Coming Back

David C Cook COVID-19 Response

Middle School

Lesson Ascension
Spring 2023
By: RLD Editorial Team
April 16, 2023

Lesson Focus:

Jesus will be back.

Bible Basis:

Acts 1:1-11

Materials Needed:

Step 1:

Internet access

Step 4:

Internet access
Smartphones
Art supplies (various)

Summary & Links:

Students will reflect on recent earthquakes and consider how being prepared is important.

Memory Verse:

“This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
—Acts 1:11b

Step 1:

Students will reflect on recent earthquakes and consider how being prepared is important.

Materials Needed:

Internet access

Note: If you live in an area affected by recent natural disasters, approach this topic with sensitivity and time for students to share their experiences.

Many of you may have heard about recent earthquakes happening all around the world, including the recent ones in the Bay Area of California. While nothing can be done to prevent these earthquakes, there are things we can do to be prepared in case one happens.

Play the following video for your students [2:05]:

Here’s a news clip from the end of February. It’s instructing people to prepare for what might be coming, if the coronavirus were to become a pandemic in the US (remember, things were very different back then. We didn’t know how bad it would get.)

Preparing for Potential Coronavirus Pandemic [2:29]:

With this information in mind, how might you prepare for an earthquake or other natural disaster? (Accept all reasonable responses.)
What items might you include that weren’t mentioned in the video? Why? (Accept all reasonable responses.)

Natural disasters can be scary and can change our normal way of doing things. When Jesus rose up into the clouds, His disciples probably felt the same way. What was their “new normal” going to be like? For one thing they wondered if they would ever see Jesus again. Let’s find out more about that.

Looking for Steps 2 & 3?

You can find Steps 2 and 3 in your teacher’s guide. To purchase a teacher’s guide, please visit: Bible-in-Life or Echoes.

Step 4:

Materials Needed:

Internet access
Smartphones
Art supplies (various)

If your class is meeting online, invite students to bring supplies with them to class.

Jesus told us we would encounter difficult things like natural disasters and illness so that we won’t live in fear. Jesus tells us in Luke 21:11, 28: “There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven…. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

These events remind us that Jesus will come back and make all things new. Here’s a verse that tells us just what His return will be like. Ask your students to read 1 Thessalonians 4:16: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

There’s an old, famous song that gets a lot of its words from that verse: It Is Well With My Soul.
The words of the last verse of this song are:

And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul!

This song has been popular for a long time. Many different artists have sung it, changed it, and added to it. If you search YouTube, you’ll find tons of versions. If you have time this week, search for different versions of this song and find your favorite. Here’s one version:
It Is Well With My Soul – Audrey Assad

This song was written in a time of intense suffering and has comforted suffering people for ages. What can you find to say “it is well with my soul” when you experience difficulties? (Answers will vary.)

The biggest thing we have to be thankful for as Christians is to know that our eternal future is secure. We know that Jesus is returning. We can find comfort in Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, knowing that whatever happens in this life, we will spend eternity with the Lord.

Distribute supplies or invite students to have them ready at home. Ask your students to participate in an art project using the final verse of It Is Well with My Soul. Assign all participants a line of this verse and ask them to create something that represents it. (If necessary, you can assign lines to groups of students.) It could be a drawing, a sculpture, a poem, maybe even using artistic fonts to portray their assigned phrase—anything goes.

If your class is meeting in person, put the art pieces in order of the song lyrics. If your class is meeting online, ask your students to take a picture of whatever they create and send it to you. Compile the pictures in order and send them out to everyone. Ask your students to reflect on the words of this song and commit to thanking God daily for the eternal comfort He provides, even in hard times.

Close in prayer, asking God to remind you of everything you have to be thankful for and thanking Him for the eternal life He promises us. Ask God to remind you all of the eternal life we have in Him and for help living accordingly. Thank Him for His promise to return.

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