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: 6-10

Chapter 6: Beginning in Jerusalem

What spiritual insights are to be discovered from Psalm 48:12-14? How do we recognize God present and at work so as to participate in accomplishing his purposes for this place?
Living at the entrance to the Valley of Rephaim, site of the “listening post of David,” what from this God-given principle are we to learn about waiting until we hear from above “the sound of marching steps,” confirming that angelic squadrons are now advancing ahead of us inaugurating change? (2 Samuel 5:22-25) Who were the Templers, the builders of this house and founders of the German Colony?
Why was it advantageous to enroll together with Jewish immigrants in learning the Hebrew language? How do we respond after listening as they “unpacked their suitcases of pain-filled memories” in the classroom setting?
What were the challenges of mingling with survivors of Nazi crimes against Jews? In this close contact with those scarred and broken by history’s worst atrocities, was it right to refrain from open identification, praying that my life would be hid with Christ in God so that he could engineer circumstances and witness occasions as he will?
How do we explain this surprising “recognition” by the Hungarian bookkeeper the moment I walked into the classroom on that first day? How can the eyes of some be so open and able to perceive with clear insight and recognition, while the eyes of others see nothing that awakens their interest? See Romans 11:25.
How does living under life-threatening conditions cause some persons to be spiritually receptive, while others become bitter and hardened to faith response?
How do we explain the remarkable illumination happening on the bus-ride home following our evening visit? What was it that was causing this awakening consciousness and discovery of clarifying direction for his life? Does the Holy Spirit speak into the soul of one not yet open and ready to accept personal relationship with the Lord?
When the initial recognition was miraculous, followed by a risky reaching out for relationship, how careful must one be in moving the conversation forward to next step in faith response? In actual fact, his life-experiences caused him to be cautiously guarded and fearful of being openly identified with a Christian. Abundant spadework with patient listening and prayers for healing of memories was required. How do we avoid driving away those needing time and deeper help?

Chapter 7: Mount Zion Furlongs

Having gone from Galilee into the Gentile region on the Mediterranean coast, why among these needy people does Jesus want to remain hidden and unrecognized? What amazing discernment enables this woman to come to him when he is not drawing or inviting her to come? Why was it not possible to remain hidden?
Since we are called and regenerated to be his witnesses, how appropriate is the prayer-desire to remain hidden and unrecognized in a crowd? Is it appropriate to seek a low profile to first learn how others view Christ and the Christian witness?
How important is it to first seek to build relationships of trust before entering into sensitive discussion on faith issues?
Why was it important to Jacob to take that walk to the Chamber of Horrors with a Christian clergyman? Knowing his apparent motive and purpose to confront with unanswerable questions, why was it a wise decision to agree to go?
How would you have responded to Jacob’s questions?
Knowing that adequate answers could not be given to his questions, why was it important that Jacob could ask them? Why was it considered safe only in Israel for a Jew to ask a Christian these hard and painful questions?
Why was Jacob surprised that I had accepted this challenge? Why was this walk so important for him, and for me?
How important is it for a Christian to honestly acknowledge the sins committed by the Church against the Jewish people? How can I be instrumental in confession and asking forgiveness if I do not identify with the Church’s sins, even though I was not a direct participant in committing those sins? How do the actions of some Christians cause alienation and resistance against all other Christians? What is required to bring these walls of alienation down? If healing change can only come through forgiveness enabling release and reconciliation, who should initiate that forgiving process?
How do we answer the critical question regarding the silence of the Christian churches during that terrible chapter? Those brave but isolated voices that did speak out, and those Christian families that hid Jews were noteworthy and exemplary. Does the church that knows its calling to be involved in the ministry of reconciliation need pray to find the way of healing broken relations between the Church and the Jewish people? What concrete steps could begin to pave the way?

Chapter 8: Jerusalen's Flowing Streams

What is the river of God that flows forth from the city of God that has the power to refresh the nations of the world? Where can we look to find those flowing streams in the Jerusalem of this present time?
Worship in the synagogues has strengthened the faith of the Jewish people since the days of the Babylonian exile. Do you believe that the river of God flows through the synagogue as it did in ancient times? Have you ever visited a synagogue service to find out?
It has been said that you enter the inner sanctuary of the soul of another when you respectfully listen to what they are saying while in prayer. Why is this true?
In Romans 10:2, Paul writes, “I know from experience what a passion for God they have.” But so too are many Muslims passionate for God, and many Christians. Why is fervent zeal for God not enough to confirm that the river of God is flowing through their liturgy and passionate prayers? What are those special privileges that Paul in Romans 9:4-6 enumerates that the Jewish people still have? Why then does this not comprise those streams of divine refreshing flowing through their fervent prayers?
What was the essential ingredient that comprised these flowing streams enabled to “refresh the nations of the world” that we were discovering and experiencing when visiting the centers of faith and witness to Jesus as Savior and Lord in Jerusalem ’s Christian congregational centers?
Visiting Professor Mowinckel from Upsalla University in Sweden , in his lecture series on “The Enthronement Psalms,” identified the purpose and the significant difference when the Lord of Heaven and Earth was confirmed to be enthroned upon the praises of the covenant community of Israel . What are the essentials that enable that revelation of divine enthronement in the midst to happen? How important is it to enable the Lord to be enthroned within our corporate worship life today? When that is enabled to happen, what difference does it inaugurate? In what ways does the reality of this experience aid in experiencing those flowing streams of divine refreshing?

