Answer key

The worksheets don't print their answers. Here they all are, and on the slide before the credits.

Presenting

Each part opens with a ▶ Watch slide that plays a clip of the 6-minute video “Was Jesus Predicted Before He Was Born? Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22” right on the slide: read the two questions, then click (or press →, or use a clicker) to play the clip. The slides wait while it plays and stops by itself; click twice to stop it early. Then click to show the answers. The clips need an internet connection.

Click the slide, or press → or Space (a clicker works too), to show the next thing; ← goes back, even while a clip plays. F presents full screen (Esc leaves it). P opens the presenter view, a second window with your notes, the next slide, and a timer, that moves with the slides: put it on your laptop and the slides on the projector. N shows the notes under the slides.

Your script

1. The promises

   Say: Last chapter we asked if anyone is there. If God is real, has he ever spoken? And does he keep his promises?

   Say: We'll take this chapter in three parts, one short video each. Today is Part 1: a poem written about 700 years before Jesus was born. Did anyone see him coming?

2. A sealed promise

   Do: Before class, write a promise on a card, like “Before we go home today, everyone will get a sticker,” and seal it in an envelope. Now hand the envelope to a child to keep safe until the end.

   Ask: If someone wrote down what would happen to a person 700 years from now, would you believe it? How could we check? (Find out when it was written, then see if it came true.)

   Say: Isaiah was a prophet who preached in Jerusalem in the 700s BC. Near the end of his book is a short poem about God's “servant.” Let's listen to it.

   Clicks: 1. the line “Isaiah wrote about a servant of God about 700 years before Jesus. Let's see if it came true.”

   Sources: Isaiah 1:1 · Isaiah 52:13–53:12

3. Memory verse

   Do: Read it together three times. Then add motions: “not one” (shake your head and hold up one finger), “good promises” (thumbs up), “failed” (thumbs down), “every one was fulfilled” (sweep your arms wide, then clap).

   Say: Joshua wrote this after God had brought his people into the land he promised them. God kept every promise. We'll say this verse in all three parts of this chapter.

   Older kids: Grades 3–4 learn Isaiah 53:5 and grade 5+ learns 2 Corinthians 1:20. They're on their worksheets.

4. Isaiah 53 · Watch: A servant who suffers

   Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's about 1¼ minutes and stops by itself.

   Ask after: What did Jesus say to Pilate? Who laid him in a tomb? Click once for each answer.

   Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Was Jesus predicted before he was born?”

   Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: Nothing. “Jesus still made no reply.” · 3. the answer to 2: A rich man, Joseph of Arimathea.

   Sources: Isaiah 53:3–12 · Mark 15:1–5, 27 · Matthew 27:57–60

5. One poem, five matches

   Say: Let's line up Isaiah's poem with the last days of Jesus. Read Isaiah's words out loud, then click for each match.

   Say: 1. Isaiah: “He was pierced for our transgressions.” At the cross, a soldier pierced Jesus's side with a spear.

   Say: 2. Isaiah: “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.” Before Pilate, “Jesus still made no reply.”

   Say: 3. Isaiah: “He was numbered with the transgressors.” Jesus was crucified between two rebels.

   Say: 4. Isaiah: “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.” A rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, laid him in his own new tomb.

   Say: 5. Isaiah: “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.” The servant dies, and then he lives. Three days after the cross, the tomb was empty.

   Ask: Could Jesus have arranged the last two himself? (No. They happened after he died.)

   Clicks: 1. step 1 · 2. step 2 · 3. step 3 · 4. step 4 · 5. step 5 · 6. the line at the bottom

   Sources: Isaiah 53:5 · John 19:34 · Isaiah 53:7 · Mark 15:1–5 · Isaiah 53:12 · Mark 15:27 · Isaiah 53:9 · Matthew 27:57–60 · Isaiah 53:10–11 · Luke 24:1–6

6. Psalm 22 · Watch: A psalm from the cross

   Say: Isaiah isn't the only one. King David wrote a psalm a thousand years before Jesus, and Jesus quoted it from the cross.

   Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's about 1¼ minutes.

   Ask after: What did Jesus cry out? What did the soldiers do? Click once for each answer.

   Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Was Jesus predicted before he was born?”

   Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It's the first line of Psalm 22. · 3. the answer to 2: They cast lots for them, as the psalm says.

   Sources: Psalm 22:1–18 · Mark 15:29–34 · John 19:23–24, 34–37 · Zechariah 12:10

7. At the foot of the cross

   Say: At the cross, the chief priests said, “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now.” David had written those words about a thousand years before.

   Say: And the soldiers gambled for his seamless undergarment, woven in one piece. Nobody at the cross was trying to make a psalm come true.

   Say: The psalm also says, “they pierce my hands and my feet.” Most later Hebrew copies say “like a lion” there instead. But the oldest Hebrew copy of that verse, found in a cave by the Dead Sea, and the ancient Greek translation both read a verb: they pierce. And another prophet, Zechariah, wrote, “They will look on me, the one they have pierced.” John quotes it as the soldier's spear goes into Jesus's side.

   Worksheet: Grades 1–2 and 3–4 draw a line from each promise to what happened. Everything is in the clips you just watched.

   Worksheet answers: Grades 1–2, Promise kept!: 1-C · 2-D · 3-A · 4-B

   Worksheet answers: Grades 3–4, Promise kept!: 1-C · 2-E · 3-A · 4-D · 5-B

   Clicks: 1. the line ““They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” John says the soldiers did exactly that.”

   Sources: Psalm 22:7–8 · Matthew 27:39–43 · Psalm 22:18 · John 19:23–24 · NET Bible, note on Psalm 22:16 · Zechariah 12:10 · John 19:34–37

8. Written in later? · Watch: A scroll in a jar

   Say: Some people say Christians wrote the poem in later, to fit Jesus. Can we check?

   Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's about 1 minute.

   Ask after: What did the shepherd find? When was the scroll copied? Click once for each answer.

   Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Was Jesus predicted before he was born?”

   Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: Tall clay jars stuffed with ancient scrolls. · 3. the answer to 2: Around 125 BC, long before Jesus was born.

   Sources: Dead Sea Scrolls · Great Isaiah Scroll (Israel Museum) · Masoretic Text

9. Line up the dates

   Say: This is the Great Isaiah Scroll itself, a complete copy of Isaiah, all sixty-six chapters, chapter fifty-three included.

   Say: Whoever you think the servant is, nobody can say the words were written after Jesus to fit his story. And for centuries they were copied by Jewish scribes, most of whom never accepted the Christian reading.

   Ask: Why does it matter that the copy was made before Jesus was born? (Nobody could have changed the poem to fit him.)

   Worksheet: Grade 5+ numbers the time line now; the dates are in their story.

   Worksheet answers: Grade 5+, Time line: 1. David writes Psalm 22. 2. Isaiah writes his poem about the servant. 3. A scribe copies the Great Isaiah Scroll. 4. Jesus is crucified. 5. A shepherd finds the jars by the Dead Sea.

   Clicks: 1. step 1 · 2. step 2 · 3. step 3 · 4. step 4 · 5. the line at the bottom

   Sources: Isaiah 1:1 · Great Isaiah Scroll (Israel Museum) · Dead Sea Scrolls · Masoretic Text

10. Nobody expected it · Watch: Nobody saw it coming

    Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's under a minute.

    Ask after: What were people hoping for? When did his friends understand? Click once for each answer.

    Say: When Jesus told his friends he would be killed and rise again, “the disciples did not understand any of this.” Nobody was acting out a script.

    Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Was Jesus predicted before he was born?”

    Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: One who would drive out the Romans, not one killed by them. · 3. the answer to 2: Only after he rose.

    Sources: Luke 24:21 · 1 Corinthians 1:18–25 · Luke 18:31–34 · Luke 24:25–27

11. Going deeper · Grades 3–5 · Watch: “Isn't that about Israel?”

    Say: Here's the strongest objection. Many Jewish readers say Isaiah's servant is the nation of Israel. Let's hear it, and the answer.

    Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's about 1 minute.

    Ask after: What did Rashi say? What did the official ask? Click once for each answer.

    Say: It's a serious answer, and Isaiah does call Israel God's servant. But this servant is innocent: “though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” And he suffers for the people, not with them: “for the transgression of my people he was punished.” Philip began with that very passage and told the official the good news about Jesus.

    Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Was Jesus predicted before he was born?”

    Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: The nation of Israel, spoken of “as one man.” · 3. the answer to 2: “Who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

    Sources: Rashi on Isaiah 53, tr. A. J. Rosenberg, on Sefaria · Isaiah 49:3 · Isaiah 53:8–9 · Acts 8:26–35

12. True or false?

    Do: Read each one and have kids stand up for true and sit down for false. Click to stamp each answer.

    Answers: 1. False. 2. True. 3. False. 4. True.

    Clicks: 1. the answer to 1: False. A copy was made around 125 BC. · 2. the answer to 2: True. · 3. the answer to 3: False. They understood only after he rose. · 4. the answer to 4: True. Joseph of Arimathea did.

13. Good news · Watch: Why he came

    Say: Why would God's servant suffer like that? The poem says it plainly.

    Do: Read the two questions out loud, then click to play the clip. It's half a minute.

    Ask after: What have we done, like sheep? What do his wounds do? Click once for each answer.

    Prepare: Before class, watch the video lesson this clip comes from, with every source written out: “Was Jesus predicted before he was born?”

    Clicks: 1. play the clip (it stops by itself) · 2. the answer to 1: Gone astray, each of us our own way. · 3. the answer to 2: “By his wounds we are healed.”

    Sources: Isaiah 53:5–6

14. Pierced for us

    Say: Sheep wander off. So do we: we each go our own way instead of God's. Isaiah says the servant was pierced for that, to bring us back.

    Say: After he rose, Jesus walked with two of his friends on the road to Emmaus. “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

    Say: You could pray, “Lord Jesus, you were pierced for me. I turn from my own way. I trust you, and I will follow you.”

    Ask: What would you like to say to Jesus?

    Clicks: 1. the line “Jesus was pierced for our wrongs, to bring us back. Then he rose, and he explained to his friends what all the Scriptures said about him.”

    Sources: Isaiah 53:5–6 · Luke 24:25–27

15. Say it again

    Do: Say the verse together with the motions, then try it with eyes closed.

    Worksheet: Everyone reads their own memory verse on the sheet and colors a star each time they say it. Next time we'll fill in its missing words.

16. Talk and pray

    Do: Talk about one or two of the questions, then pray together. Kids can repeat the prayer one line at a time.

    Do: Ask for the envelope. Open it, read the promise out loud, and hand out the stickers (or whatever you promised). Say: I wrote it down first, and then I did it. God wrote his promises down hundreds of years ahead, and he kept them.

    Say: Next time, Part 2: a prophecy with a clock on it. Daniel's countdown to the Messiah.

    Do: Send the worksheets home, with this part's one-minute Short for families. The link is in your guide, under “Send it home.”

    Clicks: 1. the prayer

17. Answer key

    Do: Show this when kids check their work, or keep it on your laptop in the presenter view. The worksheets don't print their answers, so this is the key.

18. Pictures and Scripture

    Every picture on these slides, with its credit, license, and a link to its source.