Knowledge or Ignorance of God’s Word Can Determine One’s Eternal Destiny

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

Of all the people who profess to be Christians, how much time per week do you feel they average in study of the Bible or related information? 20 hours? 10? 4? Or perhaps just the 3-4 hours spent in church services. If faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17), it seems that no one could accumulate a lot of faith simply by listening to a couple of sermons and a couple of Bible lessons per week. And without faith it is impossible to please Him. (Hebrews 11: 6)

And what possible excuse will "Christians" give when they stand before God? Not too many people realize just how many admonitions to study are in the Bible. When asked for an example of such, most people will quickly give you 2 Timothy 2:15. This may be one of the most straight forward commands, but the Bible is filled with other such admonitions and pleadings.

Read Deuteronomy 6: 6-9. Acts 17:30 tells us that God winked at ignorance in times past but now commandeth all men, everywhere to repent. Matthew 11: 29 says: "Take my yoke upon you, and LEARN of me:...". 2 Peter 1: 5 tells us to add to our faith (which already requires some knowledge) virtue, and to virtue, KNOWLEDGE. And of course that will add to our faith. Every thing we do must be done in faith and that requires knowledge of God's word.

People, especially here in America, are without excuse. We have access to Bibles, and if you are reading this, you must have a computer. Did you realize for instance, that our church website has well over 3000 links to valuable biblical information, with links to many sermons, links to religious journals, articles, etc. And there are many more sites with almost unlimited information concerning God's word. Although the author is unknown, one accurate and a favorite saying is "You cannot obey God, if you don't know what He says!" Let us all work diligently while it is still day, for the night cometh when no man shall work.

Another excuse seems to be, "I just can't find time to read the Bible enough." Somehow, I just can't believe that such an excuse will cut it when we stand before God. Our priorities are just in the wrong place. How much time do we spend hunting, fishing, watching television, reading the newspaper, napping, plus perhaps a thousand other such items. Are all of those more important than studying God's word? The only way to assure oneself of adhering to a routine is to make one. Set aside an allotted time each day for study and for prayer. Then do it. If you are like this author, I prefer to rise in the early mornings to spend time in prayer and study before other activity sets in which can distract.

Depending upon one's capability to read at a reasonable speed, most people can read the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in 55 to 60 hours. There may be a wider variance of course, with unusually slow readers, or very fast readers. But stop and think about that. If 2 hours per day is set aside and used diligently, the reader may complete the entire bible in one month. If read in this manner for one year, the reader would have been through the Bible twelve times! And one can be assured, each of those times will have enlightened him on some subject or some specific verse.

Reading the Bible in such a manner is not THE best method of study. But, it is very valuable for one to read it through several times, simply to be assured that every verse has been read and considered. There are many subjects, verses, etc which need careful consideration, references run on them, and other investigation, in order to accurately determine their true meaning and intent.

The apostle Peter gives us this admonition which can only be accurately followed by an accruement of biblical knowledge: