Judgment and End Times (revised January 2006)
The themes of salvation and forgiveness are covered in the unit "Salvation is More Than a Ticket to Heaven." This unit focuses narrowly upon understandings of end times and final judgment. The theme of judgment concerns youth in late adolescence for various reasons. Some are concerned that they themselves will not qualify for salvation because they struggle with questions related to faith. Others are concerned about their friends who have no faith or the status of people of other faiths. The popularity of the Left Behind series also raises many questions and generates anxiety about the second coming of Christ, the rapture, and the end of this world as we know it. This series is designed to address these sorts of questions and concerns.
Optional Introduction: Show your group the film version of Left Behind in order to stimulate discussion. If possible, select clips so that you can show it in one session or arrange for the youth to stay for lunch to continue watching the film.
Session One: Visions of the End Times
Begin by exploring our images of judgment. Have students work in pairs to create a verbal or graphic picture of final judgment. Provide them with paper and ask them to write down words or draw pictures of images that they associate with final judgment. After the youth have worked for five - ten minutes, then have them share their ideas.
Here is a list of standard expectations and images. If the youth are having trouble getting going, I suggest that you mention several of these. After they have finished sharing, go over the list and see which one's they have not included. Ask whether those that did not appear were neglected because they did not come to mind or because they are not part of their vision?
Ask the youth where they learned about this vision of end times. Did it come to them as a warning? Did they learn about it by reading the Left Behind books? These books emphasize the idea of the rapture.
Make clear to the youth that many books in the New Testament teaches that Jesus will come to the earth again and at that time his reign will be universally acknowledged. Virtually everything else on the list appears here and there in much more ambiguous terms. Find out what their questions are about the various anticipated events. Try to answer them as best you can. Encourage the youth to share their assorted pieces of knowledge. Be sure to remind them that no one has certain knowledge about end times. Jesus and the Apostles Paul and Peter warn against speculation.
Read the following two passages and ask the question “What does the passage from 2 Peter encourage us to do?
"The Day of the LORD will come as a thief, in which the skies with rushing sound will pass away, and the burning elements will be dissolved...As everything will be dissolved, what sort of men does it require you to be in holy behavior and godliness as you await and speed up the parousia [the second coming of Christ] on the Day of God, on account of which the skies will be set on fire..." (2 Peter 3:10-12).
"You yourselves accurately know that the Day of the LORD will come like a thief in the night...But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief..." (1 Thessalonians 5:1, 4).
Our job is to be faithful and good in preparation. We will not be judged by how closely our vision of what will happen lines up with actual events.
If necessary, do a little research between this lesson and then next in order to answer questions for which you have no coherent answer. Here are a few notes to help you prepare.
Rapture: The notion of the rapture is based upon 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Some Christians believe that the faithful will literally be raised into heaven where they will meet Jesus. Others believe that Paul is using metaphoric language to describe the second coming of Jesus to the earth. We will greet him as he arrives on a celestial highway. These Christians do not believe that they will be spared the suffering of the end times.
Resurrection: Popular culture generates all sorts of ideas about the afterlife. The New Testament anticipates the same sort of afterlife as most Jews did in Jesus' day. At the time of judgment, God will raise all of the dead. Those who are faithful or righteous will enter eternal life or His kingdom; those who are wicked, will be caste into Hell or a second death. The following passage from the Revelation of John, depicts this event.
Revelations 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The idea that one’s soul goes to heaven or hell or purgatory immediately after death is not part of the New Testament vision. There is one "parable" in the Gospel of Luke 16:14-31 told by Jesus in which a rich man suffers in agony in hell, but this story does not reflect common Jewish expectations.
Purgatory: According to the Roman Catholic tradition, at death one descends to purgatory, a place where we do penance for unatoned sins. The period in purgatory can be reduced through regular participation in the sacraments of the church and prayer.
Concluding Discussion
Question: What should we make of this vision? What emotional reaction do we have to this vision of end times? [If your group has been unresponsive to questions, have them break into pairs and list five words that represent their response. Then have the pairs share their words.]
