JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives.
18But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 19Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. 20Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. 21And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”
Picture a Christmas tree. You might see ornaments shaped like angels, stars, shepherds, or baby Jesus in a manger. But what about a giant boat filled with animals? That would be a pretty unusual Christmas ornament! After all, what does Noah’s ark have to do with the birth of Jesus? More than you might think. You see, the Christmas story didn’t begin in Bethlehem. It’s part of a much bigger story God had been telling for thousands of years.
The story of Noah and the ark began before Noah was born. Yesterday, we read about how Adam and Eve brought sin into the world when they rebelled against God. And sadly, Adam and Eve weren’t the only people prone to disobedience. Romans tells us that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). So, as more and more people inhabited the earth, evil also continued to increase. God was grieved by the wickedness in the world and decided to wipe creation clean.
However, not everyone turned their backs on God and so he chose Noah and his family to play a very important role in the story. God called them to make a giant wooden ark and to fill it with all the animals they could muster. They were going to preserve God’s good creation. Even though this plan likely seemed foolish, Noah trusted in God. Through them, God saved his people and had them start over again. In Genesis 8:11, Noah sent out a dove that returned with an olive leaf, a sign of new life after the flood. Centuries later, the Holy Spirit came down on Jesus like a dove, announcing the new life God offers through his Son (Matthew 3:16).
When we look around today, it’s obvious that there is a lot of evil and wickedness in our world. It can be tempting to not honor God with the things we think, say, or do. We, like the people in Noah’s day, are sinners who want to do things our way. However, just as there was only one way for Noah and his family to be saved, Jesus is the only way we can be saved from the punishment, power, and presence of our sin. God will rescue us like he rescued Noah when we have faith, and trust in God, his Word, and his promises.
Draw a picture today of the ark and think about this: God told Noah to use the wood from trees to build a boat that would rescue them from certain death. Did God use the wood of a tree in any other story in the Bible as part of his big rescue plan? (Hint: it was “t” shaped) Read Romans 6:23 with your family and be thankful that although we are all sinners deserving of death, God offers us the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.