AGE GROUP: elementary (ages 6-11)
TIME REQUIRED: 45 minutes
This is lesson 20 of 42 in our study on the Attributes of God called “Can you tell me what God is like?” Visit the series index to view all the lessons and get more ideas for using this curriculum in your children’s ministry.
LESSON 20: JESUS IS THE LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH
- Key Verse: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward Him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29
- Teaching Passage: Passover – Exodus 11-13
- Supporting Texts: John 1:29, John 1:36, Revelation 5:6, Revelation 7:17, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 Corinthians 5:7, Leviticus 1:3
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Bibles, previous attribute of God posters, a large piece of paper with the words JESUS IS THE LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH written on it, key verse (John 1:29) printed on a piece of paper, blank paper and markers or colored pencils for each child in the group
LESSON OUTLINE:
REVIEW PREVIOUS LESSONS:
Ask one of the kids in the group to remind you what you’re learning this year. Remind them that each week we’ll be looking into the Bible to answer the question… “Can you tell me what God is like?” and will be learning one of the many truths about God that we see in His Word.
Ask if anyone can remember the truths we’ve learned so far. Have the kids stand up and say the attributes of God and do the motions.
- God is Almighty= He has absolute power or is all powerful
- God is the Alpha and Omega= He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last
- God is Awesome = He inspires awe and amazement
- God is Compassionate = He shows a deep concern for His people & a desire to meet their needs
- God is the Deliverer = He is the rescuer or savior
- God is Exalted = He is noble, elevated and lifted up
- God is Faithful = He is reliable, trustworthy, true to His Word & keeps His promises
- God Forgives = He grants pardon and cancels the debt of sin
- God is Glorious = He is full of glory (praise, honor & distinction)
- God is Good = morally excellent, virtuous or righteous
- God is Gracious = merciful, benevolent, kind & compassionate
- God Guides His People= He leads, accompanies, assists and gives direction/ guidance
- God Heals = make healthy & whole & free from ailments
- God is Holy = He is sinless, perfect and set apart
- God is our Hope = He is the One in whom our expectations are centered
- Jesus is Immanuel = God with Us
- God is Judge = He is the One who rules over and passes judgement on others
- God if Just = He is the One who is fair and does what is right
- God is King of kings & Lord of lords = He is The One who rules the rulers
TEACH- JESUS IS THE LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH:
Start out by reading this week’s memory verse (John 1:29) from the poster. Ask the kids to tell you why they think that Jesus was referred to as the Lamb of God. Ask them to share other Bible stories they can think of involving lambs. Hopefully someone will mention the Old Testament sacrifice system and the Passover lamb. Talk briefly about how in both of those cases, the lamb being sacrificed pointed forward to Jesus who would be the perfect sacrifice. Tell the kids that you’ll explain more as you go through the lesson.
Tell the story of the First Passover from Exodus 11-13 in your own words.
Make sure to include the following points:
- God’s people were slaves in Egypt. They cried out to God. God heard their cry and raised up Moses to come and lead them out of slavery and to the land He had promised to Abraham long before.
- The Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go. So, God sent plagues on the land. The last plague was the worst. Moses warned Pharaoh of what would happen if he didn’t let the people go, but Pharaoh still said no.
- God told His people to take a lamb and kill it and paint the lamb’s blood on the doorframes of their homes. He told them that this blood would be a sign that they were His people. (ASK~ Did God need this sign to know who His people were? Explain that God knows all and even knows the thoughts of our hearts, so He knew who His people were, but that this was a chance for the people to identify themselves as God’s.)
- That night, God passed through the land and passed over the homes with lamb’s blood on the doors, but in every home without lamb’s blood, the oldest child died.
- When Pharaoh woke up and saw that his son was dead, he called Moses and told him to take God’s people and leave.
- God rescued His people from slavery using the blood of a lamb.
