Exodus 20:
4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Call it a generational curse or consequence. It makes no difference in terms of breaking it.
We can find a similar warning to the one found in Exodus 20:4-6 in 2 Chron 7: 19-22: -
2 Chron 7: 19-22: - 19 “But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20 then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
21 “And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ 22 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore, He has brought all this calamity on them.’”
Now because the Israelites and their religious scholars and leaders could not grasp the time span embedded in the Exodus 20:4-6 prophetic word, they reduced the time span the understanding that this prophecy of the visitation of the father's iniquities would only last until the end of the fourth descendant generation after which it would no longer be applicable. However, God was referencing a generational time period of around 4,100 years from the time of Isaac's birth until the end of the fourth age/generation of the existence of the nation of Israel after which God foretold that He would gather the Israelites back to Himself and plant them in the fertile soil of God's servant, Christ, and would teach them on the religious heights of the rock that would at that time come down from Heaven and become the greatest mountain in all of the earth, which will probably occur in around 20 years from now when God will establish His everlasting kingdom during the time of the gathering of the gentile kings in the Valley of Jehoshaphat to judge them. It is also at this time that all of Israel will be saved/redeemed by God, and God will sprinkle water over them to cleanse them and renew the covenant that He had made with the nation of Israel at Mt Sinai.
If we consider the historical record of the nation of Israel, then it becomes obvious that Exodus 20:4-6 was not talking about descendant generation but rather of a far greater timespan approaching 4,100 years.
The books of Hosea and Lamentations both speak of God turning His back on Israel for around 2,000 years before He will turn His ears once more towards hearing the cries of the Israelites in their anguish.
The Daniel 8 prophecy of the Little Horn being given armies to trample over a period of 2,300 years to trample God's sanctuary and His earthly Hosts also confirms the long duration of the Exodus 20:4-6 prophetic words.
The evidence is there if people are willing to be open it.
Shalom[/QUOTE]
