sinned…” is an immovable truth. God's word. All who still have the sinful/old nature inherited from Adam (Romans 5:19) are destined for death unless they receive God's gift of righteousness to us in Christ. This death that is through Adam is not merely physical. Recall that Adam did not drop dead physically right after his death sentence came into effect. God told him in Genesis 2:17-

"and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it -- dying thou dost die.'"

After disobeying God, Adam existed on earth in physical form for almost a thousand years. To God, "a thousand years are like a day that has just gone by." Psalm 90:4. See Adam's "death sentence" in Genesis 3-

17 "Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”"

Sickness is "death begun." Lack is "death begun." Toiling with sweat and stress and having little or nothing to show for it is "death begun." Fast-tracked ageing is "death begun." This death that is the wages of sin is a process that encompasses a downward spiral of earthly ills that culminates in everlasting death in hell. Recall James 2:10 says-

“For whosoever shall keep the whole Law yet stumble at one point he is guilty of all.”

If there was no generational curse, all of the Israelites would have perished in the desert on that day with no descendants save Moses' posterity to carry on after Israel, and even those ones too would be subject to the law of sin and death. Essentially, the generational curse is like a lifeline or credit card for the sinner whose bill of death (including its symptoms of “death begun") is due right now; a death that Christ died for all because God so loved the world. The curse from breaking the Law isn't limited to Jews alone. Without God's saving Grace, even non-Jews who don't have the Mosaic law still get to endure the curse and perish for their sins. See Romans 2 (The Passion Translation):

12 When people who have never been exposed to the laws of Moses commit sin, they will still perish for what they do. And those who are under the law of Moses and fail to obey it are condemned by the law. 13 For it’s not merely knowing the law that makes you right with God, but doing all that the law says that will cause God to pronounce you innocent.

14 For example, whenever people who don’t possess the law as their birthright commit sin, it still confirms that a “law” is present in their conscience. For when they instinctively do what the law requires, that becomes a “law” to govern them, even though they don’t have Mosaic law.”

See the NKJV- “12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)”

To digress a little, many churchgoers misinterpret verse 13 in bold above and say that Paul meant that believers have to be doers of the Law in order to be justified before God. Not so. When this verse is read alongside the verses before and after it, we see its context: some Jewish believers felt that they were in a special boat of righteousness because it was to the Jews that the law was given. The Jews were hearers of the law and did their best to be doers. But even the Pharisees failed at this. None of them could cast the first stone. The Gentile Christians were not hearers of the Law much less doers. But the Jews who believed that being a hearer gave them some advantage over Gentile believers forgot one thing that is clearly stated in Deut. 28:1, 15: you have to be a doer of all the over 600 laws in order to be justified by the Law as well as escape the curse, hence what Paul wrote in the very next chapter-Romans 3:20-

“20 For no person will be justified [freed of guilt and declared righteous] in His sight by [trying to do] the works of the Law. For through the Law we become conscious of sin [and the recognition of sin directs us toward repentance, but provides no remedy for sin].”

In essence, most, if not all of us alive today would not have been born to receive God's abundance of Grace, His salvation in Christ and freedom from the curse of the Law if the Lord had visited the full wages of our parents' parents’ sins and those before them on them. If they all had to bear the full load of the punishment for their iniquity, they would have died without descendants as did Judah's son Onan in Genesis 38:8-10; as would have the Israelites who sinned against God in the wilderness and whom God was going to wipe out but for Moses’ bringing up the generational curse (God's word) to plead on behalf of the Israelites. No “us” to enjoy God's saving Grace: Christ Himself Who hung on the cross to free us from every single curse of the law, generational or otherwise.

