10/10/07
Reggie, good morning…
Do you have an article/book or materials available on the subject of
‘apocalyptic evangelism’?I seem to recall a class/teaching that was offered on this some years back. [Fall 2001 BI Newsletter reference posted here]
Hi,
Though a few things are a bit menacing, I’m doing quite well. All the more after this morning’s rich and encouraging time with some of the most precious brothers on the planet.
I’ve been intending to get back to your last question on Kenyon and also the foundational significance that I see invested in the larger question of Christ’s imputed righteousness. I’m trying to put together a bibliography of sorts for others who wish to inquire further. I am also wanting to return to that gloriously deep well for my own refreshing and better understanding, though, of course, all any of us really need is clear revelation on the simplicity of the all sufficient Christ, which is the power of the gospel for every need of heart and mind.
Yes, there was a body of writings and notes in preparation for what was to be a seven module series on the concept of apocalyptic evangelism, which basically aimed at equipping believers with a framework of reference and understanding that, appealing to such themes as covenant and prophecy, would raise Jewish awareness of the great issues of divine contention, expecting that this would count as seed that would have its greater working and witness in the face of growing world antiSemitism, making increasing sense of the prophetic warning of the approaching time of Jacob’s trouble and the divine contention that this represents, hence the name, “Apocalyptic Evangelism.”
It was not so much aimed at accomplishing a more immediate decision for Christ, as in Jews for Jesus, but to engage Jewish thought and consideration concerning the great issues of their own professed faith in Moses and the prophets, and this can only be done by a believer who understands the covenant context that creates the divinely intended tension that is only resolved from the stand point of the ‘revealed secret’ of the gospel. Thus it wasn’t intended as a how to manual, but only to provoke serious reflection on our own faith AS it is brought into confrontation with the formidable Jew in his ‘otherwise minded’ view of scriptural authority and interpretation. It was to review ways to press the covenant background of Israel’s exilic sufferings and the age-long hiding of God’s face on Jewish consideration.
We believe the Lord has given us certain keys and points of leverage that, by an appeal to agreed categories of OT faith, actually creates a crisis that aims at inducing the question “what lack I yet?” “What is hidden from Israel that perpetuates the exile?” And, of course, the answer is not more Torah and Kosher observance, but rather the age-ending revelation of the mystery of the gospel that comes at the end of Jacob’s trouble. This is the veil that must pass away from the Jewish heart, which then brings the ominous question: “What will it take?” If the Holocaust didn’t do it, what will it take, and why will Jacob’s trouble be different from previous disasters? My answer to that is, of course, the timely witness of a church that has had the original context and glory of its own faith restored just in the nick of time.
As I discovered at my first disappointed attempt, the time and means for such a project would require a tremendous grace from the Lord, as my current circumstance puts that at a far remove from practical prospect. However, just as soon as I can find the time, I will try to muster some of those old papers and notes that were in preparation for that course, originally proposed by Art. The apt name was also his idea. Pray for the return of those things so amazingly hindered and resisted that we literally gave up. But you know, all things in their time; because when I think how much better such a course would be just in view of how my own understanding has matured on those topics since then. So, I’m not in the least doubt that one day all will be on time. The body will be in its place “at the time appointed;” no doubt about it. I’ll be staying in touch. Meantime, I’ll try to track those things down, so much as I can relocate.
Yours in His eternal kindness, Reggie
