Jesus as the Spotless Lamb

BIG IDEA: Jesus lived a sinless life.

This free Bible lesson, Jesus as the Spotless Lamb, will teach elementary students about how Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, and He paid the price for our sins.

The preschool lesson is a continuation of The Sermon on the Mount due to the heaviness of the lesson about sacrifice.

FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Matthew 4:1-11; Galatians 3:22-27; Hebrews 4:15, 9:14, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 John 3:5, Revelation 5:6

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 and trimmed “Word Cards” (two sets per class)
• printed & trimmed “Bad Report Cards” & “Jesus’s Report Cards” – one for each student
• envelopes – 2 per student
• printed ABCD signs
• tape
• printed “Jesus is the Spotless Lamb” – one for each student
• printed “Lamb’s Wool” – one page for each student
• scissors
• glue
• colored pencils, crayons, markers

MEMORY VERSE: “In the same way, let your light shine so others can see it. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will bring glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 (NIrV)

THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:

• Divide the students into two groups and ask them to form lines on one side of the room.
• On the opposite side of the room place a full set of printed & trimmed Matthew 5:16 WORD CARDS for EACH GROUP.
• Remind students that in a relay race, one person from each team is racing at a time. At the end, the entire team can work together to build the verse.
• After the race begins, one team member at a time will race to the other side and collect one slip of paper and bring it back to the group. They must tag the next person in line before that person can take off.
• The first team to have all of the words collected and laid out in the correct order is the winner.

LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY

(SLIDE 3) What is this a picture of? (a report card) What is a “report card”? (A report card is something that we get in school a few times a year that shows us and our families how we are doing in our classes.)

Raise your hand if you have ever had a “bad grade” on a report card?

If you HAVE had a bad grade on a report card, did you get in trouble?

If you HAVEN’T ever had a bad grade on a report card, do you think you WOULD get in trouble?

Today, I am giving each of you a “report card”.

Pass out the envelopes in STACK #1.

When you get your envelope, go ahead and open it up and see your “grades”.

Allow time for students to read their papers.

What happened to your grades? How did this happen? Are you going to get in trouble for these grades? (Allow time for discussion, leading students to understand that all of us “fail” when we commit sins, and overall if it were left up to us alone we would always receive a “bad report card”.)

There is good news today, though! This isn’t your report card after all!

I am going to give you a new report card to “REPLACE” the bad one. The grades on your new report card aren’t your own. They are someone else’s grades.

Pass out the envelopes in STACK #2.

When you get your new envelope, go ahead and open it up and see your new “grades”.

Allow time for students to read their papers.

(SLIDE 4) What is different about this new report card? (It is all As and the old one was all Fs. It is “passing” and the old one was “failing”.)

But did YOU earn these grades? (No, they are someone else’s grades. My grades were failing because I am a sinner.)

Your new report card TOOK THE PLACE OF your old report card. The grades on your new report card are all Jesus’s grades. His perfect, passing grades REPLACED your bad, failing grades.

Now, Jesus doesn’t really have a “report card” right?

This is just a way to show you, and to help us remember that, without Jesus we are just sinners and we NEED Him to TAKE AWAY our sins because we can’t do it by ourselves.

It is also a way to show that Jesus is a SUBSTITUTE for us.

Remember, what does it mean to sin? (It means to do things our way instead of God’s way.) How did sin enter the world? (Sin entered the world because the first people, Adam & Eve, disobeyed God. Because of their disobedience, all humanity after them are born sinners. This includes you and me.)

And remember, sin SEPARATES US FROM GOD. In the Bible it tells us that the price for sin is death. So when we sin, the punishment that we deserve is death, and to be apart from God.

But, the amazing news is that God made a plan for us to be able to live with Him forever. He sent Jesus to live on the Earth, die on the cross, and raise back to life. When we choose to believe in Jesus and turn away from our sins, He saves us.

