Everything New By: Susan Cain Text Isaiah 11:6-9; Revelation 21:1-27; Isaiah 65:17-25 Key Quest Verse God said, I am making everything new (Revelation 21:5). Bible Background When God created people, He knew they would choose to sin and so He had a plan to save us all along. God s greatest desire is to father us (Rev. 21:3) and to have us adore, obey and love Him. He wishes to co-exist with us in an eternal, perfect place like the Garden of Eden, where there will be no more death, nor disease, only this time, there will be no disobedience from His people. The whole Bible points in this Kingdom-direction. Isaiah understood this clearly in a beautiful vision God gave him of His holiness, then of the millennial Kingdom. This book is a special book from God, and if you look closely, you will see that it is, sort of, a mini-bible. It has 66 chapters, like our 66 books and the chapters are unique, too. The first 39 chapters have a very Old Testament flair and the last 27 chapters sound very much like the New Testament. Isaiah writes that in the end, God will make everything new again, where animals will no longer be dangerous and people will live to be a very old age. In exile, on the island of Patmos, John saw a similar vision and wrote of it in Revelation. It was as if God was giving John this vision to encourage him and give him hope during this lonely time. Revelation shows that God will take the things man has misused, perverted and twisted, and make it all new. God will change the nature of every living being and the environment in which we all live. Unit 3-PS-B-1
Lesson Quest What I want my students to: Know: Feel: Do: God has a plan for them. God loves them so much that He ll make everything new for them. Be excited about the future Kingdom on a new earth. Leader s Devotion My, what a vision both Isaiah and John had! I m sure it was hard for them to put down in words everything they saw and felt. But, I m sure glad they did, because these passages of Scripture give me so much hope. The older I get, and the more suffering I see around me, the more I LONG for those streets of gold with bright jewels all around, shimmering in the brilliance of God s holiness. I can t wait to see my neighbors, Joe and Faye, and have them actually SEE me, since they have both blind from childhood. I can t wait to kiss my Dad again, meet my mother-in -law and hug other friends and relatives that I miss so badly. I can t wait to have my mom s illness cured, along with so many others around me. I can t wait for justice to be done and evil to be no more. I m looking forward to no more war where selfish, evil leaders want so much power. In my youth, with my rose-colored glasses on, I didn t long for the Kingdom like I do now. For children, who have been sheltered from evil (and rightly so), thinking of the beauty of the Kingdom and being able to play with forbidden animals should make them look forward to a new earth, along with seeing adults excited and talking about Jesus coming. Children need to hear that God loves them, even if they don t have an earthly father who does, and that God has good plans for them. Unit 3-PS-B-2
Option A ANIMAL PLAY Materials: Doll, stuffed animals of different types (tigers, lions, lambs, snakes, rabbits, birds, etc.) If you don t have any, I m sure the parents of your students do. Procedure: Have the children sort the stuffed animals into different categories, like the meateaters on one table and the grass eaters on another table. Put the doll away from all the animals. Then, let the children put them all together. Then, have them put the doll and all the animals together. Story Tie-in: Could these animals and child all be together in one cage at the zoo? Why not? Our Bible tells us that someday the world will be made new and these animals and children will all get to play together and not hurt each other. Children like you will be able to pick up poisonous snakes or pet tigers and they won t bite you. You might even get to ride on a bear s back and not even get hurt. Let s read about this in the Bible. GO TO THE BIBLE STORY Option B I M SICK Materials: Bandages, ace bandages, cold medicine, tummy ache medicine (make sure they all have child-proof caps), thermometer, cold packs, etc., all in a paper bag Procedure: Take each item out of the bag one at a time and discuss its use. Mommies and Daddies have to have supplies in their homes to help family members feel better when someone is sick. When we go on vacation, we need to take items like this with us just in case someone doesn t feel well away from home. In our Bible, it says that someday, after Jesus comes back, He ll take us to a beautiful, perfect place which will last forever and we won t ever need any of these things. We ll never be sick again! GO TO THE BIBLE STORY Unit 3-PS-B-3
