The Power of Story

Children love a good story, and there is power in telling a story to captivate their attention. Jesus understood the captivating nature of a good story. Early in his ministry the crowds gathered to hear Jesus. Matthew recounts those early days as the introduction to the parable (story) of the sower: “Great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables” (Matthew 13:2–3).

The Bible is a collection of stories that together tell one big story—the story of God’s plan to save people from the curse of sin. If you’ve ever wondered how to teach the Bible to children, start at the beginning and read the key stories of redemption. You probably already know the key stories. Here is a list of the top ten Bible stories for children from each part of Scripture, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Pick a story from this list, read it to your children, and review with them the important part the story plays in God’s larger story of redemption.

Old Testament

1. Creation (Genesis 1): God creates a perfect world without sin.
2. The Fall (Genesis 3): Sin and death enter the world through Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God, yet God promises them that a future son will crush the head of the serpent. Jesus is the promised future Son in the line of Adam.
3. Noah (Genesis 6–9): God brings the flood but preserves Noah to carry on his promise to Adam and Eve. The ark is a picture of our salvation in Christ.
4. Abraham (Genesis 22): God provides a substitute sacrifice after stopping Abraham from sacrificing his son. Jesus is our substitute sacrifice who died in our place.
5. Joseph (Genesis 37–50): Joseph is betrayed by his brothers for a handful of silver but saves God’s people from death. Joseph is a picture of Jesus, who was betrayed for a handful of silver and saves us from eternal death.
6. The Passover (Exodus 12): God brings the plague of death, but judgment passes over all those who paint the blood of the lamb on their door frame. Jesus is the Lamb of God whose blood covers our sins.
7. The Law (Exodus 20): Moses receives the law on the mountain of God. The law shows us our sin and points to our need for a Savior to take our sin away.
8. Goliath (1 Samuel 17): David saves Israel by defeating Goliath. David’s life points forward to Jesus, who saves us from sin and death, our greatest enemies.
9. The Furnace (Daniel 3): Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down to the idol and are thrown into a fiery furnace. Jesus is the fourth man in the flames who saves them.
10. The Cross (Isaiah 52:13–53:12): Isaiah prophesies about the suffering servant giving up his life as a sacrifice for sin, around 700 years before Jesus is born. Jesus is the Suffering Servant Isaiah describes who gave up his life on the cross for God’s people.

New Testament

1. The Birth of Jesus (Luke 2): Jesus is born in a manger. Jesus is the promised son of Adam and Eve who will destroy our enemies, sin and death.
2. The Baptizer (John 1): John comes before Jesus to announce his arrival. John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus is the promised Son of Adam who will reverse the curse.         
3. The Beginning of Jesus’s Ministry (Luke 4): Jesus begins his ministry. He takes up the scroll and reads from Isaiah, the prophet, stating that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy. Jesus is the Promised One.
4. Calming the Storm and Casting Out Demons (Matthew 8): Jesus commands the wind and the waves, and they obey him. Jesus commands the demons, and they flee. Jesus is God.
5. The Transfiguration (Matthew 17): Jesus reveals his glory to his closest disciples. Jesus is God’s Son, the promised Messiah.
6. The Cross (Mark 15): Jesus is crucified and calls out to God, “Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), showing that God punished Jesus for our sin as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.
7. Resurrection (Mark 16): Jesus rises from the dead, showing that the sacrifice for sin is accepted by God and he is victorious over death.
8. Ascension (Acts 1): Jesus ascends to his Father in heaven and promises to return.
9. Pentecost (Acts 2): The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised, comes as prophesied by the prophet Joel. Now the presence of God can dwell in the hearts of all people. 
10. The Return (Revelation 19): Jesus returns to judge the earth and put an end to the reign of sin and death.

God recorded the story of redemption in all of Scripture so that we would have a story to tell our kids. The redemption narrative, which we can trace through these twenty stories, has the power to transform the lives of your children.  Let us be like Asaph, who wrote of

things that we have heard and known,
    that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
    but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.

Psalm 78:3–4

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