Children's Bible Lessons - The Spring Feasts is much more sensible, with the new year beginning in the spring! The first month is called Abib in the Hebrew language. Spring Cleaning

any would say their favoritetime of the year is spring.

While taking a walk outside on aspring day everything smells freshand new. As colorful flowersbegin to bloom and trees comealive after a long winter, some-thing about this season fills uswith wonder and excitement.

If you are like most people, youenjoy being outside during spring-time to enjoy God’s amazing cre-ation.

Spring and the privilege ofenjoying it are gifts from God. YetGod has an even greater and moreprecious gift for us than enjoyingHis creation—the gift of eternallife and the opportunity to be partof His Family as one of Hisspiritually-begotten children. Thisis God’s great purpose formankind. This Plan is depicted in

God’s seven annual Holy Days.Those who faithfully observethese days will never lose sight ofGod’s Great Plan for humanity.

In this Lesson, you will learnabout the first three events in God’sPlan, pictured by the spring festi-vals of the Passover, the Days ofUnleavened Bread and Pentecost.

A New Year

In Israel and the NorthernHemisphere, God’s feast seasonstarts in the spring. This is a timewhen plants and animals springforth and life begins anew.

God’s first three festivals takeplace in the spring months ofGod’s calendar. Yet the Romancalendar, which most countriesuse, has the new year beginning inthe middle of winter. God’s calen-

The SpringFestival Season

1 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSONIllustrations by Paula Rondeau

M

dar is much more sensible, withthe new year beginning in thespring! The first month is calledAbib in the Hebrew language.

Spring Cleaning

Many of you remember helpingyour parents clean the house to

prepare for the Days ofUnleavened Bread. This is one ofthe festivals in God’s spring HolyDay season.

You clean closets. You dustrooms, vacuum and search pocketsand couch cushions. Do youremember what you were lookingfor? With careful searching

2LEVEL 3 / SPRING LESSON

3 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSON

through every room in the houseyou and your family hunt for leav-en and all foods containing it. Nocookie, cake or crumb is safe!Everything with leavening in itmust be thrown out. For seven dayseveryone eats unleavened bread.

Have you ever asked yourselfwhy we must be diligent inremoving leaven and leavenedproducts? Why is it so importantto get rid of leavening during thisseason? What does it have to dowith God’s Plan? Why must weeat unleavened bread during theseven days?

A Giant Puzzle

For nearly 6,000 years almost noone has understood God’s Plan.Down through the years God hasshown bits and pieces of His Planto a very small number of people.

You could think of God’s Planas a beautiful picture that God cutinto a gigantic “jig-saw puzzle”with many different pieces.

God revealed a part of His Planwhen He brought ancient Israelout of slavery in Egypt. Even

though the Israelites were given alarge piece of the puzzle, they didnot see how it fit into the “big pic-ture” of God’s purpose.

Ancient Israel did not have theBible as we do today. Jesus Christuses the Bible to show His Churchthe various “pieces of the puzzle.”Down through the years God usedHis servants, such as Mr. HerbertW. Armstrong and Mr. David C.Pack, to show how these pieces fittogether. After the apostasy manyof the pieces (truths of God’s Plan)were scattered and lost. God had toraise up a man to restore the truthsthat were being watered down.

The more someone obeys Godand keeps His laws, the more Godwill reveal to him and the more hewill understand His Plan.

Now use your Bible to help putthe pieces of the puzzle togetheras you go through this SpringFestival Lesson.

Israelites in Captivity

For hundreds of years Jacob’sdescendants, the children of________ (Exodus 1:1), lived in

Egypt. Jacob and his family hadmoved to Egypt because of a hor-rible famine in the land. Jacob andhis children were welcomed intoEgypt by Pharaoh, the king ofEgypt. Joseph, one of Jacob’ssons, had been made second-in-command under Pharaoh.

As the years went by, Jacob’sfamily grew until there were mil-lions of Israelites living in Egypt.During this time many Pharaohscame to power then died.Eventually, a Pharaoh who wasnot familiar with Joseph and hisfamily made the Israelites intoslaves. The Egyptians treated theIsraelites very cruelly and harshly.The Israelites suffered terribly asslaves in Egypt.

Because of their affliction Godchose to save them from bondage.God remembered the promise Hemade to Israel (Jacob) that Hewould some day bring theIsraelites out of captivity. “I willgo down with you into _____;and I will also surely bring ____________ again” (Genesis 46:4).

In order to fulfill this promise,and lead Israel out of Egypt, God

raised up His servant Moses. Godsent ten horrible plagues on theland of Egypt until Pharaoh final-ly released His people from slav-ery. List the ten plagues containedin Exodus chapters 7 through 11on the following lines in the cor-rect order in which they occurred.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Israelites Keepthe First Passover

Almost 3,500 years ago, in themonth of Abib, God revealed to theIsraelites the first part of His Plan.This “piece of the puzzle” was thePassover, the very first festival ofthe year. This event pictures thefirst step in God’s Master Plan.

