Four Generations

Four Generations (Proverbs 30:11-14) A. generation: That which is generated. 5. The whole body of individuals born about the same period; also, the time covered by the lives of these. 6. Family, breed, race; class, kind, or ‘set’ of persons. Obs. 1. Jesus described Israel of His day (especially its leaders) as being a childish, implacable generation. MAT 11:16-17. 2. Jesus called the Scribes and Pharisees an evil and adulterous generation and a generation of vipers. MAT 12:38-39; 23:33. B. Agur sets forth four classes/generations of persons that are each reprehensible. PRO 30:11-14. C. The first generation have a degenerate attitude towards their parents. v. 11. 1. This is a breach of the first commandment of the second table of the Law. EXO 20:12 c/w EPH 6:1-3. 2. The Law had strict punishments for this. LEV 20:9; DEU 21:18-21. 3. The Law even pronounced a curse upon someone who mocked or trivialized parents even if it might not be openly performed. DEU 27:16 c/w PRO 30:17. 4. We are still taught to requite parents after a godly manner. 1TI 5:4, 8. 5. This speaks of proper natural affection. 2TI 3:2-3. D. The second generation assumes themselves pure and guiltless in spite of their corruptness. v. 12. 1. Job, for all his goodness, thought too much of himself. JOB 33:8-9. 2. Consider the Laodicean church which thought it had it all. REV 3:17. 3. Consider the adulterous woman and her political and spiritual counterparts. PRO 30:20; ISA 47:7-9; REV 17:1-6; 18:5. 4. Consider the self-deceived professor of God who does not think he needs to adhere to His commands and baptism. MAT 7:21-23; ACT 22:16. 5. We are warned against assuming ourselves sinless. 1JO 1:8-10. E. The third generation has a haughty opinion of themselves and shows it. v. 13. 1. Such was the king of Assyria whom God used and judged. ISA 10:12. 2. The daughters of Zion loved to strut their stuff rather than their chastity. ISA 3:16. 3. The sinners in Jerusalem and Judah were openly proud of their sin. ISA 3:9. 4. Sodom had high gay pride. EZE 16:49-50. 6. God rejects the proud, haughty, high look of sinners. PSA 101:5; PRO 21:4; 6:16-17. 7. Roosters that always crow are likely to be cashiered. PRO 16:18. 8. We are warned against thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. ROM 12:3. F. The fourth generation are voracious in their words and deeds. v. 14. 1. When they are not cursing the righteous openly, they are using good words and fair speeches and false accusations to destroy them. ACT 24:1-9. 2. They devour the poor by financial chicanery and legal tactics. AMO 8:4-7; JAM 5:1-6. 3. Better to be rich in good words and works. 1TI 6:17-19. G. The Scribes and Pharisees were all four generations. 1. They cursed their own parents in “nice” ways. MAT 15:4-6. 2. They were pure in their own eyes but filthy. MAT 23:25-28. 3. Their eyes were lifted up in false righteousness and superiority. LUK 18:9-14. 4. They were masters of linguistic sophistry, slanders, false accusations, etc. and had no qualms about exploiting the poor, using religion as a cloak. MAT 23:2-3, 14; 2CO 4:2. H. PRO 30 has a number of “three, four” expressions. PRO 30:15, 18, 21, 29. 1. The Book of Amos has eight such expressions. AMO 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6. 2. It is as if three is enough and four tips the scales. Four Generations 4-3-25 Page 1 of 2  3. Compare this with the four threats of God against sinners. EXO 20:5; 34:7; NUM 14:18; DEU 5:9. 4. Abraham’s seed was to abide as strangers until the fourth generation “...for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (GEN 15:16). 5. Because Jehu had fully executed judgment on the house of Ahab, his children of the fourth generation would have the throne in Israel. 2KI 10:30. 6. Paul besought the Lord thrice and was stopped from a fourth attempt. 2CO 12:8-9. 7. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed the same thing thrice only. MAT 26:39-44. 8. Peter denied the Lord thrice and was corrected and instructed in threes. JOH 13:38; 21:15-17; ACT 10:13-16. 9. The Law had three obligatory feasts (EXO 34:23-24) but a fourth feast represented the fullness of sin and its judgment, the end of the Law for righteousness. 1CO 5:8; 10:16. 10. The divine Davidic monarchy had three divisions of fourteen generations (MAT 1:17) but the true King took the throne in the New Testament era. ACT 2:29-32. 11. Christ was entombed for three days and nights only (MAT 12:39-40). The fourth day was His victorious resurrection for our justification (ROM 4:25) and was necessary for His coronation. I. The Scribes and Pharisees filled up the measure of their fathers, a four-generation terminal condition that culminated in the crucifixion of Christ to institute a New Testament that changed everything. MAT 23:32-33 c/w 1TH 2:14-16. Four Generations 4-3-25 Page 2 of 2