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Old Testament Lesson 7: Enoch and the City of Zion
To Prepare: Read Moses 7; print a copy of the activity below for each child participating. Choose between a coloring page and a color-by-number! If possible, grab a bowl of water, some ground black pepper, and a bottle of dish soap.
To Teach: Begin with a prayer. Then show the bowl of water. Explain that the bowl of water represents the world. When it was first created, the world was clean and pure. But gradually (begin sprinkling pepper onto the water) wickedness began to cover the land. God called a prophet, Enoch, to preach and prophesy to the people, telling them to repent.
Add a few drops of soap to the dish and watch what happens (the pepper rushes away from the center of the dish). Then, read Moses 7:13-17 and discuss how what happened with Enoch and his people is similar to what happened with the pepper. (Because of Enoch’s faith and the people’s righteousness, they were separated and protected from the wicked.)
Next, read Moses 7:18 aloud and help children that have their own scriptures mark the verse in red. (Scripture mastery!) Discuss what it means to be a Zion people, and what ‘one heart’ and ‘one mind’ mean.
Finally, read Moses 7:19-21 and talk about how Enoch built the city of Zion. Talk about how the people of the city were translated (changed so that they would not die until the resurrection) and taken up to Heaven.
In the time between Zion being taken up into Heaven and the Flood, many righteous people were also taken up to Heaven. Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote:
“After those in the City of Holiness were translated and taken up into heaven without tasting death, so that Zion as a people and a congregation had fled from the battle-scarred surface of the earth, the Lord sought others among men who would serve him. From the days of Enoch to the flood, new converts and true believers, except those needed to carry out the Lord’s purposes among mortals, were translated” (The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man [1982], 284).
Explain that because the righteous people were taken up to Heaven, there were few righteous people remaining on the earth when Noah was told to build the ark.
Finish up with the activity sheet, you’re done!
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