BIG IDEA: Jesus will return one day.
This free Bible lesson, Jesus is Coming, will teach preschool and elementary students about the promise that Jesus is coming back someday soon.
FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Matthew 24:36-44; John 14:2-3; Revelation 22:12-13
All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.
Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.
PREP & SUPPLIES
- styrofoam or plastic cups
- printed “Year 1200 Scroll” (on tan or brown craft paper)
- string for tying scroll or dowel rods
- printed “Promises of God” cards (CHOOSE FROM TWO OPTIONS)
- OPTIONAL: envelopes
- printed and trimmed “Promise Puzzle” strips
- printed and trimmed “Return Promise Scrolls” papers (sized at 3.5 x 6″)
- trimmed tan papers (sized at 5×7″)
- 8″ jumbo craft sticks (x2 per student)
- glue
- stickers and coloring supplies
MEMORY VERSE: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:
- Allow students to work with partners or in groups of 3-4 to stack the cups in order to spell out the memory verse.
- You may decide to make it a challenge and see which group can work the quickest.
- If time allows, instruct students to mix up their cups and play again and again.
LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY
As students are entering, assign a leader to fill in all of the remaining blanks on the “Year 1200 Scroll”. Roll the paper up like a scroll and tie it with the provided string.
(SLIDE 3) I was looking through the closet this morning and I found an old scroll that I want to share with you. It is from the year 1200.
Can anyone tell me how many years ago that was?
Dramatically open the scroll and read the text.
Wow! Can you believe how EXACT this message is from over 800 years ago? It told us where we were going to be, what the weather would be like, and even the color that (name of the leader mentioned in the scroll) would be wearing today.
Does this scroll remind you of anything? (allow responses)
It reminds me of the many prophecies of the Bible. Can someone tell me what a “prophecy” is? (a prediction of the future given to humans by God)
Did you know that there are prophecies about Jesus that were made over 800 years before Jesus was born? We can find these prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Who is the author of the Bible? (God)
God is the author of the whole Bible. Everything written in the Bible was written by human authors, but God told the human authors what to write. Many of the prophecies have already been fulfilled. What does that mean? (they have already happened or been completed)
They were fulfilled EXACTLY as the writers of the Bible said they would happen.
The scroll that I read to you today is just a silly prediction isn’t it?
But it gets us thinking about how amazing it is that God told the prophets about PROMISES that would happen so many years before they happened and then they happened EXACTLY like He said they would!
BIBLE LESSON
(SLIDE 4) Since we know that there are so many promises that God made that have already happened, we know that we can trust that the Bible is Truth that comes directly from God. God always keeps His promises.
Have you ever been made a promise by someone and that person broke their promise? (allow responses and discussion as time allows)
Well, everything that you read in the Bible that God promises us, you can be 100% certain will happen just as He said it will. God will not break His promises.
Some of the prophecies in the Bible have already been fulfilled, but some of them we are still waiting on to be fulfilled. We are going to look at some of the prophecies that are in the Bible and learn about a very exciting promise that God made to people who love Him.
Pass out the “Promises of God” cards to individual students. Card #1 should be marked so you know which student will begin the lesson (If it is not, you will need to unseal the cards and find the one with the green “1” in the top right corner). Instruct the student with card #1 to read the text on the card out loud for the group. Keep in mind that younger students may need help reading and understanding the text. Prompts are provided for each passage below. This activity will run like “I Have, Who Has?” The person who reads the card will then have the “clue” for which card comes next. The “clue” for which card comes next will be found in the BOTTOM RIGHT corner and will match the next card’s picture which is found in the TOP RIGHT corner.
EXAMPLE:
If you were given one of the cards, look at the picture in the TOP RIGHT corner so you know which one you have, and then put your card face down so it doesn’t distract you. Beginning with (name of student who is holding card #1), the words on each card will be read out loud for everyone to hear. AFTER WE DISCUSS WHAT THE CARD SAYS, then that person will announce which card needs to be read next by telling us what the picture is at the bottom of the card. If that picture is a match to the picture in the TOP RIGHT of your card, that means you are the next reader.
Note about this activity: There are several prophecy passages that could be discussed in detail, but the focus of this lesson is the Second Coming of Jesus. The prophecies mentioned throughout this activity are to make students aware of the reality and trustworthiness of God’s promises. Discussion prompts have been provided for each prophecy passage for leaders to use if desired.
