Lesson: The New Moon Sacrifices (No. CB134

2. Children’s questions are in bold. This is a general review of the material covered in the lesson. Rotate asking the questions to the children with each child participating. Not all the questions need to be reviewed – it is up to the facilitator to determine how many (which ones) should be reviewed.

Q1. In the Bible what is the word for New Moon and what does that word mean?

A. The word for New Moon is “chodesh”. The Bible translates that word as both month and moon. (1Sam 20:5; Gen 8:13-14).

Q2. What does God expect us to do on the New Moon or first day of each month?

A. Each New Moon is a Sabbath day, a special time to worship Him and learn more of His ways.

Q3. What calendar do most people follow today?

A. Most people follow the Gregorian calendar which starts in January and ends in December. This calendar is very different from God’s calendar that is described in the Bible. The Gregorian calendar has many worldly holidays that are not found in the Bible because they came from pagan religions.

Q4. When the moon is between the earth and the sun and the three are all in a line, what do we call this occurrence?

A. We call this a new moon conjunction. At the conjunction the dark side of the moon is towards the earth and we cannot see the moon at night.

Q5. How many New Moons are there in a biblical year?

A. There are usually 12 but 7 times in a 19-year cycle there is a 13^th New Moon. This assures that the New Year (first New Moon) is always in the spring.

Q6. Can you name the two extra special New Moons in the year?

A. The first New Moon begins the New Year in God’s calendar in the spring. The seventh New Moon is also special because it is the Day of Trumpets.

Q7. On what New Moon did the waters dry up after the flood?

A. The waters dried up on the first day of the first New Moon (Gen. 8:13).

Q8. Moses set up the Tabernacle on what New Moon?

A. Moses set up the Tabernacle on the first day of the first New Moon. (Ex. 40:2) There are many other examples of important events taking place on the first day of the first month which include restorations and renewals.

Q9. In a typical month, there are four weekly Sabbaths and one New Moon, which equal the number five, that are set apart as Holy time. What does the number five signify?

A. Five is the number of grace. God gives us these five special times during the month to learn more about His ways and worship Him.

Q10. What should we do if we don’t understand why God wants us to do certain things?

A. We need to obey God regardless of our understanding and He will direct our thoughts and give us understanding (Prov.16:3).

Q11. What is the sum total of the number of Sabbaths, New Moons, and Feasts in a year?

A. The sum total is 72, which relates to the government of God.

Q12. We know Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. How long does the Church wander in the spiritual wilderness of the Babylonian system?

A. The 40 years Israel wandered in the wilderness is symbolic of the 40 Jubilees for the Church. Since each Jubilee is 50 years, you would multiply 50 years by 40 Jubilees (50x40), and that would equal 2,000 years for the Church to be wandering in the spiritual wilderness.

Q13. Now if we multiply the 2,000 years by the number 72 (sacrificial offerings) we come up with what number?

A. We come up with 144,000 which represents part of the elect that God calls to be a part of His government.

Q14. The New Moons along with the Sabbaths and Feasts must be kept in order to be part of what group of people?

A. These Holy Days need to be kept if we want to be part of the 144,000 or Great Multitude that are part of the wedding supper with Jesus Christ.

Q15. Who are the Saints of God?

A. The Saints are those who keep the Commandments of God and Testimony of Jesus (Rev 14:12).

Q16. Who are the two groups that enter the First Resurrection and is one better than the other?

A. The first group is the 144,000 which is the Bride of Christ and the second group is the Great Multitude which are the guests at the wedding. Neither is better, because we will all be part of God’s Kingdom.

Q17. What are the two songs that are given to the 144,000?

A. They are given the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb. (Rev 15:3).

Q18. We know we are to keep the New Moons and the Feasts, so what commandment are they a direct extension of?

A. The New Moons and Feasts are a direct extension of the 4^th commandment, “remember the Sabbath to keep it holy”. They are all considered Sabbath days.

Q19. Will the New Moons be kept in the Millennium?

