“If I gave you a copy of the New Testament in Hebrew, would you read it?”

That question came up in an unexpected conversation I had while doing street outreach in Jerusalem. As usual, I had prayed for people to stop and engage with us. That’s how I met Yakov.*

His full beard, black suit, and broad-brimmed hat told me that he was from the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. We have been praying for Haredim for years, as their communities have historically been some of the hardest to reach with the gospel. In fact, it has sometimes felt like they were almost unreachable.

So, I was glad Yakov stopped to talk. I tried to find a way to connect his experience to the gospel. It turned out that he happened to be an expert on kosher laws and ritual sacrifice. I asked him about a certain Orthodox practice on the Day of Atonement called Kapparot, in which a chicken is swung around three times over a person’s head and is then sacrificed. He said that what happens to the chicken is what should have happened to us because of our sins.

This gave me a perfect opportunity to tell Yakov that this is what the New Testament says Yeshua and his sacrifice did for us. And I told him that we believe Yeshua is the suffering Messiah figure spoken of in Isaiah 53. Yakov kindly disagreed, which I expected. Here’s what I didn’t expect.

To my surprise—and perhaps even to his—when I asked Yakov if he would read a New Testament, he said, “Yes.”

I gave him a Hebrew New Testament, and we parted with a friendly embrace. I don’t know if he will read the book. But I do know what can ignite the gospel in Yakov’s heart. It’s the same thing that empowered a Galilean fisherman to capture the attention of thousands of devout Jews gathered to worship in first-century Jerusalem.

I’ve often tried to imagine the massive response to Peter’s sermon in Acts 2. Three thousand very religious Jewish people received Yeshua and were baptized! For a first sermon, that is really hard to beat. But of course, it wasn’t Peter who pierced the hearts of all those people. Whether it’s 3 people or 3,000, only the Holy Spirit can do that.

While we are not seeing huge numbers of Haredi people come to faith—at least not yet—we are seeing the Holy Spirit continue to work in the hearts of Haredim. (You can read more about that throughout this newsletter.) I believe God is working in these communities, and I hope you’ll join me in praying that we will see much more to come.

Meanwhile, let’s never confuse “unreached” with “unreachable.” The Holy Spirit can reach anyone! And that includes the seemingly unreachable people in your life as well.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.

 

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