CARD 1: GENESIS 6:17-18 (PROMISE)
In this passage, God is speaking to Noah. God told Noah that He was going to bring a flood over the whole earth to destroy it because of how wicked the people had become. He told Noah to build a big boat, called an ark, to protect himself from the flood waters. He also told him to bring in 2 of every kind of animal so they could survive the flood and have babies after the flood. The flood killed everyone except the 8 people and the animals that were in the ark.
CARD 2: GENESIS 7:6-7 (FULFILLED PROMISE)
In this passage we can read about the fulfillment of the promise that God gave to Noah about the flood. After the flood, God told Noah that He would never destroy the earth with water again. He gave us the sign of the rainbow as a reminder.
CARD 3: GENESIS 12:7 (PROMISE)
In this passage, God is speaking to Abram, later renamed Abraham. Abraham’s family was chosen and blessed by God. They became known as the Israelites. God made a promise to Abraham that He would give Abraham’s family a land to make their home in. We know the land as “The Promised Land”.
CARD 4: JOSHUA 21:43 (FULFILLED PROMISE)
After many years of hardship, God led the Israelites into the Promised Land. This is the fulfilled promise that God made to Abraham.
CARD 5: EXODUS 3:10 (PROMISE)
In this passage, God is speaking to Moses during a time when the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt. God sent Moses to lead the people out of Egypt so that they could live in the land He had promised Abraham.
CARD 6: EXODUS 14:30 (FULFILLED PROMISE)
In this passage, we can read about how God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. This is the fulfillment of the promise He made to Moses. God sent many plagues to Egypt until finally, Pharoah (the ruler of Egypt) let the Israelites go. Even after Pharoah set the people free, he changed his mind and sent his armies after them. That is when God parted the Red Sea so that they could pass through. The waters fell back down on the Egyptian armies.
CARD 7: MICAH 5:2-4 (PROMISE)
In this passage, we read the words of the prophet Micah. God spoke to Micah and made a promise to the Israelites of a coming ruler who would be born in Bethlehem. Who do you think the “ruler” is that the prophet Micah is talking about? (Jesus)
CARD 8: LUKE 2:6-7 (FULFILLED PROMISE)
This passage tells us that shortly before Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem (Joseph’s hometown) because they were following a law to return to the hometown of the male of the family so all the people could be counted. This is called a census. While Mary and Joseph were visiting Bethlehem, Jesus was born. This is a fulfillment of the promised ruler that would come from Bethlehem that we read about in the book of Micah.
CARD 9: ISAIAH 40:3 (PROMISE)
Many years before Jesus was born, the people of God were in a time of trouble. They had been taken from their homes and their land and sent into exile in Babylon. They were forced to work for a foreign king, far from home, and they missed their home in Israel. They felt lost and separated from God. But God had not forgotten them. God sent prophets to comfort them. In this passage, the prophet Isaiah is comforting the people of Israel and telling them that someday in the future an important person will come to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of King Jesus.
CARD 10: MATTHEW 3:1-2 (FULFILLED PROMISE)
This passage tells us that John the Baptist was that important person God promised would come to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of Jesus.
CARD 11: ZECHARIAH 9:9 (PROMISE)
In this passage we can read about the prophecy that God gave to Zechariah about the King riding into the city on a donkey.
CARD 12: MARK 11:2-7 (FULFILLED PROMISE)
In this passage, we can read about Jesus riding into Jerusalem as the Promised King that the prophet Zechariah spoke about. The book of Zechariah was written about 600 years before the birth of Jesus, but it is still so correct in what it says about how Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
What do you notice about each of these promises that were made by God? (allow responses and discussion)
Each of these promises that God made have been fulfilled. They have happened just as He said they would. Many of the promises that He made were made hundreds of years before they actually happened.
What does this tell you about God’s promises? (allow responses and discussion)
When God makes a promise, He keeps His promise!
Since we know that there are so many promises that God made that have already happened, we know that we can trust that the Bible is Truth that comes directly from God. God always keeps His promises.
Not all of the prophecies and promises that God made in the Bible have come true YET. But if God made a promise, what do we know about that promise? (it will happen just as He said it would)
(SLIDE 5)
There are 4 passage references on the screen. I need 4 volunteers to look up these passages and read them out loud to the group.
Encourage your 4 volunteers to all look up the passages at the same time and then place a bookmark inside the Bible and close it so they can concentrate on the other passages as they are being read. (Alternatively, you can have your volunteers read directly from Slides 9-12, but it is good to allow them practice with looking up scriptures.)
