MEMORY VERSE: ‘Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.’ Matthew 5:5.
LESSON AIM: To study the close of the great controversy between Christ and Satan and the eternal home of the saved.
‘God created the earth to be man’s home. Here Adam dwelt in that garden of delight which the Creator Himself had beautified. Though sin has marred God’s work, yet the human race has not been abandoned by its Creator; nor His purpose for the earth set aside. To this earth, angels have come, with the message of redemption, and its hills and valleys have echoed their songs of rejoicing. Its soil has been trodden by the feet of the Son of God. And for more than six thousand years, in its forms of beauty and gifts for sustenance, the earth has borne witness of the Creator’s love. This same earth, freed from the curse of sin, is to be man’s eternal home. Of the earth, the Scripture says that God “created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited.” Isaiah 45:18. And “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever.” Ecclesiastes 3:14.’ The Story of Jesus, page 183.
1. Where did Jesus promise to take His people when He returns? John 14:2-3.
NOTE: ‘Praise the Lord, oh, my soul! He says He has gone to prepare mansions for me: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). Thank God! It is these mansions that I am looking to. It is not the earthly mansions here, for they are to be shaken down by the mighty earthquake erelong; but it is those heavenly mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for the faithful. We have no home here. We are only pilgrims and strangers here, passing to a better country, even an heavenly. May God help us to win the boon of eternal life.’ In Heavenly Places, page 354.
2. When will Jesus take His faithful people to heaven, to the place He has been preparing for them? 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
NOTE: ‘The promise of Christ’s Second Coming was ever to be kept fresh in the minds of His disciples. The same Jesus whom they had seen ascending into heaven, would come again, to take to Himself those who here below give themselves to His service. The same voice that had said to them, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end,” would bid them welcome to His presence in the heavenly kingdom.’ Acts of the Apostles, page 33.