Land of Revelation

A Reconciling Presence in Israel

by Roy H. Kreider

This Study Guide is also available for download as a Word document or in PDF Acrobat format.

See also Land of Revelation in the MPN online catalog.

Foreword/Chapters: 1-5	Chapters: 6-10	Chapters: 11-15
Chapters: 16-20	Chapters: 21-25	Chapters: 26-30
Chapters: 31-35	Chapters: 36-40	Chapters: 41-46

Chapters: 21-25

Chapter 21: Heaven's Perspective

If the Holy Spirit indwelling our human spirit pervades mind and soul, including the subconscious mind, does the Lord speak to us through dreams and visions? Since not all dreams are from the Lord, how can we be certain that through this dream we experienced the elevated state of communion with the Lord? How should we test and discern those given for encouragement and counsel? How do we recognize the illuminative elements in a remembered dream that are given of God for edification and blessing? See Numbers 12:6–8.
In what ways did the focus of this dream centered upon the Throne of heaven, and especially upon Jesus, who is seated there, confirm the realities of the unseen, and fit the descriptions revealed from Scripture? What was the purpose for which the dream was given?
What was revealed as confirmation for us in Israel of the manifest protection of God over home, family, and ministries of the Lord’s servants in the Land?
What encouragement to our faith in the reassuring word of divine approval, and spiritual authority for setting captives free through witness and prayer was imparted? What spiritual fruitage resulted from this revelational dream?

Chapter 22: Intercessory Intermediators

According to this Isaiah text, where there is outright injustice to be addressed, what is the first and most important response the Lord looks for? What is it that this text identifies that angers the Lord most? What kind of intercessor, and what kind of intercession was the Lord searching for?
How is the Jewish claim to this Land defined? What was the promise given by God to Abraham? What was the territorial extent of the Land and its borders as marked out in the Old Testament? What was required by the Lord to be able to claim divine right to the Land? After the Babylonian exile, why was the possession of the Land never fully regained? Why is the issue of possession of the Land not mentioned in the New Testament? What is the inheritance of the believer in Jesus? Does the refocus of inheritance in the New Testament have any bearing upon Jewish claim to the Land?
How is the Arab claim to Palestine defined? Did the Muslim conquest confirm their right of ownership of Palestine ? How did the promise by the British to assist in the formation of an Arab state in Palestine rekindle their hope?
In what ways was it discovered how God uses the shaken times to make real those things that cannot be shaken? What is the role of intercessory prayer in experiencing divine intervention amidst stressful circumstances?
What could account for the directional sense that Ed experienced, feeling assured that he could find help and healing in the Land where the Christian faith had its origins? Why was forgiveness of those who had wounded him essential to his release from spiritual blockages?
What was the role of prayer and pastoral care in setting these captives free?

Chapter 23: The 1967 Watershed Event

This text is a revelation of the over-ruling power of God commanding a reluctant prophet to release blessing rather than cursing. Why did the Lord so move to bring forth this striking word picture in his oracle?
What was the persistent dilemma of the Palestinian refugees, the result of the 1948 war that continued to foment a deepening bitterness? Why did the Arab governments in the region refuse to support any solution other than a “return-home” formula?
What sequence of high level blunders marked the deepening crisis in the region as prelude to the 1967 war? What were those miscalculations and misleading reports that accelerated the military escalation toward full-scale war?
How did this war that no one intended to happen change the region? How was the nation of Israel changed? What significant changes transpired within the Palestinian community? How did these changes set the Israelis and Palestinians, Egypt and Syria on a course that would lead to another round of aggression?
Why is this 1967 war designated a “watershed event”? Why was the Israeli victory seen to be only a temporary phase that would lead to another round of military conflict? Could this brief respite possibly provide a calmer climate in which to explore together ways to achieve peace?