A. Yes. We will go up to worship God from new moon to new moon and Sabbath to Sabbath. (Isa 66:23).

Activity Options:

Feast Jenga

Supplies: Jenga blocks, and permanent marker(s).

Preparation: Label the blocks of the jenga game using markers or stickers if you want to reuse the game. There are 54 blocks in a Jenga game, so the labels can be modified depending on the focus of the lesson. For example, if you are close to Passover you can focus on the first few months of the year: 1st New Moon, First day of Unleavened Bread, Wave Sheaf, Last Day of Unleavened bread, etc.; feast days can also include things like Sanctification period, day lamb set aside (tenth day of the first month), if you want more detail the remainder of the stack could be the seven weekly Sabbaths in the count to Pentecost, etc. You could also just focus on the annual Holy Days and colour-code the 3 Feast seasons which may help younger players.

Actual Activity: Play as normal yet when the players take out a block, they read the label and they say something that happened on that day, which feast season the day occurs, or something they can do or not do on Sabbath; avoid repeating the same thing etc. Education and teaching can occur throughout depending on the age and needs of the group.

Other adaptations: You can also line the blocks up in order to show the sequence of the year. Or separate out the New Moons. Have the children draw blocks out of the bag until all 12/13 moons are drawn; have the children place the New Moons in correct numerical order. Once the new moons have been drawn, place all of the Holy Day blocks in the bag. Play now continues as they draw out blocks and place the block in the correct order within God’s Calendar (for example, Atonement will be placed after the 7th moon block). Education and teaching can occur throughout.

Beaded String

Supplies: String, beads (12 black representing the New Moons, 52 blue representing the weekly Sabbaths, 8 any other colour representing the Holy Days. For this example we will use red.)

Procedure:

Review with the children the concept of the 72 different Sabbaths (sacrificial offerings) per year. Have them create a sequence that gives a picture of each month. Explain that because there are 52 Sabbaths in each year we will use 4 Sabbaths in most months, and five in others. We will use a pattern 4,4,5,4,4,5,4,4,5,4,4,5. So, for stringing the beads, the sequence would be:

Black bead (1^st New Moon), 4 blue beads (Sabbaths), 3 red (1^st day UB, Wave Sheaf, Last Day UB).

black (NM#2), 4 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#3), 5 blue (Sabbaths), 1 red (Pentecost),

black (NM#4), 4 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#5), 4 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#6), 5 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#7), 4 blue (Sabbaths), 4 red (Trumpets, Atonement, 1^st Day Tabernacles, Last Great Day),

black (NM#8), 4 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#9), 5 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#10), 4 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#11), 4 blue (Sabbaths),

black (NM#12) 5 blue (Sabbaths).

This pattern is not meant to show the children where the Holy Days fall during the month, rather they are focusing on the total number of beads which comes out to 72. The concept of 72 x 2000 = 144,000 can then be reviewed again. (For older children you could follow the calendar and put all of the beads in order. This would vary from year to year.)

New Moon Experiment:

Teach the children what the New Moon looks like in the sky

https://www.generationgenius.com/activities/moon-phases-activity-for-kids/

Supplies: Styrofoam or foam ball (this can be bought at a craft store), pencil, dark room, lamp.

Activity: Place the lamp somewhere in the dark room and turn on the light. If you’re using a lamp with a shade, take the shade off. Ideally, the light bulb should be eye-level to your child. Stick the styrofoam ball on the end of a pencil. In this experiment, the light represents the sun, the ball represents the moon, and your child’s head represents the Earth. Facing the light, have your child stand about 6 or 7 feet from the light and hold his/her arm straight out and a little up, holding the pencil with the ball on top. The ball should not cover the light, but should be positioned just above it from your child’s line of sight. Have your child turn very slowly counter-clockwise, observing how the lighted portion of the ball looks as they turn.

After your child has turned around a couple times, teach your child about the phases of the moon. Show them a moon phase diagram and as they turn around slowly, they should see how the lighted sight of the “moon” looks like these different shapes.

After the activity(s), close the study with prayer.

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