Today during our lesson, we are going to learn about the people who lived before Jesus came to Earth, and about the price they had to pay for sin.

Go ahead and put your report card under your chair.

BIBLE LESSON

(SLIDE 5) We are living on the Earth AFTER Jesus came and died on the cross and rose back to life. Romans 6:23 tells us “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 means that we can trust in Jesus because when He died on the cross and came back to life, He PAID THE PRICE for our sins. When we believe that He did that for us, He will save us. That means we will live forever with Him in heaven after we die!

(SLIDE 6) Before Jesus came to live on the Earth, people did not have the option to be saved by believing in Jesus, because He had not died on the cross for their sins YET. But the people still sinned, right?

Of course! So God had to make a way for them to be forgiven for their sins.

(SLIDE 7) The Bible is divided into two big sections: The Old Testament, and The New Testament.

The Old Testament teaches us about the time BEFORE Jesus came to Earth.

The New Testament teaches us about the time of Jesus’s life on Earth and after He died, rose back to life, and went back to heaven.

(SLIDE 8) During the time of the Old Testament, the people made “SACRIFICES” to God.

Raise your hand if you have ever heard the word “sacrifice”. Does anyone know what the word “sacrifice” means? (To sacrifice means to “give up” something that is very valuable to show love.) A sacrifice is like an “offering” of something that we really love and that we feel is very valuable.

(SLIDE 9) The people who lived before Jesus came to the Earth gave offerings and sacrifices to God by giving Him their most valuable possessions. A lot of the valuable possessions that the people had were animals like lambs, goats, and bulls. Some people also sacrificed birds.

Remember what the price for sin is? (death)

(SLIDE 10) Jesus paid the price for OUR SINS when He died on the cross and rose back to life. Our sins have been paid for by Jesus, but the people who lived before Jesus died on the cross, had to pay for their sin in a different way.

Since the price for sin is death, the people during the times of the Old Testament, offered SACRIFICES of their animals to God to pay for their sins. So the death of the animal paid the price for the sin of the people.

This is sometimes difficult for us to understand, but the people who lived at that time knew that it had to be done.

In fact, animal sacrifices (animals dying to pay for sins) started at the very beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. Can someone tell me what happened in the Garden of Eden? (Adam & Eve disobeyed God and sinned when they ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.)

(SLIDE 11) The Bible tells us in the book of Genesis that before Adam and Eve sinned, they were naked and they weren’t embarrassed about that. (Genesis 2:25) But after they sinned, they realized they were naked and they tried to hide by covering themselves with leaves. (Genesis 3:7)

Then when God called out to them, Adam answered: “I heard you in the garden. I was afraid, because I was naked. So I hid.” (Genesis 3:10)

(SLIDE 12) Because of their disobedience, God made Adam and Eve leave the garden. But before He made them leave, the Bible tells us: “The LORD God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife to wear.” (Genesis 3:21)

How did God get the animal skins for Adam and Eve to wear as clothes? (He killed an animal to “cover up” the sin that the people committed.)

So, the very first animal sacrifice happened in the Garden of Eden and it was God who sacrificed the animal to “cover up” the sins of the people that He loved so much.

Shortly after that, Adam and Eve had two sons who grew up to be young men and the Bible records the first animal sacrifice committed by a person. Adam and Eve’s sons were named Cain and Abel. In Genesis chapter 4, we can read about the story of Cain and Abel.

(SLIDE 13) The Bible tells us that “Cain gathered some things he had grown. He brought them as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering. He brought the fattest parts of some animals from his flock. They were the first animals born to their mothers. The LORD was pleased with Abel and his offering. But he wasn’t pleased with Cain and his offering.” (Genesis 4:3-5)

Why do you think God was happy with Abel and his offering, but not happy with Cain and his offering? Allow time for responses, but be sure to identify the reasons listed below:

Abel brought the BEST of his flock. God had blessed him with his flock, so He was giving the BEST back to God. Cain gave what he wanted to give, and not what God had asked for. God wanted Cain to give his very BEST, but he didn’t.

