Last Judgment

THE LAST JUDGMENT

Objectives:

  1. Children should know that Jesus is coming again as judge.
  2. Children should be able to list some of the characteristics of goodness.

Possible Lesson Plan:

  1. Open with prayer.

2.   Tell the parable of the Last Judgment:  Jesus said, “When the Son of man comes, he will be like a king sitting on a throne.  All around the throne will be angels and in front of the throne will be all the peoples of the earth.  Then the King will judge the people.  He will separate the good people from the bad people.  He will have the good people stand on his right side and he will say to them, ‘ Come, O good children of my Father.  Receive the beautiful Kingdom that God created for you in the beginning. You have lived as my Father wanted you to live, for when I was hungry, you gave me food to eat, when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink, when I came as a stranger, you welcomed me, when I was naked, you clothed me, when I was sick, you visited me, when I was in prison, you came to see me.’ Then the people will answer the King: ‘ Lord, when did we see you and do all these things for you?’ And the King will answer, ‘If you were kind or helped anyone who needed help, you helped me.  The good things you did to them, you did to me.’ Then the King will say to those at his left side, ‘Because you didn’t help anyone, or weren’t kind or generous to anyone, you didn’t show kindness to me.’ Therefore the King will send them away to be punished forever, but to the good people, he will give life forever in his kingdom.”

  1. Instead of True/False Questions, have the children try to list the characteristics of goodness, as stated in the parable. Discuss each one: Have we done any of these things? When? Have children tell stories from their own lives.
  2. Review some Old Testament stories of judgment: Adam and Eve and the Garden, Noah and the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s wife, Pharaoh and the plagues of Egypt, etc. Each of these can be looked at again in the Read with Me Bible.
  3. Make a clothespin sheep: print on cardstock, wrap body with yarn, glue head on body, decorate clothespins with markers, add cotton ball and wiggle eyes. Or, use a small plate and cotton balls for the body. No wiggle eyes? If the face is black, use the little adhesive circles sold to reinforce the holes in notebook paper. Write "We are His sheep" on the legs. 

  1. If this seems too difficult, try the marshmallow sheep following. Just attach a front and a back to a marshmallow (e.g. with sticky marshmallow crème) and stick toothpicks or black licorice in the marshmallow for legs. Write on the front “The good things you did for them” and on the back “You did for Me”.

7.  Close with prayer. Have each child specifically select a Last Judgment good deed to do this week.