Leader Input: I was introduced to this vision by "born again" Christians who tried to scare me into joining their particular fellowship. Their efforts to scare me had the opposite effect. Share with the youth how you came to learn about this vision and your own response. End the session by sharing with the youth that the purpose of these visions when they were shared with early Christians was to bring a message of hope. “Don't worry if the unrighteous seem to be having their way and the righteous suffer. God will end the suffering of the righteous and end the ways of the wicked. Don't worry if the message of God's redemptive love and his kingdom come is not understood or rejected by many now because one day everyone will understand and believe.” These visions were intended to bring hope rather than to scare people into being good or participating in the church.
Concluding Question: What do we see that is wrong with our world that we hope God will put right once and for all?
Session Two: Whose Names will Appear in the Book of Life?
Leader Preparation: If you have time read C.S. Lewis’s short novel The Great Divorce. You may want to share selections from this novel with the youth.
This is a difficult session because it is very easy to lead youth in one of two false directions, either toward ethical pluralism which makes confessing Christ is your Lord superfluous and or toward a position that all that matters is that you ask Christ's forgiveness. The goal is to help the youth recognize that it is important to recognize the Lordship of Jesus in their lives, that through membership in the church we are obedient to Christ, and that we are called to make our faith visible through the good works that we do (see Matthew 5:14-16).
Introductory Question: What have you heard is necessary in order for one to be saved from damnation and to enter the kingdom?
Prompt Questions: Have they heard that we are saved by faith and not works? Have they heard criticism of Mennonites for emphasizing "good works" too much? Who has been told that they must be baptized as Christians or that they must be “born again” Christians?
Systematically examine various understandings of the basis for final salvation:
Good Works
Read Matthew 19:16-22 and 25:31-46. Ask the youth if they are surprised by what the stories say is the basis for gaining eternal life or inheriting the kingdom. Be sure to note that the sheep who enter the kingdom acknowledge the king as Lord.
Clarify that when the Apostle Paul refers to works, he is referring to fulfilling the Old Testament dietary and purity laws and not about ethical behavior. Ask if it is possible to have faith without ethical works. If desirable, read the following passage from James who provides an important corrective to a misreading of Paul:
"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." 2:14-17
Confession of Jesus’ name
Question: What is troubling or problematic about the claim that one must be a confessing Christian for you?
Prompt questions: Do you wonder about the status of people of other faiths? Do you worry about friends who are not Christians? Do you worry that you do not have the right faith or convictions?
Leader Input: Does the Bible really teach that those who are not Christians are damned? If one looks carefully, there are very few passages upon which this notion is based. See for example John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Note that this passage does not explicitly say that the alternative to coming to the Father is damnation.
Make clear to the youth that the Mennonite Church emphasizes salvation as the experience of living within the redeemed community of those who have acknowledged God's reign in their lives. In these terms, salvation is being in a relationship with Jesus and God during this life. In the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, there is very little discussion of end times. That document sites the vision of Revelation 21 that we read last week in which the dead are raised and judged according to the good or evil that they have done. On the whole, Mennonite theologians have declined from speaking for God. Judgment belongs to God and not to men.
Ask the students if they know anyone in the congregation who does not capable of understanding the complexities of Christian doctrine and then ask them if they truly think that God will require they have a complete understanding of who God is or how Jesus has saved them? Invite them to complete the following analogy:
The difference between God’s perfect understanding and our understanding is comparable to the difference between our understanding and that of a _____________ .
Being Born Again:
Read John 3:1-6.
Discuss how baptism can be a second birth
Questions: What symbolically happens when you are baptized (prod them to realize that this is a symbolic drowning and rebirth)
When you are born though water and the spirit, who is your father? Who is your family?
In what ways do you become a different person?
Read 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.”
Questions: What sorts of claims to privilege from our physical birth do we need to give up to be truly born again?
What sort of distinctions that set us apart from others either as superior or inferior should no longer matter once one is baptized?
