The intent at Babel was rebellion and pride so God’s judgment came in the form of confusion of languages and dispersion of people abroad. The accent was upon a separation that would lead to filling the earth with people. But now another accent unified three souls at a Jewish doorstep in Montreal. No matter what our mother tongue is, let us always pronounce our Father’s love that vocalizes His heart.
Just as we approached another door, a woman came out and was quite frightened when she saw us. We immediately apologized. We then proceeded to offer her the set. As soon as she heard “New Testament” she said she did not want anything to do with Jesus Christ. As we spoke with her she kept repeating, “I am Jewish”. We offered the Old Testament only (Tanach) and explained that many of the prophecies about the Messiah are in the Tanach. Before accepting the Bible, she skimmed through the pages to make sure it was indeed the Jewish Scriptures. She took it and thanked us. It appears she knew what to look for to verify that it was a Bible, so we were glad for that!
At another door, man opened up with three of his children standing a bit behind him and his wife just behind the kids. As we offered the set he asked us why we were doing this. We responded by saying that we were grateful to the Jewish people to have received the Word of God through them and we wanted to bless their homes. As his hand reached out to accept the set, he thanked us and we could see the whole family smiling. He was very grateful and so were we.
After that, a man opened his door and as we offered the set, he responded in French that he had everything he needed. We said that it was a gift and it came from the Society for the Distribution of the Hebrew Scriptures. As soon as we said that, he took the Old Testament and looked for himself. He was careful to make sure that it was the Tanach. He then took the New Testament in his hands making sure it, too, came from the same publishing house. He accepted the set and thanked us. As we were about to leave we spoke about Isaiah 53 and mentioned that some of the prophecies were already accomplished in the New Testament. It made us smile to think how he did not believe our report at first, that this was indeed the Arm of the Lord reaching out to him.
Another set was given to a woman who was very thankful and grateful.
Shalom Shalom from Calgary:
Monday evening was a bit cooler (but the Lord’s presence warmed our hearts) so we actually drove home to home, giving out 2 sets and one bookmark.
At the first home a woman answered the door and was surprised to see us. She had been praying for more Hebrew lessons as she is going to visit Israel next March. Her grandfather was Jewish and she had a mezuzah on the door. She was born again with a great zeal for proclaiming the Messiah. She gladly received the Hebrew Scriptures as a tool to learn to read. We will call her in a week or so to discuss the possibility of her evangelizing with us. She is connected to the Jewish community and knows a lot about the Reform Jewish movement in Calgary. We will send her to the Ariel Ministries web site. It is our hope that our team will grow as we mature.
We arrived at the next home where a lady answered, but refused the set. As we left I pulled out the bookmark and offered her prophesies about the Messiah. There was no hesitation as she accepted this gift. Another Jewish person said, “No thank you.”
We walked to the last home and a lady opened the door. I took out the Hebrew set and explained that Messiah had to come twice. H. said, “Really?” two times! We explained the purpose for each of Messiah’s two comings and asked if we could step inside, to which she agreed. We explained that in Daniel 9:26 the Messiah comes the first time before the destruction of the Temple and then returns as the glorious Messiah. We then discussed Isaiah 53 and she agreed to read it in Hebrew. When she was about halfway through, she asked if she had to read it all, so we encouraged her to finish it. She said the Jewish people are talking about the Messiah who will come and we responded that yes, He will come – this time as the glorious Messiah who will deliver Israel and reign. H. shared that her children lived in Israel and that her son had become very religious.
We explained to her the difference between rabbinical and biblical Judaism. We also showed her how to read the footnotes at the bottom of the Bible, referencing other biblical passages related to the specific verse. I opened the New Testament to Matthew 1 and showed her the footnote reference to Isaiah 11:1. We explained that Messiah would need to fulfill all the prophecies of the Old Testament. More than once, H. agreed that this was true. I explained that the New Testament itself has many prophecies that the Messiah would fulfill as well. She agreed to read the New Testament, and now she will know how to look for the prophecies in the footnotes. I also showed her the bookmark with the list of prophecies.
We explained that Jewish people were expecting a warrior type Messiah who would deliver them from Roman oppression. We also shared about Messiah’s death and resurrection for salvation. As the conversation began to end, I (Valerie) offered her my telephone number, saying she could call me so we could read the Bible together or she could ask me questions. She took my number. We left our second complete set of Hebrew Scriptures for the night with her.
As we walked back to the car, we realized the power of God to glorify Himself through His servants.
Thank you,
From Buffalo NY:
Tonight we started a new area around one of the Jewish Discovery Centers in Williamsville. Out of 52 homes visited 10 were Jewish. 2 families accepted the set; both were very happy and showed much appreciation. Nigel received a hearty hand shake from one and very kind words from the other. We had 1 refusal and 7 not home which we plan to revisit next week. May the light of Yeshua shine into their hearts. Shalom.