Each household in Israel wascommanded by God to take a

4LEVEL 3 / SPRING LESSON

5 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSON

young _______ “without blemish,a _______ of the first _______”(Exodus 12:2-5) on the ________day of the month. The Israeliteswere to keep this lamb until thefourteenth day and were told to“_______ it at _________ (verse6).”

God told them to cook the lamband eat it. After eating it, theIsraelites were to smear its________ on the doorposts oftheir houses (verse 7).

That night, an angel of deathwent through all the houses of theEgyptians and killed their firstbornchildren. This was the tenth andlast plague that God sent beforePharaoh freed the Israelites fromthe land.

Those who obeyed God and putthe blood on their doorposts werespared from this final plague. Thedeath angel passed over anyhouse that had blood marked onthe doorposts.

Days of Unleavened Bread

The following day the Israelitespacked their things and prepared

to leave Egypt. That night, theyquickly left Egypt, on theevening of the fifteenth day ofthe month. God guided them by apillar of fire by night and a cloudby day. He commanded the peo-ple to remember this event bycalling it “a night _____ ______________________________ untothe Lord” (Exodus 12:42).

Yet it was not until seven dayslater, the last day of the Days ofUnleavened Bread, when theIsraelites crossed the Red Sea andwere totally free from theEgyptians.

Write out Exodus 13:6 to findout more about this piece of thepuzzle. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Why did the Israelites have to eatunleavened bread for seven days(Exodus 13:6-10)? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6LEVEL 3 / SPRING LESSON

Notice the word memorial.Look up this word in the diction-ary and write out its meaning. ____________________________________________________________________________________

A Special Puzzle Piece

Searching through the NewTestament we can find many otherpieces of the puzzle. It is in thesepages that a key piece is found.

More than 1,900 years ago Godsent someone very important intothe world. This person was JesusChrist. He is important for a num-ber of reasons.

First, Christ was a God-being.Jesus has many names foundthroughout the Old Testament. Hewas used by God the Father tocreate the entire universe. It wasHe who declared in Genesis 1:3,“Let there be light.” He is also oneof the two Beings who said, “Letus make man in our image”(Genesis 1:26). He is called theWord in John 1:1-3, which canalso be translated “spokesman.”

Putting together Genesis 1:26

and John 1:1-3 shows us that thereare two Beings currently in theGod Family. The word God is afamily name, like Smith orThompson. What is your familyname? _____________________

This understanding is one ofthe greatest secrets of all time. Itis the knowledge that one day youwill have the opportunity to enterinto God’s Family—to actually belike these two Beings! As a mem-ber of this family you will haveeternal life and have the samepower to create that they have.

The Lamb of God

Jesus Christ was unique for anoth-er reason. During the time Jesuswas on the earth He never told alie. He also never stole or dishon-ored His parents. Do you knowanyone who never told a lie ornever stole anything? Jesus nevercursed, and He always obeyed theSabbath. He never sinned—noteven once!

John 1:29 records another namefor Jesus Christ. John the Baptist,a true servant of God, called Jesus

the Lamb of God. God the Fathersent Christ to the earth to takeaway the sins of the world. Thename Jesus actually meansSavior. Jesus was the Lamb ofGod who had to be sacrificed forthe sins of the world.

What happens to the personwho sins? Write out the answerfrom Ezekiel 18:20. _________________________________________________________________

Yet Jesus Christ paid this penal-ty for you. Because of His sacri-fice you do not have to die foryour sins.

God symbolically uses theblood of Christ to cover our sinsso we do not have to pay the deathpenalty. Christ did not have to diefor His sins—He never sinned. Hedied for our sins, so that we couldreceive eternal life.

Christ is our Passover lamb.When the death angel wentthrough the houses in Egypt hepassed over the houses with bloodon them. In a similar way, if weallow Christ’s blood to cover oursins, God passes over us andspares us from the death penalty.

Sin is a horrible thing. It is sim-ilar to the affliction and slavery inEgypt. It is God’s will for us to befree from our bondage to sin.Christ’s sacrifice allows this tohappen.

The Passover Service

Members of God’s Church todayare not required to kill a lamb andwipe its blood on the doorposts oftheir homes like the ancientIsraelites were commanded to do.

Every year on the evening ofthe fourteenth of Abib God’sChurch meets for the Passoverservice. This is a very solemnand special occasion. First, mem-bers wash one another’s feet.Then they eat a small piece ofunleavened bread and drink a lit-tle wine.

These actions have great mean-ing and represent importantaspects of God’s Plan.

