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CONGRATULATIONS!!! You’ve completed the Essential Jesus Challenge! You’ve prayed, read, and reflected on 100 essential passages about Jesus. That’s a huge accomplishment. Not everyone is disciplined enough to complete the whole Challenge. Hopefully your trek through these 100 passages has resulted in giving you a better idea of exactly who Jesus is, why He came, what He taught, and what He did for you! That was, after all, the whole point of the EJ Challenge.

If you enjoyed the Essential Jesus Challenge and would like to continue growing in your faith through daily prayer and reading the Bible, then there’s good news! We will be starting another campaign much like this one; it’s called The Essential 100. You’ll explore 100 of the most important passages from the entire Bible -- 50 from the Old Testament and 50 from the New Testament. Now that you have a better understanding of Jesus, you can get an overview of the Bible and see God’s amazing story unfold! If you enjoyed the Essential Jesus, you’ll learn and grow with E100! Starts on Monday, April 22 (Easter Monday). Continue with daily readings, daily blog posts to support the readings, and weekly discussion group (meets Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. at church)! Keep the momentum going!

Jesus presses the issue which each and every person. He presses it until He gets to the “me” point, the point where we can’t hide behind anything, the point where we must answer for ourselves. What am I talking about? Today’s reading lays it out.

Jesus asks his disciples a simple, general question: “Who do the crowds say I am?” (v. 18). It’s a question that even people today would be comfortable with because it doesn’t involve any commitment on our part; we can just answer by repeating what we’ve heard others say about Jesus. That’s exactly what the disciples did, too.

But Jesus won’t leave the issue there. He won’t accept the report of what others say about Him, or what we’ve memorized about him in Confirmation class. He isn’t really after general information about himself from us. He presses the issue until it hits home and there’s no escape: “Who do you say I am?” (v. 20). That’s the issue Jesus is pressing -- answering that question! We can’t give pat answers or memorized citations or what others have said; we must answer for ourselves, just like the disciples. When Jesus put the question to them Peter, speaking for all of them, answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16; Luke 9:20). Jesus pressed the issue with his disciples until they vocalized what they really thought it their hearts and minds. He does the same with us, with you. Everyone must give an answer.

“Who do you say that I am?” That’s the most important question in the world, the one that will determine our eternity, the one that will serve as the basis for the verdict that we receive on Judgement Day. My prayer is that you will join Peter and millions of other Christians throughout the world and throughout history in affirming with your heart and mind that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, my Savior, the Son of the living God.”

Saul was an angry young man! He was a Pharisee who was so zealous for Judaism, and so convinced that the new group of Christians was a false teaching sect, that he hated them and hunted them down to throw them into prison (v. 1-2). In his letter to the Galatian church Saul, now Paul, described himself like this: “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers” (Galatians 1:13-14). Paul had been present at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58), and had received authorization from the High Priest to travel to Damascus to arrest Christians there and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and imprisonment. That’s where our reading for today picks up, for it was on that road to Damascus that Saul’s life would be changed forever, and the Church of Jesus Christ would be saved from it most fierce enemy.

Saul quite literally “saw the light” in a dazzling appearance of Jesus Himself. As a result Saul could no longer deny who Jesus was, and he went from wanting to persecute Christians to preaching about Jesus. He was a zealous in spreading the Gospel as he had once been in trying to destroy the Church. He became known as the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” writing 13 of the New Testament books. It’s an incredible story of life change.

Some people have radical conversion stories like Saul (who took a Greek name “Paul”), others have testimonies that aren’t as dramatic, but equally life-changing. Some Christians are reluctant to share their testimonies saying, “Mine isn’t that dramatic,” as if the only way to have a powerful testimony is to get knocked to the ground and hear the voice of Jesus. We ALL have stories (testimonies) of how our faith in Jesus Christ has impacted and changed our lives. You can share yours. No one can argue with you because your story is all yours. So be thankful that God has changed you, and share the testimony of life-change with others!

