Before class
The evening before, sit down with pp. 16–23 and the spread open, and read Genesis 4 and 5 beside it. Then print Big-Print Stretch 1, the four Letter sheets marked A to D, and tape them to the wall at eye level; the book shows this stretch at 75%, the sheets show it full size. Sticky notes and pencils go on the table. Mark p. 20 in your copy as well, because the count of Genesis 5 is set out there in a table you will want to read aloud.
Opening · 5 minutes
Leave the book closed for now; this lesson begins on the wall. Point to the far left edge of the sheets and say: “This is where Adams begins. Everything on this chart, every king and every empire, grows out of this one band. Who can find the first number on it?” Let someone read 4004. Then ask a second question and leave it hanging: “Is that a year, or is it somebody’s age? How would you tell the difference?” Before the hour is over, promise them, they will take two numbers that look as if they have nothing to do with each other, 3874 and 130, and prove that they name one and the same moment.
At the chart · 15 minutes
1The first band. Just above the picture of the garden, the class can find ADAM (AND EVE) 930 years (pin 2 on p. 16). Point out that husband and wife share one band, and give them the rule the book gives: where a band begins, a life begins. Then put your finger on the 930 and teach the warning from p. 17. A number after a name is an age, never a year. Let them find SETH 912 yrs. and say what it means, his whole life, before anyone tries to turn it into a date. Years on this chart always carry A.M. or B.C.
2Two brothers, two endings. Move up to the two thin bands at the left edge and let a child read the labels: Cain “the firstborn,” Abel “the first Martyr.” Ask why Abel’s band is so short, then read Genesis 4:8 together. Show the question mark at the end of his band and the words “About 129 A.M.-perhaps” (p. 18), and say it plainly: Adams prints a guess only with the label still on it. If time allows, show the two small scenes under the stream, the brothers at their altars and the death of Abel, transcribed on p. 22.
3Add it up to 4004. Now go to the fork where Seth begins, 3874 B.C. and 130 A.M. Give each pair one birth from the table on p. 20, Seth, Enos or Cainan, and send them to the wall to find its fork, add the two numbers and stick the sum beside it. Every note will say 4004. Name the tool they have just used, Key 1 · Dates ride the stream of time, and tell them why it never fails: A.M. counts up from Adam and B.C. counts down to Christ, so the two always meet at the same total.
4Same column, same moment. Finish under the stream. Read ADAM 130, SETH 105 and ENOS 90 aloud and ask what those numbers could be; let the class check Genesis 5:3 and 5:6 to find out. Then ask one student to put a finger on Seth’s 130 A.M. above the stream and slide straight down until it meets 130 A.M. again on the lower line. That is Key 6 · Same column, same moment (p. 17). Read Adams’ label for the lower line to close the move: “These lines show the genealogy of CHRIST.”
Talk it over · 15 minutes
Cain’s line has names and no years, and Seth’s line has both. Why might Scripture keep the years for one family and not for the other?
Listen for: Listen for anyone who notices where Seth’s line leads, under the stream toward Christ. If the class drifts into guessing about Cain, bring them back to what Genesis 4 and Genesis 5 actually record (p. 18).
At the end of Abel’s band Adams prints a question mark, and then “About 129 A.M.-perhaps.” Is that honest, or is it guessing?
Listen for: A good answer sees that he keeps the two things apart: the question mark says Scripture is silent, and the word “perhaps” marks the guess as his own. That habit is why the dated parts of the chart can be trusted.
Adam talked with Seth for 800 years, with Enos for 695 and with Cainan for 605. What would it be like to hear about Eden from the man who lived there?
Listen for: Let them imagine freely, then point to the numbers Adams prints beside Adam’s band (p. 16). The thing to land is that the promise of Genesis 3 did not have to travel far: Adam could tell it himself.
To close
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”Psalm 90:12 · KJV
Lord, as we count the years of these first fathers, teach us to count our own days and to spend them with you.
With younger children (6–10)
Paper strips beat any explanation. Cut one for each band, a long one for Adam and a very short one for Abel, and let the children hold them up to the sheets. Before that, send them to find Adam and Eve under the tree, the big number 4004 where the stream begins, and the two brothers at their altars below it. Keep the lesson on the wall and in their hands. Skip the A.M. arithmetic and keep one rule: the number after a name tells how many years he lived.