God wanted all of the people who lived during the time before Jesus came to Earth to offer their very BEST, just like Abel did.

(SLIDE 14) God made this act of sacrifice into a system that the people used to give thanks to God, to show Him that they love Him, and to receive forgiveness for their sins.

(SLIDE 15) In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, God tells Moses to tell the people: “If someone brings an offering from the herd, they must offer a male animal. It must not have any flaws.” (Leviticus 1:3)

What does it mean when God said the animal “must not have any flaws”? (The animal has to be perfect. It can’t have any imperfections.)

(SLIDE 16) An animal “without any flaws” is one that is healthy, uninjured, and has nothing wrong with it. It is “spotless”.

When the person would sacrifice the “spotless” animal, that animal would die in the place of the person, because the price of sin is death. So, the animal would die instead of the person.

The problem with this system during Old Testament times, was that right after the animal was sacrificed, the person would be forgiven, but then the person would sin again.

Then what do you think had to happen?

(SLIDE 17) Another animal would have to be sacrificed to cover the new sin that was committed. It was a cycle that kept going and going.

(SLIDE 18) God designed this system of sacrifices to teach the people that a price has to be paid for their sins through a “spotless” animal, and to prepare them for the coming of the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, the ULTIMATE SPOTLESS LAMB.

Who do you think the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE, or the ULTIMATE SPOTLESS LAMB is?

(SLIDE 19) JESUS! Jesus is the “SPOTLESS LAMB” who DIED to PAY FOR OUR SINS.

How was Jesus “spotless”? What does that mean?

(SLIDE 20) Jesus lived a sinless life! That is our BIG IDEA this week.

Jesus lived, and was tempted, and He NEVER sinned! He was the PERFECT SACRIFICE to pay for our sins.

Because Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the system of animal sacrifices was not needed any longer. Jesus died ONCE for EVERY PERSON. Unlike the system of animal sacrifices, Jesus’s sacrifice DOES NOT have to be done over and over again.

Jesus died ONE TIME for the sins of ALL PEOPLE.

(SLIDE 21) The book of 1 Peter in the New Testament tells us “You were bought with the priceless blood of Jesus. He is a perfect lamb. He doesn’t have any flaws at all.” (1 Peter 1:19)

(SLIDE 22) Animal sacrifices we read about in the Old Testament were done to COVER the sins of the people TEMPORARILY (not forever).

Jesus’s sacrifice REMOVED sin from all who believe in Him FOREVER!

Dear God,

Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. We thank you that He rose from the dead and that He is now back in heaven. Help us to continue to learn more about you and grow as we learn. Please help us to make good choices and forgive us when we sin against you.

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

LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY

PREP: Tape the ABCD signs to the wall in each corner around the room.

(SLIDE 23) 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 24 – 35 Review Questions)

Whose sin did Jesus remove when He died on the cross? (C. people who believe in Him)

Which book of the Bible can you find the verse that says “When you sin, the pay you get is death.”? (B. Romans)

Jesus lived a _____ life. (D. all of the above)

What is the price of sin? (B. death)

Who made the very first animal sacrifice in the Bible? (D. God)

Who made the second animal sacrifice in the Bible? (C. Abel)

The Old Testament System of Sacrifices helped the people ______ (D. all of the above)

Who is the “Spotless Lamb”? (B. Jesus)

Old Testament animal sacrifices were done to ______ sins. (C. cover)

Old Testament animal sacrifices covered sins _______ . (A. temporarily)

Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross _______ sin. (A. removed)

Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross removed sin ______. (B. forever)

Whose sin did Jesus remove when He died on the cross? (C. people who believe in Him)

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY

Many times in the Bible, Jesus is referred to as (called) a “Lamb”. Today in your small groups, you are going to look at several of these Bible verses.