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The generational curse is God's word and a part of the curse of the Law. Not a single jot of it will pass away without being fulfilled. Believer, thank God for His Grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, we are not under Law but under Grace where no generational or other curse can hold sway in our lives! For we who are in Christ, we have been redeemed from the curse of the Law, including the generational curse. See 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”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

See the New Living Translation - 13 "But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When He was hung on the cross, He took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

Because God so loved us and does not want any to perish or languish under the curse, He gave His own Son to hang on the cross to redeem us from the curse of the Law. Yet there are many churchgoers who still experience symptoms of the curse! Galatians 3:10 tells us why:

10 "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” 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”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

Many of us read verse 10 in bold above and think it means "people who break the Law are cursed." But read again. It is people who are trying to obey the Law in order to get right with God that are cursed. No one can keep the whole Law and keeping everything is a prerequisite for freedom from the curse. See the New Living Translation -

"10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under His curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When He was hung on the cross, He took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing He promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith."

The Law is not of faith so no blessing of Abraham for anyone who tries to keep the Law in order to be godly or to get God to bless. Only the curse is here. Have you ever given thought to the fact that most Christians first learn of "their" generational curse from people standing behind pulpits or from "men of God?" You're just minding your own business and someone comes to tell you that you need to come and break some curse of your father's house, or else; you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! Beware of such preachers. Teaching that generational or other curses can hold sway in the life of a believer is not of Christ. It contradicts God's word - "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law..."

Today, we see some "men of God" telling churchgoers whom Christ hung on the cross to redeem from EVERY curse (including generational curses) that they still have generational curses in their lives. This is the voice of Satan the accuser - accusing believers who have been freed from the curse and made perfect in Christ (Hebrews 10:14) of imperfection and deceiving many churchgoers into believing that they can undo the generational curse that God instituted by Himself through useless human effort (arm of flesh)-driven activities such as fasting, sowing seed and attending "deliverance sessions."

Such false doctrine preachers order their congregations to go and fast for 70 days and such in order to receive deliverance from the same curse that Christ hung on the cross to redeem us from. Many churchgoers are actively believing them, confessing that they have generational curses in their lives and are actively trying to "break" or "reverse" such curses by fasting! Believer, by God's grace, flee from such evil. These false doctrine preachers might as well ask you to go and fast and sow seed to reverse God's work of sunrise and sunset! Believer, our Lord God instituted the Law and its curse (even as an act of mercy as we see in the lives of the unbelieving Israelites) and He Himself provided the only Way of escape and our Salvation from the Law and the curse that it brings- His name is Jesus Christ.

Believer, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law. The generational curse involves the Lord "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” See the NIRV:

"I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

For we who believe in Jesus Christ, God does not remember our sins; see the witness of the Holy Spirit to all believers based on the finished work of Christ (v.14) in Hebrews 10:

14 "And by His one perfect sacrifice He made us perfectly holy and complete for all time! 15 The Holy Spirit confirms this to us by this Scripture, for the Lord says,

16 “Afterwards, I will give them this covenant: I will embed my laws into their hearts and fasten My Word to their thoughts.”

17 And then He says, “I will not ever again remember their sins and lawless deeds!”

18 So if our sins have been forgiven and forgotten, why would we ever need to offer another sacrifice for sin?"

Do you see the contrast? Under the Old Covenant of the Law "...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. Here, God remembers the fathers' iniquity and will visit it on generations born and unborn.

In Christ, for we who are under the New Covenant of Grace, the Lord says in Hebrews 8:12- "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." In Christ, God does not remember our sins. No more sins/iniquity to visit on us or our descendants in Christ so no more generational or other curse for all who believe in Jesus Christ.

Jesus didn't have to hang on the cross to die. Stoning was the usual way of killing sinners back then but He had to hang on the cross so that we can be redeemed from the curse of the Law, including generational curses: 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”),"

In Christ, we are not under Law where there is the curse but under Grace where we get to escape the curse of the Law. This is how our heavenly Father sees us in Him: Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

In Christ, we have been justified and freed from every curse by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself so by Grace, don't let any church "Daddy" or “Mummy" bamboozle you into slavery to the Law with their twisted and false doctrines that says you who are in Christ are cursed with a generational or whatever curse.

Right believing always produces right living.