Summary: Who bears the responsibility for sins, and whether the fathers can be blamed for the judgement that falls on the children, is what we consider today. I hope this causes you to think. This whole business is a challenge to fathers in the raising of their families. This is a serious matter indeed.

THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS – PART 41 – IS A FATHER RESPONSIBLE AND PUNISHED FOR A SON’S SIN, AND VISE-VERSA? – CHAPTER 5 Lamentations 5:7

We are looking at important subjects in this final chapter and I don’t want to rush through the material. What was applicable to the survivors in Jeremiah’s time is just as relevant to our Christian era.

This time we are only going to do one verse because it covers a most important subject, and that is the responsibility for sin, and whether the fathers can be blamed for the judgement that falls on the children. I hope this causes you to think. This whole business is a challenge to fathers in the raising of their families.

[7]. A PROFOUND TRUTH AT LAST REALISED

{{Lamentations 5:7 “OUR FATHERS SINNED, and are no more. It is WE WHO HAVE BORNE THEIR INIQUITIES.”}}

I am afraid if my behaviour may have some influence on my 4 adult children. I guess parents are concerned that they have done the right things in raising the kids. That, I think, is a legitimate concern of all decent parents.

In this verse, it is Jeremiah writing, but I think he expresses the rational conclusions of the people. If only they realised all these outcomes just 6 months back and repented and turned to God from the vain idols, then Lamentations would not have been written. If the people repented in humility and returned to God, Babylon would not have come. The conditions would not have occurred. If this WORLD fully repents, the coming Tribulation would not happen, but prophetically, we know the course this world is steering.

Addressing this verse, it begins with “Our fathers sinned,” and that is so true. It was because of the sins of the fathers that the calamity fell on Judah. BUT there is something missing here. These very same people who claimed that the fathers sinned and that is why they are in this awful state, themselves, were vile sinners.

Revelation 22:12 says {{“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, TO REPAY EACH ONE FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE.”}}. I believe this statement in the closing verses of Revelation is a universal truth for all, and not just addressed to Christians.

[A]. WE LOOK AT INDIVIDUAL SINS AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PENALTY

Constantly in the book of Jeremiah, he revealed the deep idolatrous sin of the nation and its gross iniquities, along with warnings of what was coming if they continued in their sin. They took no notice, and in fact, their sin got worse until finally God shut the door on them. Those people who took no notice, were the same ones now suffering, and it is no good blaming the fathers for their sins while excusing themselves, even worse sinners than their fathers.

They needed to cry out, “WE HAVE SINNED, EACH ONE OF US!” (There is a change when we get to verse 16). There is too much blame in this world. People blame everything and everyone, but themselves. It is of no use in a coming day when each person, unsaved, stands in front of a God of wrath and blames everything but themselves for their sins. Each one will be judged according to their iniquity – {{Revelation 20:12 “and I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, ACCORDING TO THEIR DEEDS.”}}

That Revelation verse is not for Christians. This is not their day of accountability. Those who are at the JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST are the saved who have ALREADY said, “WE have sinned. I AM A SINNER.”

The second part of this verse says, “It is WE who have borne THEIR iniquities.” That is a half-truth. Yes, they are bearing the sins of their fathers but what about their own sins? Are they forgetting about them? They are reaping the results of their own personal sins. Jeremiah pleaded with the people right up to the end to repent and God would have delivered them, but their hearts were like stone. No one will escape personal sins for – {{Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for WHATEVER A MAN SOWS, this he will also reap.”}}

Sin has its own bank and you can cash in there whenever you like. That is where you collect your wages – {{Romans 6:23 “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”}} The only trouble with that bank is that the wages you collect have DEATH stamped on the pay packet.

There were many prohibitions under the Law and prohibitions carried penalty. Here is one of them – {{Leviticus 7:18 “If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings should ever be eaten on the third day, he who offers it shall not be accepted, and it shall not be reckoned to his benefit. It shall be an offensive thing, and the person who eats of it SHALL BEAR HIS OWN INIQUITY.”}} Through the Old Testament it was established that a person must bear his own iniquity and guilt. Of course it also happened that the sin of a person or persons could adversely affect others causing their deaths. The rebellion of Korah, and Aaron making the golden serpent testify to that.

