Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
    the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
    are the children of one’s youth.
 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
    when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3-5

Do the children of the righteous gain blessings just because of their parents? Isaiah tells us that great shall be the peace of our children (Isaiah 54:13). From the beginning, God promised Abraham blessings upon his offspring. The Lord told him that He would establish his covenant with Abraham and his offspring (Genesis 17:10).  Abraham and his generations were supposed to keep their part of the covenant, but as the Bible shows us generation after generation, they turned away from God. And so many times their blessings turned upside down. But our faithful God still forgave them and continued to bless them. God told them that there is hope for your future. That your children will come from the land of their enemy and return to their own country (Jeremiah 31:16-17). God promised back in the time of Isaiah that he will save our children (Isaiah 49:25). Here the Lord was referring to Israel, but it is important to note that God in the past blessed the children of the people of God. Today we are called to be obedient to Him and walk according to His ways, to be His people. God also said that He would pour His Spirit upon the offspring of Israel, and he will bless their descendants (Isaiah 44:3).

Proverbs tells us that the offspring of the righteous will be delivered (Proverbs 11:21). And the word delivered here means to slip away, be save and to escape. The previous verse says that the evil person will not go unpunished. Hence this verse seems to imply that the children of the righteous (in our context the saved) shall escape out of some sort of danger or punishment. The book of Psalms tells us that the children of the righteous shall not beg for bread, and they shall become a blessing (Psalms 37:25-26). The children of the ones who fear the Lord shall have a refuge (Proverbs 14:26). The offspring of the people of God has such great favour. God has given us blessings that spill over onto the next generation. Such a joy to know that they are blessed by just the fact that their parents are righteous. And the parents are only righteous because of Jesus. What a wonderful God who gives us so much more than we deserve and more than we can ever imagine.

Psalms tells us that the man who fears the Lord and delights in His commandments is blessed and his offspring will be mighty in the land. (Psalms 112:1-2). Mighty here refers to strong, powerful, to excel and chief. In the context of God’s kingdom, this is a great blessing to be mighty men and women of God, to be strong in Him and to be able to excel in all God’s works. These promises came with the condition that the people of God, and their offspring, would live according to the word of God always (Isaiah 59:21). And the consequences of when they did not do that was heavy.

When I chose to accept Jesus as my Lord and saviour, I was not thinking about my future generations and how this would affect them. I am the first of my family to be saved, and recently I have been learning that one of the great privileges of this is that my children will be blessed because of my salvation. They will have the advantage of the blessings of the righteous. But we also have to be aware that when we make this commitment to the Lord, we need to remain faithful and walk according to God’s way.

But the question is: will our disobedience or rebellion against God cause our children to be cursed? The old testament tells us that the iniquity (sin) of the fathers falls on the children to the third and fourth generations (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:6-6-7; Deuteronomy 5:9). It further says that the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving sin, but He will not clear the guilty, and this shall fall on the generations to come (Numbers 14:18). Many scriptures declared this statement that the punishment for the sins of the fathers would follow several generations to come.

But we have great hope in our loving Father. The Lord said that there would come a day (referring to after Christ died for us) where the son shall not suffer the sins of the father and each man shall pay for his own sin (Ezekiel 18:20). The new testament tells us that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming the curse for us. And because of this, we the Gentiles (all others who are not Israelites) might inherit the blessings of Abraham and receive the promise of the Spirit (Galatians 3:13-14). Christ has made us free (Galatians 5:1). Peters tells us that when we repent and are saved that the promises are for us and our children for all who the Lord calls to himself (Acts 2:39).

So, when Jesus died, he removed the curse and allowed all to gain access to the blessings. So, this is such great news, but this does not mean that our children cannot be doom towards an eternity of destruction. For if they are not saved, they will be heading towards the ultimate curse. And if we are not saved, we cannot demonstrate to our children how great this gift of salvation is. But the good news is that it is not too late, you can still accept Him today. So, accept Jesus and be blessed, you and your generations to come.

Thank you, Uncle Wayne

All photos were taken by Kyle or Vani. These photos are from the many adventures we have been blessed to experience together. We are so grateful for every blessing from God. No filters were used nor were the photos edited except for an occasional crop. We hope you enjoy.