SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON The Captivity

Transcription

1 Elementary Lesson Year Two, Quarter Two, Lesson Twelve SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON The Captivity AIM: to use the story of the rebuilding of the Temple to teach my students that the best opportunity to do right is the first time. OBJECTS TO HAVE: An official-looking letter Carpenters tools, or pictures of carpenters tools A picture of a broken down building A picture of a brand new building Your Bible POINT OF CONTACT: Did you ever make something, and when you were finished, or maybe even before you were finished, you had to leave it, and when you came back it was ruined? Maybe you drew a picture, and you did a great job. But you left it on the table to go outside and play, and when you came back, your little brother or sister had taken a crayon and scribbled all over your picture, and ruined it! Then you had to start all over. Did you ever build a sand castle in the sandbox or at the beach, and you had it looking just right. But when you turned your back, somebody came along and knocked it down! Then you had to start all over. Did you every build a house out of blocks or Legos? You had it looking beautiful, but when you left it somebody came along and knocked it down! Then you had to start all over. Today I m going to tell you a story from the Bible where that exact thing happened. STORY: Solomon was the third king of Israel. Solomon was the wisest man in the world. Solomon was used of God to do many wonderful things in the land of Israel. One of the greatest things that Solomon ever did was that he built the house of God in Israel, called the Temple. The Temple was a very special place in the capital of Israel where God met with His people. Solomon put a tremendous amount of money, time, and labor into building this very beautiful Temple. People would come from faraway lands to see Solomon s Temple. After Solomon died, the Temple continued to be a beautiful building in the city of Jerusalem. It was still the building that people were very proud of. It was the most wonderful building in the land. It represented, not only their history and heritage, but also their very special relationship with God. As the years passed, the people of Israel grew more and more wicked, and turned further and further away from God. Finally, they grew so wicked that God decided that they must be punished. God sent wicked King Nebuchadnezzar to take the people away from their homeland, to the land of Babylon. They had to leave their homes, they had to leave their land, and they had to leave their beautiful Temple. While they were gone, many strangers came in and tore down their beautiful city. They broke down walls, broke up the streets, and burned down houses. One of the things that the strangers did was that they destroyed the Temple! The beautiful Temple in Jerusalem was broken down and destroyed. Exactly 70 years after God had taken the Jews from their homeland, He decided that it was time to let the people go back to their home. So God moved the heart of the new king, King Cyrus, to write an official letter ordering the people of Israel who lived in the land be allowed to go back to their homes and rebuild the Temple. King Cyrus ordered people to help them rebuild the Temple, and King Cyrus made a way for all of the materials to be purchased that they would need for building. The people were so excited to learn that they would be going home to Israel at last. Of course, now most of the people who had been kidnapped from Israel had died, and those who had been children were now old people. But a new generation of Israelites, along with many of the old people who had been born in Israel, would be going back to Jerusalem. They would be led by a man named Zerubbabel. The people came to the city of Jerusalem, and they went right to work. Their beautiful Temple and been broken down, and they had to start all over. Some men swung hammers, some used saws, some used chisels, but everybody got busy in the work of rebuilding their Temple.

2 Soon some enemies of Israel came along and tried to stop them. But God was watching out for His people, and He would not allow the great work of rebuilding the Temple to be stopped. They worked and worked. Finally, after many years the Temple was finished. Everything was in place. There were new walls, new floors, new windows, new beams, a new roof everything was made new. The leaders of Israel decided to have a great celebration to dedicate the rebuilt Temple. They called all of the people together. There was music and celebration for the work of rebuilding the Temple. As the music played, the young people shouted with a great shout. They shouted words of rejoicing and celebration. They praised God for what He had allowed them and helped them to do. But as the young people shouted and praised and rejoiced, they began to notice that there were some people in the crowd who were not shouting, that were not rejoicing. They did not even look like they were enjoying the celebration at all. They looked like they were crying. In fact, they were crying! They were weeping and crying out loud! They were crying so loud that you could hear the old people crying just as loudly as you could hear the young people rejoicing. Finally, one of the young people asked an old man, Why are you crying? This is a happy day! How can you be so sad? The old man wiped his tears away, and said, You re too young to remember. You never saw the old Temple in its beauty. You never saw this place before it was destroyed. You weren t even born yet. But I remember. I saw the old Temple every single day, many years ago. I m crying because that old Temple would have never been destroyed if we had just obeyed God. Oh, I m glad we have a new Temple. But I wish we had obeyed God, so that we would have never lost the old one! Now, here is the whole point of this story this morning, kids. God is a forgiving God. If you go into sin some day, God will give you another chance. If you mess up your life, and you want God to help you straighten it out, He will help you. He will give you chance after chance. But you will never have as good a chance as you have right now!! You ve never done drugs. Now, if you mess up some day and do drugs, God may give you another chance. But your mind and your life will never be as good as it was before you did the drugs. Your best chance is right now. Don t blow it! You ve never gotten drunk from drinking beer. The devil tries to make it look like a lot of fun, but it s not. Many lives are ruined because of beer. But if some day you become a slave to beer, and you make a mess of your life, God can give you another chance. But your life will never be as good as it was before you drank beer. Your best chance to have a good life is right now. Some day you may get married. God made marriage so that it would be for the rest of your life. But some day you may mess up and divorce someone that you are married to. And God will give you another chance. But you will never have as good a chance as you have right now. Don t blow it! Have only Christian friends, date only Christian young people, don t touch a boy/girl before you get married. Marry the right person, and you won t ever get divorced. God gives second chances. But your best chance is your first chance. Let me give you some rules to follow, in order to make the most of your first chance: 1. Obey your mom and dad. 2. Be faithful to church. 3. Read your Bible and pray every day. 4. Have good Christian friends. 5. Say no to sin. Just like those older people regretted the sins that brought about the destruction of the old Temple, you will regret the sins that destroy your life. The best thing to do is to say, I m going to keep my life right, do right, talk right, think right, live right, so that I will never have to weep over a broken life. Let s learn our memory verse - Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