Questions: Has anyone encountered the form of Christianity that says that you need to have an intense personal encounter with the power of God to prove that you have been born again? Is the claim to a personal, private experience not without problems? What does Matthew 25:19-31 tell us about encountering God in our lives? Is the decision to accept the faith of our parents not a profound act of faith?
Concluding Discussion
Leader input: Explain to the youth that the question of whether it is necessary to be a Christian to be saved from a second death may not be the right question to ask.
Questions: Why it is tempting to reject Jesus' call to love one another and to work together as a body. Why would someone want to "go it alone?"
Question: Rather than judging people who doubt or reject the church or live by other faiths, how should we respond to them?
Encourage the youth to recognize that there is a difference between "shoving one's faith down another's throat" or "wearing one's faith on one's shirt sleeve" and being candid about the foundation for one's way of being in the world.
Lesson Three: Whose Names will not Appear in the Book of Life?
Initial Questions: What do you think is the worst thing that a person can do?
Can you imagine God not being able to forgive this act?
What sorts of things does the Bible describe as basis for divine judgment? Break the youth into pairs and assign them the following passages. Have each pair summarize the sort of activity that gets condemned and come up with a modern example.
Amos 2:6-8
Amos 4:1
Matthew 18:6-7
Hebrews 6:1-10
Revelation 13:11-17
Prompt Questions: Are these sins matters of personal purity or are they matters of justice? What is worse that you yourself committing a particular sin? [Do note that causing another person to sin or keeping them from following the path toward God is the sin that Jesus condemns.]
Leader Input: Share the Jewish notion of the Righteous Gentile. According to Jewish belief, the righteous members of all the different nations will have a place in the “world to come.” They identify seven commandments given to Noah as the basis for defining what constitutes righteousness:
1. Not performing acts of idolatry within the land of Israel
2. Not blaspheming God’s name
3. Respecting human life by not murdering.
4. Not committing sexually immoral acts
5. Respecting other people’s property.
6. Creating and abiding by a judicial system.
7. Not eating the flesh of an animal while it is still alive.
Whether or not Christianity can embrace a comparable teaching is a matter of debate among denominations and theologians. Share or have a student share the story from the end of C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle from the Narnia Chronicles. A young soldier who has lived in a country that worships the god Tash comes before Aslan to be judged. He believes that he is condemned, but Aslan tells him that all of his good deeds have actually been in service to Aslan not Tash even if they were done in Tash’s name.
Conclude with a discussion of whether this story seems to be coherent with what they believe.
Session Four: Apocalyptic Texts as Judgment of Empire
Silently read the stories of Daniel and his friends in Daniel breaking at particular points to discuss the following questions. If you find that members of the group read at drastically different speeds, allow members to read ahead, but provide them with some means of indicating that they have passed a discussion point. You could provide them with strips of colored paper to lay on the table or their laps when they are past the discussion point.
Read Daniel 1:1-21
Questions: Why does Nebuchadnezzar want to have these young men in his court? What sort of powers do you experience in your life that try to get you to spend your time, abilities and money in ways that benefit the powerful? What are the pressures to conform to one identity? Where do your habits indicate that you are one of the crowd? What habits indicate that you are part of a religious tradition that demands nonconformity?
Discuss things like clothing, food, and other consumer products, and recreational activities, such as gambling, paramilitary games etc.
Read Daniel 3:1-30.
Questions: How is this story like the more familiar story of Daniel in the lion’s den?
Leader Input: In biblical times, empires had an animal for a symbol. Babylon was a dragon, Assyria was a lion, Persia was a leopard and the Medes has a bear. Later on, Rome adopted the eagle as its symbol. These are all beasts of prey. Because they devour their victims, they are fitting symbols for empires that consume the resources and the people of the territories they conquer.
In our lives, it is not the object of the power of empire that forces us to spend our time and resources in its service (although we may participate in an empire that consumes other people's). We are threatened by more subtle forces.
Questions: What are the things in our lives that threaten to devour our spiritual life?
