3 Hebrew Children – Cups and Balls

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What you need:

• Cups and balls magic set (the one I recommend can be purchased at Amazon by clicking here)

Preparation:

Place one of the balls in the right-hand cup and set out all 3 cups upright in line on the table. In front of each cup, place one of the remaining three balls.

Lesson:

Today I would like to tell you a story.  It is the story of the three Hebrew children.

There were taken captive along with many others from the nation of Israel and were hauled all it back to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. He was not a very nice man and he didn’t treat the slaves very well. However, he found that there were four young men that were pretty special. They didn’t talk like the others, didn’t act like the others and were altogether superior in every way. What he did not know is that they were different because they believed in the one true God.  And you can be just like them!  If you do a God want you to do it will set you apart and make you special.

Well, Nebuchadnezzar was a proud man. One night he had what to him was a terrible dream where he saw a statue made of many different materials at the end of which a giant rock rolled and smashed the statue to pieces. He had no idea what this meant so he called all of his wise men and asked them. They did not know until one man named Daniel, one of the four special boys, was able to tell him, with the help of God with the dream meant.

The king found out from Daniel that the head of the statue represented Babylon and that he would one day be overthrown. He was such an arrogant man however that he decided that he was going to try to change this dream by building a huge statue OF HIMSELF that was not just part gold but every bit of it would be gold. With this, he hoped that Babylon would never be overtaken and would rule forever.

To celebrate his accomplishment he decided to have the entire nation bow down and worship this new statue of himself that he had built. He told everyone that when the music played that they must bow down. But there were some boys that had made up their mind that they were going to bow only to the one true God. Not a statue.

No, we don’t know where Daniel was at this time but his three friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were left on their own to decide if they were going to live for God.

When the music began to play and everyone bowed down, the King looked over the land and he saw three figures standing AND NOT BOWING… and this made him so mad. He told one of the guards to grab Shadrach and bring him over.  And so the guard grabbed Shadrach.

PICK UP THE CUP CONTAINING THE FOURTH BALL AND WITHOUT SHOWING ANYONE THE BALL INSIDE THE CUP, TURN IT OVER QUICKLY ON TOP OF THE RIGHT-HAND BALL. IF YOU DO IT QUICKLY ENOUGH THE BALL WILL NOT FALL OUT OF THE CUP AND NO ONE WILL EVEN KNOW IT IS THERE. YOU NOW HAVE TWO BALLS BENEATH THAT CUP.

Another guard grabbed Meshach also.

PICK UP THE MIDDLE BALL AND SET IT ON TOP OF THE CUP CONTAINING THE TWO BALLS.

And that guard piled on him and so did the third.

GRAB THE 2ND CUP AND SET IT ON TOP OF THE FIRST CUP, COVERING UP THE NEWLY PLACED BALL. THEN GRAB THE THIRD CUP AND SET THIS ON TOP OF THE 2ND CUP. YOU WILL NOW HAVE A STACK OF 3 CUPS. AT THE VERY BOTTOM YOU WILL HAVE TWO BALLS AND IS SITTING ON TOP OF THE BOTTOM CUP, YOU WILL HAVE A THIRD BALL. YOU WILL STILL HAVE THE FOURTH BALL SITTING OFF TO THE SIDE.

But what those guards and the king did not know is that they had no power over the three Hebrew children that God did not allow them to have. At any time God could have stopped the whole thing and set those boys free.

TAP A COUPLE OF TIMES ON TOP OF THE STACK OF CUPS AND THEN LIFT UP ALL THREE TOGETHER SHOWING THE TWO BALLS SITTING ON THE TABLE. IT WILL LOOK LIKE THE BALL THAT WAS SITTING ON TOP OF THE CUP PASSED THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF THE CUP. TURN THE WHOLE STACK OF CUPS UPRIGHT AND THEN SET THEM OUT AGAIN IN A LINE ON THE TABLE. HOWEVER, KEEP THE TWO BALLS TOGETHER ON THE TABLE WITH THE OTHER BALL SEPARATE.

But the king didn’t know that and so he instructed the guards to grab them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And so the guards grabbed Shadrach.

ONCE AGAIN FLIP THE CUP CONTAINING THE BALL OVER TO COVER THE TWO BALLS THAT ARE BY EACH OTHER. YOU WILL NOW HAVE THREE BALLS UNDER THE CUP.

And then the king grabbed Meshach.

AGAIN, PLACE THE LAST BALL ON TOP OF THE CUP CONTAINING A THREE BALLS AND THEN PLACE THE OTHER 2 CUPS ON TOP OF IT. YOU WILL NOW HAVE A STACK OF 3 CUPS WITH THREE BALLS UNDER THE BOTTOM ONE AND A SINGLE BALL ON TOP OF THIS CUP.

But again, with king did not know is that God could have released those boys at any time. With one flip of his wrist he could have set them free.

TAP THE TOP OF THE STACK OF CUPS AND PICK THE WHOLE STACK UP SHOWING THAT THERE ARE NOW THREE BALLS SITTING ON THE TABLE. FLIP THE STACK OF CUPS UPRIGHT AND THEN SET THEM OUT ONCE AGAIN AND ALIGN WITH THE CUP HOLDING THE BALL ON THE FAR RIGHT. KEEP THE THREE BALLS IN THE TABLE TOGETHER WHERE YOU CAN COVER THEM WITH A CUP LATER.

But the king didn’t know this and so in his silly pride he told the guards to grab those boys and take them to his fiery furnace.

GRAB THE CUP CONTAINING THE BALL AND QUICKLY FLIP IT OVER ON TOP OF THREE BALLS. YOU NOW HAVE ALL FOUR BALLS TOGETHER. STACK THE OTHER CUPS ON TOP OF IT.

The king not only told the guards to take the boys to the fiery furnace but he also wanted the furnace seven times hotter than it had ever been. He wanted to make sure that these boys paid for disobeying him. And so the guards did. At the fiery furnace they grabbed them and threw them into the fire. Everyone expected the boys to burn up immediately but instead began to walk around as if nothing had happened. God protected them.

Most unbelievably though as everyone looked at the boys they saw something incredible. Instead of just Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego everyone was astonished. Finally the king shouted, “did I not throw three into the fire? But who is that fourth man?”

LIFT UP THE STACK OF CUPS AND SHOW THAT THERE ARE FOUR BALLS ON THE TABLE. SPREAD THEM OUT SO EVERYONE CAN SEE THEM CLEARLY.

And while the guards watched the heat got to them and while the three boys and Jesus who was in the fire with them are completely unaffected all three guards fell over dead.

KNOCK OVER THE 3 CUPS ON THE TABLE.