The Suffering Servant – Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53

We can’t leave our lessons in Isaiah without taking a glimpse of the numerous prophecies concerning the Messiah. He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and heralded by a messenger (Isaiah 40:3-5). “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,  the Spirit of wisdom and understanding.  The Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:2).  He would perform miracles and preach good news (Isaiah 61:1)   In Isaiah 42, the LORD’S Servant is formally introduced as being One in whom He delights in , yet the coming anointed one would also be a suffering servant as pictured by Isaiah 53.  Despised and rejected, bruised and beaten…”His visage was marred more than any man.” (Isaiah:52:14)  This was Jesus, our trespass offering…but Hallelujah, His willing sacrifice satisfies once and for all, God’s requirement for the payment  of our sin debt.

Isaiah 53 – coloring page

The Handwriting on the Wall

Belshazzar, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar,  was throwing a great feast for one thousand of his lords and their ladies.  After the wine began flowing, he commanded that the sacred gold and silver vessels that  Nebuchadnezzar had confiscated from the temple in Jerusalem  be fetched.  As they drank their wine from the sacred vessels, they praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. “..In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared  and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.”  So scared his knees were knocking together, he called for the wise men of Babylon to read the writing and interpret the meaning.  The queen mother suggested Daniel be brought .  Daniel did not concern himself with the great reward being offered, but boldly proclaimed the dire message of the writing “MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN”.  Because Belshazzar did not humble his heart, although he knew the humbling his grandfather had experienced, and this night had mocked the God who “holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways” by worshipping gods who do not hear, see or know; his kingdom would be given to the Medes and Persians.  That night the king was slain and Darius the Mede took  over the kingdom.  Read the account in Daniel 5.

After coloring the page, outline the hand with a thin stream of tacky glue and use glitter. (see recommended brand in “Basic tools” Aug. 12th  blog)

Elijah at the Brook

God feeds Elijah

The prophet Elijah appears suddenly in 1Kings 17.  He has been sent to the Northern Kingdom (Israel) which has separated from the Southern Kingdom (Judah) as a result of Solomon’s disobedience.  During this time, all the kings of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord so prophets were sent to call the people to repentance before judgement would fall for forsaking the Living God.  Elijah has announced that it would not rain until he said it would !  The Lord told him to go hide at the brook Cherith , where he would command the ravens to feed him there.  When the brook dried up because of the drought he went to a widow in Zarephath to be provided for. (see lesson posted on 3/20/2013)  What an amazing story to encourage our hearts today as we see our provisions drying up before our eyes.  Will we trust the LORD?

You will need to have crackers for this lesson…the kids will eat some and glue a piece of one in Elijah’s hand. ***IMPORTANT NOTE: Please make sure you have made a note of any food allergies.  Have appropriate substitutes for those with wheat (etc) sensitivities. 

Solomon’s Folly

One of the most blessed men that has ever lived ended his life in great folly by allowing his 700 wives to turn his heart from the Living God to  their worthless idols. Sadly, the nation will be divided as a result . You will need magazines to cut up for a collage .  There is a wonderful verse in 2 Samuel 7 that sheds some light on the eternal fate of this disobedient king.  God spoke through the prophet Nathan, the following  message to David “…I will be his Father, and he shall be My son.  If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men.  But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I  took it from Saul…”

Solomon’s Dream

What would you choose?

Brave Prince Jonathan

One of my favorite Bible verses and stories…”For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. ” Psalm 84:11 

In 1 Samuel 13, the Bible relates the sad state of affairs of the children of God.  The Philistines had been able to dominate the Israelites and allowed no blacksmiths to be found in all the land …lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.”  If any man needed to sharpen their farming implements, he had to go to his enemy and be charged an exorbitant fee for this service.  But here we first read of the excellent character of Prince Jonathan, full of faith and courage.  He attacked a Philistine garrison leading 1,000 men with one of the two swords in Israel. (Saul had the other one)  This was really “rocking the boat” as up to this point, the Philistines had tolerated their subservient neighbors.  Now Israel was considered an abomination and subjected to frequent raids.    (If the weapon-less people of God expected to be victorious, they would have to have extraordinary faith in their God.  Instead, they hid in caves , trembling with fear.)  Jonathan again attacked a Philistine garrison and uttered these famous and encouraging words to his armor-bearer “…Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us.  For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or few”.  The LORD blessed Jonathan with victory which spurred his fellow countrymen to join in the fight.”…So the LORD saved Israel that day”.

