Introduction
At the time this study guide was prepared, a television commercial for a sporty looking car was airing on prime time. This commercial's message was blatant in its point, and stark in its contrast to a biblical point of view. The commercial asked the question, "When was the last time you were attracted to someone on the basis of their morals or character traits, such as loyalty." The implied answer for the thoroughly modern viewer: Never. Let's face it, the commercial suggests, we are attracted by sight, whether viewing the opposite sex or the latest, hottest offering from the world of four-wheeled fashion. Want to get noticed?, the commercial asks. Drive our car.
Why is this point of view so contrary to the biblical perspective? We know that God doesn't look on the outward appearance, but on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). But beyond that oftquoted premise is a deeper reality which you will see evidence of over and over in this study : There was nothing in Jesus Christ's appearance that would attract people to Him, yet crowds were drawn to Him like iron filings to a magnet. Who hasn't done the grade-school experiment of pouring a small pile of tiny iron filings onto a sheet of paper, and then causing the pile to flow around by moving a magnet beneath the paper? All the filings are identical in appearance, yet they seem to be following a leader as their oblong mass flows smoothly across the surface of the paper.
That's exactly how it was in the case of Jesus and the people of Israel. Isaiah had written centuries before Jesus was born that, concerning the coming Messiah, "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him" (Isaiah 43:2b; NIV). If you were to walk down a dusty path in Galilee or a crowded street in Jerusalem, and pass Jesus of Nazareth, from a physical perspective you probably wouldn't have looked twice. His appearance was not beautiful or majestic; you would not have automatically turned around to follow Him like iron filings follow a magnet. And yet the truth is, there were very few times when Jesus ever walked anywhere alone. People were drawn to Him everywhere He went�sometimes by His miracles, other times by His teachings. But sometimes they were drawn inexplicably by the purity of His person and the spontaneity of His speech. And sometimes they turned away from Him for the same reasons.
Regardless of why people were drawn to Jesus, one thing always happened to the people who met Him: They were changed. No one remained the same after an encounter with the carpenter from Nazareth. More often than not, when individuals met Him, their hearts were transformed and they entered the kingdom of God. But sometimes their hearts were hardened and they went, walked away in the opposite direction. To be fair, Jesus' disciples should have preceded Him with a sign saying, "Warning! Change Approaching!" It was impossible to meet Jesus and stay the same.
In this study you will meet 10 people who encountered Jesus. Eight of the lO were changed forever for the good. The other two failed to respond to Jesus when they had the chance�and we don't know if they ever did. But this one thing is true: You can be changed by reading about the encounters of others with Jesus. Why? Because they were people just like you. Their needs, their desires, their hurts, their questions�you'll identify with more than one of the ten people profiled in these pages.
But . . . "Warning! Change Approaching!" Before you begin, ask God to give you an open heart and mind to learn from the life-changes experienced by those who met Jesus in person. Who knows where and how you might meet Jesus today?
PEOPLE WHO MET JESUS was written by Dr. David Jeremiah, founder of Turning Point Ministry and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California.
Copyright 2000 by Turning Point for God
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