Posts Tagged ‘Bible lesson’

Bible Rocks and Minerals

Sunday, November 13th, 2022

Bible-Rocks-and-Minerals

I’ve recently noticed many places in Scripture that mention rocks and minerals. Years ago we purchased The Geology of Israel and Rocks and Minerals of the Bible from Northwest Treasures, which is a set of rocks and minerals that is specific to the Scriptures and to Israel, along with a binder with information about the rocks contained in the set. My kids gathered around to look at each rock and mineral to better understand, in a tangible way, the rocks referred to in Scripture.

Today I’m going to show you my two favorite rocks and minerals passages in Scripture: the precious stones in the Levitical priest’s garments and the precious stones referred to in the New Jerusalem that descends from heaven in the book of Revelation.

Precious Stones of Levitical Priest

I’ve always been fascinated by the precious stones in the high priest’s breastplate, which is described in Exodus 28:17-20. These stones were to be put into the beautiful woven garment that was for Aaron, the high priest. Each one of these rocks represents a different tribe of Israel, starting with Ruben (the oldest), all the way down to Benjamin (the youngest.)

We are going to look at some of these rocks and minerals today:

You can also do a craft for the breastplate of the high priest with shiny bronze paper and plastic gems to represent each color of the precious stones listed in Scripture. I give instructions on how to do this craft here:

breastplate-high-priest-craft

Precious Stones from Revelation

My other favorite Scripture passage for the study of rocks and minerals is the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven in Revelation 21:10-21.

The New Jerusalem is in the shape of a square, with three gates on each of the four sides. Each gate is an enormous pearl, and under each gate is a foundation stone. Each foundation stone is decorated with every kind of precious stone. These stones are mentioned: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst. Let me show you:

The length and width of the New Jerusalem is 1,500 miles across, so you have 500 miles for each foundation stone! Those are enormous foundation stones, one huge rock under each gate, holding up the walls of the New Jerusalem. The foundation stones are adorned with beautiful designs (maybe mosaics!) with only precious stones that glitter and sparkle in the light. God will be the Light of the city. You can see the precious stones adorning each foundation stone because the ground is transparent gold like glass! So the streets are clear, but they are shimmering because they are made from gold rather than sand, which is what window glass is made of. WOW.

We made a model of the New Jerusalem:

If you enjoy hands-on Bible activities, you will love Using Simple Costumes and Props to Teach the Bible, as well as the Bible section of the Unit Study Treasure Vault, which contains hands-on activities for every book of the Bible!

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$200 Christmas Giveaway!

Christmas-Giveaway

Once again, I have teamed up with some generous bloggers for the 9th annual Christmas Blessings Giveaway to bless FIVE families this year. In the past we have had two winners for this giveaway, but this year we wanted to give to even more families – we are giving away $200 gift cards to 5 families! Each winner will get a $200 gift card to wherever they choose – a restaurant, clothing store, grocery store, online retailer – any place that offers gift cards!

There are lots of entry options in the Rafflecopter form below – the more you enter, the better your chance of winning! I know it can seem tedious and time consuming to go through all the entries, but isn’t a chance at $200 worth it? I think it is! Plus, all of these amazing bloggers donated their own money towards the prizes, so this giveaway wouldn’t be possible without them. I hope you’ll take the time to check out each one. Who knows, maybe you will find some new blogs to follow.

The giveaway will run from Monday, November 14th through Wednesday, November 23rd (ends at 11:59pm EST). Winner will be notified by email shortly after the giveaway ends and will have 48 hours to respond to claim the prize or another winner will be drawn. By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers. Please be sure to read the Rafflecopter terms and conditions upon entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I & II Thessalonians Unit Study

Wednesday, June 1st, 2016

Thessalonians-unit-study

We had a great time filming our I & II Thessalonians Unit Study. We re-enacted lots of skits, referred to a map of Thessalonica, and baked a cake to represent the Day of the Lord.