How does the story of the three friends subtly ridicule the power of empire?
What sorts of power do the great political nations of the world claim to have that compete with God’s power?
What happens if we refuse to participate in the politics of power?
If your group is inclined to talk and more inclined to write, you might want to do the following activity that begins in this session and ends in the next session.
Activity: Print out the outline shapes of lions, bear, and leopard provide in the Faith and Life curriculum. Provide pens and glue.
Instructions: On each animal write down the name of temptations or forces in your life that threaten to devour your spiritual life. Cut out and glue the animals down on the sheet of paper on which you have drawn a large animal pen so that they encircle the pen.
Conclusion: Are these the sorts of things that God condemns and, if we are to be faithful to God, we should resist?
Session Five: Who are God’s Sheep?
Read John 10 the parable of the Good Shepherd
What traits do we normally think of when we think of sheep?
Why do you think that the Bible uses the metaphor of the shepherd for God and sheep for his people so often?
What traits ought the God's sheep have?
Activity: provide outlines of sheep for students to cut out and write on to add to the poster.
Look at the following key texts in order to fill the pen with a variety of virtues.
Psalm 23
Matthew 25:31-46
Spend some time on the second passage and consider the contrast between God as king and the sort of kingship exercised by empire. The powers on the outside of the fence would have us serve them. God would have us serve the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned etc.
Discussion: How to the powers of this world view each of these gifts?
Anticipated answer: they ridicule them, they disparage them.
Session Six: How are We to Exercise Judgment?
Begin by showing a clip from a teen flick that features nerds or nice girls being victimized, bullied or teased.
Suggested films: Napoleon Dynamite, Never Been Kissed
Have the youth look at the poster that you created in the last two sessions or review the things that the identified as the threat to our spiritual life and the attributes of God’s sheep? Who or what do we normally judge, criticize or ridicule? Is it the sheep or the lions, tigers and bears?
Have the youth share stories from their own experience at school that illustrate this reality. Who are the most influential people in school, those who are naïve and trusting or those who scoff and sneer at innocence? If your youth have read C.S. Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe or have seen the film, they might compare the characters of Lucy and Edmund.
While we may criticize government in our private discussions, who do we as a society generally feel comfortable criticizing to their face?
I once watched a documentary about a teenager struggling with obesity. He weighted 400 lbs. The camera followed him one day as he walked his dog. When he passed a group of teenage boys, they yelled out taunts like "lard ass." While you may not participate in such activity in your schools or community, who is it that gets criticized in this way? Is it the popular kids? The athletes? The beautiful people?
Read Jesus' condemnation of those who call others fool:
Matt 5: 21-22 "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. ”
Question: Why do you think Jesus equates calling a person a fool with murder?
Prompt Questions: What harm do we do to a person by criticizing or judging him or her? What sorts of things do people who are teased and bullied do?
Read Romans 14: 13 Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.
Questions: Have you ever known a bullied person who tries to be cool by turning to drugs or crime? Have you ever known a bullied person who has committed suicide?
Instruction to leader: If the youth focus upon people like the youth who shot teachers and students at Columbine, make sure they realize that it is far more likely that bullied youth will commit suicide.
[Remind the youth of the consequence of putting a stumbling block in someone’s way. Matt 18:6-9 "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes! "If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.]
Read Matt 7:1-5 "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.”
Activity: Have each youth write down on a piece of paper all the things that they tend to criticize others about. Suggest that they think about parents and siblings. Then have them look at their list and tick off all the things for which they could be criticized.
Question: Rather than criticizing the rich and powerful in our lives, what do we tend to do?
Anticipated answer: we envy them, we imitate them, we adore them and give them our attention.
Prompt discussion by asking if anyone watches "Lives of the Rich and Famous" or "Cribs" or the reality shows about Donald Trump and Paris Hilton.
At the end of this session, I played the song "Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaw" from Bruce Cockburn's Album by the same name. I believe that we are called to look like fools in the eyes of the world and to dance in the jaws of the dragon.