Chapter 9: The Sown Land

In what way is this saying of Jesus setting forth a missiological principle? How is it a revelation of the ] missionary call, sown by the hand of Jesus into this Land of Israel for the sake of the harvest? What does it signify to invest one’s life into this Land, to surrender in such way that new life is released in others on the dimension of harvest?
What revelational insights are gleaned from reflection upon the root-meaning of wheat-grain? To place our life into the hand of the Sower signifies an absolute surrender to him, to be disposable for his purpose. Reading this chapter, what is discovered that confirms how the Lord is taking responsibility for our need of visa extension enabling us to continue here, as well as our need for more adequate training for fruitful service here?
Why were these courses taught by Professor Kosmala considered essential orientation for ministry service in Israel? How significant for Judaism and Christianity was this historic redaction transacted at Yavne that resulted in a changed Judaism? How did the Judaism that emerged after A.D. 72 differ from the Judaism of the days of Jesus and Paul? What are the implications for the Christian church in its approach to Judaism in dialogue and witness? How far does a changed Judaism oblige a changed Christian approach?
Why was it important to theological conversations in Israel to be familiar with the writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls? What are the implications for Rabbinical Judaism in this discovery of another Judaism that rejected the corrupt Temple worship and Sanhedrin in Jerusalem , and representing the prophetic revelation centered in Messianic hope? What is the apparent relationship between this communal “voice crying in the wilderness” and the preaching of John the Baptist, a lone “voice crying prepare the way of the Lord”? What are those possible links between Qumran, and with John and Jesus? Was the Epistle to the Hebrews, in its expositions on themes highlighted in the Scrolls, written for the sake of those Qumran “priests” who had been won to faith in Jesus? See Acts 6:7.
How were our own lives becoming the field pulverized by plow and harrow to be sown and cultivated by the Lord for fruitfulness? And in what ways were we ourselves the wheat-grain being broadcast by the Sower that by means of prayer we might sink our roots deeper, to be nourished by him in this Land? If the Lord is both the Sower and the Harvester, can we know that in his time he will bring forth his harvest in us, and in this Land?

Chapter 10: In Quest of Zion

Why is intimate acquaintance with Judaism and basic Jewish beliefs important? Can one be a credible witness to adherents of other faiths without becoming respectfully acquainted with what they believe?
Belief regarding the Holy Book: How was exile from the Land an exile from the Book when “the Prophets of the Exile” were teaching in Babylon ? What is the significance in the belief that return to the Land enables a return to the Book?
Belief regarding Torah: How can the Pentateuch be regarded as a closed book, the beginning and high peak of revelation that is centered at Mount Sinai , when it speaks not only of promise but also of fulfillment? Does not the Torah end before the entry into the Promised Land begins? Where is the fulfillment of which the Torah promises? What was the primary purpose of the Law? See Galatians 3:4 and 5. Belief that the Kabballah of Oral Tradition is more binding and authoritative than the Written Law: how does this shed light upon the Pharisees clash with Jesus?
How is the Election of Israel defined? See Deuteronomy14:2. By embracing the principle of direct approach to God, Judaism has by-passed the basic principles upon which the faith of the Old Testament was founded.
How do we reconcile beliefs in the Kaballah of Jewish Mysticism regarding the exercise of magical and occult powers, in light of prohibitions and warnings of dire consequences for invoking those powers? See Deuteronomy 8:10-12.
What is the significance of the belief that when Messiah comes, the Land will be his?
How do we explain the phenomenal survival of the Jewish nation despite history’s efforts to annihilate them, bonded though divided, yet identifiable as a vibrant ethnic people?
How has exile become the basis for “The Law of Return”? How does a secure Israel reinforce the security of Jewry living in other lands?
In what way is this return of the Jewish people fulfillment of Old Testament predictions? How far do events that transpire on the national level approximating prophetic depictions in the Bible, justify linkage and association?
In what ways does the concept of redemption apply to the Land? How in prophetic prediction is Land redeemed? How are people redeemed? What is implied by “the ghetto imprisoned the Book”?
What are the implications of the belief that “the present age ends with the appearance of Messiah? What light does this Jewish belief shed upon the New Testament concept that with the appearance of Messiah Jesus the end of the present age has come, and in His ministry and teachings the Kingdom of God is breaking out?

Mennonite Publishing Network