The phrase, “the sins of the father are visited upon the children,” is a proverb meaning that a parent’s bad actions or mistakes can cause suffering for their children. The saying originates from biblical passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, where God states that he will punish the iniquity of parents on their children, but in the context of idolatry and other severe evil transgressions.  Sin habits must be removed.

As humans, God has given each one of us the freedom to choose who we believe and how we will respond as we live our lives.  When our choices of bad behaviors turn on us and we fall; we want to blame someone else.  But in reality, we can’t just blame mom and dad for our own sins that bring us down even if they committed the same sins themselves.  We can’t even blame the devil with the excuse; “The devil made me do it!” Each person is created in the image of God with the choice to love, trust and obey God or not, and continue the cycle of sin. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17 

This is God’s Plan that breaks the cycle of sin within us when we believe in Jesus who paid the debt for our sin once and for all.  This is a demonstration of the love and power of God who can do more for and in us than we can do for ourselves.  Trust Him!

So, we learn that the cycle of sin in a family can be broken by our Merciful Father who is ready to help, heal the brokenness caused by sin, forgive, and even remove and forget our sins when repented in Jesus Name.  I’ve seen it with my own eyes in my own family and in the families of those we have ministered to and taught in public schools over the years.  Jesus changes everything and breaks every chain of the sin cycle!

When we fall humbly to our knees seeking God to forgive—He does! When we ask for His wisdom and power to transform who we were to a person who trusts Him—He will!  But it is up to us to make the first move to Him with a heart that desires to leave the cycle of sin that is going nowhere.  We must reach up and grab the Hand of the Master who rescues us and gives us purpose and meaning and takes us everywhere we truly want to be!  With expectant Hope, our God takes us on new adventures of righteousness with Him!

The sins of the father are visited on their sons and daughters in the divided kingdom of Israel. Jehoram was succeeded by his son Ahaziah, who was also part of the Ahab clan—his mother, Athaliah, was Ahab’s daughter. Ahaziah joined with his uncle, King Joram, to take Ramoth Gilead from Hazael, king of Aram, and there Joram was wounded. Sins of violence seem to be in control of Israel and Judah.

Ah, but on the horizon is coming a new king in Judah, born from the line of David, who will bring God’s people back to Him. His name is Joash. Read on…this is good!

2 Chronicles 22

Ahaziah King of Judah

The people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram’s youngest son, king in his place, since the raiders, who came with the Arabs into the camp, had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign.

² Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri.

³ He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly. ⁴ He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father’s death they became his advisers, to his undoing. ⁵ He also followed their counsel when he went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to wage war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth Gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram; ⁶ so he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramoth in his battle with Hazael king of Aram.

Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to see Joram son of Ahab because he had been wounded.

⁷ Through Ahaziah’s visit to Joram, God brought about Ahaziah’s downfall. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. ⁸ While Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s relatives, who had been attending Ahaziah, and he killed them. ⁹ He then went in search of Ahaziah, and his men captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. He was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him, for they said, “He was a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the Lord with all his heart.” So there was no one in the house of Ahaziah powerful enough to retain the kingdom.

Athaliah and Joash

¹⁰ When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah. ¹¹ But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him. ¹² He remained hidden with them at the temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“Humanly speaking, were it not for the courageous service of the high priest, Jehoiada, and his wife Jehoshabeath, the Davidic dynasty would have come to an end. The future of God’s promises to David, that involved his great plan of salvation, was wrapped in a little baby boy named Joash.

Studying this time in Judah’s history gives us the feeling that we are reading the morning paper or watching the news on television. We meet two leaders—Jehu, former army commander and now ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel, and Jehoiada, high priest at the temple in Jerusalem in the southern kingdom. As we watch these two men, we recognize the fact that the same forces for good and for evil were at work in their world that are at work in our world today.”  –Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe Study Bible

Good and evil—still both at work.  

God who is Good, leads to eternal life. 

Evil, with the same old tricks of distraction, deception, and destruction, cycles through each generation to lead us to eternal death in hell.

Who do you choose this day?  Pause. Reflect. This is a holy moment of daily deciding whom we will love, trust, and obey with all our hearts, minds, and souls.  Our behaviors reflect who we truly love, believe, and serve wholeheartedly.

Just to clarify…Old habits of sinful behaviors that hold us back and chain us to the walls of unbelief can be broken to set us free to humbly walk with God who created us just because He loved us!  Believing in Jesus sets us free to talk with God the Father who listens AND responds with all that is good for us for God is Good. Only God is Good.

Redeemed, set free believers are changed from the inside out as they come to depend on the One who washes dirty feet as a demonstration of His compassion for us and as an example of a new life of serving in us.  Jesus, who laid down His life to pay for our sins in full—did what He said God told Him to do—removed our sins from God’s ledger. Gone, wiped clean, to be remembered no more!  So, why trust anyone else in the world? There is no one like our God who created the world and everything in it!

Lord,

Evil then evil now—but greater are you in us than he who is evil that is in the world trying to destroy our faith!  Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls, keep us alert to evil’s schemes, and continually restore the joy of your salvation at work within the redeemed who choose You!  I’m yours.  I’m listening.

In Jesus Name, Amen