When looking at the overview for I & II Thessalonians, we saw that one of the main themes was the Day of the Lord. We filmed Jesus and an archangel up on a chair holding some clouds while the archangel blew the shofar, the Jewish trumpet. The dead in Christ rise first to meet the Lord in the air, so we had a black gravestone made out of black poster board. One of my sons floated up out of the gravestone to meet the Lord in the air. You see him in the clouds with Jesus and the archangel.

map-of-thessalonica

We looked at a map of where Thessalonica was located, which is in Macedonia north of Greece. I have a beautiful biblical map that a woman from my mom’s church gave her. It was created with markers on a large piece of felt. You can easily look in the back of your Bible to find a map of Paul’s missionary journeys, and you will find where the city is located.

be-patient-with-all-men

We acted out various skits to bring to life the topics discussed in these two letters from Paul to the Thessalonians:

  • If you don’t work, neither shall you eat. (Give bread to the one that is working, but don’t let the lazy person have any bread.)
  • While saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction comes. (Throw lots of couch pillows on an unsuspecting person.)
  • Admonish the unruly. (An out-of-control person gets scolded.)
  • Encourage the fainthearted. (When someone is sad, give them a hug.)
  • Help the weak. (Help an elderly man walk across the street.)
  • Be patient with all men. (Have a kid sit in a chair while people around him are being annoying. Have him sit patiently, as pictured above.)
  • Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. (Act out each of these commands.)

rapture-cake

We also make a cake that represented the Day of the Lord. It is a cloud shape with white frosting. A trumpet shaped by chocolate frosting is on the top. This was the culminating activity for our I & II Thessalonians Unit Study.

If you enjoyed these activities, you will love the Bible section of the Unit Study Treasure Vault that includes unit studies for every book of the Bible!

LEGO New Jerusalem

Friday, November 6th, 2015

lego-new-jerusalem

When studying the book of Revelation with your kids, you can have them build a LEGO New Jerusalem. This will help them to visualize what it will be like. It is a city with square walls. So you will build a wall around the city, with three gates on each of the four sides.

A river runs through the city. The river flows from the throne of God. The Tree of Life is also along this river, and its leaves give healing to the nations. All of our tears will be wiped away, and there will be no more crying or pain.

new-jerusalem-top

If you look at the bottom LEGO base, you can picture each of the bumps as buildings in the city of God. These would be the mansions that Jesus mentions to His disciples:

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. -John 14:1-3 NASB

You can also choose to make larger buildings with individual LEGOs, making streets and neighborhoods. You have now completed your LEGO New Jerusalem.

If you would like to make drawings or crafts of the New Jerusalem, here are a few more activities you might enjoy:

Jesus Teaches the Multitudes (LEGO)

Wednesday, November 4th, 2015

Jesus-teaches-the-multitudes

When Jesus teaches the multitudes in Scripture, He often has to get into a boat on the water, so that the water can project His voice to thousands of people who gathered to hear Him. My daughter decided to make a scene of Jesus teaching the multitudes out of LEGOs.

She began with a green LEGO base, and she made water on one side (out of two different kinds of blue) and yellow sand on the other side (with yellow and orange LEGOs.) She gathered a crowd of LEGO people. Then she built a brown boat and had Jesus sit in the boat and teach the people.

jordan-river-legoMy kids made a map of the Jordan River and the different cities that Jesus visited during His teaching ministry. Jesus would go from town to town, healing the sick and casting out demons. People would gather in crowds to hear Him speak, because He said things that were unlike any other religious leader of the day. In fact, the religious leaders despised Jesus, and they were the ones who caused Him to be crucified.

You can make a LEGO Jordan River by starting with a couple of LEGO bases. Look at a Bible-time map of the Gospels, and you can easily get the shape. Use blue LEGOs for the water and black LEGOs for the dots indicating the cities where Jesus taught.

If you enjoyed this activity, you will love the Bible section of the Unit Study Treasure Vault, where there are hundreds of ideas for bringing every book of the Bible to life for children!