God's Perfect Creation

TEXT: Genesis 1:29-31; 2:1-2

OBJECTIVE

The students will understand that God was pleased with His creation. It was perfect in every way. They will be able to list the events of creation in the proper sequence.

BIBLE LESSON OUTLINE

Introduction: Show an article you (or a student) made. Describe how pleased you were with the results.

Progression of Events:

1. God was pleased with His creation.
2. Review the six days of creation.
3. Creation was complete; nothing more was needed. Encourage the children to observe the beauty of their environment.

Climax: God's creation of the universe was complete. Nothing else was needed for its sustenance and continuation.

Conclusion: God's creation was perfect, and it satisfied Him.

Response: Your students will be able to list the events of creation in the proper sequence.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Man lived in friendship with the animals. With sin came violence. Man lived in uninterrupted communion with God. This was broken with the entrance of sin. One day it shall be restored and man shall again walk in familiar intercourse with His creator.

Perfect—"Having all the properties naturally belonging to it, complete, flawless, the highest possible degree of excellence." The most common Old Testament term is tamim, meaning "complete" or ''finished." God's creation was perfect in every sense of the word until sin entered into it.

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES

• Using the "Creation" Suede-graph, go through the last three lessons, reviewing what happened on each day of creation. Use this means to impress on the children that God is pleased with what He created. Everything is good. It was only when sin entered the world that things became less than perfect.
• Play a spinner game (see Patterns). Attach the spinner to the center of the wheel. Have students spin the spinner. The students must tell you what was created on the day at which the spinner stops.
• Let students help teacher collect and arrange things God created. An egg carton makes an interesting container and display case. This can be changed every week.
• Bring a variety of objects representing different parts of God's creation: flower, fruit, branch of a tree, a goldfish, etc. Let your students tell on which day each item was created.
• Bring some "man-made" items to class: a sweater, a toy car, a metal spoon, a pencil. Discuss the processes by which each of these came into being. The point should eventually be reached that although we say these items were made by man, in actuality the materials were created by God. Only God can create something from nothing!
• Use large numbers—one through seven—on which you have portrayed the events of each day of creation (see Patterns for Unit 2: Bulletin Boards).
• Make God's Gifts in Nature booklet (see Patterns). Copy the pages onto the color of paper indicated on the bottom of each page. Cut out the pages and let your students assemble the pieces in the correct order. Fold the cover along dotted lines. Cut out the front oval. Insert the pages and staple the edge. Go through the pages with your students, reading the verses on each page.
  

QUESTIONS

1. Why did God make man?
2. Review what God did on each day. (What did God make on the first day? etc.)
3. Why do you think God rested on the seventh day?
4. God was pleased with all that He made. How can we please God?
5. God made the world very colorful. He chose just the right colors. Imagine how the world would look if God had made the sky yellow and the grass pink. What are your favorite colors that God made?
6. Why isn't our nose on the bottom of our foot?
7. God made the world a happy place. Name some of the happy things God made.

PRE-SCHOOL SUGGESTIONS

• Bring a simple craft related to nature; for example, a flower, stem and leaf to glue to a backing. Help your children finish their project and compliment them on whatever they have made. Bring out how happy God felt when He looked at His creation and saw that it was good.
• Have a simple background of hills, a stream and sky run off for each of your students (see Patterns for Unit 2: Bulletin Boards). Let them color the grass, the water and the sky as you mention each of these parts of God's creation. Then give them stickers of flowers, birds, fish, and animals to paste on their scene as you finish reviewing the events.
• Show the children a big box covered with hearts. Write the names of the children in your class on the various hearts. Tell them this is a "Love Box" from God. Point out whom He loves by showing them their names on the hearts. Then look inside together. Have it full of items representing creation—a stuffed animal, fruits, pictures of the beach or mountains, etc.
• Let your little ones help you put together a sandbox scene representing creation. Begin by putting a piece of blue construction paper on the bottom of your sand tray. Give the students construction-paper sun, moon, stars and clouds to hold above the tray. When God creates the dry ground, pour in the sand and let them help you arrange it. They will especially enjoy sticking in plastic bushes, flowers, animals, and dolls representing Adam and Eve, at the proper times. When it is all arranged to their satisfaction, comment on how pleased they are with it. Compare this to God's satisfaction when His creation was completed.

REVIEW IDEAS

Play "God's Trombones"—the creation part, from the record by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians.

A presentation reviewing the events of creation can be done very effectively with an overhead projection. Overlays can be added to the basic frame each time you say the words, "And God said, 'Let there be ... .' "

Help your students see the perfect balance of nature and the universe as God created it. Play a "What if?" game with your students, posing such questions as "What if the sun were much closer to the earth? What if the world turned more slowly so our day lasted much longer? What if there were no tides to control the ocean?" Conclude by showing an object that works (clock, timer, toaster, flashlight, etc.) and bringing out that it works because it is put together correctly in a certain manner. Just so with God's universe. He was the Master Designer and He put it all together perfectly.

SUPPORT MATERIAL

• "The World God Made" — Arch Book, Concordia
• "The Story of Creation" — An Alice in Bibleland Storybook by Alice Joyce Davidson, C. R. Gibson Company