The woman in today’s reading was carrying a burden much greater than just a jug of water as she made her way to Jacob’s well. Her heart carried the weight of sin and shame, of poor life choices, and broken relationships. She was a Samaritan, racial cousins of the Jewish people, and people the Jews hated. “Good” Jews wouldn’t even associate with Samaritans for fear of becoming ritually unclean.

Not Jesus. When she got to the well, Jesus asked her for some water (he didn’t have anything to pull it out of the well himself). Her sin and shame didn’t drive Jesus away, nor did her ethnicity. Jesus knew the burden that she was carrying, and He engages her in conversation in order to set her free from the burden of her sin. He graciously changed her life when He revealed that He was the source of “living water” (v. 10, 13-14). He told her that there would come a day when all people could have a relationship with God that wasn’t tied to a geographic place now that God’s promised Messiah had arrived (v. 23-24). This good news changed her life, and it caused her to rush back to town to share with everyone the news about Jesus (v. 39-42). What a great response to a changed life.

Have you been born again? Not in the way that some Christian groups mean it -- “Have you made a personal decision to make Jesus the Lord of your life?” Jesus says that we don’t choose him but rather He chooses us (John 15:16). And faith isn’t a “decision” but a gift of the Holy Spirit given through God’s powerful Word (see Ephesians 2:9-9; Romans 10:17). Still, there is such a thing as being “born again.” Jesus makes that clear in today’s reading which records a conversation that He had with a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was apparently intrigued by Jesus and His teaching, and wanted to know more. So he went to talk with Jesus, but at night so that he wouldn’t be seen with Him. Nicodemus begins the conversation, but Jesus sort of interrupts him and gets down to the bottom line: “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Jesus then relates exactly what it means to be “born again.” When a person comes to faith in Jesus, when they place their trust in Him as their Savior, their relationship with God is transformed from one of enmity to one of love, grace, and mercy; their eternal destiny is changed from “condemned” to “Eternal Life.” They are transformed, brought from death to Life -- born again into a new reality in Jesus Christ.

Nicodemus didn’t accept Jesus’s message right away. But over time he did believe in Jesus, even defending him (John 7:50-51) and finally publically identifying himself as a follower of Jesus (John 19:38-42). Some people put their trust in Jesus the very first time they hear the Gospel. For others, like Nicodemus, coming to faith in Jesus is a processes that plays out over a length of time. But no matter how it happens, or how long it takes, the bottom line is this: you must be born again.

Doug Fields summarizes today’s reading in this way:

So many people want the answer to this very old question: “How do I get to heaven?” The young man (from today’s reading) thought he had it all figured out—he simply needed to do good things (16, 20). But Jesus challenged him with what it meant to be “good” (17). He then showed the man that just being good isn’t good enough… To earn salvation, you must be perfect (21). By the end of the conversation Jesus made it clear there were two things preventing this man from gaining eternal life: (1) his attachment to wealth, and (2) his belief that salvation could be earned through good works. Jesus affirmed that there is only one to get to heaven: “Follow me” (21, 28). The man left sad. Thankfully we can learn from others’ mistakes.

Doug Fields, pastor and author, introduces this week’s readings:

Congratulations! You’ve done an amazing job at staying committed to this journey. Way to go! In this final set of readings (can you believe it’s the last set of readings?), you’ll have an opportunity to examine the experiences of five people who had significant encounters with Jesus: (1) The rich young man, who walked away from Jesus because he loved his money too much to part with it. (2) Nicodemus, who didn’t believe Jesus at first, but over time became his follower. (3) The woman at the well, who had to face her shame and then got so excited about Jesus that she invited the whole town to see the person who changed her life. (4) Saul, who had a dramatic encounter with Jesus that changed his life, and the world, forever. And finally, (5) Peter, who made a stunning statement about Jesus even though he didn’t fully understand all that it would cost him.

The theme that weaves through all these readings is that each of these five individuals had to make a personal decision about Jesus.

The reason we want to end here is because there’s one more story you’ll need to seriously consider before closing this book: yours! We want you to think deeply about your personal story with Jesus. When you finish the 100th reading it would be wise to spend some time reflecting on all you’ve read. As you reflect on what you’ve read, imagine that Jesus is with you and lovingly asking you, “Who do you say I am?” How do you answer? Talk to Jesus and openly share what’s on your heart.

