Old Testament Lesson 5 with Illustrations

Open your scriptures to Moses 5.

After Adam and Eve were created they had been placed in the beautiful garden called _______.

After they ate of the fruit they "fell" -- became mortal and unable to stay in the presence of God -- and had to leave the Garden.
The FALL was a great blessing because now they could progress -- choose between right and wrong,
work and learn,
have children.

They now had to work hard.
They had to grow their own food.

They were taught through revelation how to pray and worship Heavenly Father.  They were commanded to build an altar.

 Moses 5: 58 And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by  holy  angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Besides growing plants, they also worked hard to raise animals, including sheep. 

They were told to sacrifice on the altar the "firstlings of their flock."   After they had been obeying that commandment for a long time, an angel came and asked why they did it.
They said they didn't understand why they had been asked to sacrifice, but that they did it because the Lord had told them to do it.

Moses 5:7
 7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and  truth.

similitude -- similar

The angel explained that it was to help them to understand and remember that Jesus could come and sacrifice his own life so that we all could repent of our sins and  live again with Heavenly Father. 

Adam and Eve had children.

They taught their children to worship Heavenly Father. They taught them about sacrifice. 

As the children grew up, Satan came and taught them not to obey and worship Heavenly Father.  
Some of them listened to Satan.  
But others listened to Heavenly Father. 
Even those who were trying to be good made mistakes, but they knew that because of what Jesus would do for them,  they could repent.   

 15 And as many as believed in the Son, and repented of their sins, should be saved; 

After many of their children had grown up, Adam and Eve had two sons they name Cain and Abel.  They loved all their children.  They taught Cain and Abel and hoped that they would love and obey Heavenly Father.
Cain was a farmer who raised plants.
Abel was raised animals.
Cain did not want to obey Heavenly Father, and that made Adam and Eve very sad.

Moses 5: 17 And Abel hearkened unto the voice of the Lord. And  Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

tiller -- rototiller

 18 And Cain loved Satan more than God.

When it was time to sacrifice to Heavenly Father,
Abel sacrificed an animal in the way that Heavenly Father had commanded.

 20 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, 

firstlings = first, best 

Cain could have gotten an animal to sacrifice, but  he listened to Satan who told him to offer a sacrifice, but to not do it in the way Heavenly Father had commanded.

19. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

20  And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering;

 21 But unto Cain, and to his  offering, he had not respect. 

Heavenly Father revealed to Cain that he could still choose to do the right, but Cain would not listen to Heavenly Father or to the teachings of his parents or of his righteous brother Abel.
Instead Cain followed Satan.

Satan said he would help Cain to kill his brother Abel if Cain would keep it a secret,  and then Cain could have everything that Abel had owned.
Cain killed his brother Abel.

Moses 5:30 And all these things were done in secret.

When the Lord asked Cain where Abel was, Cain said: “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Moses 5:34

Of course Adam and Eve were so sad.

As punishment, Cain had to leave.  He became a
fugitive
and a
vagabond.A fugitive is someone who is being hunted or chased.

A vagabond is a wanderer without a home.




God placed a mark on Satan so he would not be murdered. 
Moses 5:40 And I the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Adam and Eve and their righteous children continued to sacrifice on the altar the "firstlings of their flock."   

• 

God commanded that His people continue to sacrifice animals down to the time that Jesus came to earth. 

                Why don't we sacrifice in that way anymore? 

Jesus gave Himself a sacrifice.  All of the animal sacrifices had been given to help people understand and look forward to  His sacrifice in Gethsemene and on the Cross.

• Blood sacrifices “continued until the death of Jesus Christ, which ended the shedding of blood as a gospel ordinance. It [was] replaced in the Church by the sacrament of the bread and the water, in remembrance of the offering of Jesus Christ” (Bible Dictionary, p. 766).

The  sacrament took the place of blood sacrifice after the death of Jesus Christ.

We are to sacrifice a broken heart and a contrite spirit:
we repent and obey and serve Heavenly Father the best we can.

Can you remember what we just learned?  Play tic-tac-toe.

Make a tic-tac-toe design on paper, and number the squares from 1-9.  Divide the group into two teams: A and B.  Each team gets a turn selecting a number.  If they can answer the corresponding question on the list of questions linked here [Lesson 5 Tic-Tac-Toe questions], they get to put their letter on that square.  If they can't answer, the other side gets to try.  

As soon as one team gets a tic-tac-toe, draw a new grid and fill it with the numbers that weren't already used, including 10-15.  

How can you remember Jesus?