BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER WHY DID GOD CREATE EVERYTHING? God created everything for His glory and our good. God created people in His own image and provides for everything He made. People are special because God made people to live forever in a relationship with Him. Through His Son, Jesus, we can have eternal life with God just as He planned. MEMORY VERSE READ THE STORY:
Humans are at the center of everything God created. Only God Himself is more important. That is why the creation of the first man and woman—Adam and Eve— deserved its own session. As you prepare for this week’s session, there are two words that might be unclear or even confusing. The first is our in Genesis 1:26. “Let us make man in our image.” This can be confusing because the Bible is clear that there is only one God (see Deuteronomy 6:4 and 1 Timothy 2:5). Why then does God say our image and not my image? Bible scholars have long debated what is meant by this word, but here are two of the most common explanations. The first is that this word is affirming the doctrine known as the Trinity—that God is one in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The word our in this verse is drawing from that important aspect of who God is. This would make sense here because a common, but wrong, belief of why God created people was because He was lonely. But God as three Persons in one is never alone. He has always enjoyed a perfect relationship of love within who He is. It would make sense that God wants to make that clear here. A second explanation for our is that it is the use of what is called the “plural of majesty.” In this case, God is establishing from very early on how glorious He is, even in how He refers to Himself. The second word that deserves a note is image. Once again, scholars have debated for ages about what this word means. But we can know what it does not mean: physical form. God is spirit (see John 4:24), so we are not made with a body like God’s body; He has no body. Instead, being made in God’s image includes attributes of people that separate us from the rest of creation (such as our ability to reason, our morality, our will, and our emotions) and our unique role in creation as ruling over it under God’s greater rule. While we might not know what these two words mean exactly, we do know this for sure: our glorious God has made people to be special in all of His creation and designed us to be in relationship with Him. GOSPEL APPLICATION
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BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER WHY DID GOD CREATE EVERYTHING? God created everything for His glory and our good. Jesus is Lord over all of creation. The Son has always existed. The Bible says everything was created by Him and for Him, and He holds everything together. All of creation exists to bring God glory. MEMORY VERSE READ THE STORY:
The Bible begins where we would expect it to: with the beginning of all of creation. But the beginning that Genesis 1:1 speaks of is not the beginning of everything. It was not the beginning of God. God is eternal—He has no beginning and no end. He has always existed. So the beginning in this session’s Bible story is the beginning from our perspective. It is humanity’s beginning. You might notice that the Bible story stops a little earlier than you might be used to: before God created Adam and Eve. That happened on Day 6, along with the animals of the earth, but that is not included here because that will be covered in the next session in much more detail. Instead, for this session, take your time to emphasize three things: First, that God created everything from nothing. God did not create like we do—by taking some raw materials like clay and making a beautiful sculpture. Instead, God made everything that exists—everything we see and even that we don’t see—simply by speaking it into existence from nothing. That’s important because it teaches us that everything belongs to God because He made it all and also how powerful He is to be able to create the universe by speaking it into being. Second, that God created everything with order. Not only do we see that God created the different kinds of plants and trees as well as animals according to their different kinds, but we also see an orderly pattern in the days of creation. God created by separating things on days 1-3 (light from darkness; sky from water; and then land from oceans) and then He filled what He had created on days 4-6 (the stars, sun, and moon in the heavens; birds and fish in the sky and waters; animals on the land). Third, that God created everything for a reason—to bring Himself glory. We will talk a lot more about this during this unit, and all of our study through Scripture. But for now help your kids see that everything exists to show how good God is—to show His glory for all to see. GOSPEL APPLICATION K-5th:
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER WHAT IS THE HOPE OF THE CHURCH? The church looks forward to Jesus' return when He will make all things new. Jesus promised to come back to earth soon. When Jesus returns, those who trust in Jesus will be with Him and enjoy Him forever. God will undo every bad thing caused by sin—no more death, no more pain, no more tears. Jesus is making all things new. MEMORY VERSE READ THE STORY:
While he was a prisoner on the island of Patmos, the apostle John had an amazing vision of heaven. Jesus told John to write down everything he saw. John saw things that will happen when Jesus comes back to earth. In the final chapters of the Book of Revelation, John described a vision of the new heaven and the new earth. He wrote about the beauty of the New City—the New Jerusalem. The streets will be pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the city wall will be adorned with precious stones. The city will not need the sun or the moon because God’s glory lights up the city. There will be no darkness, and nothing evil will ever come into the city. There will be no sadness, crying, or pain. Even though there will be no sun or moon, there will be no darkness because the glory of God will be its light. The Lord will reign forever and ever. What an amazing place heaven will be! Even with John’s descriptions, we can’t imagine exactly what it will be like when Jesus returns. Use this session to emphasize what we do know, using the unit big picture question and answer: What is the hope of the church? The church looks forward to Jesus’ return when He will make all things new. The promised return of Christ should fill believers with hope, strengthening them to persevere through the trials of this life and remain faithful to the Lord. When Christ returns, those who trust in Him will be with Him and enjoy Him forever. God will undo every bad thing caused by sin—no more death, no more pain, no more tears. Christ’s return should also give believers a sense of urgency to share the gospel with the world. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes! (Rom. 1:16) Jesus is coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! GOSPEL APPLICATION K-5th:
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December 2023
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