The Gospel of Jesus Christ for Little Children. (Jeff Unsworth)
In the beginning after God created the Heavens and the Earth. He created a beautiful garden called “The Garden of Eden”
He created a man called Adam and a woman called Eve.
God had a really good relationship with Adam and Eve. He walked and talked with them in the cool of the evening in the garden.
However God, because He loved them, told them that they could eat of any tree in the garden except one particular tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil BUT, If they ate from that tree, they would die.
One day a serpent that was Satan in disguise came and tempted Eve and told her that she would not die. She believed him and ate from the tree, disobeying God’s rule. She also gave the fruit to Adam her husband and he ate it too.
God still loved Adam and Eve and so He had a plan that would make their relationship good again.
When people do wrong things, there is always a price to be paid. People need to be sorry for what they have done.
Adam and Eve realised that they had done wrong but it was to late. They had to suffer the penalty for their disobedience.
God had told them earlier that if they ate from that particular tree they would die. This means that even though their bodies were still alive, their spirit that is inside them is dead.
The only way that this could be put right is if someone would pay the penalty for the wrong that had been done.
God was not very pleased with them and sent them to live outside the garden.
This disobedience of God’s rule is called sin. Adam and Eve were sad to leave the garden and realised they had done wrong. However because Adam and Eve had disobeyed God , their relationship with God was broken.
God still loved Adam and Eve and so He had a plan that would make their relationship good again.
When people do wrong things, there is always a price to be paid. People need to be sorry for what they have done.
Adam and Eve realised that they had done wrong but it was to late. They had to suffer the penalty for their disobedience.
God had told them earlier that if they ate from that particular tree they would die. This means that even though their bodies were still alive, their spirit that is inside them is dead.
The only way that this could be put right is if someone would pay the penalty for the wrong that had been done.
Adam and Eve could not put things right themselves. The only thing they could do was to put their trust in God.
This was a very serious situation that mankind was now in.
Separated from God by their sin.
How was this gap between man and God ever going to be put right?
God’s great plan was that He himself would pay the price of putting this sad situation
right.
The price of this sinful act by Adam and Eve was to die.
This meant that if the relationship between man and God was to be put right someone
had to die.
God decided that He would come to earth in the form of a baby, grow up and live a perfect life and pay the price of Adam and Eve’s sinful act Himself.
God came to earth as a baby called Jesus, He was born in a stable in Bethlehem.
We celebrate His birth at Christmas time.
Jesus grew up to be a man. He was a good man and never did anything wrong.
He did many good things, healing sick people and being kind to everyone.
Some people did not like Him because people said He had come from God.
Jesus told people that He had come to save them. To give them a gift of life.
Some believed in Him but others didn’t.
He told people that if they believed in Him He would take their sins away, even though this meant that He would have to die in their places. Jesus was willing to do this so that they could be friends of God again.
Many believed this message and followed Him telling others that Jesus was the Saviour and if they would believe in Him they would be made right with God.
Eventually the people that did not believe in Him arrested Him and punished Him by putting Him on a cross made of wood, nailing His hands and His feet to the cross.
Jesus suffered and died on the cross and paid the penalty for sin.
He became the bridge between man and God. He made it possible for us to cross the bridge and make the relationship right again with God.
Jesus said, if we trust in Him, if we believe in Him, we can walk across the bridge and be a friend of God once again.
All we need to do is say that we are sorry for the wrong things that we do and accept Jesus as our Saviour. This was God’s free gift to us. We do not need to do anything for it, just believe it.
People are like blind men that cannot see but God can open peoples eyes so they can see again. People are also like dead men that cannot hear or do anything but God can raise them from the dead. He can make their spirit live again so that they can walk across the bridge.
Jesus wants all children and grown ups to believe in Him. Jesus loves all children and wants to be their friend.