3 SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON The Captivity REBUILDING THE TEMPLE Teen and Adult Lesson Year Two, Quarter Two, Lesson Twelve Teacher, choose one of the following truths to expand upon in teaching this portion of Scripture to your teen/adult class. Teach and apply the truth that you choose using statements and illustrations that are most helpful and applicable to your students. I. GOD S CHASTENING DOES COME TO AN END. Judah s sin was so grievous that the nation could not continue. God had no choice but to break them down and build them back up. That was the purpose of the 70 years of captivity to break down this rebellious nation and build them back up so that they could be used. God had said that the captivity would last for 70 years, and it lasted exactly 70 years. God may need to chasten you to deal with some sin in your life. Don t rebel against it. If God is chastening you, that means there is hope. He is not destroying you. He is breaking you down so that He can build you back up. II. WHEN CHASTENING ENDS, GOD KNOWS HOW TO REBUILD YOU. The 70 years ended, and God got right to work. The first thing that needed to be done to rebuild this people was to rebuild their place of worship. Once you ve endured chastening, let God work in your life to rebuild your life. He will bring people, circumstances and events into your life that will bring you back to where He knows you need to be. Let God rebuild you. III. WHEN GOD WANTS SOMETHING DONE, HE CAN USE THE MOST SURPRISING MEANS TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. In both the end of 2 Chronicles and the beginning of Ezra, we find the record of what God did through Cyrus, King of Persia. This is absolutely miraculous, that a heathen king should undertake to set in place the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. God can use any resources He chooses to. Let Him lead you. IV. WHEN GOD PLANS A PROJECT, HE CALLS PEOPLE TO DO THE WORK. God calls leaders and workers. Do not be surprised, when a work begins, if you know that God is calling you to do something, or if people around you begin to respond to God s call. Don t worry if you do not feel qualified. Just say yes, and get busy for God. God isn t looking for people who CAN; He s looking for people who WILL. And God doesn t CALL the EQUIPPED; He EQUIPS the CALLED. V. GOD S WORK WILL ALWAYS HAVE ADVERSARIES. As soon as they got busy with the work of rebuilding the Temple, people began to take legal steps to try to stop the work. God s work always faces opposition. It is par for the course. Do not be alarmed by it; simply move forward and let God clear the way for you.

4 The Captivity Ends I. EZRA 1 The Proclamation 1:3 Cyrus sends the Jews to rebuild the Temple II. EZRA 2 The Congregation 2:1-2 The names and numbers of the people who go to Jerusalem III. EZRA 3 The Foundation 3:10-11 The work is begun IV. EZRA 4 The Opposition 4:4, The enemies of God cause the work to cease V. EZRA 5 The Motivation 5:1- VI. EZRA 6 The Confirmation 6:1, 6-7 Darius backs the project VII. EZRA 7 The Commission 7:11, 13, 17, 27 The king sends Ezra to re-establish the priestly work VIII. EZRA 8 The Execution 8:35 Ezra carries out the work that the king sent him to do IX. EZRA 9 The Offense 9:1-3 The people intermarry with the heathen X. EZRA 10 The Repentance 10:1 God convicts the people in r Adult Bible Class

5 When Israel s captivity ended, God allowed His people to return to their land and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Psalm 23:6

6 Unscramble the key words and phrases from today s Bible story. VEENTSY REASY VAPICITTY MOONLOS PLEMET REJUSMALES BEBABULERZ GNIK SCRUY SWEJ BURLITE KROW Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. Psalm 23:6

7 The answers to this week s puzzle VEENTSY REASY SEVENTY YEARS VAPICITTY MOONLOS PLEMET REJUSMALES BEBABULERZ CAPTIVITY SOLOMON TEMPLE JERUSALEM ZERUBBABEL GNIK SCRUY KING CYRUS SWEJ BURLITE KROW JEWS REBUILT WORK