The worksheet was called Jesus, the Fulfillment of the Old Covenant, and looking similar to the following:
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[I handed out slips of paper with one of the Old Testament offerings on it, like guilt, sin, grain, fellowship, etc., along with the references where the descriptions of the offerings could be found.]
Look at the slip of paper it gave you. What type of offering do you have? ____
Which references? ____
How did Jesus fulfill that offering? ______
In the Holy Place, there was the consecrated shew bread and the lamps. What are two names of Jesus that show that He was the fulfillment of these? _____
[bread of life and light of the world]
In the Old Testament, when Moses was sealing the law God had given him on Sinai, what did he mix together and sprinkle on the people? _____
[As found in Hebrews 9: water, scarlet wool, hyssop and blood]
How were those represented on Good Friday? _____
[water=water pouring out of his side; scarlet wool=red robe the soldiers gave him; hyssop=wine vinegar on the sponge on the hyssop stick; blood=all the blood Jesus shed for us]
What do they repent to us, now, as Christians? _____
[Now, these are open for picking, and no one answer is more correct than another, but I had: water=baptism or the Holy Spirit; scarlet wool=the white robes washed in Jesus's blood {yes, I know they are white, but they were washed in blood :-P}; hyssop=Jesus cross; blood=Jesus blood shed for us or communion.]
Thorns were the sign of the curse. What did Jesus wear on his head on Calvary? :-)
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Unfortunately, due to time restraints, we weren't able to do much more, but let me summarize what we WOULD have gone over, as well as what we did. :-) (Sections in quotes are what I was unable to say during the lesson.)
At the beginning of the lesson, we used a program to look at an artist's 3D renditions of the tabernacle and its articles. We learned about the candlestick and accessories, the alter of incense, the table of consecrated bread, the High Priest's outfit, and the Ark of the Covenant. We learned that a lot of blood was involved. :-P
A few girls pointed out the lack of items in the Ark, so we discussed the three things found there:
1) The bowl of manna (Exodus 16:33-35)
2) Aaron's staff that had budded (Numbers 17:10)
3) The stone tablets (Exodus 25:21, 40:20)
"Hebrews 9:7 says that even sins committed in ignorance are punishable. For example, imagine that I made a law that you couldn't cross your legs, and anyone who crossed their legs would be punished. If Abi crossed her legs, even without knowing about my law, she would be punishable, because she is disobeying the law. Same way with God. Ignorance doesn't equal innocent."
"In the Old Testament, the priest had to spatter the alter and the Ark with blood in order to atone for sin. The earthly High Priest used the blood of a goat or a bull. Jesus used His own."
"I kept reading about how God cleared our conscience, and how that was an important part of atonement. For a while, I was rather confused, but I think that clearing the conscience is necessary for a pure life. If you're always regretting what you've done or not forgetting, you are burdened down by the past. So God clears your conscience and gives you a fresh start. :-)"
"If I were to write a will, but not die, what would happen to the will? Not much, right? I have to die in order for the will to be a real will. In the same way, God left us a will, but His Son had to die in order for us to be able to claim it."
"Jesus did away with sin. Do you actually believe that?"
"Hebrews 10:5. God needed a perfect sacrifice, so He gave Jesus a body so that He (Jesus) could be sacrificed. And Jesus took that body upon Himself willingly. Oh, the power in that thought!"
When you're finished with something, do you keep standing? Like, if you just finished a race, do you stay on your feet? NO! You sit down! In the same way, Jesus is SITTING at the Father's right hand. His work is done."
"Sometimes, it's tiring to see all the evil in the world, and to see sin still at work within your members. But think of Jesus' salvatation as a good disease. Not all the symptoms appear at once, even though you may have the disease."
"Jesus came to put the law in our hearts. The old covenant was that of words. The new is that of spirit. See last week. :-P"
"God has buried all our sins in the deepest part of the ocean, and has posted a sign that says "NO FISHING!!!""
A few of the girls did three skits. In the first one, two of the girls called the other names. In the second, one girl rejected a gift that the other gave her. In the third, girl 1 fell down. Girl 2 helped her up. Girl 1 then proceeded to yell at and kick girl 2 for helping her. In the same way, some abuse Jesus. (Hebrews 10:29) Don't let yourself do that.
"Some will shrink back in times of trouble. But you aren't that type! You will stand firm!"
More notes that we didn't get to...
When you look at all of the different requirements for sacrifices, it is amazing how many of those Jesus fulfilled with His own sacrifice! All these laws were, for the most part, symbols of what Jesus was going to do hundreds of years later. More notes that we didn't get to...
The Old Testament confuses a lot of people… myself definitely included. We wonder, “What was the purpose of allllll those rules and regulations? And why would God want all those animals slaughtered? Well, one main reason was that sin requires death, and there is no way around that. However, it says in chapter ten verse four, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” So why require it if the death of an animal won’t take away sins? Well, it’s because that blood could cover over sins… not take them away, but cover them over until Jesus came to make the final sacrifice that would take those sins away. Verse 13: “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,” (So they sanctify the flesh; in other words, they can sanctify the person while they’re on earth) “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” (So Christ sanctified our souls, basically.) And another reason for the animal sacrifices – as it says in chapter ten verse three – was an annual reminder of sins.
10:10, 12 and 14 – Unlike the animal sacrifices, Jesus’ sacrifice atoned for ALL sins… every single sin committed by every single person.
10:18 – and so we don’t have to constantly offer animal sacrifices for our sins, because we have forgiveness!
10:20 – the ‘curtain’ referred to is the curtain that separated all the people from the Holy of Holies… basically, the separation between the people and God. When Jesus died, this curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom… Jesus’ death took away that barrier between us and God and gave us the means to reach God directly, and to receive forgiveness directly.
10:24-25 – And that is the purpose of groups like Bright Lights!
10:26-29 – It’s a temptation, when we have God’s free forgiveness, to think we can do anything we want, because, after all, if we just repent afterward, then we’ll be forgiven and everything will be fine. But it doesn’t work that way… we have to truly love Jesus and try to serve Him. If we mess up, and we will, we’ll be forgiven, but if we keep on sinning without even trying to change or to do better, we will not be forgiven. And it makes sense… if Christ died for us, does it really make sense for Him to forgive us as long as we’ve “prayed the prayer” and asked for forgiveness, if our hearts aren’t truly in it? If the only reason we’re doing it is so we can get out of hell, not because we love Him in the least? If we’re constantly “trampling underfoot the Son of God” and treating His laws as if they don’t matter, have we really accepted Him into our hearts and accepted His forgiveness? No, we’re just looking on it as a free ticket to heaven that we don’t have to work for. It is that in one sense… we can never earn it… but at the same time, we have to try.
Eleni, Abi, and Callie filling out their sheets
Maddy, Sophi, and Haylee looking up their Bible verses
Next time, each girl will research a character mentioned in Hebrews 11. So...homework for next time: research your character, read Hebrews 11, and memorize at least one verse.