- If we fast forward to the time while God’s people are in the wilderness, God starts a sacrificial system for the people to pay for (or atone for) their sins and once again a lamb was to be sacrificed. For God’s people, the sacrifice of a lamb came to represent their sinfulness before a holy God and their need of a Savior, not only to rescue them from slavery but to rescue them from sin and death
- Choose a few of the kids to play to parts of Jesus, John the baptist and the disciples and to act out the story while you READ John 1:26-36
After the story & the skit, ask the following questions:
* Why did God ask His people to paint lamb’s blood on their doors? (to identify them as His people)
* How can you compare the lamb’s blood on the doors to Jesus‘ blood on the cross? (the lamb’s blood identified them and saved them from death~ Jesus‘ blood in our place identifies us as being His and saves us from the punishment/ death that we deserve.)
* What was John the Baptist saying when he said that Jesus was the lamb who would take away the sin of the world?
DEFINE AND REMEMBER:
To help the kids remember this truth about God, take a few minutes to define the attribute.
THE LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH = THE PERFECT SACRIFICE FOR SIN
EXPLAIN: Look up and read the following verses and talk about how they help us understand this truth about Jesus:
~ Leviticus 1:3– the lambs for sacrifice were to be spotless and perfect
~ 1 Peter 1:18-20– Jesus was perfect and blameless and was the perfect sacrifice for our sin
~ 1 Corinthians 5:7b- Jesus was the Passover Lamb who was sacrificed. Just like God saw the lamb’s blood
on the door’s of His people’s homes and passed over those home, when God looks at His people today He
sees the blood of His Son shed in our place and passes over us and does not deal with us as our sin
deserves.
~ Revelation 5:6– Jesus is the lamb who was slain.
Since motions & actions help kids remember, choose an action for THE LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH. A good motion might be to wipe your hands on each other twice (like you’re showing that your hands are clean).
MEMORY VERSE:
SAY: “This morning we’re talking about the truth that Jesus is the Lamb without blemish. What we’ll see is that throughout the Old Testament God commanded His people to sacrifice perfect lamb to atone for their sin. Jesus was the final sacrifice as He died to pay the price of sin. Our memory verse for the week is John 1:29 where we hear John the Baptist say this about Jesus.”
Read the memory verse (John 1:29) a few times together and do the motion for the lamb without blemish.
CROSS CONNECTION:
What we saw today is that as the lamb without blemish, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sin. This simple truth about Jesus reminds us that we are all sinners whose sin needs to be paid for. In the Old Testament the people regularly sacrificed lambs as a reminder of their sin and to temporarily pay the price for their sin, but that sacrifice was never meant to be permanent. It was designed to point to a greater sacrifice that would pay for sin once and for all. When Jesus died on the cross, He was taking the punishment that each of us deserves and paying the price for our sin. Now, just like God saw the lamb’s blood on the door’s of His people’s homes and passed over those home, when God looks at His people today, He sees the blood of His Son shed in our place and passes over us and does not deal with us as our sin deserves.
REVIEW:
Give each child a blank piece of paper provide markers or colored pencils. Encourage them to write the words lamb without blemish somewhere on the paper and then write or draw something to help them remember this attribute of God. It may be helpful for them to divide the paper in 1/2 and draw a scene of the passover on one side and Jesus on the cross on the other as a reminder of the connection. After a few minutes, bring the group back together and give kids time to share what they have drawn or written.
PRAYER:
Pray that the kids in the group would come to know God more and more each week through this study and that they would remember that all of us are sinners who need to be saved and that they would turn to this good God for salvation. Thank Jesus for dying on the cross as the perfect sacrifice and for paying the price for our sin.
The little know fact that Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger for a bed is well known. However the fact often left out is that stable where Mary gave birth is the exact one the people used to raise perfect lambs without blemish for the sacrifice. So indeed EVERYTHING about Jesus Indeed shows us that He was without the perfect Lamb of God who chose to lay His life down, a sacrifice for ALL mankind. Praise the Lord!
Thank you in Jesus name
Amen