Chapter 24: Turning Point

Why had the major changes unleashed by this war lead some to view it as the Lord intervening to inaugurate a new order? How is the unshakable kingdom revealed in crisis? How were the nations shaken, Israel, Egypt, Syria, and the Palestinians?
How can we know whether regional upheavals and the chaotic confusion within neighboring nations are indeed the Lord’s supernatural rule? Does God use the unstable time to shake up the old order to make way for the new? Does this prophetic metaphor portray political change, or is the focus upon things spiritual?
What is the special significance of the revelational vision received by Pastor Jim Wright in Australia at the precise moment of outbreak of the 1967 war? Why were his thoughts focused immediately upon what spiritual changes God was releasing that would cause both Jewish and Muslim people to turn their hearts to the Lord?
What is the primary role in the ministry of angels? See Hebrews 1:14. Of the many questions raised in Jerusalem, which ones best explained the vision of the angelic host commissioned for intervention? What was that initial stage of a divine turning point?
With the border between Israel and the West Bank now opened, what was the first initiative undertaken requiring official permission and authorization to fulfill? How important was it for our Church serving on both sides of this deep-seated issue to discover the welfare of our workers in East Jerusalem , Beit-Jala, and Hebron ? How important was it for those who had just experienced a traumatic upheaval and unbelievable change in their situation, to be contacted as soon as possible by us from Israel ? How important was it for Israel that we moved to inquire and to reassure, and to help normalize the services these workers had been providing to Palestinians?
What significance was revealed in the immediate bonding into close-knit relationship of one team serving amid two alienated people-groups? What was being confirmed regarding Jesus as Prince of Peace who made us ministers of reconciliation to those alienated from one another?
What did we discover was changing in official attitude toward us following the war, confirmed by opening doors, invitations to involvement, and requests for help? Was this also a part of the change revealed in Pastor Wright’s vision? How do we explain the invitation into the Jerusalem Rainbow Dialogue Group, the Israel Interfaith Organization, the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity, and to serve as editorial assistant for the international edition of Christian News from Israel , and which finally enabled confirmation of visa tenure?

Chapter 25: The Captivity in Tel Aviv

In what ways do happenings in Israel the nation provide an alert and a revelation of what is about to happen on a spiritual level amid Israel of the Spirit? In what ways did this call us to be more aware of what was taking shape within the church, and in the hearts and minds of those not yet won to faith?
Who was the captivity in Tel Aviv in the days of the prophet Ezekiel? With prophets such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zechariah, and national leaders such as Nehemiah and Ezra, were these captives spiritually destitute? What help did they need that Ezekiel was to bring?
Who was the captivity in Tel Aviv in Israel needing an encouraging word from the Lord in this chapter? From where had that prophetic direction initially been spoken? Who was commissioned to minister those reassuring and directional words from the Lord? What were they looking for on arrival? What did they find, and how did they respond? How do we recognize the Lord’s prepared setting for Spirit-directed ministry?
How do we find the spiritual resources needed to respond to a national crisis while struggling with a personal crisis of disappointment and exhaustion? How did the war constitute a shock treatment that discovered untapped inner resources and the strength needed to serve them?
When hope is being disappointed it means that it is being purified. In what way is disappointment the threshold to new revelation? How is it a spiritual breakthrough in personal experience where we see Jesus face to face? How did this happen for us?
How did the Childers come especially prepared of God, and now preparing for a Spirit-led prayer ministry with us? How did this ministry time become for us a life-changing releasing, healing, and renewal in the Holy Spirit? In what ways was the Lord himself in charge of this process, and how did he confirm that this direction in ministry was of him?
What did the revelation of the great hall of an art gallery with life-sized paintings signify? In the presence of Jesus, how was the post-traumatic stress syndrome portrayed? Why was repentance important to enable healing? What happened when “the Hand of Jesus touched me,” and made me whole? How did the word of Jesus comprise a renewing of my mind as to the actual purpose for his placing me in that project?
How did this ministry of the Childers, commissioned “to the captivity in Tel Aviv,” result in our own releasing into a ministry of setting captives free in the Tel Aviv region? How were we able to help the Childers after their trial by fire behind the Iron Curtain?

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