[B]. THAT MOST IMPORTANT EZEKIEL PASSAGE – A VITAL PASSAGE

Ezekiel wrote a very relevant passage for what we are looking at in Lamentations. I want to go through it part by part:-

[[ONE]]. {{Ezekiel 18:14-17 “Now behold, HE HAS A SON WHO HAS OBSERVED ALL HIS FATHER’S SINS which he committed, and observing, DOES NOT DO LIKEWISE. He does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbour’s wife, or oppress anyone, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery, but he gives his bread to the hungry, and covers the naked with clothing, he keeps his hand from the poor, does not take interest or increase, but executes My ordinances, and walks in My statutes - HE WILL NOT DIE FOR HIS FATHER’S INIQUITY, HE WILL SURELY LIVE.”}}

My mind here recalls the son Josiah and the most foul father, Manasseh. Here we have basis of individuality for sinning. The case is given of a sinful man and a son who does not continue in the sins of his father. Rather, the son lives righteously, and 10 or 11 examples of righteous living are given. What is God’s conclusion here? It is stated most clearly that the son does not die for the father’s sins. God points out the division most clearly. Each person is assessed on his and her own sins.

*** INTERACTION – FATHER AND SON – HEZEKIAH’S DESCENDANTS

A clear example of father and son, and relative lives with sin and blame, is found in Adam and Cain, and Isaac and Esau, and others but I will mention this one. {{2 Kings 20:21 “So Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son became king in his place.”}}

Godly HEZEKIAH died and his son took over. Son MANASSEH reigned for 55 years and was the most wicked king to reign in Judah (no one could be worse) – {{2 Kings 21:11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly MORE THAN ALL the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols,”}} God promised judgement would come – {{2 Kings 21:12 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle,”}} AND {{2 Kings 21:14 “and I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies.”}}

When Manasseh died his son Amon took over and this is what he was like - {{2 Kings 21:20 “He did evil in the sight of the LORD AS MANASSEH HIS FATHER HAD DONE,”}} and that evil was extremely great – {{2 Kings 21:16 “Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had FILLED JERUSALEM from one end to another besides his sin with which HE MADE JUDAH SIN, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.”}}

Amon reigned for just two years and then this happened – {{2 Kings 21:26 “He was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza, AND JOSIAH HIS SON BECAME KING IN HIS PLACE.”}}

{{2 Kings 22:1-2 “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. HE DID RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD AND WALKED IN ALL THE WAY OF HIS FATHER DAVID, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.”}}

I find that amazing that godly Hezekiak could have as a son, the most wicked king in Judah, and in turn, that most wicked king and his just as wicked son, could have the most godly king in Josiah, equated with David. When Josiah died, three of his sons reigned and all were wicked and that was when Babylon invaded and we have our Lamentations period.

JUST SURVEY ALL THAT: godly to evil; then evil to godly; then godly to evil. We have 7 men (kings) here including 3 sons of Josiah and two were godly and five were evil. However Josiah was not to be held accountable for the sins of Manasseh and Amon; nor would Josiah’s sons be excused because of the godliness of their father. Each man will bear his own sin.

[[TWO]]. {{Ezekiel 18:18-19 As for his father, because he practised extortion, robbed his brother, and did what was not good among his people, behold, HE WILL DIE FOR HIS INIQUITY. Yet you say, ‘WHY SHOULD THE SON NOT BEAR THE PUNISHMENT FOR THE FATHER’S INIQUITY?’ When the son has practised justice and righteousness, and has observed all My statutes and done them, HE SHALL SURELY LIVE.”}}

Now you have the court of heaven deciding on the execution of righteous judgement. It is amazing that some people think the son should be punished for the father’s sins. That is not God’s way. God emphatically says that the sinful father dies but the righteous son shall live.

[[THREE]]. {{Ezekiel 18:20 “THE PERSON WHO SINS WILL DIE. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, NOR WILL THE FATHER BEAR THE PUNISHMENT FOR THE SON’S INIQUITY. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.”}}

Now we have in categorical terms what the situation is, and this is not obscure. It is as clear as crystal! The person who sins will die! Not his father, not his child, but HE himself. Additionally, the father can not be held responsible for the son or daughter’s sin. We have that in western law but not in Islamic law, which is harsh and cruel. God has spelled out for all time what His righteous judgement is.

