JESUS IS COMING BACK
MEMORY VERSE
Matthew 24:44, ESV
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
DAY 1
Acts 1:6-11, NIrV
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
BIBLE STUDY
God the Father sent his Son to earth on a rescue mission. Jesus came to rescue sinners like you and me from our sins. He completed that mission when he died on the cross and rose from the dead. With his work done, he left on a return trip to his home in heaven. And he did it in an unusual way: rising up into the sky, flying almost like a superhero! But he didn’t leave earth for good. Two angels promised he’d come to earth a second time, coming down in the same way he went up. When he does return, he’s not coming to be a suffering savior. This time, he’s coming as a conquering king!
+ How did Jesus leave earth? (vs. 9)
+ What did the angels tell the disciples? (vs. 11)
DAY 2
Matthew 24:29-31, NIrV
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
BIBLE STUDY
Before he died, Jesus told his disciples what would happen when he returned. At his first coming, only a few in the tiny town of Bethlehem knew of his arrival. But Jesus said his second coming would be different. When the “Son of Man” (a special name Jesus called himself) returns, he’ll fill the sky with wonders that will make everyone on earth stop and pay attention! Coming down from the clouds, Jesus will command an awesome angel army. Their mission: to collect all of the “elect”, God’s special chosen people who believe the good news, from every corner of the globe!
+ What amazing signs will happen in the sky when Jesus returns? (vs. 30)
+ What will Jesus order his angels to do? (vs. 31)
DAY 3
John 5:25-29, NIrV
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
BIBLE STUDY
Can you imagine how strange it would be to see someone standing in a cemetery among all the graves and shouting, “Hey, all you dead people! Wake up!” But as nutty as it sounds, Jesus told his disciples there will be a day when he will speak to everyone who has died, both the good and the evil. Not only will the dead listen to his voice, they will all be resurrected (which means to come back to life)! Those who believed the good news will be raised to forever life in Jesus’ kingdom. But those who didn’t believe the good news? They will be raised to be forever punished for their sins.
+ Why will Jesus be able to bring those who have died back to life?
+ What is the difference between those who receive forever life and those who receive forever punishment?
DAY 4
Matthew 25:31-34 and 41, NIRV
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
BIBLE STUDY
Jesus told his disciples that when the Son of Man (that's Jesus!) comes again, he'll sit on a glorious throne as king of the world. King Jesus will then sort everyone who has ever lived into two groups, like a shepherd separates their sheep and goats. The "sheep" on his right are people who believed the good news. The "goats" on his left are people who did not. Both groups will be around eternally (that means "forever"). The sheep (those who believed) will receive eternal life in Jesus' wonderful kingdom. But the goats (those who don't believe) will receive eternal punishment for their sins.
+ Who is the “Son of Man,” the one who will come to sit on his throne? (vs. 31)
+ What will happen to the sheep? (vs. 34) What will happen to the goats? (vs. 41)
DAY 5
1 Corinthians 15:35-44, NIRV
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
BIBLE STUDY
After talking about Jesus rising from the dead with a better-than-new body, Paul (the writer of these verses) described what it will be like when Christians rise from the dead. He compared it to sowing (planting) a seed in dirt. When you bury a tiny seed in the ground, what do you get? A beautiful flower or maybe a mighty tree! Paul said rising from the dead will be like sowing a seed. When we die, our bodies are buried in the ground, like seeds. But when Jesus raises all believers from the dead, he’ll give us gloriously beautiful and powerful bodies that will last forever without breaking down!
+ How is our bodies being raised from the dead like planting a seed?
+ What will our resurrected bodies be like? (vs. 42-43)
DAY 6 – Part one
Revelation 21:1-4, NIRV
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
BIBLE STUDY
When people think about heaven, they imagine floating in the clouds like ghosts as they listen to angels play music on their harps. But John, the writer of Revelation, tells us something different. We won’t float around like ghosts; Jesus will give us perfect resurrected bodies. And we won’t float on clouds: God will make a brand new heaven and earth for us to live on forever! It will be a perfect place without tears, death, sadness or crying, as beautiful as a bride dressed on her wedding day. Every day will be the best day of our lives. And best of all, John says God himself will live with us!
+ What won’t there be in the new heaven and earth? (vs. 4)
DAY 6 – part two
Revelation 22:1-7, NIRV
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
BIBLE STUDY
Back in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we learn of the very first sin. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Because they disobeyed God’s commands, death entered God’s perfect world. Since then, all that we see around us has been under sin’s curse. When Jesus came to earth, his mission was to save us from the curse of sin. After a perfect life, his death on a cross, and rising from the dead, Jesus’ work was complete.
Though Jesus won the victory against sin and death on the cross, the misery of sin’s curse won’t be completely destroyed until King Jesus returns down from the clouds. That’s why we still live in a world with crying, pain, sadness, and death.
But John writes that, in the new heaven and earth, there will no longer be anything “accursed,” which means “cursed by sin.” When Jesus arrives, sadness, crying, pain, and death will leave our planet and our lives for good!
God hasn’t told us everything that will happen when Jesus comes to earth a second time. Still, there are a few things we know for sure. We know Jesus will sit on his throne as king of the world. We know those who believe the good news will live in his forever kingdom on a brand new earth walking around in brand new forever bodies. And we know those who don’t believe the good news won’t be able to enjoy Jesus’ forever kingdom – they’ll be forever punished!
Jesus has promised to come back, but he hasn’t told us when. It could be today, tomorrow, or in a thousand years. We need to be ready at all times for his return. So how can we be sure we’re ready for Jesus’ arrival? By believing the good news!
+ Read Genesis 2:9, which is about the Garden of Eden. Then, re-read Revelation 22:2, which is about the new heaven and earth. What do these places have in common?
© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.