NOTE! Mrs. Z not all sound bites are in yet and I am adding them really soon.
Salute to the King
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were very similar to us today. They’re always wanting the newest thing. In our case, maybe we want technology. In the Israelites case, they wanted a king. For a long time, the Israelites had the cycle of Judges. The times would start of going well, then the Israelites sinned. Following that the enemies of Israel would attack. Next, the Israelites would cry out to God, and God would send a Judge to save them. This cycle repeated over and over. We can connect this with our lives in many ways. One way we can do that is we can compare the Israelites and us. The Israelites, after the cycle of judges, the Israelites wanted a king. Today, we are also always wanted the newest earthly possession.
There were many things that can be learned from this lesson. One thing that I learned from it was to not always need the ‘coolest’ new item/ because like the cycle of judges, there will always be another new thing you ‘have’ to have. The important thing to remember is this: the earthly possession we crave on earth has no eternal value.
Something is Rotten
During the middle part of the old testament, Israel kept getting some really lousy kings. To get Israel out of this trouble, God sent the prophet Elijah. Elijah faced off against the 450 prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. At this time, the people of Israel did not believe in God, but in Baal. At Mt. Carmel, Elijah proposed a challenge. They would both but a dead ox on an altar and whoever’s God set the ox on fire would be the winner. Elijah let Baal go first, but nothing happened. Then, after all of the rituals of Baal, Elijah doused his ox in water. After this happened, God came down in the lightning and struck the ox. Elijah then commanded the people to destroy the prophets of Baal and the entire religion.
The reason I picked the picture of a baseball is not to say that baseball is rotten. I picked that for two reasons. First, we oftentimes worship sports rather than God. We decide to do travel sports and give up Sundays for that. Second, we do not act how we should when playing these sports. We can get to worked up, or mad at the refs, or do a dirty play. These things are all un-Christlike and rotten.
Sinai Law
Towards the beginning of the old testament, the Sinai Covenant was made between the people of Israel and the God. God would be their God, and the Israelites would be his people. In order to be his people, they also had to follow the ten commandments. God did not give them these laws to smother them and hide them, but to protect them from themselves. The law God gave them covers every single part of their life, not just at church or at school. He also wrote these commandments for us. Part of the law says that ‘thou shalt worship no other gods but me’. We call ourselves Christians, but we also tend to accidentally worship other things. For example, we oftentimes end up worshiping sports, technology, Money, and other earthly possession. We need to throw away the rotten stuff of this world and focus on God. I decided to chose the ten commandments for my visual because the ten commandments was the symbol of the Sinaic Covenant, between God and Israel.
A Savior
Inevitably, the people of Israel could not keep the Sinai Covenant. Despite this, God offered a new covenant. The new covenant would be written on their hearts, not on stone tablets. The new covenant would not need animal sacrifices, for Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. Jeremiah gave the people a new covenant, through God. This aggrement was called the Davidic covenant. It was an unconditional covenant. No matter what God would still hold through and do his part, even when we sin. Isaiah came and gave the people pictures of a new savior that they could relate to.
I chose the nativity scene for my picture because it is a symbol of Christ coming and saving us. Many people have in a way ‘corrupted’ Christmas. People have actually said, “let’s not pull religion into the holidays.” People! The holiday is literally called Christ-mass. We call it that because we celebrate Jesus’ birth! People can pull Santa, presents, and more into the holidays, but it will always be about the birth of Christ our savior.
Covenant
A covenant is a type of agreement that was very common in the old testament. Every covenant is made between two groups of people. In the old testament, it was often between God and someone else. God made a covenant with every single one of us. This covenant is called the cultural mandate. In the cultural mandate, God gave us the Earth and we have to take care of it. We need to obey God and be respectful of God’s creation. God told us that if we obey him he will help us. But just like anything else, if we mess up we get punished. There are two types of covenants, conditional and unconditional. A conditional covenant is a covenant that both groups have to hold up the deal. An example of an unconditional covenant is the Davidic covenant. God is still holding up his end of the deal, even though we failed to do so. As my picture, I chose a rainbow as my picture because it is an unconditional covenant. God promised to never flood the entire world again.
Symbol of a Lamp
God promised everyone that He would send His Son as a savior for us to save you and me from our sins. God uses the symbol of a lamp for this covenant because it was the main source of artificial light in those days. God promises to David that he would be his father, and David would be his child. God’s own Son would come from David’s line. David was a man after God’s own heart, even though David like us made many mistakes. God promised that Jesus, the ultimate light of the world, would come from the line of David. We can connect to this passage to our time by putting us in David’s shoes. We are just like him! We sinned, and God is our father. Though Jesus may not come from our own family line, God is still our father. I picked the Survivor® Season 35 Heroes healers Hustlers logo because, in that game show, they use fire to represent life. God gave us our fire, our life, through Jesus.
Call
God called Abram and Sarai to become parents of a great nation. The got their names changed, to Abraham and Sarah. They didn’t always trust God’s call and tried to control their own things on their own. In the end, God kept his promises. Sarah did have a baby and Abraham did become a great nation and Jesus did come from their line. God called them, and He still calls us today. All we have to do is listen for God and look at the clues. God tells us to read the Bible, pray to him, and listen to him. God has recently called me to go on a mission trip to the Philippines with ZCS. My family and I prayed and talked about it a lot, and said that if it was God’s will for me then I should do it. Many people have been called by God, and all you have to do is listen to God.
Slide to Destruction
After the cycle of judges, the Israelites finally got one good king. His name was Josiah. Other than him, all thing other kings were foolish, worshipped Baal, and did evil in the eyes of the Lord. As punishment for these kings, Israel was scattered in Assyria. Judah had two good kings, but the rest yet again did evil in the eyes of the Lord and worshipped idols. As punishment for their sin, Judah was scattered throughout Babylonia. These kings who did evil focused on power, not God’s Law. this lesson teaches us to listen to the prophets in our own lives, so we do not follow the paths of these kings. I did a crown for this picture because it represents what the kings wanted, popularity and power. We should not follow this path and we need to listen to God and pay attention to his law.