In each of these four passages, Jesus is speaking. Remember, Jesus is God!
So Jesus making a promise is the SAME as God making a promise!
As each of these four passages is read out loud, pay attention to what Jesus is promising.
Passages are provided here (NIrV) for leader reference, along with discussion prompts. Passages should be read and discussed in this order:
(SLIDE 6)
1 – John 14:2-3 [There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If this were not true, would I have told you that I am going there? Would I have told you that I would prepare a place for you there? If I go and do that, I will come back. And I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am.]
What do you think Jesus means by “many rooms in my Father’s house”? (allow responses)
Jesus is referring to Heaven when He says His “Father’s house”. This goes back to a Jewish tradition when the son of the family would bring his bride back to his father’s house and start a family there. This is a lot different than the way we live.
What promise is Jesus making in this passage? (allow responses)
Jesus is saying that He is going away, to Heaven, to prepare a place for all of the people who love Him. He promises that He will come back to earth and get the people who love Him and take all of those people back to Heaven to live with Him.
Has this promise happened yet? (allow responses and discussion – some students may bring up dead loved ones being in Heaven)
Some people who love Jesus are already in Heaven aren’t they? If we love Jesus and have asked Jesus to save us, and we die on this earth then we go to Heaven. But this promise that Jesus is making is about when He is coming back at the very end of days. This is the time when the earth will end as we know it and everyone who loves Jesus will go to heaven even if their body hasn’t died yet.
How many times has Jesus come to earth? (one time, as a baby, 2000+ years ago)
Jesus came to earth one time already, and in this passage He is promising to come again. We call this the “Second Coming”.
What do we know about all of the promises that God made? (they have either happened exactly as He said they would, or they WILL happen exactly as He said they would)
So what do we know about this promise that Jesus made that He is in Heaven preparing a place for people who love Him? (that He IS preparing a place for His followers and He WILL come back and take His followers to be with Him)
(SLIDE 7)
2 – Matthew 24:36-39 [“But no one knows about that day or hour. Not even the angels in heaven know. The Son does not know. Only the Father knows. Remember how it was in the days of Noah. It will be the same when the Son of Man comes. In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking. They were getting married. They were giving their daughters to be married. They did all those things right up to the day Noah entered the ark. They knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.”]
Who is the “Son of Man”? (Jesus)
Jesus called Himself the “Son of Man” to show that He is fully human, but that He is above all
other humans.
What do think Jesus meant when He said “no one knows the day or the hour”? (allow responses)
Jesus tells us that only God the Father knows when He will send Jesus back to earth to get the people that love Him. That means we can’t guess when Jesus will come back. That means we can’t listen to someone else who says they know when Jesus will come back.
Jesus says that at the time in the future that He will come back to earth, things on earth will be like they were in the “Days of Noah”. What do you think that means? (allow responses)
Remember, in the days that Noah lived everyone was doing wicked things and God sent judgement to the earth in the form of a flood. Everyone was going about their lives as if nothing was different or wrong. That’s what Jesus means when He says that people were “eating, drinking, and getting married”. Jesus says that the people didn’t know what was about to happen right before the flood came. That is how it will be when He comes back to earth for the second time.
(SLIDE 8)
3 – Matthew 24:42-44 [“So keep watch. You do not know on what day your Lord will come. You must understand something. Suppose the owner of the house knew what time of night the robber was coming. Then he would have kept watch. He would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready. The Son of Man will come at an hour when you don’t expect him.”]
Jesus says again that we do not know what day or hour He will come back to earth. Here He gives a command. What does He tell us to do? (Keep watch for Him to come)
Jesus also gives an illustration of an owner of a house and a robber. Can someone put this example that Jesus gave into your own words? (allow responses)
If the owner knew when his house was going to be robbed, he would have watched for the robber. Jesus is teaching us to be ready for Him to come back at any time.
(REPEATED) What do we know about all of the promises that God made? (they have either happened exactly as He said they would, or they WILL happen exactly as He said they would)
So what do we know about this promise that Jesus made that He will come back to earth? (that He WILL come back to earth and that we need to be ready for Him)
(SLIDE 9)
4 – Revelation 22:12-13 [“Look! I am coming soon! I bring my rewards with me. I will reward each person for what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the First and the Last. I am the Beginning and the End.”]
