WATCHTOWER - Bible Stories

The questions for each of the 116 stories listed above are found beginning on the page after the end of Story 116.

THIS is a book of true stories. They are taken from the worlds greatest book, the Bible. The stories give you a history of the world from when God began to create until right up to our present day. They even tell about what God promises to do in the future.

This book gives you an idea of what the Bible is all about. It tells about people of the Bible and the things they did. It also shows the grand hope of everlasting life in a paradise earth that God has given to people.

There are 116 stories in the book. These are grouped in eight parts. A page at the beginning of each part tells briefly what is found in that part. The stories appear in the order that events occurred in history. This helps you to learn when, in relation to other events, things happened in history.

The stories are told in simple language. Many of you young children will be able to read them for yourselves. You parents will discover that your smaller children will delight to have these stories read to them over and over again. You will find that this book contains much of interest for young and old alike.

Bible citations are given at the end of each story. You are encouraged to read these portions of the Bible on which the stories are based. When you have finished a story, also review the study questions for that story found after Story 116 and try to recall the answers.

PART 1

From where did the heavens and earth come? How did the sun, moon and stars, as well as the many things on earth, come to be? The Bible gives the true answer when it says that they were created by God. So our book begins with Bible stories about creation.

The first creations of God, we learn, were spirit persons somewhat like himself. They were angels. But the earth was created for people like us. So God made the man and woman named Adam and Eve and put them in a beautiful garden. But they disobeyed God and lost the right to keep living.

In all, from Adams creation until the great Flood, there were 1,656 years. During this time many bad persons lived. In heaven, there were the unseen spirit persons, Satan and his bad angels. On earth, there were Cain and many other bad persons, including some unusually powerful men. But there were also good people on earthAbel, Enoch and Noah. In Part ONE we will read about all these people and events.

STORY 1

ALL the good things we have come from God. He made the sun to give us light by day, and the moon and stars so we can have some light at night. And God made the earth for us to live on.

But the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth were not the first things God made. Do you know what was the first? God first made persons like himself. We cant see these persons, just as we cant see God. In the Bible these persons are called angels. God made the angels to live with himself in heaven.

The first angel God made was very special. He was Gods first Son, and he worked with his Father. He helped God to make all other things. He helped God to make the sun, the moon, the stars and also our earth.

What was the earth like then? In the beginning no one could live on earth. There was nothing but one big ocean of water all over the land. But God wanted people to live on earth. So he began to get things ready for us. What did he do?

Well, first the earth needed light. So God made the light from the sun to shine on the earth. He made it so there could be both nighttime and daytime. Afterward God caused land to come up above the water of the ocean.

At first there was nothing on the land. It looked like the picture you see here. There were no flowers or trees or animals. There were not even any fish in the oceans. God had a lot more work to do to make the earth really nice for animals and people to live on.

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He is the Maker of the earth by his power, The One who established the productive land by his wisdom And who stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and desolate,* and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep,* and Gods active force* was moving about over the surface of the waters. And God said: Let there be light. Then there was light. After that God saw that the light was good, and God began to divide the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, but the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day. Then God said: Let there be an expanse between the waters, and let there be a division between the waters and the waters. Then God went on to make the expanse and divided the waters beneath the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And it was so. God called the expanse Heaven.* And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. Then God said: Let the waters under the heavens be collected together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, but the collecting of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Or empty.

Or the surging waters.

Or Gods spirit.

Or Sky.