OLD TESTAMENT LESSON 1 CREATION AND CALL “GOD IS

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Hebrew Scriptures

Old Testament

Lesson 1: Creation and Call


“God is: and God is love. Only God, of all beings, must necessarily be. It is only God Whose Name can be and must be, I AM. Because God is, He can create-give being to matter and energy in all their configurations throughout the length and breadth and height and depth and past and present and future of the cosmos, to the last galaxy, and above all to the souls of men. Because God is love, He did create the material universe and its spiritual inhabitants. None of the tangible objects in the universe and none of its spiritual inhabitants necessarily is. None can explain or permanently preserve their being by their own efforts. All are contingent. The hardest mountain, the brightest star, the best man or woman unaided by Divinity must inevitably lose being in the visible universe as it moves down the corridors of time.”


Pray

Powerpoint Up

1. Preliminary discussion (5 min)

-Have a basic discussion about the Hebrew Bible. What Old Testament stories do they know? Do you know any characters from the Old Testament? Why do you think the Bible was written? What does the word Bible mean?


2. The Old Testament (5 min).

-Slide The Old Testament is not one book but many books written over a long period of time. This is actually where we get the word “Bible.” “Bible” means little books of a library. The Old Testament is actually a library of history, poetry, prophecy, warning, love, and chronicles man’s struggle to retain to the God who made him. The books of the Old Testament have many different authors, different names for God, and chronicle different events in the history of the Jewish people.

-Slide Open Bible to Table of Contents. Review the books of the Old Testament-The Pentateuch, The Historical books, the wisdom/poetry books, and the prophets. The books are not arranged chronologically. Slide They are grouped together by type. Use the timeline chart Slide to show when each prophet wrote and what book of the history book of the Old Testament corresponds to that period. Slide


3. In the Beginning (15-20 min).

- Slide Today’s lesson will be on the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis.

-The Hebrew Bible is where we first begin to know God. God reveals who He is and how He wants us to live. This is most true in creation.

-Creation- Read the creation story. What does this say about God? God creates out of love-because created things are “good”. He is good and recognizes that good inherent in creation.

-In the creation stories we come face to face with our origin. Slide We are created by God for God. We are created in the image and likeness of God. It is God we resemble when we choose to live with Him. Each human being from the moment of conception bears a mark of the Creator. ***Sidenote: this is why the Church has always adamantly opposed abortion. Each human creation is a creation by God and has human dignity because of that fact. The killing of human life at any stage of development is morally evil and must be opposed always and everywhere.

-Possible group activity: divide the class into two groups and have them read the creation account including the creation of man (Gen. 1) and give them the following questions to answer: what does creation say about God? (answers: He creates what is good, He is good, He is all powerful, He seeks for others to share in His life, etc.)

What does the creation account say about us? (we are higher than the animals, we are meant for something more, we are made in God’s image) What does it mean to be created in God’s image? (we are created for eternity as God is eternal, we have souls, etc.)


4. The Fall of man and the problem of sin (15-20 min).

- Slide After creation man chooses his own desire over the will of God. In the beginning there was only one commandment-not to eat from the tree. Man could not keep this one single commandment. Man chooses himself over God and this is the beginning of sin. It is this act that enables sin and evil into the world. By the choosing of sin (violation of God’s law) over God man chooses death (sin) over life (God) and evil over good.

-The sin of Adam and Eve to disobey shows the problem with man from the beginning. We don’t trust God as we ought to. Adam and Eve knew God, had experienced the glory of His creation but the serpent put doubt into Eve’s mind that perhaps God was holding something back from them. Eve didn’t trust God and fell into sin.

- Slide This choice to disobey God brings consequences upon man. Mankind brings evil into the world. All evils of every form: death, illness, pain, war, suffering come from this act of mankind. The world was created good. Adam and Eve introduce evil into the world. Because of sin, man is alienated from God. We know evil now and we can’t go back to being innocent as God is innocent. We are separated from God for all time. In the beginning man was united with God and knew him intimately. With sin man leaves the side of God. Since God is holy and we no longer are we are set apart from God.

For a visual representation use “The Problem of Sin” overhead.

-The punishment for sin is death (eternal death) which means a loss of heaven and damnation. It’s a simple equation. If we have sinned against God we do not deserve heaven, we have chosen through our own actions to leave God and give into sin. We choose hell by disobeying God. However, because our God loves us, because He has created us for Himself, He promises redemption. In God’s punishment of the serpent, God makes the first promise to restore man to his rightful place and crush evil. Read Gen. 3:14-15.


5. God Calls a Man (15-20 min)

-After the fall of man, man loses touch with God. Generations pass and man forgets who God. Many various faiths sprout up but worship of the one true God is not among them. Into this world God chooses to reveal Himself and so to begin the long salvation of mankind that will take over 1,000 years.

-God begins this task with one man, Abram. Abram is living in the town of Haran with his wife, Sarai, and extended family. Abram has no children. His wife is barren. This is considered a great shame for men and women of the time. It means that the gods have cursed you. To this man who seems cursed, God will begin a revolution that today over a 6 billion men and women claim Abram as their father.

- Slide This revolution begins quietly. God speaks to Abram and asks him to leave his homeland and go to a land that God will show him and God promises only His favor. This God is utterly unknown to Abram, yet Abram shows the trust of God that Eve failed to show. Abram leaves without question or negotiating and heads for Canaan, the land God showed him. Slide When Abram reaches this land God promises to give this land to his descendents. Of course Abram has no children and so it is not likely he will have descendents. Yet, Abram trusts and builds an altar to God in Canaan.

-Abram is greatly distressed about not having any children. He fears handing on his goods and care of his family to a servant as opposed to a son. God tells Abram to go outside at night and look at the night sky. God promises to give Abram descendents as numerous as the stars in heaven.

-This is the first covenant God makes with the Hebrews (technically Noah and Adam were not “Hebrews”). It is the beginning of a long series of covenants that will culminate with our redemption by Christ on the cross. A covenant is pact or deal that God makes with humanity. God had made one with Adam when He gave Adam all plants and animals except one. Adam failed to keep the covenant with God. Covenants will be a major facet of the relationship of the Jews with God throughout the upcoming centuries.

- Slide God promises Abram a son, land, descendents as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and to be Abram’s shield and in return Abram must follow God and circumcise himself and every male that remains with him, and he and his wife shall no longer go by the names of Abram and Sarai but rather Abraham and Sarah. Can Read Gen. 17:1-16.

-Abraham is faithful to this covenant and his wife Sarah will have a son and they named him Isaac (“Isaac” means “laughter”). God was also faithful to Abraham as he is the father of many nations. All Jews, Christians, and Muslims claim Abraham as the “Father in faith.” All three of these religions trace themselves back to Abraham.

- Slide God tests the faith of Abraham. Read Gen. 22:1-18. Why do you think God tested the faith of Abraham? Does this story make us think of anything else? (God offering His only son on the cross, “God Himself will provide the lamb [sheep]) is like Jesus being supplied by God for our redemption, etc.)


Prayer


Almighty God, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for creating us out of love. We beg you to let that love fill us and drive away all evil. Create in us a deep love for your name. Grant us a faith like Abraham, uncompromising, simple, and absolute. Help us to love you with our whole heart and to know that you are worthy of any sacrifice we can make. Give us the courage necessary to make a sacrifice of ourselves to the glory of your name. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.


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