John the Baptist Prepares the Way for Jesus

BIG IDEA: God is making a way to fulfill His plan.

This free Bible lesson, John the Baptist Prepares the Way for Jesus, will teach preschool and elementary students about the ministry of John the Baptist as he told the people about the coming Messiah, Jesus, and how he was the messenger to teach the people to repent of their sins because the Kingdom of God was coming soon to fulfill God’s promises.

FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-20; John 1:19-28

All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.

Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.

PREP & SUPPLIES

• printed & trimmed “John 3:16 Hearts”
• paper sacks or small baggies for collecting “John 3:16 Hearts” (one per student)
• video: God’s Story: John the Baptist from Crossroads Kids’ Club (link)
• printed ABCD choices
• tape
• printed “Building Straight Paths” worksheets

MEMORY VERSE: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIrV)

THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:

• PREP: Hide the hearts around the room before students arrive. Leave them in stacks of like phrases. (Example: Hide the stack of “God so loved” hearts in one spot.)
• Tell students that there are 11 hearts hidden around the room that they will go and collect.
• After they have collected all of the hearts, they will find a spot in the room to put the hearts in order to spell out the memory verse.
• Students can work independently or in partners/small groups.
• You may want to time the group to see how long it takes them to find the hearts and build the memory verse.

LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY

(SLIDE 3) Today we are talking about a special person from the Bible who had a very important job to do. But before we get to the Bible story, I want you to think about this question: “Which one of these two roads looks like it would be easier to travel?”

In ancient (long ago) times, roads were prepared for the visit of a king. This was a symbol of honor and readiness.

Many many years before Jesus was born, the people of God were in a time of trouble. They had been taken from their homes and their land and sent into exile in Babylon. They were forced to work for a foreign king, far from home, and they missed their home in Israel. They felt lost and separated from God. But God had not forgotten them. God sent prophets to comfort the people and remind them that they should be hopeful about their future.

(SLIDE 4) In the book of Isaiah, which is found in the Old Testament of the Bible, we find a message that is sent FROM God TO His people THROUGH the prophet Isaiah.

God tells Isaiah to comfort the people, and He says: “A messenger is calling out, ‘In the desert prepare the way for the LORD. Make a straight road through it for our God.” [Isaiah 40:3] Some translations of this verse call the “road” a “highway”.

What do you think this verse means? (Allow time for discussion; Lead students to the conclusion that in this verse God is telling His people that someday in the future, there will be an important person (John the Baptist) who will prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of KING Jesus.)

BIBLE LESSON

The person whose job it was to prepare the way for Jesus was named John. Do you think this verse means that John physically went out to the desert and built a road, or even cleared out an actual physical road?

(SLIDE 5) John’s job was to get the HEARTS of the people ready for Jesus to come, by teaching them to turn away from their sins. This is called repentance.

We are going to watch and listen to the story of the man named John the Baptist (not the same man who wrote the Gospel of John) and learn about how he made a “straight path” for Jesus to come and rescue us. We can read about this story in our Bible in the New Testament in all four of the Gospel books. Does anyone know/remember the names of the four Gospel books? (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

The Gospel books are where we can read about all of the time that Jesus spent on the earth.

Show the video: God’s Story: John the Baptist from Crossroads Kids’ Club (LINK)

[If the video does not work, you can read this summary: Hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born, a man named Isaiah wrote that somebody would come to prepare people for Jesus’s arrival. He was talking about a man named John the Baptist. Actually his name was John. We call him John the Baptist because he baptized a lot of people. Before John was born, an angel appeared to his dad and said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah. Your wife Elizabeth, will have a child. It will be a boy, and you must name him John. He will be important in the Lord’s eyes.” John was important because he would get people ready for Jesus who was coming to rescue us. Right from the beginning John was a bit unusual. He spent the first part of his life in the desert wilderness until he started telling people about Jesus. He wore clothes made of camel’s hair and a leather belt and he ate locusts dipped in honey. He started telling everybody that God loves us so much that he’s sending his own Son to rescue us. This made a lot of people want to follow God and His Son Jesus. So John began baptizing them. That’s how he got his nickname. Baptism is what we do when we decide to tell everybody that we are following Jesus. While John was baptizing and teaching, some people thought he might be the rescuer. But he said, “Someone who is more powerful than I am will come. I’m not good enough to untie the straps of His sandals.” John was making a point by talking about Jesus’s feet. Back then everyone’s feet were almost always dirty because they wore sandals, stepped in dust and camel poop, and didn’t have showers. So when John said he wasn’t good enough to untie Jesus’s sandals, he was saying that he would feel lucky if he could help Jesus with His dirty feet. That’s how much John loved Jesus. When Jesus came to the shore where John was baptizing the people who wanted to follow God, He asked John to baptize Him, so John baptized Jesus to mark the beginning of Jesus’s earthly ministry.]

(SLIDE 6) What was John’s important job? (to get the people ready to learn from Jesus)

(SLIDE 7) Remember way back in the book of Genesis, when Adam & Eve brought sin into the world. Sin separates us from God.

