Passing on the Knowledge of God
We are familiar with the account of Israel's exodus from Egypt to Canaan. After 400 years, God chose Moses to lead His people out of slavery to the promised land. Along the way, He displayed many miraculous signs—the plagues in Egypt (Exodus 7:14–12:32), the pillars of cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 12:17–22), and the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14). Yet the Israelites complained constantly in the wilderness, provoking God’s anger.
Because of their rebellion, God determined that this first generation would not enter Canaan (Numbers 14). They died in the desert, leaving their children to wander for 40 years until the last of them passed.
Before his own death, Moses asked God to appoint a leader so Israel would not be “like sheep without a shepherd” (Numbers 27:15–17). God chose Joshua, a man filled with His Spirit, and gave him authority to lead (Numbers 27:18–23). With Moses gone, Joshua brought Israel into the promised land, defeated its inhabitants, and divided the land among the tribes based on their population.
In his old age, Joshua gathered Israel’s leaders, including elders, judges, and officers, and reminded them of God’s kindness and power towards their ancestors in Egypt and the wilderness. He also urged them to remember God's role in their victory over the original inhabitants of the land they now possessed (Joshua 23). The book of Judges recounts the events that followed.
6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger (Judges 2:6-12).
Joshua’s generation had received the knowledge of God from Moses. They served the Lord faithfully as recorded in verse 7: “The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.”
However, we read in verse 10 that after they died, “There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” The next generation abandoned God for idols (Judges 2:11–12).
Somewhere, the passing on of the knowledge of God and His work broke down. The next generation lacked knowledge of the Lord who had freed their ancestors from Egypt, nor were they familiar with how He did it.
This raises questions: Who bore the blame? Did Joshua’s generation fail to teach, i.e., did they neglect to do for their children what Moses did for them? Or did the children refuse to receive and obey?
The Joshua Generation
We should first examine the role of Joshua’s generation. The Joshua generation represents those who have received discipleship in the faith. They may have grown up in Christian homes, mentored by spiritual leaders, or, by God’s grace, come to the faith in Christ later in life. They have had a ‘Moses’ who trained them in the ways of God.
Another question we must ask is: What was the responsibility of the Joshua generation?
Their calling is clear: to pass on the knowledge of God through teaching, preparing and reminding the next generation about God’s faithfulness, just as Moses had done for them. Today, parents and guardians carry this responsibility.
The Joshua Generation's Call to Action
It is the job of parents and guardians to pass on the knowledge of God to the next generation in the following way;
Teach the next generation
Share the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection with your children. Do the work of an evangelist in your home. Do not leave this work to Sunday school teachers. Instructing those under your influence in the faith is a God-given role.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
While it is not a promise that trained children won't stray from the faith, it's still wise to guide them in the way you have tasted and seen to be true. If we do not teach them, the world will.
Prepare the next generation
Equip them to stand against lies with the unchanging truth of God’s Word. Prepare them to live a counterculture life. Your home should be the place where they dive deep into God’s truth before facing the shallow currents of the world.
Remind the next generation
Tell them of God’s transforming work in your life—how He saved, delivered, and provided—things they never saw or experienced. Personal testimonies about God’s mercy in your life make His work a reality in their lives.
Practice what you teach the next generation
Your influence affects those under your authority just as children imitate what they see their parents do. What does the next generation observe from you?
Do they see you pray alone and with them?
Do they see you reading Scripture? Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Do they see you serving others?
Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Live out what you teach so that the next generation witnesses faith in action.
One of the greatest joys for the Joshua generation is seeing their children continue in the truth. John expressed his delight: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4).
The Next Generation
We will now focus on the next generation to determine who was accountable for the breakdown in the knowledge of God.
The ‘next generation’ was the generation that lived under the guardianship of the Joshua generation. They were supposed to be trained in the ways of the Lord by their parents.
We use the word ‘supposed’ since we assume the prior generation taught them about God. The knowledge transfer required both generations to collaborate. The Joshua generation had to teach, while the following generation had to learn and apply that knowledge. If the Joshua generation faithfully transmits the knowledge of God, yet the next generation disregards it, the outcome is serving other gods. Conversely, if the Joshua generation neglects to teach the next generation about God, the outcome is the same—they will serve other gods.
Now suppose that the ‘next generation’ gained knowledge of God’s work through their parents. What was their duty? Their role was twofold, just as it continues to be.
Embrace the Knowledge
They were to embrace the knowledge. Whatever is not embraced gets abandoned. The next generation after Joshua’s did not embrace what they received and soon abandoned the God of their parents and went after other gods. There will always be counterfeit gods to follow.
The new generation must choose whether to embrace what they received or to abandon it as worthless. The decision is entirely theirs and depends on how much they buy into the teaching and preparation from their Joshua generation.
It is, however, difficult to embrace something you don’t understand. The next generation must discover for themselves the reasons for their faith in Jesus Christ, and be prepared to defend those beliefs. As the apostle Peter wrote, “Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15, ESV).
Unequipped people quickly lose their faith when challenged. The evidence for the faith in God is available; don’t serve other gods before testing the proof for the God of your believing teachers. Besides human teachers like parents, pastors and guardians, God has also gifted us the Holy Spirit, who is the ultimate teacher of the church.
Build a Relationship with God
The ‘next generation’ also had to develop a relationship with God. Joshua’s generation had a relationship with God separate from Moses’ as noted in verse 7, “The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.”
The knowledge and experiences passed to you by your teachers are valuable, yet your faith cannot rest on them. Nothing can replace a personal relationship with God. The decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is yours. It’s important to remember that God has no grandchildren; you and your teachers are all God’s children. You must have a personal relationship with Him separate from your teachers’. No one will stand before God on another’s account.
As the psalmist declares in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” you have to build a relationship with God through the proof and the impact of His presence in your life.
For example, although Moses recounted to Joshua and his contemporaries the stubbornness of Pharaoh and God’s miraculous signs; Joshua's generation didn't depend solely on their ancestors' testimonies for their own faith in God. Joshua’s generation saw God's work firsthand: manna from heaven, the Jordan River drying up, and the conquest of Canaan. These experiences of God’s work in their own time became their evidence of the continued faith in the God of their fathers. In the same way, today’s generation must recognize God’s hand in their own lives as evidence for their faith.
In conclusion, it is also important to understand that every generation deals with unique trials. Moses dealt with Pharaoh and the rebellion of his own people, while Joshua dealt with the Canaanites. These were two distinct problems for two different generations. The problems we face today are not the same that the next generation will face. However, the solution remains the same—Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
After training the next generation, the Joshua generation need not worry; Christ will support them through their trials. He knows how to make them the moral reason in their society; the city set on a hill that cannot be hidden, the salt that will season their world, and the light that will invade darkness for His glory.
And to the ‘next generation’, don’t be the generation who abandoned the Lord whom your parents served.
To those who have spiritual influence, don’t let your legacy be that of neglect in teaching, preparing and reminding the following generation about the knowledge of God and His work. Don’t be the generation that serves God while your children “know not the Lord or his work.”
Just as Paul commended Timothy’s faith, which lived first in his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice, and then in him (2 Timothy 1:5), may the same be said of us—that we faithfully pass on the knowledge of God, and that those after us receive it and walk in it.
Amen.
