From Genesis through the Gospels, Bible instruction for small children is more or less straightforward. The stories are exciting, largely chronological, and all serve the purpose of pointing to the coming Christ and our need for him to save us from sin and suffering. But what happens after the Gospels? Once Christ rises from the dead and after his disciples witness his ascension into heaven, what do we put on the Sunday school felt board? Most of the New Testament is filled with letters rather than narrative, and even the stories we hear in Acts can seem polemic and unattached from the point of Scripture. What do Paul’s journeys have to do with Jesus?
But it’s here in Acts that we learn some vital things about Jesus, his church, and his gospel. And you don’t want your kids to miss them!
All of Scripture is meant to point us to Jesus, our Savior.
The Bible is what God reveals to humans about his plan to save us—it’s special revelation. We can know God as our Creator, as almighty and all-powerful, through the world he made, but in Scripture he gives us the details about who he is, who we are, and why we need his Son, Jesus. Because of that, every book in the Bible is good for us! As Paul writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).
But we also know that everything in the Bible testifies to Christ! The Bible is the story of King Jesus coming to save the people of his kingdom. Jesus himself said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). The laws in the Old Testament show us that God’s people are sinners and need a holy substitute to save them. The stories of the judges show us our need for a perfect king. The psalms speak of the greatness, mercy, and love of that perfect king—Christ! The prophets foretell of his coming and of his kingdom! And the Gospels tell us the story of his perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection and ascension.
Acts, too, has a role to play in helping us know our Savior. The book of Acts shows us the continuing story of the kingdom of God—the church. Stories like Paul meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus or the conversion of Lydia and the Philippian jailer show us Christ building his church. And as the church grows in its members, so grows the kingdom of God! What a special thing to witness.
God and his promises are the same in the Old and New Testament.
We see clearly in the book of Acts that the gospel of Jesus and the good news which Paul, Peter, James and others write about in the New Testament is the same good news God has been giving his people from the beginning.
In fact, many of the promises and prophecies we see in the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit, or are assured to us in the hope of the resurrection and the final judgement when Christ comes again. For example, when the Holy Spirit comes to the disciples at Pentecost, Peter professes that it is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel, saying: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (Acts 2:17; see Joel 2:28–32). The work of the Holy Spirit in changing hearts is promised all over the Old Testament, like in Ezekiel 36:26–27 when the Spirit’s sanctifying work is promised to God’s people: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” Paul testifies to this new life and sanctification in his message to King Agrippa in Acts 26:18, and lives it out throughout the narrative in Acts, from his hard-hearted persecution of Christians to his becoming an evangelist of Christ himself!
Peter preaches to “the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers” (Acts 3:25), reminding the Jews listening that God’s covenant to Abraham was meant to be a blessing to the whole earth—which we also see in the prophecies like Isaiah 49:6 and Isaiah 56:6–7. What exclusively belonged to the Jews now belongs to anyone who believes in the name of Jesus. And in Acts 10, that same Peter receives a vision from God in which he is instructed to bring the promises of the covenant to the gentiles. The inclusion has begun!
All throughout Acts—the sermons of Peter, the final testimony of Stephen, the teachings of Paul—the Scriptures of the Old Testament undergird the Scriptures of the New Testament. The types and shadows of the Messiah have been replaced with his finished work, and now the apostles and disciples of Jesus are spreading the good news of their fulfillment.
The church belongs to Christ and he builds it through his people.
It’s easy to see leadership in the Old Testament. God raises prophets, priests, and kings to lead his people in their various seasons of wilderness, reign, and exile. Although these mighty figures make for good stories, there is a sadness in them as well. At some point, all of them fail or fall short.
This is as it’s meant to be. None of them are the prophet, priest, and king God’s people are supposed to be waiting for. That person is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. By the time the book of Acts is written, Jesus has already come, paid the penalty for our sin, and risen to the throne of God to stand as our mediator. He fulfills the offices of prophet, priest, and king, and although we don’t see him often physically in the stories of Acts, it is by his power and providence that the church is being built! The miracles performed by Peter and Paul are done in Jesus’s name (Acts 3:1–10; 9:32–35; 16:16–18). The hearts changed to believe in him are moved by the Spirit he has sent (Acts 8:26–39; 10:44–48). Even the protection provided to Paul and his companions throughout his dangerous missionary journeys are divinely appointed, as seen in Acts 16:6–7: “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”
Christ is reigning over his church in Acts, and he still is today.
Give your kids the whole counsel of God.
Paul describes the teaching of the gospel—all that is needed for salvation—as “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Our kids need that counsel, too. Read through Acts with them! Explain the stories. Help them see the goodness, power, and love of the God who made them and sent his Son to die for them.
You can read straight from Scripture, or you can use other resources—like this kids Bible podcast. But if “faith comes by hearing” (Rom. 10:17), then let’s not deny our littlest neighbors the good news. Christ the King has come, and he is reigning over us and his church!
