5 Popular Old Testament Stories For Children

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The Creation of the World – Genesis 1

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Those are the opening words in the Bible. We are told that God created the universe and everything in it in six days. Then on the seventh day He rested.

Day 1

On the first day God gave form and structure to the creation, though the details would come later. He also created light and darkness.

Day 2

God separated the water two main parts. One part of the water was on earth and the other was separated from the earth into something called a firmament. This is a fancy word which means that water was held up away from the earth. The space between the two bodies of water is the sky.

Day 3

The next day God moved the water on the earth to form dry parts that is now the land. On the land God created the flowers, grass and trees. The water then made up the seas that we have today.

Day 4

God created the sun, moon and stars. These were to help us understand time and seasons.

Day 5

On day 5 God created the birds to fly in the sky and the fish to swim in the sea.

Day 6

The final day of activity was when God created all the animals that lived on the land. This included the first man and the first woman. Their names were Adam and Eve.

Day 7

God rested. Why did God rest? It was an example to us that we should work when it is time to work, but we should also take time to relax and let our bodies rest. This is the best way to continue to work and play in the future.

Here is one way you can remember what was made on each day of creation. God made one thing on the first three days that was made more complete in the next three days. On day 1 He made light, on day 4 He made the sun, moon and stars. Day 2 came the water and sky, then He put the fish and the birds in them on day 5. He created the dry land, flowers and trees on day 3 with the animals and people on day 6. If you drew a chart it would look like this:

Noah’s Flood – Genesis 6-9

Many years after creation people forgot about God. They no longer wanted to hear stories about Him. People became wicked. God decided that He would destroy the world and the people and start over. Instead of creating everything from nothing like He did before, He was going to use just a few people to rebuild the world. All the people who trusted in Him would live. The others would die.

God asked Noah to build a large boat called an ark. God brought animals to Noah to put into the ark. Noah preached to the people that they too could be saved if they would believe in God. Sadly the only people on the ark when it started to rain were the people in Noah’s family. Eight people were saved from the flood.

The Bible says that it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. All the people and animals outside the ark died. When the water finally dried up, Noah and his family let the animals go to begin having baby animals. Instead of creating all the animals again, this is the way God filled the earth with people and animals the second time.

David and Goliath – 1 Samuel 17

The people of Israel were fighting the Philistines. The two armies faced each other for battle. One man from the Philistine army stepped forward to challenge anyone from the Israelite army to fight him. This man was a giant named Goliath. He was over 9 feet tall!

A young boy named David heard Goliath mocking God and the Israelites (the people of God). David stood up for God and His people. David took five stones from the river and attacked Goliath with only a slingshot and his faith in God. One rock is all it took for David to kill Goliath. After Goliath fell David cut his head off with Goliath’s own sword.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – Daniel 3

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar built a statue and commanded all the people to worship it. But three young men named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow before the idol. They would only worship God.

These men knew that the punishment for not obeying the king was to be thrown into a fiery furnace. They told the king that they did not care if they died or not, they would not worship the king’s statue. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew that God said to never worship an idol.

When they refused to worship the king’s statue they were thrown into the furnace. But an amazing thing happened. Once they were thrown in, the ropes with which they were tied burned off. They were free inside the fire to walk around. The Bible says that they were not burned. Not even their clothes.

The king was amazed. He looked into the fire and saw them walking around. There was a fourth person in the fire with them. The king knew it was God present with the three young men. He asked them to come out of the furnace. The three came out and the king vowed to only worship the Lord.

Daniel in the Lion’s Den – Daniel 6

There were wicked men who hated Daniel. They went to the king and tricked the king into signing a law that said no one could worship any other person or any god for 30 days. They should only worship the king. If anyone was caught worshiping anyone or anything other than the king, then they would be thrown into a pit full of lions. King Darius knew that his friend Daniel worshiped God, but he signed the law anyway.

Daniel was praying to God, like he always did, and the bad men saw him. They brought him before the king who had to obey the law he wrote. He let the men put Daniel in the lion’s den. The king could not sleep all night because he was worried about Daniel. But God protected Daniel.

Daniel showed to the king, and to us today, that God is faithful and He will help those who love and trust in Him. God does not always keep people alive when they face problems like Daniel, but God always gives grace to accept whatever happens in our life.

Source:

The Holy Bible, King James Version

Tagged as: Bible Stories, Children, Old Testament