By John Gipson
Why is it that preachers continually emphasize the importance of Bible study? Have they just run out of other things to say, or is it really that important?
Perhaps one thing to remember is that apostasy lurks just one generation away. It has been true in the past and it is true today. You well remember that the days of Joshua were glorious. This man served as the faithful minister of Moses, the servant of God, the bold and believing spy, the successor of Moses, the captain of the hosts of Israel and the conqueror of Canaan. His influence was so great that “the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua” (Judges 2:7). But then, at the age of one hundred and ten, Joshua dies. “And there arose another generation, which knew not the Lord” (Judges 2:10).
One great generation serves the Lord – the next does not. How swiftly things can change. What brought it all about? The answer is quite simple. Someone allowed a crop of children to grow up without proper instruction. And eventually they had to reap destruction. One step followed another until the punishment of God was meted out. Note the order of progression as it related to ancient Israel.
1. Spiritual illiteracy. They “knew not the Lord” (Judges 2:10).
2. Forsaking God. “And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Judges 2:12).
3. Serving false gods. They followed “the gods of the people that were around them” (Judges 2:12). They gave into pagan ideas, pagan practices and customs. Immorality abounded and “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
4. Punishment from God. “And the anger of the Lord” was hot against Israel and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about” (Judges 2:14).
There is no hope if spiritual illiteracy prevails. Heathen altars will abound. Tidal waves of iniquity will arise and destruction will follow. We must not fail the youth of today. We must diligently teach them the truth lest it be said once again, “there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord.”