You will each get a paper with a big picture of a lamb, and another paper with the different verses on the “lamb’s wool”. You will cut out the “lamb’s wool” and glue them onto the lamb’s body.

As you are working, I want you to think about what each of the verses means. The lamb that you are making REPRESENTS JESUS. It is to help you remember today’s lesson.

Jesus is not an “actual lamb”. This is a type of symbol showing us that He was the PERFECT, SPOTLESS SACRIFICE for our sins.

BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.

TALKING POINTS FOR THE 6 BIBLE VERSES:

• ISAIAH 53:7: This is a prophecy (a foretelling before it happened) of Jesus coming to Earth and being led away to be crucified on the cross. It speaks that He went calmly without putting up a fight.
• JOHN 1:29: This is spoken from John the Baptist when he sees Jesus coming to the river to be baptized. John is announcing the arrival of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”. Notice that “Lamb” is capitalized as it is a proper name.
• 1 CORINTHIANS 5:7: Paul is referring to Jesus as the “Passover Lamb” who was sacrificed for the people. We will teach more about Passover in the coming weeks near Easter. The first Passover took place as God sent the 10th and final plague onto Egypt before the Israelites were led out of slavery. God told the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and then wipe some of the blood on the door frames of their homes that night. God “passed over” all of the houses with blood on the door frames and killed all of the firstborn sons in the houses in Egypt that did not have blood on the door frame. Paul is saying that Jesus is our sacrificial lamb.
• 1 PETER 1:19: Peter is referring to Jesus as a lamb “without flaws”. The Jewish people would have recognized this reference as the perfect sacrifice.
• REVELATION 5:6: This is John’s vision of a future scene in Heaven at the end of the age. All believers are in the throne room of God and Jesus is there as the “Lamb”. Notice again that “Lamb” is capitalized as a proper name.
• REVELATION 21:23: John’s vision of a future New Jerusalem on the New Earth. There will be no need for the light of the sun because God’s glory will be so bright. Again, John capitalizes “Lamb” as a proper name in this reference.

Discussion Prompts for Leaders:

• How did the people who lived before Jesus came to the Earth have their sins forgiven? (They offered animal sacrifices to cover their sins. The animals died in their place.)
• What kinds of animals were given to God as animal sacrifices in the Old Testament? (lambs, goats, bulls, birds)
• What does it mean for an animal to be “without any flaws”? (The animal is healthy, with no injuries or defects.)
• What does it mean that Jesus is a “substitute” for our sins? (Jesus “took our place” and paid for our sin when He died on the cross.)
• What were the differences between Cain’s offering and Abel’s offering? (Cain’s offering was crops that he had grown, and they were not his best. God did not accept Cain’s offering. Abel offered the best of his flock and God was pleased with him.)
• Why is Jesus called a “spotless lamb”? (Jesus lived a sinless life, so He is the perfect sacrifice for our sins.)
• Why do we no longer need to perform animal sacrifices? (We no longer need animal sacrifices because Jesus died once for all.)
• What is this week’s Big Idea? (Jesus lived a sinless life.)
• Can you say this week’s memory verse? (Matthew 5:16)
• Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?

CLOSING REFLECTION

We learned that Jesus lived a sinless life and died to become the Ultimate Sacrifice as the “Spotless Lamb” to pay for our sins. Before Jesus lived on the Earth, the people had a system of animal sacrifice to pay for their sins. That system is no longer needed because Jesus came and lived a life without any sin before He died on the cross and rose again. Animal sacrifices that we read about in the Old Testament covered the sins of the people temporarily. Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross removed the sin of the people who believe in Him forever!

Reflection Questions:

• What are the differences between the Old Testament animal sacrifices and the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross? (OT sacrifices were temporary; they covered sin while Jesus removed sin)
• Jesus died for everyone. What do we need to do to accept His free gift of salvation? (believe He died for our sins and ask Him to forgive us and save us)
• Why is Jesus called a “spotless” lamb? (He lived a sinless life.)
• Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?

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