“In 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.”
– Judges 2:10
What a sobering, challenging verse. Did you hear that last part? “There arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel”. This is the very beginning of the Book of Judges that is gonna unfold all kinds of sin and idolatry and immorality among God’s people, some of the most horrible pictures of sinfulness. Men and women are gonna be on display in this book. And here at the beginning, we see that it is because a generation rose up that did not know the Lord, and did not know what he had done for Israel.
Judges 2:10
This verse just shouts to us, be intentional to pass the good news of who God is and what God has done on to the next generation. This doesn’t happen accidentally. This must be intentional. We see this all throughout Scripture. I think bout Psalm 78 and just the exhortation to tell the coming generations, the children even yet unborn, we want them to know who God is. What God has done. That’s what didn’t happen here in Judges and the consequences were tragic. I wanna challenge each of us in our lives, all together for us as followers of Christ in the church, to be intentional about passing the Gospel on to the next generation. Telling students, children, who God is, what God has done, pouring our lives into the next generation that they might know God and his word.
Not thinking that’s just gonna happen accidentally, but prioritizing this in our lives. Whether we’re parents with kids or grandparents with grandkids, or single brothers and sisters, or married with no kids, we all together have a responsibility to look at the generation behind us and to pass the Gospel on to the them. To pass God’s word on so they might know God, they might love God, they might worship God, and follow God. They might know what he has done for them. So Judges, Chapter 2, Verse 10 just compels us to pray for the next generation.
Judges 2:10
Oh God, we praise you for those who have passed the Gospel on to us. For parents or pastors or leaders in the church, or people in our lives, who have told us who you are, who have told us what you have done in Christ for the salvation of our sins. Who have told us how you have faithfully provided for them in order that we might look to you and hope in you. Put our faith in you, trust you for salvation, trust to to lead and guide us, thank you. I just thank you God right now.
So many different names come to my mind, maybe others do to, that have been faithful to pass the Gospel on to us. Thank you. And we pray that you would help us to do the same with those who come behind us. God, we pray for children in our sphere of influence right now, whether they’re in our home, in our churches, we pray for children, for teenagers, God, who are facing so many different challenges right now. So many different temptations. For college students, for the generation behind us, God we pray. Help us to be faithful to pass the Gospel on to them.
Judges 2:10
God, we want them to know you. To know your love for them. To know what you’ve done for them in Jesus. We want them to thrive in such a way that they pass the Gospel on to the generation after them. God, we do pray for children yet unborn. God, I pray for my children’s children, should you provide them. And their children, God, that they might know you and love you and walk with you, God, we pray for that.
For generations yet unborn, that through our witness, and our faithfully passing your word on to those behind us, and equipping them to do the same, God we pray. We pray that there would be legacies of faith flowing from each of our lives, in the generations that come behind us. Please oh God may it be so. May it not be said that there arose after us a generation that did not know you or the work you have done in Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