Will we dare to be fearless and bold in our spiritual walk, no longer willing ( like Jonathan), to peacefully “co-exist” with the world?

The armor-bearer’s shield is made from the seal of a small- sized coffee can. It is a hefty foil flap but will tear if you are not careful when removing.  If you put the word out a few months before you teach this you  hopefully will have enough shields for your kids.  I take a pencil erasure and smooth out the bumps . I chose a portion of a verse ,”… O God our shield.” from Psalm 59:11 , to imprint on the foil.  You will have to make a reverse image to copy, and softly poke with a pencil so the raised design shows on the correct side.  Carefully fold the edges under.  You can put a wadded- up kleenex under  your “shield” to get a nice convex shape. Glue on armor-bearer after you have colored the worksheet.  (Use tacky glue for this so it will stick well)  For younger kids  you might just make  the  shields plain with or without some sort of design.

The People Demand a King

When Samuel was old, the elders of Israel demanded a king to rule over them like all the other nations.   Although displeasing to Samuel, the Lord told him to “hearken to the voice of the people; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not be King over them.”  He was also to  solemnly warn them  of what it would truly cost them to have a king…but the people said  “NO!!! We will have a king over us…and to fight our battles.” Saul was chosen first to be king but was rejected when sin and pride started to reign in his heart.  David was anointed by Samuel to be the next king but he had to wait many years before he could actually rule.

Have some cotton available to glue on the sheep.

Balaam – Prophet for Hire

One of the reasons we study the word of God and teach it to our children is because Jesus and the writers of the epistles warned us that false teachers  would abound in the last days. They try to appear authentic and “religious”  but are known by three characteristics listed in Jude verse 11. Cain was self-righteous , attempting to be acceptable to God by his own efforts , instead of bringing a blood sacrifice which is the only covering for sin. Korah spoke against God’s word by speaking falsely and convincing 252 leaders of Israel that they should shun Moses’ authority. Moses spoke to God “face to face” and the whole congregation got to see what happened to the man who challenged God’s ordained leader. Now we come to greedy Balaam, a pagan prophet who believed he could profit from doing the work of the God of Israel. Through this story we understand that even though Israel has walked contrary to the ways of the LORD, God still loves and blesses those who bless His people and curses those who curse them. Read the story in Numbers 22 of how  The Angel of the LORD and a donkey made Balaam an offer he couldn’t refuse. I glued cotton above the Tabernacle to portray “the cloud by day”.

A Bad Report

The people have been busy working on the tabernacle for the past year…one thing they did get right. ” According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the Israelites had done all the work.  And Moses inspected all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it. (anytime something is repeated in the Bible, especially three time, it is a BIG deal) And Moses blessed them.”Exodus 39: 42-43.  Now they are on the edge of the promised land. According to Deuteronomy : 1;20-22, Moses told the men to not be afraid, and  ” go up and posses the land that  God gives us.”  Instead, they  are afraid and send in 12 men to spy out the territory.  It was the “bad” report of 10 of these spies that caused the whole congregation to grumble and deplore their situation even wishing they had died in the wilderness!(Numbers 14:2)  Only Joshua and Caleb had the faith and courage to stand up to the mob, who was getting ready to stone them.  BUT the glory of the Lord  intervened and was about to smite the rebels with a pestilence except Moses begged their pardon.  The 10 spies who brought the bad report did die of a plague before the Lord and the rest of the people were disciplined by having to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.   Everyone twenty years and older died in those 40 years…all those  who murmured  against the Lord.(“Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth.” Proverbs 6:2)    Joshua and Caleb were the only obedient followers of Jehovah, and were blessed to go into the promised land with their descendants.

You should pre-cut the grapes out of purple construction paper for your clusters, 22 per participant.

Manna – Bread from Heaven

You would think that the Children of Israel would not have any doubts of God’s care after defeating the army of  Pharaoh, but their history of complaining and murmuring against the LORD is just beginning.  1 Corinthians 10:6 states that these things are our examples that we should not grumble against the goodness of God’s provision.  Mercifully, sufficient water and bread is provided to meet their needs, but they must get up early  to  gather the manna and consume it in a proscribed way as a “test, whether they will walk in My law or not”. Read about it in Exodus 16.

Hole-punch needed.  I suggest coloring the page before gluing the “manna”….which is punched from any “honey-colored” paper!

Manna – worksheet