The AV translation well known, is “The soul that sinneth shall die.” Of course we must understand that that is not saying physical death, though that may be involved, but most certainly it is spiritual death in eternity.

[[FOUR]]. {{Ezekiel 18:21-22 “If the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, and observes all My statutes and practises justice and righteousness, he shall surely live. HE SHALL NOT DIE. All his transgressions which he has committed WILL NOT BE REMEMBERED AGAINST HIM. Because of his righteousness which he has practised, he will live.”}}

What a glorious passage this is! He who turns from wickedness to (repentance in) God, will be forgiven and all his past sins are done away with never to be remembered forever. One word sums that up – GRACE. God is a gracious and compassionate God with love and mercy for the sinner. How beautiful it is that these passages exist. We take great comfort in them.

One can not speak of grace, especially 300 years ago to the year, and not think of John Newton, born 1725, who knew the truth of transformation from wickedness to righteousness. He wrote Amazing grace that is sung at some football stadiums and in pop music with absolutely no understanding of what it truly means.

[[FIVE]]. {{Ezekiel 18:23 “DO I HAVE ANY PLEASURE IN THE DEATH OF THE WICKED,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?”}}

Imagine a woodcarver who spent time lovingly creating the most beautiful bowl or vase and he was transporting it to a destination but on the way there was an accident and the vase got broken; not just broken but more like shattered. Consider the grief of that carver to see destroyed what He had created. Now imagine the grief of God over a sinner who is destroyed because he refused to obey and get converted.

God does not delight in the death of the wicked or the misery of the unrighteous. {{2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not WISHING FOR ANY TO PERISH BUT FOR ALL to come to repentance”}} I can not stand the evil doctrine some have called reprobation that teaches that God created individuals not to be saved, but merely for destruction. (the idea of “vessels of wrath”.) These people link it with predestination and ignore the Peter verse.

The inclusivity of the cross is contained in this verse 16. The means of salvation is available for all, IF all avail themselves of it. {{John 3:15-16 “that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”}}

Elsewhere I have spoken on predestination, a very misunderstood word. Everywhere it occurs it is not predestination to salvation, but predestination to blessing. It always means blessing for God’s children.

Later on in Ezekiel, this is what God has declared – {{Ezekiel 33:10-11 Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them. How then can we survive?”’ Say to them, ‘AS I LIVE!’ DECLARES THE LORD GOD, ‘I TAKE NO PLEASURE IN THE DEATH OF THE WICKED, BUT RATHER THAT THE WICKED TURN FROM HIS WAY AND LIVE. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’}}

[C]. SINS OF THE FATHERS DO AFFECT THE CHILDREN

We have a drunken father who squanders the income away on alcohol, and sometines related, on gambling as well. His family suffers, the wife sometimes beaten and abused, and the children neglected. The mother struggles with poverty and herself, goes without, to try to keep food for her children. That is not a fanciful case. It happens more than we like to think it does.

The sins of the fathers affect the children, often very badly, but this is not judgement upon the children for the fathers’ sins. It is the result, and without labouring the point, I think you see that.

There is much more to this discussion I won’t do because it takes us away from Lamentations, such as this problematic verse – {{Exodus 34:7 “who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”}}. I think in closing this examination of the sins of the fathers and how that impacts the children, I will post this quote from The Pulpit Commentary.

[[[Verse 7. – “We have borne their iniquities.” The fathers died before the iniquity was fully ripe for punishment, and their descendants have the feeling that the accumulated sins of the nation are visited upon them. This view of national troubles is very clearly endorsed by one important class of passages (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Jeremiah 32:18).

The objection to it is forcibly expressed by Job (Job 21:19-20), {{“You say, ‘God stores away a man’s iniquity for his sons.’ Let God repay him so that he may know it. “LET HIS OWN EYES SEE his decay, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.”}}

Hence Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:30) {{“But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.”}} AND Ezekiel (Ezekiel 18:1-4) insist on the truth that every man is punished for his own sins. Of course the two views of punishment are reconcilable. The Jews were not only punished, according to Jeremiah 16:11-12, for their fathers' sins, BUT FOR THEIR OWN STILL MORE FLAGRANT OFFENCES. Lamentations 5:7]]] (end of quote).

Next time we consider the pitiful, continued conditions of the defeated and devastated people. Lamentations is not a pleasant book but is very valuable if you take time to consider it.