Special Guest blogger - my husband

How do you reconcile a loving God with one who punishes the sins of their fathers?

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. - Exodus 20:4-6

We must understand that inherited sin brought more than generational sin. First it brought the potential to sin to the next generation, and second it brought a sense of guilt. The guilt, and potential to sin is hard to overcome. But instead of looking at the "punishment of their fathers" reconcile this to the "grace of our Father." You may think I am ignorant of the question therefore I'm changing directions, but I want to proceed and give an indirect approach.

Look at the context of Genesis 15, where God blesses Abraham by telling him he will have a child. Abraham them follows into a deep sleep, and God speaks:

"As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

In this passage you see the sins of his generation building, but not yet reaching its full. When it is full God will punish these nations, and give Abraham's descendants the land. We will eventually see that Joshua takes the land which will be known as Canaan, a land of Promise. Recognize that this is first and foremost an example of God's grace. God's wrath and punishment is a response to a lack of repentance from the people. From this passage to the beginning of Joshua 200-400 years would have past (depending if you take the Early Date or Late Day theory of Exodus, this is another subject). God has given the people of the land 200-400 years to respond to God's call on them. He will use a patriarchal response through the likes of Isaac, Jacob, and Esau to reach all the lands stretching forth from their wanderings of Ur to the southern depths of Egypt. God in His merciful grace reached out, but ultimately as we all know the people were unresponsive, and we see godless generations that fail to see God's grace. But we do know someone responded. Her name is Rahab. She responded, and thus God used her and later fulfilled a promise through her; David her offspring, and Jesus, the son of God. This is grace (the whole world was saved!), not punishment. Now i'm not ignorant or unaware of God's wrath, but that comes to fruition in Deuteronomy 29:27-28, "Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now." But the people knew, and they had their opportunity to respond to His grace, but God's plan is greater than that of mans.

How do we reconcile the two? Like Erwin McManus asked us during his sermon I'll ask you the same, "Take a deep breath, now don't breathe out until you realize you need it." That's God's grace. And one day our flesh will die. This is the consequence of sin; death. God's grace is always greater than His wrath. We will have our time, and like the Israelites; are we going to respond, or be like the Canaanites who refused to breathe.

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So, how do we answer the mass killings mentioned in the Old Testament that Israel had done to many nations in the name of God. In the Hebrew text it is translated as 'chechem'. Understand this in context of what was previously written; God's grace was shown prior to God's wrath. Also understand that there was no redemption to sin. So the death of any persons in the Old Testament led to death (spiritually, and physically) until the death and resurrection of Christ. So when the sins of the nations reached their full, we see a response by God, but there was grace. But in this understand that this led to Christ's death and resurrection; his grace to man, but also God's greatest wrath towards the sinful. Where there is redemption to sin, now there lies judgment to those who do not believe. I cannot explain or understand in detail God's wrath, but He is consistent, and it's up to us in how we respond.