Use this children’s Sunday School lesson to tell students about how Jesus went back up to Heaven and what will happen when He returns
Needed: Bibles, various objects, drawing paper, crayons or colored pencils
Intro Game: What’s Missing?
Have students close their eyes. While their eyes are closed, take something from the room and put it outside the door where the students can’t see it. Tell the students to open their eyes and guess what you took. The first person to guess right gets to remove the next thing.
At the end of the game, bring the objects back into the room and say, Just like we’re bringing these things back into our room, so Jesus will come back to Earth one day.
Lesson
Ask students, How did Jesus die? (He died on the cross.)
Did Jesus stay dead? (No, He came back to life after three days.)
(Read Acts 1:1-11 or summarize it with the following story.)
Summary Story
The Bible tells us that Jesus stayed on Earth for 40 days after God raised Him from the dead. During that time, He talked with His disciples, proving to them that He really was alive, and kept teaching them about God and His Kingdom.
When it was almost to the end of the 40 days, Jesus was eating with His disciples, and He said, “Don’t leave Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit. He is a gift that God promised to give you, and you’ve heard Me talk about Him. He’s going to come to you in just a few more days.”
His disciples asked Him, “Are you going to kick the Romans out of Israel and give us back our country now? We’re tired of having the Romans rule over us.”
But Jesus said, “You don’t need to know when God is going to give you back your kingdom. Just wait until the Holy Spirit comes down. He will give you power so that you will be able to tell everyone about Me. I want you to tell the people in this country and the people all over the world all the things I taught you about God and about how I died and took the punishment for their sins so that they could be forgiven.”
After Jesus said this, He floated up into the sky. He floated so high that He went into the clouds, and the disciples couldn’t see Him anywhere.
They were still looking up into the sky when suddenly, two angels appeared beside them. They said, “Men, why are you looking up into the sky? Jesus, who you just saw being taken up into Heaven, will come back down from Heaven someday.”
Review and Discussion Questions
Who did Jesus say was going to come down and give the disciples power? (The Holy Spirit.)
What does the Holy Spirit do?
The Holy Spirit lives inside everyone who believes in Jesus. He’s the part of God that teaches us the right things to do and tells us not to do the wrong things. He also makes us brave to tell other people about Jesus and helps us to know what to say to people when we try to tell them about Jesus.
Jesus went up in the clouds. Where do you think He was going? (Heaven.)
Jesus was going back to Heaven to be with God. Jesus lived in Heaven with God before He was born as a human baby. Because His work of teaching us and dying for us on the cross was over, Jesus went back to Heaven.
The angels said that Jesus would come back again someday. Why do you think Jesus is going to come back?
Jesus is going to do a lot of things when He comes back, but mainly He’s coming to make this world a better place.
Have any of you ever known somebody who died?
When Jesus comes back, He will bring everyone who believes in Him back to life, and they will die ever again.
Have any of you ever been sick?
When Jesus comes back, He will make our bodies so healthy that none of us will ever get sick again.
Have any of you ever been sad about something?
When Jesus comes back, no one will ever be sad again because Jesus will make it so that nothing bad ever happens again.
Have any of you ever had someone do something wrong to you? Or have any of you ever done anything that was wrong?
We’ve all done things that were wrong. We’ve all broken the rules and had other people do wrong things to us. But when Jesus comes back, no one will ever do anything wrong again. Jesus will put the devil in Hell forever, and He will make us to be perfect so that no one will do anything wrong ever again.
What are some of your favorite animals?
Does anyone like lions or cobra snakes or other dangerous animals?
Can you pet those dangerous animals?
When Jesus comes back, all the animals will be nice. They’ll all eat plants and not hunt each other. We’ll eat plants only, too, and not eat the animals. And you’ll be able to go up and pet your favorite animals. Even if they’re dangerous now, Jesus will make it so that they’re nice when He comes back.
And Jesus will do one more thing when He comes back. I said that He will send the devil to Hell forever. He will also send everyone who doesn’t believe in God to Hell. That’s why we have to do our best to make sure we’re doing what God wants and telling other people about Him so that they can live with Jesus and not go to Hell.
Craft: Jesus’ Return
Give students drawing supplies and have them draw a picture of what they think it will be like when Jesus comes back to Earth. Remind them that He will change us so that we won’t die or get sick or be sad or do anything wrong. Everyone and all the animals will be at peace.
When they’re finished with their drawings, have them explain them to the class.
Game: Disciple Tag
Choose one student to be It. When they tag someone, that person links hands with them and joins their team. They continue adding people to their team, linking hands with each one until all but one student is part of their chain. That remaining student becomes It for the next round.
Play two or three rounds and then, explain that when we tell people about Jesus, we want them to believe in Jesus too. If they do, they become a Christian and join our team. Then, they help us tell more people about Jesus.
Alternative Game: Resurrection Tag
Pick one student to be It. That student is Death. Pick another student to be Jesus. When Death tags someone, they fall down and lie on the ground like they’re dead. Jesus can then come to tag them, and they can get back up. If Death tags Jesus, Jesus must count to three (because Jesus was dead for three days), but can then get up again. If Jesus tags Death, the round is over. Play until everyone has had a chance to be both Death and Jesus or as long as time permits.
Remind students that Jesus will come back one day and will raise everyone who believes in Him back to life.
Closing Prayer
Jesus, we thank You for coming to teach us and to die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. Help us to believe in You until You come back and make the world the way it’s supposed to be. Amen.
You can also find this lesson for Kindle or in print in my book, He Came, He Saw, He Conquered.