13: Images of the End — Teaching Plan
Key Thought: Three accounts that help us understand the last day events are the mission of Jonah, the fall of Babylon, and the rise of Cyrus, the Persian king.
June 28, 2025
1. Have a volunteer read Matthew 12:38-42
- Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
- What parts of Jonah’s story does Jesus refer to? What lessons about judgment are found in His statement
- Personal Application: How much of Jonah do you find in yourself? How can we move beyond the wrong attitude? Share your thoughts.
- Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Why would God hold people who know the truth and fell away more responsible than those who never accepted it? Does that make sense?” How would you respond to your relative? .
2. Have a volunteer read Jonah 3:5-10.
- Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
- Why was this prophecy not fulfilled?
- Personal Application: What choices are you making now that will help determine what choices you will make when the final issue breaks upon the world? Share your thoughts.
- Case Study: One of your friends states, “Was Jonah prejudiced against the people of Ninevah because they were considered so evil or because they weren’t Jews? How does this warn us about religious or cultural bias?” How would you respond to your friend?
3. Have a volunteer read Daniel 5:1-31.
- Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
- What important spiritual messages can we take from this account?
- Personal Application: Are there ways that we could be flaunting God or misusing or abusing the sanctuary or the leadership of God’s church? Share your thoughts.
- Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “What caused Belshazzar to be found wanting and destroyed? Was it his attitude? His misuse of the objects of the sanctuary? His debauchery and drunkenness?” How would you respond to your neighbor?
4. Have a volunteer read 2 Chronicles 36:22,23.
- Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
- In what ways are Cyrus’ story and Nebuchadnezzar’s story similar and different?
- Personal Application: How is everyone in the world going to be warned in the last days? Is God going to take the work in His own hands, or are other people going to be lost because of neglect on our part? Share your thoughts.
- Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.
(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared. ”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).
