The Lesson

Ezekiel was a prophet of God at a time when things were not going well for the Jewish people. The world seemed to be going crazy and things seemed to be hopeless. It seemed they couldn’t depend on anything anymore. There had been many wars; and empires that seemed indestructible were being destroyed. People were being killed and forced from their homes. Ezekiel and thousands of other Jewish people where captured and forced to live in Babylon far away from their homes.

They carried on with their lives the best they could, but it wasn’t easy. For Ezekiel it was especially hard because God had called him to tell his people about the horrible things that would happen because they hadn’t listen to God and refused to obey his laws. He had to tell his people that their beloved holy city would fall and the holy temple where they worshiped God would be destroyed, and that a third of his people would die of the plague and starvation, a third would be killed in battle, and the other third would be scattered all over the world trying to escape.

After many years of giving his people the bad news about what would happen, everything Ezekiel prophesied came true. The holy temple of God was burned, and Jerusalem was destroyed, many Jews lost their lives, and many had to flee the city to be saved.

How do you think the people felt? How would you feel if you were forced to leave your home and everything you owned was taken away? (Let your children respond.)

The people were probably sad, angry, and scared. They probably felt hopeless, and thought that God had forgotten about them.

But when all hope seemed to be gone, God came to Ezekiel in a vision. Ezekiel describes it like this:

“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out and set me down in the middle of a valley that was full of dry bones. And the spirit took me around so I could see them and I noticed they were very dry. Then the LORD asked me, “Son of man, can these bone live?”

I answered, “Oh, Lord God, only you know that.”

Then the LORD told me to prophesy to the bones and tell them to listen to the word of God. He told me to tell the bones that he will cause breath to enter into them, and they will come alive. And that he will attach muscles and cover the bone with skin, and then he will breathe life into them, and they will come alive and they will realize that I am God!”

And as I prophesied what God had told me to prophesy there was a shaking and rattling sound and the bones came together, bone to bone. And then I saw muscles and flesh cover the bones, but they were not breathing.

Then God said to me, “Prophesy to the wind and say, ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these dead soldiers so that they may live.'”

So I prophesied to the winds and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet. There was an exceeding great army.

Then God said to me, “The dried bones represent God’s people. They think that all hope is gone and they have lost everything. But prophesy to them and tell them that I will open their graves and bring them out. I will put my spirit in them, and they will live, and I will place them in their own land again. And they will know that I am the LORD.”

Ezekiel’s vision wasn’t just for the Jewish people; it was for all people of all times. When we do not have Jesus in our hearts we are like those dry dead bones, but we are given new life through Jesus.

Have your children read the following verses from their Bibles and discuss what they mean:

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22)

“A new heart also will I give to you, and a new spirit will I put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).

Directions (For directions with pictures click here)

1. Lay out the big bones of the skeleton before the small ones. This will insure you have room for everything. Feel free to play around with the orientation of the bones
2. Apply the glue directly to the Q-Tip before putting it on the paper. This makes it much less messy! Start by gluing down the big bones and then move the smaller ones. Imperfection makes it cute so don’t get too caught up on being symmetrical or perfect
3. Using our free printable, print out the skeleton head and bow. Color the bow and cut them both out. Using glue, attach the bow either to the head or make it a necktie. Be sure to show kids their options!

Directions

1. Help your children trace their hands onto white paper and cut them out.
2. Glue them down on the dark construction paper.
3. Show them pictures of the bone structure in the hand and then have them color bones inside the hand shape.
4. Have them write the scripture "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." - Ezekiel 36:26a

Directions

1. Divide the kids up into teams and have them line up and race down, relay style, to pick up a lego piece and bring it back to their team. After all the lego pieces are collected, they can work together to build their lego men. When all lego men are back together have them put their thumbs up in the air! The first team to do this wins! You can play as many times as they like.

Directions

This cotton bowl game can be played as a relay race or individual race.

1. Set a Starting Line and a Finish Line (10 to 15 feet apart.)

2. Give each player a cotton ball.

3. Let them know they must move their cotton ball from the Starting Line to the Finsh Line by only blowing it with their mouths.

4. The 1st Person to get their cotton ball across the finish line Wins.