Several weeks ago, as the Sunday morning Bible class I was teaching was about to begin, the door opened to admit a visitor. Realizing the age range of my class, the adult bringing the child to class left to bring the young girl’s brother. The young visitors were escorted to class by their grandmother, who was no stranger to me. Over a decade ago, this grandmother (with her husband and two children) was a member of my congregation before her family moved to another state. For several years, while members of the same congregation, I taught this woman’s daughter in Bible class. Now, I was going to teach her daughter’s children.
After class, I was able to greet the children’s mother and discover the reason for the visit. The great-grandparents of the children live in town and are fellow members of the congregation. The visitors were traveling through the area and decided to spend the night in town the previous evening to surprise the oldest generation at services on Sunday morning. The travelers would continue the journey home later in the afternoon. The family settled several rows in front of me for the morning worship service. As the announcements were read, I observed four generations of one family gathered to worship God. Since I frequently read on social media about happenings in the lives of the three younger generations, I am aware that this is a family of faithful Christians three generations strong, with a fourth generation in training. This fact brought several things to mind from the Bible.
Generations Doing It Right
In Genesis 18:19, God spoke concerning Abraham, “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” Abraham was faithful to God (Hebrews 11:8-10; James 2:23) and taught his household to be faithful as well (see Genesis 24 for an example of faith in the servant of Abraham). Abraham’s son Isaac and grandson Jacob obeyed God and received the same promise He made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 26:1-7; 28:12-15).
In Deuteronomy 6:1-3, Moses wrote that the people were to teach and to keep God’s commandments, “you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life” (v. 2). A few verses later, Moses continued:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
God wanted the lives of His people to revolve around teaching and obeying His commandments.
Paul wrote to Timothy, commending his faith, “which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5). Here is a New Testament example of faithfulness to God passed down through multiple generations by the teaching of God’s Word.
Notice that in each example cited above, faithfulness from generation to generation resulted from the direct teaching of God’s commandments. The wisdom of Proverbs 22:6 reminds us, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” According to Strong’s Greek/Hebrew Definitions, the word for “child” in this passage refers to someone “from the age of infancy to adolescence” (Biblesoft’s). God expects parents to actively teach His commands to children from birth through the teenage years. However, teaching is not enough. Parents must live faithfully, thus teaching by example as well. Note how many times in Matthew 23 that Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy in not living the things they taught. Hypocritical parents will earn the same condemnation (Colossians 3:21, 25; Ephesians 6:4).
Generations Doing It Wrong
Lot was a man who tried to do God’s will (2 Peter 2:7-8), but he lost his children to the world. Genesis 19 describes the tragic end to his children who chose to stay behind in Sodom. The latter part of the same chapter details the sinful choices made by Lot’s two daughters who escaped the destruction of their former home. The Bible does not explain why Lot’s children failed to follow his righteousness. Perhaps the wickedness of the people around them became more influential in their lives than their father. Whatever the reason, Lot was not the first of many faithful generations in his family tree.
Whole generations of the children of Israel repeatedly turned from the Lord. After the death of Joshua and his generation, the people left the Lord (Judges 2:7-11). This began a long cycle of oppression, repentance, deliverance, faithfulness and disobedience. Each period of disobedience followed the death of a judge (Judges 2:12-19). Whole generations failed to learn from the previous generation. Later, the prophet Hosea recorded the words of God, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (4:6). Generations failed to instruct future generations.
Eli, a priest of the Lord, had two sons. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were also priests (1 Samuel 1:3), but “the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD” (1 Samuel 2:12; see also 2:13-17, 22-25). God revealed to a young Samuel that Eli would be harshly judged. “For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them” (1 Samuel 3:13). Again, the Bible does not explain why Hophni and Phinehas turned to evil. The Scriptures do tell us that Eli was at least partly responsible because he failed as a parent to “restrain” or discipline his children. Eli became the last old man of his family, and future faithful generations did not come from his family tree (1 Samuel 2:31-33).
Choices
Each generation has choices to make. First, individuals must choose to learn and to obey God’s commands. Today, those commands are found in the New Testament. One must study God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15), keep His commandments (John 14:15) and live faithfully (Revelation 2:10). “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:20); every individual must choose to follow God. No one can obey God in another’s place.
Second, each individual must choose to instruct future generations. Jesus gave the great commission as recorded in Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-16. Here, all Christians are instructed to spread the Gospel. Additionally, Paul instructed Timothy to teach others, who could also teach others, thus perpetuating the spread of the Gospel through the world, including to future generations (2 Timothy 2:2).
Generations Worshipping Together
Looking around any group of Christians assembled for worship, one may find a mix of generations. Some families may have several generations together for worship. Others may have faithful generations worshipping in congregations somewhere else in the world. Still other families may have faithful generations missing from the family tree. Individuals who became Christians later in life, after children left home, may be the explanation of some missing generations. In other cases, Christian parents who were unfaithful to the Lord while the children were young may have lost their adult children to the world. Many of these parents have returned to the Lord and are now trying to influence and instruct grandchildren in spiritual matters. Another group of parents remained faithful to the Lord while the children were young and did their best to “bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). However, some of those children exercised their free will and chose not to obey God. These parents are praying that someday those children, like the prodigal son of Luke 15:11-24, will return in penitent obedience.
No matter the reason for missing generations today, the past cannot be changed. Only the present matters. It is the responsibility of every Christian today to teach the current and future generations about the will of the Lord. Are you part of the generation doing it right?
Works Cited
Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Seattle: Biblesoft and International Bible Translators 1994.
