VERSES: Ezekiel 1:1-48:35
MEMORY VERSE: Ezekiel 18:20 "The soul that sinneth, it shall die..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Review all of the New Testament books learned so far.
PRAYER: Pray that God will forgive us of the things that we do wrong and will give us the courage and determination to do what is right.
SPECIAL SONG: Be Careful Little Eyes (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog. Click on orange circles to hear tune.)
VISUAL AID: Make large Activity (see below)
LESSON POINTS:
- We have been studying a little about the prophets of God, good men like Isaiah and Jeremiah, and today we will learn a bit about another prophet whose name was Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a priest, so we know he came from the tribe of Levi. Ezekiel was one of the Jews who was taken into Babylonian captivity. When he was 30 years old, he was with the other captives in Babylon by the Chebar River when the LORD spoke to Ezekiel through a vision. While Jeremiah was being a prophet in Jerusalem, Ezekiel was a prophet at the very same time as Jeremiah, except Ezekiel was in Babylon.
- Ezekiel had many visions through his life and they all came from the LORD. That is how God spoke to some prophets--by visions--and that is how God chose to talk to Ezekiel. Has God spoke to any of us here today by a vision? No. Why not? Because we have the Bible today. We can open it up and read it and does God speak to us? Yes. We can read what He wants us to know. But did Ezekiel have a Bible? No. It hadn't been written, yet. They were doing things and writing it down back then during Ezekiel's time. Remember how we said that Isaiah and Jeremiah were Major Prophets because they wrote more than many of the other prophets? Ezekiel was a Major Prophet, too. He wrote a lot!
- God spoke to Ezekiel through visions and Ezekiel would tell the Jews what he had experienced and the message God gave him. God had told Ezekiel that the message He had for the people was a sad message full of lamentations, mourning, and woe. God told Ezekiel what to say to God's disobedient people. Ezekiel was the spokesman for God.
- There were many important messages that God told Ezekiel, and one of them is found in Ezekiel 7:1-4. God told Ezekiel and Ezekiel told the people that they were going to reap what they sowed. Do you know what that means? The words 'reaping and sowing' are farming words. When a person 'sows' or plants carrots, what do you think will grow? Carrots! The person will 'reap' or gather carrots. When a person 'sows' wickedness, what do you think they will 'reap?' Wickedness! If a person 'sows' goodness, what do you think they will reap? Goodness! We gather what we plant or we reap what we sow! In the end all men will know that God is the LORD.
- Most often, when there is a "CH' in a name, it is pronounced like a "K" sound, as in the river Chebar.
- Interesting to note that there was not only one prophet preaching at a time, but there were a few prophets who lived and preached at the same time like Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Materials needed: 9" x 12" light blue construction paper, 9" x 12" brown construction paper, 6" x 6" tan construction paper, different colored scraps of construction paper, glue, crayons, stapler, staples.
- Hand out brown paper.
- Fold paper in half, lengthwise.
- Open paper.
- Fold one edge down to meet the bottom of page.
- Crease.
- Hand out blue paper.
- Place brown paper at the bottom of blue paper.
- Staple three staples on each side to secure. This is the dirt.
- Hand out tan paper.
- Trace hand.
- Cut out hand.
- Glue hand at top of blue paper, reaching down towards dirt.
- Cut four small circles out of light-colored paper.
- Write two 'good seed' and two 'bad seed' on circles.
- Glue 'seeds' in hand.
- Cut two larger circles out of two different colors of scrap paper.
- Cut two green 'plant' tops.
- Staple or glue tops to large circles. These are the vegetables.
- Write "good" on one large circle.
- Write "bad" on the other large circle.
- DO NOT GLUE, place vegetables in layers of brown dirt.
- Write "We reap what we sow" at the top of the blue paper.
- Write "Ezekiel 7:1-4" on brown dirt.