Jesus tells us to “look” for Him, because He is coming when? (soon)
He says that He will be giving rewards to the people who love Him. Did you know that if you love Jesus and you have asked Him to save you that you will go to Heaven to live with Him forever?
Did you know that in Heaven Jesus will give rewards to the people who live there with Him?
We don’t know exactly what type of rewards He will give, but we know that they will be amazing, because He is Jesus!
Does this mean that you can earn your way to Heaven?
No, you cannot EARN your way into Heaven. Salvation from our sins and eternal life (forever) with Jesus is a GIFT. We just have to accept the gift!
We cannot earn salvation. It is a GIFT that is given to us by Jesus because of what He did for
us when He died on the cross and rose back to life.
At the end of this passage, Jesus mentions three of the special names that He has for Himself:
- Alpha and Omega
- First and Last
- Beginning and End
“Alpha” and “Omega” are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. At the time that Jesus lived on the earth, the people spoke Greek. So this would be like saying that He is
“A and Z” in our English alphabet.
What do you think these names mean? (allow responses)
Jesus calls Himself the “First and the Last” and the “Beginning and the End” because He is eternal. He was alive before the world was created and He always will be alive!
Revelation is the very last book of the Bible and it is filled with promises that Jesus made about the future, including the future time that He will come back to earth to get the people who love Him.
Jesus made promises that He is coming back to earth. What do we know about the promises that God makes? (they have either happened exactly as He said they would, or they WILL happen exactly as He said they would)
So, since Jesus made promises telling us that He is coming back someday, what do we know?
(SLIDE 10)
JESUS WILL RETURN ONE DAY! (Big Idea)
Dear God,
Thank you for the promises that you made and for the Bible so we can read about those promises. Thank you that every promise that you made has either already happened or will happen someday in the future. Please help us to understand and remember that you are coming back to earth someday to get the people who love you so that those people can live with you forever. If there is anyone who hasn’t asked you to save them, please help us to show them the way to you.
We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.
LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY
We are going to review the truths of today’s Bible lesson with a relay game.
Can anyone tell me what a relay race is? (when teams line up and each person takes turns completing a task and “tagging” the next team member for their turn)
This game is called “Promise Puzzle”. With your team, you are going to collect the parts of the puzzle in relay style and then you will all work together to put the puzzle together.
(SLIDE 11)
You can use the Bible passage on the screen to help you. (IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO DISPLAY THE BIBLE PASSAGE, YOU CAN WRITE THE PASSAGE FOR STUDENTS ON A WHITE BOARD, OR HAVE PRINTED COPIES AVAILABLE FOR THEM. IF YOU HAVE NIrV BIBLES, THEY CAN USE THOSE.)
Allow students to form teams of 4-6 students and line up on one side of the room. On the opposite side of the room, place the “Promise Puzzle” strips.
SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY
Today we are going to make scrolls using the “Promise Puzzle” from our relay activity to help remind us that Jesus promised that He will return someday to get the people who love Him.
Each of you will get one printed “Return Promise” paper, one piece of 5×7″ brown “scroll” paper, and two craft sticks. You will glue the Bible passage on the brown paper and then roll the edges of each side of brown paper around the craft stick and glue it in place. Then you can roll your paper all the way up like a scroll.
You can decorate your scroll if you would like to.
BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.
Discussion Prompts for Leaders:
- What promise did Jesus make to people who love Him? (He will come back to earth someday to take the people who love Him to live forever with Him)
- What other promises has God made?
- Do you believe that Jesus will come back someday?
- Have all of God’s promises been fulfilled? (no but we know they will be)
- How do we know we can trust that Jesus will come back to earth someday? (He is God and God always keeps His promises)
- How many times has Jesus already come to earth? (once)
- What is this week’s Big Idea? (Jesus will return one day.)
- What is this week’s memory verse? (Galatians 5:22-23)
CLOSING REFLECTION
We learned that God keeps His promises. Every promise that God made has either already happened exactly as He said it would, or we know that it will happen exactly as He said it would. Jesus made a promise to return to the earth to get the people who love Him and take them to live with Him forever. Since Jesus is God, we know that the promise that Jesus made to return to earth a second time will happen someday in the future.
Reflection Questions:
- What promise did Jesus make to people who love Him? (He will come back to earth and get the people who love Him and those people will live with Him forever)
- How can we trust that Jesus will come back someday? (He is God and God always keeps His promises)
- Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?
Find other free Bible lessons for kids:
