Jeremiah and the Potter Sunday School Lesson for Kids -

Exiled!

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Use this children’s Sunday School lesson about Jeremiah and the Exile to teach kids about God's forgiveness.

Needed: Bibles, Play-Doh or clay

Intro Game: Forgiveness Tag!

Divide students into two teams. One team chases the other for five minutes. When someone is tagged, they’re out, but only temporarily. They go to the sidelines and count to seven out loud. Then, they re-enter the game.

If the first team can tag everyone and keep them in the out zone at any time within the five-minute period, they win. If they do win, or when the time runs out, switch which team is chasing the other.

Intro Craft Activity: God the Potter

Give each student a clump of clay. Let them make whatever they like for a moment. Then, tell them to make a cup.

When they’ve made a cup, tell them to make a house.

When they’ve made a house, tell them to make an animal.

When they’ve made an animal, tell them to make a person.

Tell students, The Bible tells us that we are like clay. Just like we made different things out of the clay, God can make anything He wants, and He can make us. But just like you had to destroy your things to make something new, God sometimes has to destroy the things He made.

Lesson

In the Bible, God told the prophet Jeremiah that He had made the countries of Israel and Judah, and He made the people who lived in Israel and Judah, just like God makes all of us before we are born.

But the people of Israel and Judah were doing too many bad things. They were believing in and worshiping fake gods instead of the real God, and they were doing all the wrong things instead of the right things that God wanted them to do.

So, God said He was going to destroy the countries of Israel and Judah. Just like we can destroy the things we made out of our clay, God can destroy anything He wants to. He sent foreign armies, the Assyrians and Babylonians, to come to conquer Israel and Judah.

Israel and Judah fought against the Assyrians and the Babylonians, of course, but they didn’t win because God wasn’t helping them. He sent the Assyrians and the Babylonians to conquer Israel and Judah as a punishment to them for not believing in Him and for not doing the right things that He wanted them to do.

The Assyrians conquered Israel, and the Babylonians conquered Judah. The Assyrians took the people of Israel to their own country of Assyria, and the Babylonians took the people of Judah back with them to Babylon.

It was a very sad time for the Israelites and the people of Judah because God was punishing them.

But do you know what the good news is?

The good news is that God didn’t make the Israelites or the people of Judah stay in Assyria and Babylon forever. God said that He would keep them there for 70 years as a punishment, but that then, He would forgive them and let them come back to Israel and Judah.

We’ll start learning about the Israelites in Assyria and Babylon next time, but for now, I just want to tell you that even if God punishes us for doing something bad, He will always forgive us if we ask Him to, just like He punished but then, forgave the Israelites when He let them be conquered. God will always forgive us because God always loves us.

Craft Activity: God the Potter part 2

Have students make one more thing out of their clay. Ask them to make something that shows someone asking God to forgive them or someone whom God has forgiven. Have students tell about their creations once they finish.

Game: Forgiveness Tag!

Play the intro game again. Remind students that the Israelites went into Exile for 70 years as a punishment for their sin, but that then, God forgave them and brought them back.

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank You for always loving us and also forgiving us if we ask You to. Right now, we pray that You’ll forgive us for anything wrong we’ve done. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.