The Old Testament isn t often used in VBS lessons unless it is to take certain stories and teach children certain characteristics that Christians should have. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I think the Old Testament is often overlooked as being the starting place for discovering why Jesus had to die, which is the Gospel. Through the Old Testament the sacrificial system is explained, and without that explanation, children (and adults) wouldn t understand that Jesus death was the fulfillment of the ultimate sacrifice. In today s world, many children know little or nothing about the Bible, so it would seem appropriate to explain the whole story to them. The following approach has been effectively used as VBS lessons.
• The Bible is God s Word written down so that people can read and understand it. In His Word, God tells what He is like Creator, loving, just, holy, perfect, the only One, etc. It s very important to know who God is in order to understand what happened in the history of the world, and what is happening today. At the beginning of the world, everything was just the way God wanted it, with the first people being friends of God. They could talk to Him and see Him, and there was nothing wrong or bad.
• Sin came to the world through some bad angels (one in particular) who didn t want to love or serve God, but wanted to be better than Him. The first people on earth listened to the bad angel and made a bad choice: disobeying God. So sin became a part of all people from that time. God said that sin required death (since God is perfect, He could no longer be friends with people because of sin), and that death was to be not only an end of life on earth, but for eternity (meaning people couldn t be with God after they died).
• Since sin required death, God told the people that they were to kill a perfect animal (shedding its blood) to take their place. The perfect animal didn t permanently take care of the sin debt, but the blood was a temporary covering of sin. The perfect animal (sometimes a lamb) represented what God would one day do for the people; He would send Someone perfect to take the penalty for sin away forever. The people had to believe that God would keep His promise when they offered the lamb as a sacrifice in their place. Some people didn t believe that God would do what He promised, and they tried to do good works to have their sins forgiven. God gave Ten Commandments to show that everyone had sin and no one could keep all the commandments and be good enough to have God s friendship.
• Jesus, God s perfect Son, was born on earth as a human, but without the sin nature that all people had. He grew to be a man and did many things that proved that He was God s Son. At the right time, He died, shedding His perfect blood, so that people could have a way back to God. He was the perfect Lamb (pictured in the Old Testament) whom God has promised to send to pay for sin forever.
• A short time after Jesus died and was buried, He came back to life. There wasn t anything that could keep him dead, since He was God in the flesh. The reason He came back to life was so that everyone who has faith in Him (faith that He paid for sin forever) would be able to live forever with God in His home, Heaven. Because of Jesus resurrection, those who believe in Him won t be kept dead forever.
Author Resource:
Aleena Denison has a heart for seeing the message of the Bible presented in a clear way,and is dedicated to sharing Jesus with the lost and helping believers see their responsibilities in evangelism,discipleship,and Bible study. For more information and free downloads, see http://www.goodseed.com
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