Bible Story Teacher Tip: Provide markers for students to highlight portions of the story in their Bibles A long time ago, before Jesus was even born, God caused a man named Isaiah to have a vision of what the earth will be like someday. He saw a perfect place, a place where dangerous animals could play together and children could even pet them. You see, after Adam and Eve ate from the no no tree, lots of bad things came in the world; things like biting mosquitoes, skinned knees, people fighting and killing each other and animals having to kill to get food. People can get sick now with terrible diseases and even die. Sometimes there isn t enough rain or lots of insects come and kill our crops. People don t care about taking care of the earth anymore, and there is trash lying around and in rivers and lakes, so fish have a hard time surviving. God couldn t live with us anymore, because He is holy and perfect and needs a place without bad things. But, God knew that people would mess up, just like your mommy or daddy knows when you might do something bad. For example, a mom might put away the candy, because she knows a child might want to eat it. So, God had a plan for us. He gave us His only son, named Jesus, to take away the bad stuff in our hearts. He died for us, so that we could have a way to be with God again. But, He is in heaven with God right now, helping to change our hearts and hearing us when we pray. He is waiting for God, his Daddy, to send Him back to earth to be our King and to make everything new and perfect again. Then, God will come to live with people once again! God wants to wipe the tears out of our eyes, and we ll never get hurt again. He wants us to pet and play with the furry animals He made, along with the snakes that would normally be afraid of us and bite us. He doesn t want us to ever get sick or hurt again. He wants everyone that has died and loved Him, to live again and never worry about dying again. He will make all the yucky stuff leave and will make the good things we know about even better. He wants to make everything that is broken, new again. Unit 3-PS-B-4
I Will Be New! GUEST QUEST Materials: None Quest Connection In our lesson, God will make people new. Procedure: Invite someone from your congregation with a visible challenge (visually impaired, hearing impaired, on crutches or with a cast, in a wheelchair, etc.) who is excited about the Kingdom. Or, invite someone who has a picture of a deceased loved one he/she is excited to see. You can ask these questions or have the children ask some questions. 1. How would you like to be made new? 2. What is something you re looking forward to doing in the Kingdom? 3. What animals would you like to touch in the Kingdom? 4. Do you have any questions you d like to ask God or Jesus someday? Close All of us have something we want made new in our bodies or in our families or for people we know. God will make this happen for us in the Kingdom. Unit 3-PS-B-5
SCIENCE Clean Up! Materials: Bowl with a white interior, water, pepper in a shaker, small container of dish soap Quest Connection The earth is not perfect now, but God will make bad things go away for good in the Kingdom. Procedure: Tell the children that the bowl of water represents the earth. Shake enough pepper in the water to make it noticeable. This pepper is like the bad stuff on earth, like pollution, bad thoughts, diseases, biting bugs and snakes and boo boo s. Try to touch the pepper and make it go away. It will continue to float. People can try to make things better, but we need help from God to make all bad things stay away. Dip your finger in dish soap and touch the surface of the water in the center. The pepper will rush to the side of the bowl. God will make all the bad things go away like this yucky stuff went away. Close God will clean everything up for us. Let s ask Him right now to send Jesus to us soon, so we can live in His perfect Kingdom. Unit 3-PS-B-6
