This Sunday we are reaching the new school year in our Sunday School class. Last week we celebrated and promoted all of the 4th graders up into the youth group (5/6 grade class), and this coming week we will be reviewing what happened so far for our class and the new incoming 3rd graders.
As we review for everyone, we’ll be talking about how the Old Testament points to Jesus.
How the Old Testament points to Jesus
It all starts with Adam. God created Adam perfect without sin, just as Jesus is without sin, but Adam sinned, and because of that through him, sin entered the world.
But God had a plan right from the very beginning. God tells Adam and Eve someday their great-great-great-great…. grandson will save the world from sin. He will crush the snake, and death will be conquered. But there is much pain to come in the meantime.
Abel showed us, Jesus, because he died blameless for someone else’s sin, just as Jesus died blameless for our sins. But Abel’s death cannot save us.
Through one man, Noah, mankind was saved from sin, just as through one man, Jesus all the world was saved from sin.
God sent Abraham away from a loving father into a dark world to act as a light to the rest of the world. God sent Jesus to act as a light to a dark and sinful world to show them the way back to God.
Isaac was a willing sacrifice on that altar, fully believing his father that all would be well. Jesus was a willing sacrifice for us on the cross, knowing His death paid the price once and for all for our sins.
Jacob shows us how far God will go to pursue a lost sheep. Just like the story of the prodigal son, Jacob was brought home to God.
Because of the sins of his brothers, Joseph was handed over into slavery, but because of their actions, Joseph was able to save his family in Egypt. Jesus was handed over to death by lies and half-truths, but because of his death and resurrection we are saved from sin.
Moses was called out of 40 years of wilderness to lead his people to freedom from slavery in Egypt. Jesus was called out of 40 days of wilderness to lead his people into freedom from slavery to sin.
The 10 Commandments point us to a loving and holy God. You need both sides to truly understand God. A holy God would instantly punish you for any sin, and the punishment is death. A loving God would not be able to correct you because they would not want to hurt you then. But a holy and loving God offers correction and support to bring you back to friendship and trust.
Ruth was rescued from poverty by her bridegroom Boaz. The church was rescued from its poverty of sin by its bridegroom Jesus.
Samson shows the folly of trying to do it all yourself. We can do many of the right things, but without the light of the world, we cannot truly follow God.
Saul looked like the perfect king. He was handsome, he was tall, he was strong, but he did not follow God and ultimately was a weak king because of it. Jesus did not look like a king, he was common, he was a carpenter, but he is the True King.
David showed us a true king. He ran hard after God and loved God with all his heart. David pointed his people to God. But David was a man and he sinned because no man can live a perfect life. Jesus was both man and God and lived a perfect life. Jesus is the perfect king of all.
Solomon shows us the folly of a church not daily relying on God. He followed God for a while, but his house was built on his own wisdom, not God’s and at the end of his reign it was washed away.
All the kings of Northern Israel show us what life without God is like. It’s painful, there are lies, murder, blasphemy, and more hurt. In the end, a world without God falls, and the kingdom of Israel fell.
Hezekiah became king after many who had not followed God. He wanted to bring Israel back to God and did. Jesus wanted to bring Israel back to God, and there were many Pharisees telling him it could not be done. But ultimately Jesus brought the world to God.
Jonah ran from God, which Jesus never did, but then Jonah sat in the belly of a big fish for 3 days and preached the words of redemption just like Jesus. Jesus was dead and in a grave for 3 days, and resurrected to preach the words of life to the world.
Isaiah was given a vision of heaven and what Jesus will come to do. He tells of Jesus’ birth, and his eventual death and resurrection.
God called Hosea to love and marry a woman who did not love him, he stayed a faithful bridegroom, though his bride was not faithful. Jesus too has married a faithless wife, the church. Though we wander far from His love at times, Jesus will always stay faithful.
Josiah became king as a young boy. He followed God from a young age, just as Jesus showed us in Luke that He followed hard after God from a young age.
In Daniel we see Jesus ruling and triumphant. We do not see Jesus the sacrificial lamb, we see Jesus coming at the end to punish and to reward. He rules eternal and forever.
Jeremiah the weeping prophet shows us a Jesus who cries for the world’s sins. Jeremiah cries for the fate of Jerusalem, a city he loves and knows will be destroyed. Jesus hundreds of years later cries for Jerusalem as He looks at a city caught in sin and bound for judgment if they do not repent.
Ezekiel gave us Jesus’ favorite title, the Son of Man. Over and over God calls Ezekiel “Son of Man,” and Jesus called himself “Son of Man.”
Through one woman her people were saved. Esther was chosen to be queen in a foreign land. Her people were about to be killed, but she stepped forward and risked herself to save her people. Through her actions, her people were saved. Jesus came to this world and through his death on the cross all can be saved.
But, the Bible doesn’t end with Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection. There’s instruction for how to live now and a promise.
Jesus promises someday HE will return and set all things right. Will you be ready when that happens?
How does the Old Testament point to Jesus printable
***all links lead to the appropriate lesson if we’ve covered it.
And that’s my last Bible lesson for this week, next week I might try to get 2 lessons done also, we’ll see…….. I’d like to get a little further ahead so I’m not in panic mode trying to get lessons up to share. That’s my dream. I can dream.
I love how you’ve tied together the Old and New Testaments! Yes, the Old Testament clearly points to Jesus!
It really does, there were a couple more I could have included, but they were getting more obscure, and I really didn’t want to try and explain that level to 3/4 graders.
I love your visual lessons.
Thanks! I just taught it in our Sunday School class last Sunday and at the end all the kids were coming up to look at the cards and see how they were all clustered together and how there were spurts of time a lot of things happened and then long bits of time with nothing happening. There was a collective “Wow” when they saw the 2000 years between Adam and Eve and Noah.
As a person who is technically Jewish I was often wondering how much of old Testament is actually taught in Sunday schools. From your blog it seems that your denomination studies it in detail! Great lesson for kids in connecting the dots.
I think most churches teach great stories. So you get a lot of David and Goliath, Noah, Elijah and the fiery chariot, the plagues, Moses in the basket, that type of thing. Stories that can easily translate into a coloring page and a craft.