Again, congratulations on completing 100 readings! That’s amazing! But don’t let this be the end of your times in God’s Word. Our prayer is that it becomes the beginning of a lifetime of meeting with Jesus every day in the Bible and through prayerful conversations.

If there are parts of today’s reading that are hard to follow don’t worry. This is the Book of Revelation, which is the record of a vision. It’s message is presented mainly in images rather than straight forward language, so it can be hard to follow at times. That’s why it’s best to focus on the main, big-picture points rather than getting caught up in every little detail about images and symbolism.

The main point in these last two chapters of Revelation (and the Bible) is that God intends to establish “a new heaven and a new earth” (21:1). Satan will be defeated (20:7-10), the curse of sin will be broken (22:3), and God will be present with us forever (“God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them” 21:3, NLT). For those who belong to Jesus, the End of the World is only the beginning of Eternal Life with Jesus (see Romans 6:23).

First-century Christians were waiting for the return of Jesus, and they believed that He was going to return soon, as “in my lifetime.” And yet nothing was happening. As a result, the taunts and criticisms of skeptics were increasing. And I can imagine some of them talking to Peter about it. “Hey, what gives, Pete? I thought Jesus was coming soon.” Peter: “He IS, He IS returning soon!” “Well, He must be on a different timetable than us!” That’s true! This conversation never took place, of course, but apparently there were people asking Peter about Jesus’s delay. Peter devotes 1/3 of his second letter to this issue.

First, Peter points to the words of the Prophets and of Jesus Himself. He reminds his readers that when God speaks, things happen, and since God’s Word says that Christ will return, then we can be sure that it will! Second, God’s timing is not our timing. What appears to us to be a very long delay is actually an opportunity for more people to come to know him (v. 15).

In the end, our energies are a bit wasted if we’re using them to worry about the when and where of Christ’s return. It will happen! God’s Word gives us a general idea of what it will look like and how it will unfold -- just enough to give us peace about it. Our energies are better spent asking this question: Since Christ IS going to return, and all of creation will be remade, then how should we live our lives as we wait for Jesus? Peter tells us: Focus on living “holy and godly lives” (v. 11). Then we’ll be drawing closer and closer to Jesus while we wait for that day when we meet him face to face!

Every now and then a news story will pop up in the headlines that some minister or self-styled “prophet” has predicted that the end of the world will happen on such-and-such a date. Every one of them has been wrong, and every one of them will always be wrong. Only God knows the day and hour. Still, that doesn’t stop some people from trying to predict the world’s end. There are all kinds of false ideas about when the Last Day will take place and what it will be like, and there always has been. Even in the time of the Apostles false teachers were spreading misinformation about the end times and confusing Christians. Apparently at Thessalonica someone had convinced members of that church that Christ had already returned and that they had been left behind.

Paul writes to correct that false teaching and to remind the Thessalonians of what he had taught them while he was with them. He doesn’t want them to be “deceived” (v. 3). He reminds them of the basics: when Jesus comes again his followers will “gathered to/with him” (v.1). In other words, when He returns, you’ll know! Paul also gives us some other puzzle pieces about the End -- There will be some kind of “rebellion” and the appearance of the “man of lawlessness” (v. 3). The rebellion is ultimately Satanic and manifests as betrayal, falsehood, hatred, and lawlessness by misled Christians and non-Christian false teachers who pass themselves off as Christian teachers.

“The man of lawlessness” comes as the completion of the rebellion. In other parts of the Bible this incarnation of evil is called “the antichrist” and “the beast.” Luther wrote, “He not only is a sinner in his own right, but … through false doctrine causes others to sin with him.” He is satanic, perhaps even Satan possessing a person. He hasn’t come yet, but the powers that he embodies are already active: the “mystery of lawlessness” (v. 7). He will ultimately be destroyed himself by Christ at His Second Coming. (Taken from the Lutheran Study Bible notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:3)

So what does all of this mean for us today? Well, we already know the end of the story, that Jesus wins and is victorious over all of His enemies and ours. Do, don’t be alarmed, don’t be scared....be ready!