The Lord S Return and Our Departure
One Minute Bible
52 Week Curriculum
We’re One Step Closer
The Lord’s Return and Our Departure
Objectives
- To gain an overview of God’s plan for the end of the age.
- To anticipate the Lord’s return by making ourselves pure and ready.
Overview
Kids are fascinated by eschatology—which is amazing considering that they have no idea what the word means. It’s just the end of the world to them, and an opportunity to talk about the beast, 666, blood flowing to the horse’s bridle, and the latest Stephen King novel. Fun stuff, huh?
Well, it is kind of fun…but it’s also kind of intimidating, especially for youth workers who have never made it past Revelation 3 themselves.
The net result of our intimidation has been tragic: We don’t talk about prophecy and eschatology anymore. We excuse our fear and ignorance with thoughts like: It’s irrelevant to kids’ lives. Or we make bad jokes like, “I’m pan-mil…I believe it will all pan out in the end.”
My response is this: If it’s so irrelevant, why would God write so much about it? Daniel and the other prophets, the Thessalonian letters, 2 Peter, Revelation, and a fair portion of the Gospels all speak about the end of the age. It seems to me that God wants us to know something about it. This session is devoted to helping your group understand, in broad strokes, God’s program for the end.
Regardless of the eschatological school to which you belong, all conservatives can agree on some critical points:
God has a plan for Christians at the end of the age.
God has a plan for Jews at the end of the age.
God has a plan for unbelievers at the end of the age.
This study majors on these major points. If you want to spin off into speculation on the timing of the rapture or the identity of the antichrist, you’ll mostly be on your own. Though I believe Scripture gives us a lot of information about these and other points of interest, it is the overall purpose of the end times that is our concern here.
However, if you wonder about my bias: I am pre-millennial, but I believe in a post-tribulation rapture.
One other item I mention by way of introduction: Most Christians, I believe, are confused and misguided by thinking that the world ends with seven years of tribulation. There are at least three errors in this thinking:
First, not all of the last seven years are the tribulation.
Second, the Day of the Lord is much more significant than the tribulation as a marker of the rapture of the church and the return of Christ.
Third, we shouldn’t focus on tribulation, but on salvation. Our final salvation at the return of Jesus Christ is what we look forward to.
“What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 2 Peter 3:11-12
Outline
This outline gives a broad overview of what God will accomplish during the final years of history, as the return of Jesus Christ nears. The application of this study is in the call of Christians to prepare for the end by purifying themselves and preaching the Gospel to a world that is running out of time.
Time Keeps Ticking Away
1.The Campaign
A plan for Christians—God will PURIFY the Church.
In the last days, God will purify this people in final preparation for meeting them face to face. He will purify us through difficulty, trial, and testing… and he will allow us to purify ourselves as we anticipate his return.
“We know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3
“You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look onward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 2 Peter 3:11-12
A plan for Unbelievers –God will PUNISH the wicked.
The end of the age will finally bring justice and fairness. All the old scores will be settled; all the sin that seemed to go unpunished will receive what it deserves.
“The day of the Lord is coming—with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land
desolate and destroy the sinners within it.” Isaiah 13:9
A plan for Israel –God will PRESERVE and SAVE the Jewish nation.
God made an irrevocable promise to Israel, that He would be their God and they would be his people. Though they reject the Messiah now, God will turn the hearts of Jews back to Him just as Jesus returns.
“All Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” Romans 11:26-27
2.The Climax
One event best describes the climax of history: The Day of the Lord! The time when God says enough! When the Day of the Lord arrives, the Great Tribulation ends, the Rapture occurs, the wicked are punished, the antichrist is defeated, and the nation of Israel turns back to its Messiah.
Check out these passages:
The sign of the Day of the Lord: Disturbance in the sky…Joel 2:12, 10-11; Is.13:6-13; Acts 2:19-20; Rev. 6:12-17
The Day of the Lord marks the end of the Great Tribulation…Matt. 24:21-22,29; Rev. 6:9-17; 7:9-14
The Day of the Lord, the Rapture, and the Second Coming…Matt. 24:29-31; 2 Thess. 2:1-2; Rev. 6:12-17; 7:9-14
The Day of the Lord and the defeat of the antichrist….2 Thess. 2:1-8
The Day of the Lord and the Redemption of Israel…Rom.11:26-27; Rev. 6:12-7:8
When does this momentous event occur? We don’t know the day or the hour…and it’s important to know that the judgments of the Day of the Lord last longer than a single day. But we know that it comes near the end of the last seven-year period of history. And we know that true believers will anticipate its arrival!
“But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. So then…let us be alert and self-controlled.” 1 Thess 5:4-6
Discussion Guide
Open
1.How many of you ever think about the end of the world?
2.How do you feel about it? When you hear that phrase, “the end of the world”, how do you react?
3.If you knew the end of the world would come next week, how would it change your life? What if it was next year? What if it was in 10 years?
Dig In
1.Transition into your study by explaining that the end of the world is much more than a distant reality, or a wild sci-fi event involving the antichrist and Armageddon. The end of the world is a fact that is supposed to change our lives. Whether it comes next week or next century, Christians are supposed to “live in light of the end.” In other words, the truth about the end should affect how you live long before it arrives.
2.Talk about the three purposes God has at the culmination of history.
Explain each point, and have your students look up and read each passage. Then discuss.
a.God will PURIFY the church – 1 John 3:2-3; 1 Peter 4:1-2; 2 Peter 3:11-12
b.God will PUNISH the wicked – Isaiah 13:9; 2 Peter 3:7
c.God will PRESERVE and SAVE Israel – Romans 11:26-27
- From what you know about the end of the world, how do you think the events of the end times will purify the church? Why do you think we need to go through this purifying period?
- Knowing that God will punish wicked people and cause all kinds of plagues and mass destruction to take place (check out Revelation 16), how does that make you feel? Do you think God is going too far? (Notice in Revelation how the people continue to refuse to repent)
- Why do you think God will preserve and save many Jews through all this? So many have rejected Jesus – why shouldn’t they face the same doom as unbelievers? (God’s faithfulness to his promises overrides their hardness of heart. No doubt some Jews will still refuse to repent, but God will draw many of them back to himself because he promised to).
Close
1.Though God will purify the Church through trials and tribulation, the Bible also tells Christians to purify themselves. How can we do that?
2.How does the prospect of the end of the world change your attitude toward your unsaved friends?
3.Knowing that we’re one step closer to the end, with the passing of this year, what changes will you make in your life in the year ahead?
Week 52 - Page 1