Lesson 104 - Elementary

Memory Verse

"By grace are ye saved through faith”  (Ephesians 2:8).

Notes

The Creation

In the very beginning God made many wonderful things " the earth, the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars. He also made all the animals, the birds, and fishes. But the most wonderful work God did was when he made man. Man was made out of the dust of the earth and God breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

Did you ever plant a garden? Many children have helped their parents work in the garden, and some children have a little garden of their own. Did you know that God planted a Garden? Whatever God makes is very good, so we know that He had a lovely Garden, which was called the Garden of Eden. There were beautiful trees, flowers, and a lovely river, which watered the Garden. When God made man, He placed him in the Garden to care for it.

The first man who ever lived on the earth was named Adam, and his wife's name was Eve. Together they lived in the Garden of Eden. God visited them and walked with them and talked to them there. He told them to eat of the fruit of all the trees except one certain tree.

The Fall

One day something happened. Among the animals in the Garden was one snake that was very bad. It told Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of which God had forbidden them to eat. Did your parent ever tell you not to do something? Then if you disobeyed them and did it anyway, they had to punish you. That is just exactly what happened to Adam and Eve. They disobeyed the voice of God and ate the fruit that God has forbidden them to eat. That was the first to enter into this world. It is called the "fall of man." Ever since that time, sickness, trouble, and death have come into the world.

One evening when the Lord God came to the Garden, He called Adam as usual and said, "Where art thou?" Where do you suppose Adam was? He was hiding from God. Then God asked Adam if he had eaten of the fruit of the tree of which they were forbidden to eat. Adam blamed his wife; Eve blamed the old snake. But the sin had been committed -" they had disobeyed God's voice and God had to punish them.

The Punishment

God sent Adam out of the Garden and told him he would have to work hard. Thorns and thistles began to grow. All kinds of trouble came to Adam and Eve because they had been disobedient. Later on they found that their children were born with sin in their hearts. Their eldest son was a very bad boy. And since that time, everyone is born with a heart and a mind that cannot obey God until one is saved from sin.

Did you ever see even a very little baby get mad and scream and cry? Did you ever watch a little child, who is just old enough to walk, disobey his mother? Perhaps the mother will say, "no, no!" But the child will go ahead and do what his mother said not to do. As the child gets older, he does naughty little things, and later on he may even say bad words and talk back to his parents. Unless he gets saved and has the Blood of Jesus wash his heart white, he shall not be able to be good, but will do worse things as he grows older.

When a child reaches a certain age he begins to know right from wrong. Soon he becomes responsible for his acts. When he does wrong he often feels sorry for it. That is the time to ask Jesus to forgive him and save him from his sins. Jesus will save him and help him to be good. We know that Jesus saves even very little children, and as long as they pray and keep close to Jesus he helps them to do right.

Before Jesus Was Born

Before Jesus was born in the manger in Bethlehem, all the people had to kill animals and make sacrifices on an altar in order to have their sins forgiven. For many, many years the people did that and had their sins forgiven. But God has a better plan than that. From the beginning of time, God planned to someday send Jesus Christ to shed his Blood on the cross so that people could be saved from sin through Him. Do we remember the lesson we studied about the night that God had Moses lead a group of people called the Children of Israel out of Egypt? God told the people to kill a lamb and strike the blood on the side posts and upper doorpost of their houses. Then they were safe from death that night. This pointed down to a time when Jesus should come to the earth and shed His Blood on the cross.

Many of the men of God waited a long time for that wonderful day to come when Jesus should be born. A man named Job who lived many years before Jesus came to the earth said, "I know that my redeemer liveth" [JOB:19:25]). Another prophet who looked for Jesus to come said, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" [ISA:9:6]).

Jesus' Birth

At last the long-looked-for day came, and Jesus was born. Do we remember which day of the year is Jesus' birthday? We all know that He was born on the very first Christmas Day. Jesus was in Heaven with God the Father in the very beginning, but God sent Him into the world as a little Baby in a manger in Bethlehem.

Jesus lived upon the earth with His father and mother, Joseph and Mary. When He was little He probably played with the other children. He might have looked very much like other little boys. But when He was only 12 years of age He was already busy working for His Father in Heaven.

Crucifixion and Resurrection

Later on, one very sad day, the wicked people placed Jesus on a cross to die. He had never done anything wrong in His life. He had done only good to all who came to Him. He had healed the sick; He had raised the dead; He had helped many, many people. But some of the bad people did not like Him and did not want Him to do good to others.

At Easter time we learn about a very happy day. It is the day that Jesus arose from the dead. He came out of the grave and lived again with His friends. This proved to the people that He was the Son of God and had power to do anything. The grave could not hold Him! Because He died on the cross and arose again from the grave, people may be saved from their sin. They no longer need to place an animal on the altar and make a sacrifice, but may be saved through the Blood of Jesus. What a wonderful Jesus!

Heaven

When Jesus had finished His work here on the earth, He returned to Heaven. Now He is with God the Father in that beautiful place. His friends were very sad when He left them and went to Heaven. Why did He go away? He said one day, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" [JHN:14:2-3]). That is how much Jesus loves us! He wants us all to come to that lovely place and be with Him there!

Just think of it - Jesus has a place prepared for those who love Him! Everything He makes is very good, so we know that Heaven will be a wonderful place in which to live. One of these days Jesus is coming back to earth to take those who love Him to Heaven. Everything will be joy and gladness up there.

We learned that there was a beautiful river in the Garden of Eden. In Heaven there is another river, called the river of water of life, and it is clear and pure. We also read of the tree of life in Heaven, which has 12 kinds of fruit on it, and bears fruit every month. We are not told what kinds of fruit we shall find on that tree, but we are sure it will be the very best.

In heaven there is no need for the sun nor the moon to shine; no candles are needed, no flashlights nor electric lights; for the Lord God is the light of that City. All the good people will be gathered there to live with Jesus forever and ever. Just think of a time when we shall walk on the streets of gold, sing songs of praise to God around the Throne. We shall see Jesus " the One who loved us and made it possible for all who love Him to be saved and go to Heaven.

Questions

1. Who made the heaven and the earth? [GEN:1:1].

2. Did Adam and Eve disobey God? [GEN:3:6].

3. Why did Jesus Christ come to earth? [JHN:3:16].

4. Did Jesus promise to come back to earth some day? [JHN:14:3].

5. Where is the river of water of life? [REV:22:1].