A Jesse Tree to prepare the way to Christmas

Because of the sin done by Adam and Eve, sin came into the world. We all sin and because we do, we all need to be forgiven by God. Christmas is about us celebrating the one who was born to save us from our sins, the son of God, Jesus. As we move closer to Christmas, we will spend some time in the days to come tracing the plan God put in place from Adam to Jesus. We will see some of the people God used to bring salvation to the world.

Moms: The Jesse tree for advent can be found through various resources. You can find one here that will provide printable pages to use for each day. Advent starts pm the Sunday after Thanksgiving so the length may vary depending on which one you find.

The one I have put together is modified to cover the next 13 days. To engage your littles further, each child can draw a picture to correspond to the devotion for the day and make this into an ornament to hang on your tree at home as a reminder of the reason for the season.
Prayerfully, this will be a fun of faithful remembrance to celebrate Jesus and honor God of His plan and remind us that God has and will never leave us even when it seems He tarries.

Day 1 Three trees
Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Because of the fruit from one tree, sin came into the world. This scripture tells us that the family tree that had been attacked was not destroyed and life from the remnants would come from it. The roots of the tree stayed intact. With our lives rooted in God, we are redeemed by God. Through one man, sin came into the world. God’s plan to redeem all of us from all sin came through a tree and one man. Jesus gave his life on a tree made into a cross so we could be closer to God, have a fruitful life and be free from sin. This scripture also shows us that Jesus was prophesized to come from the line of Jesse.

Activity: Draw a tree with fruit for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, a branch coming from a tree stump and then the cross

Day 2 Noah Gen 6:11-22
Sin had gotten so bad in the world that God decided to flood the whole world. Before He did this, He told Noah to built an ark to save himself, his family and two of every kind of animal. For forty days it rained until no creature remained on the earth. After a long time, God had the wind blow the waters away. Noah was part of God’s plan to respond to sin entering the world and is part of the family line that leads to Jesus.

Activity: Draw the ark

Day 3 Abraham Gen 22:17
Later, down the line Abraham became a descendent of Noah. One night, God promised Abraham that he would have as many descendants as the stars. Jesus became one of those descendants many years later.

Activity: Draw a sky filled with stars

Day 4 Isaac Gen 22
God promised Abraham that he would have one son. After waiting a long, long time, God gave Abraham a son, named Issac, even when no one his age was able to have children. One day, God tested Abraham and asked him to sacrifice his son to him. Just before, Abraham did this, God stopped him and showed him a ram in the bush to use instead. Later to save us from all of our sins, God gave over his son, Jesus, to be sacrificed to pay the price for the sin of everyone.

Activity: Draw a ram

Day 5 Joseph Gen 37:18-28, 46:31
Jacob had 12 sons. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. One of Jacob, now Israel, younger sons was named Joseph. Joseph, was so loved by his father that his dad gave him a coat with many colors. His brothers became jealous and sold him to people who took him to Egypt. God uses all the wrongs done to us for our good which can then be used for the good of others. While Joseph was in Egypt, a feminine in the land occurred leading Jacob and the rest of his sons and family to travel there for food. Because of God, Joseph had provided a way for them to live. They all moved to Egypt and grew into a bigger family just as God said they would. God provides sometimes through ways we do not expect, righting wrongs and saving us from our sins. God used Joseph to save his family.

Activity: Draw a colorful coat and hang it on the tree

Day 6 Jacob Gen 28:10-17
Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob had a dream one day showing a ladder reaching from earth into heaven. God spoke to him that the land he was sleeping on would one day be for him and descendants. He also told him his descendants would be like dust of the earth spreading in all directions. This is the same promise God had given to Abraham that the family line will have many members. One of Jacob’s sons was named Judah. One of Jacob’s last words to his son Judah was noted in Gen 49:10. Jacob tells his son that the scepter will not depart from him or the staff from between his feet. This points to Jesus because Jesus is from the tribe of Judah and as king he holds the scepter and as our shepherd holds the staff for eternity.

