Scripture: 2 Kings 17, Isaiah
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God keeps His promises and fulfills the prophecies He gives his prophets to tell the people.
- Students will learn that although God is a very patient God, eventually He does judge those who reject Him.
- Students will learn God had a plan from the very beginning to send His son to earth to save us from our sins. He kept that promise in spite of the constant wickedness of the people.
Guided Question: Who were the prophets of the Bible and what was their message?
Materials: card stock with holes bunched to create a book, copy of Dr. Jones Teaches the Prophets, markers, pens, something to bind book
Procedure: Tell students the basic story of Israel’s exile. Introduce them to the prophet Isaiah. Explain to students prophets were sent by God to tell people something important God wanted them to know. Many times it was that they had disobeyed Him and God was not happy they refused to repent of their sins.
Sometimes, prophets had other messages for people. At times, they reminded people God always loved them. The prophets would remind the people God would forgive them if they repented of their sins and began obeying God again. Isaiah’s prophecies included some very special prophecies. He had many prophecies about the Messiah who would eventually come live on earth. He gave them signs so the people would recognize the real Messiah and not be fooled by people who were trying to trick them.
Older students may want to see if they can find some examples in Isaiah that sound like he is describing Jesus. (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7, 61:1-2, 52:13-53:12, etc.). For younger students, you may choose to read a couple of Isaiah’s prophecies about Jesus and see if students can remember the stories that fulfill that prophecy.
Tell students, that the prophets in the Bible can get confusing. Some of them have names that sound very different from names people have today. It’s difficult for even adults to remember which prophet did or said which things.
Tell them someone has written a fun Dr. Seuss like story to explain the prophets so they are easier to remember. Read the attached Dr. Jones Teaches the Prophets to students.
Explain they will make an illustrated book with their drawings and the words from the “book” you just read to them. They will work on the book as a group. (When it is finished, you may want to make sure each student has a copy. You may also want to invite parents or others and have students act out the book as someone reads it and shows the illustrations.)
How you execute the project will determine how many students you have. You can have students write a verse or two on each page and then illustrate it or come up with another way of dividing the material. For younger students, you may prefer cutting the verses from the main document and gluing them to the various pages, which students can then illustrate. Younger children or those new to Bible stories, may need help remembering the details of various stories they can illustrate. This is another good way to review some previously taught stories.
Have fun with it, but the more you work with the “book” and its content, the more familiar the students will become with the various prophets and their messages. It will make it easier for them to understand the “big picture” story of the Bible, as they get older.