Those who understand whatthese elements symbolize knowhow Jesus Christ, a “special puz-zle piece,” fits into God’s Plan formankind. God will help you

7 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSON

8LEVEL 3 / SPRING LESSON

understand how this piece fits inas you become older and continuetrying to please Him.

Never forget that the more youobey God, the more He will revealto you.

Keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread

It pleases God when we hold fastto the understanding of His Planand keep all of His Holy Days.

Only baptized members of theChurch can take part in thePassover service. Yet you canobey God by observing the Daysof Unleavened Bread.

Part of pleasing God, and keep-ing this festival, is getting rid ofall the sin in our life.

When we remove leaven fromour houses it pictures removingsin from our lives. Although theactual leaven is not sin, God usesit as a symbol during the sevenDays of Unleavened Bread.Another part of this feastinvolves eating unleavened breadevery day of the seven days ofthis festival. This shows God that

we want to obey Him and stopsinning.

Make a list of all the thingsaround your house that containleaven. You will find it is not aneasy task to get all of the leavenout of the house. But it is theeffort you put forth that matters toGod. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pentecost Sunday

The festival called Pentecost is thethird step in God’s Plan. It followsthe Days of Unleavened Bread.

Pentecost means “fiftieth day.”It refers to counting fifty daysstarting with the Sunday after theweekly Sabbath during the Daysof Unleavened Bread. BecauseSunday is the first day to startcounting, Pentecost always landson a Sunday fifty days later.

During the time of ancientIsrael, recorded in the Old

9 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSON

Testament, God commanded theykeep the Feast of Firstfruits.Pentecost and the Feast ofFirstfruits are different names forthe same festival.

Israel kept Pentecost by givingspecial sacrifices. This Holy Dayrepresents another piece of thepuzzle. However, just like theancient Israelites did not under-stand the meaning of Passoverand the Days of UnleavenedBread, they also did not under-stand how Pentecost fits intoGod’s Plan.

Ancient Israel kept Pentecost asa day to give thanks toGod for providing thefirst grain harvest in thespring.

This feast is a type ofthis early harvest, but alsopictures something muchgreater.

The Feast of Firstfruitssymbolizes what God isdoing with His Churchtoday. He is like a farmer.God is gathering fruitfrom among mankind.Those in God’s Church

are called “firstfruits” (James1:18). They will be the very firstto become Spirit-born members ofthe Family of God when ChristReturns. God is working only witha few right now compared to thevast billions He will call later dur-ing the Millennium.

God is training us and helpingus grow for a special purpose.

God’s Law teaches us how togrow. He gives us His Holy Spiritonce we repent of our sins and arebaptized. It is this Spirit thatmakes it possible for us to keepGod’s laws.

Pieces of the Puzzle

God will soon be ready to “har-vest” these firstfruits. Those inGod’s Church who succeed andovercome in this life will begranted membership into God’sFamily when He sets up His gov-ernment on the earth.

Do you know when God plansto do this? The answer will befound in the Fall Festival Lesson.

In this Lesson, you havelearned about three of God’s festi-vals that picture the first threesteps in His Master Plan forhumanity. Yet there are a total ofseven annual Holy Days. Theremaining four are in the fall. Listthe seven yearly festivals belowfrom Leviticus 23. __________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You now have a few pieces ofGod’s giant “jig-saw puzzle.” Besure to study the Fall FestivalLesson to understand the finalpieces of God’s Plan.

God wants us to understand Hiswill for us, and He wants us to seethe whole picture. If you obeyGod and keep all of His com-mandments He will show you thewonderful Plan He is working out.As each year passes, and anotherspring Holy Day season comes toan end, you will learn more andmore about His Plan through thefeast days.

It is truly a joy and a privilegeto understand God’s will and keepthese special spring Holy Days!

10LEVEL 3 / SPRING LESSON

Leviticus 23:6-8

061231/CBL3Spring

RECIPE FOR UNLEAVENED BREAD

1) Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F and place a bakingsheet in the oven so it becomes hot.

2) Sprinkle flour on a clean work surface or counter top.3) Measure 1 cup of flour into a small bowl. Slowly pour in

1/3 cup of water while using the other hand to quickly stir the flour with a fork.

4) Form the dough into a ball and place it on the floured surface.

5) Knead it for less than a minute, adding flour if needed.6) Now divide it into 4 balls and flatten them with your

hands on the floured surface. Each piece should beabout 5 inches across. Now use a rolling pin to roll each piece to about 8 inches.

7) With a sharp fork pierce the dough about 25 times allover. Take the hot baking sheet out of the oven andplace the bread on it to bake. Bake it in the ovenuntil it is lightly browned, turning it over carefully (about 2 minutes per side). You may brush it with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt (like a “Saltine cracker”).