Activity: Draw a ladder and a scepter

Day 7 Rahab Joshua 2:14-18
After some time, the descendants of Jacob(Israel) called Israelites became so numerous in Egypt that their numbers caused the king to fear their potential power so he decided they should become slaves. After 400 years, God moved to free them from slavery and had them led out of Egypt by Moses. Before, they could enter the promise land Moses died so Joshua became the one to lead them into the promise land. He sent spies to the land to make a plan of attack. While there, some of the men in the land told the king they were there and tried to find them. They hid on the roof of Rahab’s house and she helped them get outside the gate with by lowering down with a rope. She used that rope as a sign to them which house was hers so she and her family could be saved when the Israelites attacked. The red signifies the blood of Jesus that saves us all from our sins.

Activity: Draw a red rope hanging from a window in the house

Day 8 Boaz and Ruth Ruth 3
At some point, a famine came into the land where a woman named Naomi lived. Food was so hard to get her and her family moved to another area. Her husband died in this new place. Her two sons were left and married women from that area. They later died also. Naomi had no family left so she decided to move back to where she from among the Israelites. Her daughter-in-law went with her. To support themselves, Ruth collected wheat left behind at nearby field. The owner of the field, a man named Boaz, learned who she was and after some time they got married to each other. Rahab married into the family and had a son named Boaz. By doing so, her life and the life of Naomi was now better secured in a life without worry about food or shelter. Jesus came to provide us the same security. We can remember that Jesus and God will always take care of us and will never leave us either. Jesus’s is also named Emmanuel, meaning God is with us as a reminder that He is always with us.

Activity: Draw a field of wheat

Day 9 David 1 Samuel 16
The Israelites decided they wanted a king like the rest of the nations. Their first king was king Saul but God was not pleased with how he was leading His people, so He sent the prophet Samuel to anoint another one. God sent him to a family in the tribe of Judah to a man named Jesse. Jesse have eight sons and he presented the seven older ones to the prophet to see if they were who God had chosen but they were not. His youngest son, David, was small and a shepherd so he was not sent at first to see Samuel. Jesus came to earth in a small package too and for this reason some people were not sure he was the king to come and rescue them. God will use small things to bring big blessings to us. David was also a shepherd which did not seem like a job for a future king but for God it was the perfect job because it taught him how to care for everything in their care equally. The Lord is our shepherd (Ps 23:1), so David was a perfect example of the love a shepherd has for that which is under his care.

Activity: Draw a shepherd staff

Day 10 John the Baptist Matt 3:1-3
Before Jesus was born, his cousin John the Baptist was born. John told people about the one who would come to save the world. This helped them prepare them for Jesus. As we head into Christmas, we can prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate the birth of our savior. We can do this by taking time each day to acknowledge him with this kind of activity or others.

Activity: Draw a man in a wool coat

Day 11 Mary

Isaiah 7:14 The prophet, Ahaz, spoke of Jesus being born to a virgin woman who had not yet married. In Luke 1:32 she was told by an angel that she would have a son named Jesus. Mary was engaged to to Joseph, a descendent of David. This prophesy, or foretelling, connects the old and new testament to Jesus’s story and God’s plan for him as the savior of the world. Mary and Joseph both had angels tell them of God's plan to use them to bring Jesus into the world. God directs angels to lead and protect us. When we are unsure, God will use angels as one way to speak to us too. Let us pray to be aware of the angels God has sent to us.

Activity: Draw an angel

Day 12 Bethlehem Luke 2

An order from the emperor came that everyone should return to their land to be counted which made Joseph and Mary take a long trip to Bethlehem. It was so busy with everyone coming into town, there was nowhere for anyone to stay. Bethlehem is where David, an ancestor of Joseph, was publicly selected by God to be king and had become known as the city of David so this is where he and Mary had to go to be counted. Micah 5:2 talks about Bethlehem being the birthplace of the one who is to be ruler in Israel. Imagine the town filled with family from near and far and think about all the family memories we share for family. Jesus came to save everyone including everyone in our family.

Activity: Draw your family and family tree

Day 13 Happy birthday Jesus!

While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to give birth. Because the town was so busy there was nowhere for them to stay so they took shelter in a manager. Jesus was born there and placed in a feeding trough. After he was born, an angel appeared to shepherds saying, “fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord”, Luke 2:10-11. They hurried to see baby Jesus. During that time, wise men noticed the star that marked the place of his birth so they made the long journey to bring him gifts.

Activity: Draw a your own nativity scene and place a baby on your jesse tree

I wish you all a merry Christmas and a blessed filled new year! We will take a break for the holidays and return to continue our walk through scripture sowing seeds into our lives and the lives of your children.


Until next year,
Happy sowing!