Do you ever struggle with teaching your child the good news about Jesus? Children are constantly absorbing an incredible amount of information. God created their minds to soak up impressive quantities of facts, details, and concepts at a young age. Yet sometimes information arrives at them fragmented. So how can we present our kids with a wholesome view of the Gospel? By teaching them the value of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, you can give powerful Gospel lessons to your child in a way that makes sense and will anchor them in the truth of God’s promises.

 

3 Powerful Gospel Lessons for Your Child

 

Why did Jesus have to die?

 

As children gather up facts from the world around them, they eventually arrive at the concept of death. When they understand its finality, and fear of the unknown shrouds their thoughts, they often wonder why Jesus had to go through death. Why was it necessary?

We can remind our children that there is always a punishment for wrong things. Wrong things can’t stick around because they always make life worse for us and those around us. There needs to be a removal of wrong things. Jesus came to take away the wrong things, called sins, from our hearts. We can share with our kids how, back in history during the time of the Bible, sacrifices of animals were made for many reasons. The people viewed the blood of an animal as a payment that removed wrong things. Jesus came to be the ultimate and perfect payment. When He died on the cross, His blood was shed, and that blood was the perfect payment to remove our sins. His is the only perfect blood and the only payment big enough to remove our sins forever.

Share with your child 1 Corinthians 6:20, “for God bought you with a high price.” Explain to them that Jesus’ blood was that “high price.” Next, read to your child Ephesians 1:7, which tells us, “He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins.”

“Grace” means a gift we do not deserve. God is kind and gives us good things we cannot earn. Because of this, He gifted us His Son, Jesus, who gave His blood to remove our sins, so we can be with Him forever.

Finally, read to your child 1 John 1:7, which promises “the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin,” and listen to “All For Us” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume III.”

 

Why did Jesus have to be buried?

 

Children who have attended a funeral service or driven past a cemetery somewhat understand what it means for a body to be buried. Yet the burial of Christ allows us to teach our kids the deeper truth and promise of the Gospel.

When Jesus was buried, it was a picture of how fully He handled our sins. He took all our wrong things — every wrongful action, thought, idea, attitude, word, all of it — and He buried it down in the grave. He took the bad things to where they can no longer have power over us. Share with your child that God does not do things halfway. He always completes His work.

Read with your child Psalm 103:12, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” You can explain to your child that the planet earth is about 7,926 miles wide from one side to the other. But God did not only create the world; He made the entire universe! Many think the universe is somewhere around 540,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles wide. And that is only what we’ve been able to discover with telescopes and tools! You can tell your child we will never know how far the east is from the west. However, when Jesus took our sins and buried them in the grave, that’s exactly how far He put our sins away from us.

Read your child John 1:29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” and listen to “By His Name” from “Hidden In My Heart, Volume III.”

 

Why did Jesus have to come back to life?

 

Romans 6:10 shows us how completely Jesus dealt with our sins. It says, “When He died, He died once to break the power of sin.” However, we can’t stop there. Reading on, we’re given a fuller picture: “But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God.” Jesus was not meant to stay dead. Because He rose to a new life, He also gives us a new life! Jesus defeating death shows the power of God as the bringer of life. We were dead in our sins, but just as He brought Jesus to life, He brings us to life! 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In God’s great mercy, He has caused us to be born again into a living hope because Jesus Christ rose from the dead.” Jesus’ life is the proof of our new life. By not staying in the grave, Jesus beat death. He proved Himself as the winner and victor, and He brings that victory to us. Sin does not win.

Just as Jesus lives for the glory of God, our new life in Him is one of great joy and purpose. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, “Christ died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from the dead so that they would live for Him.”

As our children are piecing together ideas from everything the world presents to them, we can offer a complete picture of what Jesus has provided. Because He died, their sins are completely paid for with the only perfect payment. Because He was buried, those sins have been wholly removed from them. Because He rose, your child can have an everlasting and purposeful life. Share the promise of John 10:10 with your child, “A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.” In His death, burial, and resurrection, we have fullness of life!

 

Listen to “Hidden In My Heart, Volume III, a Lullaby Journey Through the Life of Jesus.”