The Lord . . . by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. (Numbers 14:18)

Repentance and forgiveness accomplish much; but there is one thing they can't change: the past. What's done is done. Like the waves that ripple across a pond where a pebble has been thrown, the effects of even small choices reverberate far and wide. Take Abraham's acquiescence to fathering a son with Hagar (Genesis 16). The descendants of that son, Ishmael, became a thorn to the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son of promise. That antagonism rages on in the lands of the Middle East today.

God warned that the effects of iniquity would be visited on the third and fourth generations. But He also promised that He would maintain His covenant and mercy for a "thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments" (Deuteronomy 7:9). If the effects of good and bad choices impact future generations, would a thousand generations of mercy be better than four generations of judgment?

Parents who teach their children how to make wise choices are blessing future generations today. It's a biblical way to predict the future.


Men are free to decide their own moral choices, but they are also under the necessity to account to God for those choices. (A. W. Tozer)