(SLIDE 8) God made a promise of His plan to send someone to save us from our sins, when He said: “I will make you and the woman hate each other. Your children and her children will be enemies. Her son will crush your head. And you will bite his heel.” [Genesis 3:15]

(SLIDE 9) God was making A PLAN to save humanity from our sins. Through John the Baptist, God was working towards His plan! That is our BIG IDEA today. God is making a way to fulfill His plan. What does it mean to “fulfill”? (to complete something; to make something happen; to achieve something)

(SLIDE 10) While John was baptizing and teaching, some of the people thought that he might be the one that God was sending to rescue us from our sins. But John said: “Someone who is more powerful than I am will come.” [Matthew 3:11] Who was John talking about? (Jesus)

(SLIDE 11) The first people, Adam and Eve, brought sin into the world. Sin brought pain and death into the world, but Jesus took care of the sin in the world when He died on the cross and rose from the dead. When we choose to believe in Him and turn away from sin, He saves us. Then when we die on this earth, we get to live forever with Jesus in Heaven! In the Bible in Romans, we are told: “WHEN YOU SIN, THE PAY YOU GET IS DEATH. BUT GOD GIVES YOU THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE. THAT’S BECAUSE OF WHAT CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD HAS DONE.” This is GREAT NEWS!

(SLIDE 12) When sin entered the world, it created separation between God and humans, but God had a plan to defeat sin. His plan was for Jesus to come and save us from our sins! Through John the Baptist, God was working towards His plan for Jesus to save us from our sins.

Dear God,

Thank you for the true story of John the Baptist that we learned about today from the Bible. We know that we all sin because sin was brought into the world through the first people. But we also know that you have a plan to defeat sin once and for all. Thank you for your plan. Please guide us daily and help us to make good decisions, and when we do sin, because we know that we will, we ask that you will forgive us for our sins.

We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.

LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY

PREP: Print out the ABCD signs and tape one to the wall in each corner around the room.

(SLIDE 13) We are going to play a review game called “4 Corners”.

If you look around the room, in each of the corners you will see the letters A, B, C, and D. These are your answer choices for the questions that you will be asked. Your job is to think about the question, look at the answer choices and decide which answer you think is correct. Once you think you know the correct answer, go stand in the corner where the letter choice matches your answer. The questions and answer choices will be on the screen.

Does anyone have any questions?

This is a great opportunity to discuss how “following the crowd” isn’t always the best thing to do.

(SLIDES 14 – 24 Review Questions)

• What entered the world when Adam & Eve disobeyed God? (snakes, fruit, sin, locusts)
• How was John the Baptist related to Jesus? (cousin, brother, dad, son)
• What is the name of the prophet that wrote about “making a straight road” for Jesus? (Isaiah, John the Baptist, Israel, Babylon)
• John’s job was to get the _______ of the people ready for Jesus to come. (minds, roads, sins, hearts)
• What is another word for “turning away from” sin? (praying, repenting, sinning, baptizing)
• Where in the Bible can we find the story of John the Baptist? (OT, NT, The Gospels, B and C)
• What does the Bible say that John the Baptist liked to eat? (cheeseburgers, locusts and honey, honeybees, fish)
• Where in the Bible can we find the story of John the Baptist? (OT, NT, The Gospels, B and C)
• Where did John the Baptist spend the first part of his life? (in the desert, by the river, at school, in the forest)
• ________ is what we do when we want to show everybody that we are following Jesus. (Swimming, Baptism, Preaching, Eating locusts)
• Who came to rescue us from our sins? (John the Baptist, Isaiah, Jesus, Matthew)
• God is making a way to fulfill His ______. (plan, ideas, promise, A and C)

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY

Today in your small groups, you are going to be working together to build straight paths.

Can anyone remind us how “building straight paths” was connected to our Bible story today? (The Old Testament book of Isaiah points to John the Baptist as the messenger that will prepare the way and make a straight path for King Jesus.)

When you get your paper, you will cut out the 6 “roads” at the bottom of the page and then find the “road” at the top of the page that is the best match for each and glue them down in the open space.

BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.

Discussion Prompts for Leaders:

• In what ways can you apply John the Baptist’s story to your own life?
• What did John the Baptist like to eat? (locusts & honey) What is the weirdest combination of foods have you ever tried?
• Imagine spending years in the desert/wilderness alone. What are some things that you would miss from home?
• How can you point people to Jesus like John did?
• How do you think the desert/wilderness symbolizes our world/lives?
• What is God’s plan to save humanity from our sins? (He sent Jesus to take our place and pay the price for our sins.)
• How did God use John the Baptist to work towards fulfilling His plan? (John the Baptist told others that Jesus was coming. He told them to repent of their sins and follow Jesus.)
• What does it mean to “repent” from your sins? (turn from your sins)
• Do you have any questions about today’s lessons?
• Do you have any questions about Jesus?
• Do you have any questions about the Bible?

CLOSING REFLECTION

We learned that John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by teaching the people to repent, or turn away from, their sins and follow God. We were separated from God when sin entered the world, so God made a promise of a plan to defeat sin. His plan was for Jesus to come and save us from our sins! Through John the Baptist, God was working towards His plan for Jesus to save us from our sins.

Reflection Questions:

• What happened when sin entered the world?
• Who can save us from our sins?
• How can you be like John the Baptist?
• Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?

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