Kingdom Crown CRAFT Materials: One paper plate per child, paint, paint brushes, sequins, beads, jewels, glitter, paper ribbon, pipe cleaners, glue, tape, scissors, paint smock (or old shirt worn backwards) for each child to wear, one helper per child (Adult or could be Jr. High or Teen class), Resource Page Option: Paper or cardboard plates in different colors would take the place of painting the plates Quest Connection The Bible tells us that as a reward, we ll have crowns to wear in the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 9:25). Procedure: Give each child and helper one paper plate already cut out. Fold up the points. Allow them to paint their plates with a light coating of paint (with paint smock on), and let them dry. Have the children glue or tape on jewels, sequins, ribbons, pipe cleaners and glitter for decorations. For the girls, you can curl a few long pieces of ribbon with scissors and attach them to the back of the crown and let them hang down. Tip: If you have a computer, you can go to www.enchantedlearning.com for more ideas on a crown. Close God has great plans for you. He has a crown waiting just for you to wear in the Kingdom. Let s thank God for loving us so much. Unit 3-PS-B-7
Alive Again! QUEST TRIP Materials: None Quest Connection Someday we won t have cemeteries in our world. Jesus will set up a beautiful Kingdom for us and there won t be anyone dying anymore. Let s take a trip somewhere and talk about people who will be alive again. Walk your class out to the cemetery. Ask the children the following questions: 1. What are these people doing right now? (Sleeping.) 2. How old was this person when he/she died? (Talk about not growing old in the Kingdom.) 3. Should we be happy or sad when we re here? (Both; we re sad that we can t see these people right now, but we re happy they will be in the Kingdom and made new to never die again.) 4. When will we see this person again? (In the Kingdom.) Close After Jesus comes and sets up the Kingdom, we will never die, so we won t need cemeteries. Everyone who died knowing Jesus will get to live again and their bodies will be perfect. Unit 3-PS-B-8
Rice Krispie Earth FOOD: Be sure to check for food allergies! Materials: Wet wipes, 2 large bowls (microwaveable), green food coloring, blue food coloring, spoons, water, microwave oven, Ziploc baggies, art smocks (optional), globe or map 1. 1/4 cup margarine or butter, divided 2. 40 regular marshmallows, divided 3. 1/2 tsp. vanilla, divided 4. 6 cups rice cereal, divided Makes 10 or so plum-sized balls. Make larger balls for fewer children. Quest Connection Our Key Quest verse tells us that God will make all things new. Let s make a new earth today for a snack. Here is a globe, so you can see what the earth looks like. Procedure: Place 1/8 cup butter and 1/4 tsp. vanilla in one bowl and cook on high in microwave oven for 1-minute increments until melted, stirring occasionally. When melted, add 10 drops or so of green food coloring to mixture (color will drastically lighten after adding cereal). Add 3 cups rice cereal and stir. Set aside to cool slightly while making the second batch. Repeat directions in other bowl, only adding blue food coloring. Let cool for a couple of minutes so children can handle without burning their hands. Have each child wet his/her hands with water, and pick up a fist size of the blue mixture. Next, press the same amount of green mixture in chunks around the blue, to look like land. Cool completely. Send an earth home with each child in a Ziploc baggie. (We don t want to spoil lunches.) Close We just made our own little earth to snack on after lunch. God will make our earth new someday. He will form it with His own hands. Let s sing He s Got the Whole World in His Hands. Unit 3-PS-B-9
Placemats ARTS AND CRAFTS Materials: Two 18-inch lengths of waxed paper for each child, Kingdom Resource Page, iron, old towels, crayons, glitter, glue Quest Connection Let s look forward to the Kingdom by remembering it each day. We re going to make a placemat so that when you eat, you ll remember to ask God to send us His Kingdom very soon. Procedure: 1. Have the children decorate the Kingdom Resource Page 2. Lay one piece of waxed paper on folded towels 3. Center the decorated picture on the waxed paper 4. Place the other piece of waxed paper on top 5. Iron the waxed papers together 6. Trim the edges of the papers even Close Everyday when we sit down to eat, we can remember to ask God to send us His Kingdom very soon. Let s ask God right now. Unit 3-PS-B-10
Resource Page Kingdom Color the picture. Use a crayon to trace the letters to form the word, Kingdom. Add touches of gold glitter to the city of gold using a glue stick. Preschool
Resource Page Preschool
Worksheet Preschool
Worksheet Preschool
The Bible tells us that the Kingdom will be a beautiful place. Draw a picture of you in the Kingdom. God said, I am making everything new (Revelation 21:5). Preschool