Deuteronomy 31:13 And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
To Pass On the Truth
Most of us have no depth perception when it comes to where we are as compared to where we have been. I was thinking about the fact that it has only been in the last 50 years or so that air conditioning has become common in our country, yet it is all I have known. I can’t comprehend living in Tennessee in the summer without air conditioning, yet the vast majority of people who have ever lived in Tennessee did not have air conditioning. In fact, most people in the world right now do not have air conditioning.
So does it matter whether we have any depth perception to see our present condition as compared to previous generations? When it comes to air conditioning, probably not, but with the heart, yes, it is important. Any generation who would pass the truth on needs a written witness to the future and young people to carry it forward. That’s exactly what Deuteronomy 31 teaches us.
Moses was about to die, and Joshua, a new leader, was about to lead Israel into Canaan. Israel needed two things: a written witness and a fresh face. As to the written witness, there were two ways this was done. God had commissioned a song to be written so that the truth could be remembered generation after generation, and God’s law was written down and kept so that Israel would have a fixed standard by which to judge where they were.
God wanted Israel to see where they were relative to His truth. If you shift just a little bit each year, before you know it, you are in a completely different place. A lot of things can and must change, but living by the truths of the Bible must not. In fact, things like friendships and institutions may come and go precisely because the one thing that cannot change must dictate that these other things do change.
As to the “fresh face,” Israel needed a new generation to carry on the truth given to them. Moses wasn’t going to Canaan, but God had raised up a new man to lead His people. We ought to encourage such people as Israel encouraged Joshua. They told Joshua, “We are with you, and just as we followed Moses, we will follow you. Be strong and courageous, and make sure that you are following God as we follow you.”
It is a good idea to make sure there is a consistent diet of the Bible in your home. You might also want to leave a written record of some of the things you have learned from the Bible and that you want to pass on to the next generation.
Any generation that is to pass the truth on needs a written witness to the future and young people to carry it forward.