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Study Guide for Land of Revelation A Reconciling Presence in Israel Foreword and Chapters 31 - 35 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 Herald Press 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

Chapter 31, THE MINISTRY OF THE POLLINATOR

1. What was the special inspiration and attraction that held our fascination with the prophetic style and the background of the prophet Amos? Where was his home town located, and what did he do for a living? At home in Judah , why was he preaching in Samaria , the capital city of Israel ?
   
2. Why did the Minister for Religious Affairs in Samaria declare him unwelcome, wanting him deported, and sent back home? How does Amos answer him? What do we learn about Amos from his answer?
   
3. What illuminating insight emerges from the phrase “a preparer of sycamore fruit”? What is the process called “caprification,” and how did the process illumine the ministry, manner, and message of Amos in Israel ? How did the pollinator role of the capri wasp illustrate the ministry role of Amos? What in the ministry of Amos was the enhanced spiritual fruitfulness for God that was a model for us?
   
4. Where is the prophetic nucleus today to whom the Lord is making known his counsel and direction in Israel of this present?
   
5. If the Christian monks to whom Mohammad turned seeking spiritual help, had been able to lead him to Jesus as Savior and Lord, what ways would that have changed this entire Middle East region? Had the Christian population of North Africa been taught and strengthened in their faith, and with pastoral leaders who discipled them in their own local language, would the entire region have converted to Islam?

Chapter 32, FAITH IN THE FACE OF THE UNFULFILLED

1. How can reflection upon the mighty works of God we have experienced in our past, strengthen and sustain our faith “when the fig tree will not blossom”? What is the testimony of faith that Habakkuk presents, when the very things most feared do happen? How can our faith be kept as bright as are the promises of God?
   
2. What were the lessons of spiritual survival we needed to learn from those painful losses of seekers and new believers before their roots were enabled to sink deep? What is that discipline discovered amidst disappointment, failure, and loss? What were those foundational steps and stages in the growth process leading on from new birth into a deepening experience of intimacy in relationship with the Lord by which they become his witnesses in the world?
   
3. How did this text from Habakkuk lead on from Old Testament purview, to shine with clear light into New Testament revelation regarding the concept of death? How is the Jewish conception of death informed? How has the revelation of Jesus transformed the understanding of what happens after death? How does the New Testament describe the quality of eternal consciousness after death?
   
4. What was the difference witnessed by Jewish and Muslim friends as they experienced the faith outlook of confident hope, the atmosphere of love, joyful serenity, and peace on Gwen Allison’s countenance in hospital room in the days preceding her home-going?

Chapter 33, YOM KIPPUR WAR

1. Why was Israel taken by surprise in the sudden invasion of Egypt into the Sinai Peninsula ? Why was President Anwar Sadat determined to regain control of the Sinai? What was the reason Israel was determined to hold on to the Sinai? Why was the Syrian President Hafez el-Assad wanting to regain control of the Golan Heights ? Why was Israel unwilling to hand it back to Syria?
   
2. What was the dangerous disadvantage the Israeli army faced with the entire Egyptian army having swept into the Sinai, and the Syrian army sweeping through the Golan Heights unimpeded? How had this dreadful news impacted the citizens of Israel? What were we discovering regarding how profoundly deep was the psychological wounding, and how thin was the veneer of security of these survivors of the Holocaust in Europe, and of their extreme need for an impregnable defense system? Why was it difficult for the Israelis to mount an effective counter-attack?
   
3. How did the turning point come that turned the tide in the battle, leading to the surrender of Egypt ?
   
4. How did the Yom Kippur war launch significant new initiatives on the international front? What was contributing to the shifting military balance on the international level? How was it that the United States was now entering the arena in a central negotiating position? What were the several stages through which the peace process passed?
   
5. How has the Yom Kippur war become a turning point for the region? How were each of the individual nations changed by it? How was Israel ’s self-image, hopes, and aspirations for the future affected? What were the significant changes that resulted?
   
6. What was revealed in the anguished questions of the Jewish Orthodox lady, and her desperate need for answers and reassurance? What was the counsel and spiritual direction from the Lord as specific focus for our ministry in the aftermath of this trauma?
   
7. Why was the meeting of the members of the Dialogue Circle in the midst of this national crisis discovered to be of extraordinary importance? Was a published letter of comfort written to a shocked and grieving nation, an appropriate response, sponsored by the Israel Interfaith Committee?

Chapter 34, FAITH’S FOCUS FOR FULFILLMENT

1. What was the dilemma that the prophet Habakkuk was facing, and for which he needed answers from the Lord? How relevant are these questions to situations we encounter today? What is the timeless significance revealed in the answer the prophet received from the Lord?
   
2. When faith is exercised, divine energy is released: what is the harvest that this energy produces? If the righteous man maintains integrity in the face of the evil that surrounds him, what is the promised result assured?
   
3. How is the paradox of modern Israel defined? What were those winds of change that scholars and observers reported as beginning to blow across the Land? What were the evidences signifying that a psychological barrier was dissolving?
   
4. What are those themes of primary interest that directs the focus of their spiritual quest? What are the noteworthy characteristics of these small groups, gathered in self-study and honest questioning that intensified curiosity? How was this reporting confirmed in the conversation with the friendly barber?
   
5. Group study of the Old Testament, that deliberately by-passes the Rabbinic commentary interpretation, discovering answers directly from the biblical text, why is this significant?
   
6. What are those spiritual high-points of revelation and discovery that the story of Isaac reveals? How did the miracle touch from the Lord happen in the visit with Jacob and Rachel? What was the purpose of the simultaneous vision, and its meaning?

Chapter 35, INNER RADIANCE

1. On the Mount of Transfiguration, what was the significance of Moses and Elijah appearing together? What is the importance of their appearing together with Jesus? How did the exodus under Moses parallel the soon to be accomplished exodus of Jesus? How did Jesus fulfill the roles of both Moses and Elijah?
   
2. Why was the transfiguration an event of great significance in the life of Jesus? In what ways was the event of the transfiguration of great importance in the lives of the three disciples who experienced it? In what way did this event have great meaning also for the early church? How did this become a point of reference for the apostle Paul in describing the inner radiance that is to characterize Christ’s followers?
   
3. What happened when the cloud descended upon this event? What did the words spoken by God the Father signify of the higher and greater importance of the words spoken by Jesus, transcending those spoken previously by Moses and Elijah? What is the relationship of Jesus’s words to this event, “While you have the light, walk on in it, lest darkness come”? John 12:35, 36.
   
4. What spiritual contribution did the international conference on the Holy Spirit provide in encouraging and promoting a deepening dimension of revival among congregations in the Land? What did the testimony of Corrie ten-Boom contribute with its focus upon the power of unilateral forgiveness as the way of experiencing God’s healing grace?
   
5. What could constitute an acceptable and effectual way of healing for the Jewish and Arab peoples in Israel ? How were some individuals in the Land experiencing the power of God that is able to heal from the power of the past, and transfigure their memory? What was discovered to be the bedrock of reconciliation?
   
6. How did the couple from Australia who had traveled to Jerusalem for the purpose of a healing miracle, eventually experience the healing they sought? What deeper lessons can be learned from their experience? How can our homes and our family life become a center for healing and help to persons in need?
   
7. What were the special releases experienced through the ministry in prayer by the two seminar speakers hosted in our home?
   
8. What was the helpful discovery received in conversation with Yaakov Willebrand, of a copy of the formal prayer of repentance and cleansing, prerequisite to baptism already in the second century? What spiritual benefits resulted when we followed similar pre-baptismal discipling with the ministry of cleansing releasing prayer?