NT-01
"Zechariah, Elizabeth and the Birth of John”
Big Idea
God means what he says.
Materials Needed:
2" Colored paper strips: Blue (4), Pink (2), Green (2), Grey (2), White (3), Purple (1), Red (1), Yellow (1), Paper clips, String, Black marker
Setup:
1. Hang a string from the ceiling so that it hangs just above your head. On the bottom end, tie a paper clip.
2. With a black marker, write each of the following words on a construction paper strip of the color listed after it: Zechariah - Blue, Elizabeth - Pink, Good - Green, No Kids - Grey, Old -
White, Priest - Purple, Big Day - Red, Angel - Yellow, Baby Boy - Blue,
Grey - Doubted, Silent - Blue, Pregnant - Pink, Baby John - Blue,
Writes Words - White, Speaks - Green
2. Using a hole punch, punch a hole in the top and bottom of each paper strip. Slide a paper clip through both of these holes.
Lesson
1. Using the papers the children generated during small group time, discuss a few of the ways they came up with of communicating without using words. Explain the following:
It'd definitely be a little harder to let people know what we're thinking if we were no longer able to talk. We could get by, but we'd definitely have to learn a few new skills.
Our big idea today is "God means what he says." He definitely doesn't have trouble telling people what he is thinking. We even have a great big book, the Bible, full of things God wants us to know about him and the world he created.
Sometimes God chose to speak to people in a special way. Today, we're going to meet a guy who had God speak to him in this way, but he didn't really believe God meant what he said!
2. As you explain the following, do your best to act out any actions that may be described:
Our story is from the second half of the Bible, the New Testament. The New Testament is all about how God's son, Jesus, came to earth as a person to save us from our sins. But our story starts right at the very beginning of the whole New Testament story, even before Jesus was born.
Our story is about two people. First, meet Zechariah. (Using the paper clip on top, attach the blue "Zechariah" paper strip to the string.) And his lovely wife, Elizabeth. (Attach the pink "Elizabeth" paper strip to the bottom of the "Zechariah" paper strip.) They lived in the country of Israel. This was the land of God's special people, the Israelites. It was in the country of Israel that Jesus was born and lived most of his life.
Zechariah and his wife were both good people. (Attach the green "Good" paper strip to the bottom of the other strips.) They made sure to follow all the rules and commandments God gave to them in the Bible. They were nice to others. They didn't lie, cheat, or steal. They were probably the kind of people that would come over and bring you warm chocolate chip cookies when you weren't feeling so good.
Elizabeth wasn't able to have kids. There was nothing Zechariah and Elizabeth could do. They prayed and prayed that God would allow them to have a baby, but Elizabeth never became pregnant. (Attach the grey "No Kids" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
And this made Zechariah and Elizabeth very sad. You see, they would never have the chance to dress a baby in cute baby clothes, to take to the park to play, or to tuck in at night with their favorite teddy bear named "Sir Snuggles."
But despite the fact that they could never have children, Zechariah and Elizabeth still loved each other, and they were married for many, many years. In fact, by the time our story begins, both of them were old. (Attach the white "Old" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
Zechariah had a special job. He was a priest. (Attach the purple "Priest" paper strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
The priests were special people who worked at the temple, a special building the people of Israel built to worship God. They wore special clothes and did very special jobs to help people worship God.
The temple was a large building and it had many special places to worship God in it. There were some places only priests like Zechariah were allowed to go. And there was one super special places where no was allowed to go in at all, except for one day a year. That place was called the "Holy of Holies." On that one special day, one special priest was allowed to go inside the Holy of Holies and worship God.
Well, guess which priest was chosen to go into the temple's most special place? Zechariah, of course! Something like this was the most important job a priest like Zechariah could ever do. It was going to be a very big day for him. (Attach the red "Big Day" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
So, on that very special day, Zechariah went into that most special place, the Holy of Holies, to worship God. There were many special things a priest was supposed to do on that day, and Zechariah got right to work. While he was working, out of nowhere, an angel appeared! (Attach the yellow "Angel" paper strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
You can imagine how Zechariah felt! He was supposed to be in there by himself. He wasn't expecting to see a bright, shiny angel standing in there with him. He was scared to death! His teeth were probably chattering, his knees were probably shaking. He had no idea what this angel might do to him. But he was about to find out.
The angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah. God has heard your prayers. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son. You must name him John. He will bring you a lot of joy. When he grows up, he'll help a lot of people come back to God. He'll help prepare people to meet God when he comes." (Attach the blue "Baby Boy" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
This was great news! The angel hadn't come to kill Zechariah with angel laser beams or anything crazy like that. Instead, the angel had told him fantastic news. They were going to have a baby! They'd finally have a child to dress in cute baby clothes, to take to the park to play, and to
tuck in at night with his favorite teddy bear named "Sir Snuggles." If you were Zechariah, you'd probably dance a little happy dance!
But you aren't Zechariah. In fact, only Zechariah is Zechariah, and Zechariah wasn't sure God meant what he said. Even though a bright, shiny angel was standing in front of him speaking right to him, he wasn't 100% positive that what he heard could be true. (Attach the grey "Doubted" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
So, he spoke to the angel, "How can I be sure this will happen? I'm an old man and my wife is old, too."
The angel answered him, "My name is Gabriel. I've stood right next to God himself. He sent me to speak to you and to give you this good news. And now, because you didn't believe what I said, you will be silent and not able to speak until the day what I described to you happens." (Attach the blue "Silent" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
And, just like before, God meant what he said. Zechariah was completely unable to speak. He could open his mouth, he could move his lips, but he couldn't say a single word. In fact, he couldn't even manage a simple "Ooh," "Aah," or "Achoo!"
When he left that special place, the Holy of Holies, a group of people were waiting for him because he had been in there quite a long time. They were worried that something might have happened to them. When Zechariah tried to tell them what happened, nothing came out. Not a sound. So he wave his arms around, trying to tell them exactly what had happened, but they couldn't understand him at all. Something had happened to Zechariah in there, they were sure, but exactly what it was, they had no idea!
Shortly after, Zechariah went home to Elizabeth. He couldn't tell her the good news the angel gave him because he still couldn't speak. And sign language hadn't been invented back then, so he couldn't really tell her by waving his arms around. We don't know exactly how he told her the good news because the Bible doesn't tell us. Maybe he wrote it down on a board like we did in small group time.
Not long after, the miracle the angel described to Zechariah happened. Elizabeth was pregnant! (Attach the pink "Pregnant" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
Even though she had never, ever been able to become pregnant before, and even though she was an old woman who was too old to have a child, it still happened because God meant what he said. And still, throughout the whole time Elizabeth was pregnant, Zechariah was unable to say a single word.
So, over time Elizabeth's belly grew and grew, and so did the baby inside her. And when it was time, the baby was born. They held the baby up to Elizabeth and said, "It's a boy!" She finally had a son to dress in cute baby clothes, to take to the park to play, and to
tuck in at night with his favorite teddy bear named "Sir Snuggles." Later, Elizabeth's relatives and friends stood around and looked at the baby. They probably made silly faces at him and told each other how he had his mother's nose and his father's ears. And they said to each other, "He should be named Zechariah, after his daddy!"
But Elizabeth remembered the instructions the angel gave to Zechariah. "No!" she said to them, "he must be named John." (Attach the blue "Baby John" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
They weren't sure about this. People back then normally named their children after people in their family, and Elizabeth and Zechariah weren't related to anybody named John.
So, those gathered around went to Zechariah. Since he still couldn't speak, they tried to make signs to him to find out what name he'd like for the baby. Instead of just waving his arms right backa them, he asked for a tablet to write on. He wrote, "His name is John." (Attach the white "Writes Words" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
Immediately, as soon as he had finished writing, his voice came back to him. He hadn't said a word in close to a year, and he began to speak. (Attach the green "Speaks" strip to the bottom of the other strips.)
With his first words, he praised God. He probably praised God for allowing Elizabeth and him to have a child to dress in cute baby clothes, to take to the park to play, and to
tuck in at night with his favorite teddy bear named "Sir Snuggles." He probably praised God for allowing him to speak again. He probably praised God for giving him such a special gift when he didn't believe what the angel had said to him. And he probably praised God for being someone who means what he says!
3. Explain the following:
The angel had told Zechariah that their baby boy named John would grow up to do great things for God. And he did. God meant what he said. John grew up to help people turn back to God and get ready for God's Son, Jesus.