Daily Encouragement

Friday, February 23, 2024

The Lapp family engaging with orthodox Jews in Lakewood NJ.

"Making Known The Unknown God"

Note: In the first half of this much longer than usual message we share about a recent visit with the Lapp family to Lakewood NJ where there is a large settlement of orthodox Jews.

Message summary: Today we appeal to a world where, to so many like the orthodox Jews, Jesus is an unknown God. God created within our inmost being the need to follow after One greater than ourselves. Of course He desires that we worship Him not in ignorance, but in Spirit and in Truth. And the way we follow the only true God is to open His Word to our hearts making it a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Listen to our message on your audio player.

"Then Paul stood up on Mars’ Hill and said, 'Men of Athens, I see how very religious you are in every way. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you'" (Acts 17:22,23).

Two weeks ago Brooksyne and I joined the entire Lapp family for a trip to Lakewood, New Jersey where it is estimated that two-thirds of the township's residents, or about 90,000 people, are Orthodox Jews. The orthodox Jews are frequent visitors to the Old Windmill farm especially during feast days (we shared some photos last fall in a Daily Encouragement, link below)

With so many of these orthodox Jews coming to the farm Jesse and his family wanted to go and see where they live and they had an orthodox Jewish contact named Abraham who had visited the farm several times who was going to be our guide. However, several days before our planned trip, he had to cancel. Frankly without having any contacts in the area I had hesitation about still going but Jesse really wanted to go so early Saturday morning, February 10, we headed up to Lakewood in our rented 15 passenger van.

As we approached the city (about 70 miles south of NYC) we really had no idea where to go but used the GPS to search for "synagogue" and ended up at the Beth Medrash Govoha which is the largest yeshiva (a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature) outside of Israel.

We pulled into the virtually empty parking lot* and two security vehicles immediately drove by to check us out again and again. (Understandable given what Jewish people are going through, and the guards told us they are on heightened alert.)

Jesse and his entire family (wife and seven children) got out of the van and walked toward what appeared to be the main entrance where they spent about two hours engaging conversation with various Jews who walked by (see photo above).

The orthodox Jews find the Amish fascinating, perhaps due to several outward similarities such as distinctive dress and living in close community. Several times I heard them say "Are you a real Amish?" (Interestingly due to wearing black clothing and suspenders they thought I also might be Amish!)

At one point I observed the two older boys, Moses and Eli James, engaging in conversation with a large group of young men studying Rabbinical studies. It was quite an experience and friendly collision of two distinct cultures.

After our time at the synagogue we drove around the town and saw a lot of the orthodox Jews walking home from their synagogue in compliance to the Mosaic law which stipulates that a Jew is permitted to travel 2,000 cubits on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:29 and Numbers 35:5), about 1.2 km or 3/4 of a mile. It was a very surrealistic sight, Some of the men were wearing these huge fur hats called a shtreimel. (See here for photo)

While we were in New Jersey we also enjoyed a meal together at Chick-fil-A and a visit to the shore where the family walked the Point Pleasant boardwalk.

Now, apart from it being an interesting experience, (to me anyway) can I get a spiritually edifying message out of this? I actually have delayed sharing this since I had nuttin'!

One specific experience that Jesse shared (but I didn't observe) was a curious Jewish boy who came up to talk to him. The boy's father immediately intervened and told his son, "Don't talk to him" since he assumed Jesse was "witnessing" in the attempt to convert the young man.

But I consider those who take the message of the Gospel to hard, resistant and even dangerous places. Although the presence of the security was a bit intimidating I really didn't sense we were in danger but no doubt about it any reference to Jesus was met with scorn and they didn't even seem familiar with the New Testament (or at least that was their response when it was mentioned).

Jesse and his family, climbing the steps of that synagogue, brings to mind preaching points in the Bible which are called hills or mountains. Elijah preached on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18); Jesus preached the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7) and in today's text "Paul stood up on Mars' Hill". The gotquestions.org site describes this hill,

Rising some 377 feet above the land below and not far from the Acropolis and Agora (marketplace), it was an important meeting place where philosophy, religion, and law were discussed.

It was here that Paul proclaimed to his hearers a message about the "unknown god". Jesus is indeed the unknown God to these orthodox Jews.

"Men of Athens, I see how very religious you are in every way." Well, without a doubt these orthodox Jews are also very religious. The Athenians were the intellectually elite of that age. An interesting parenthetical description in verse 21 states, "Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new." (SCW commentary: It seems to me that's what a lot of "intellectual elites" do to this day!)

"For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god." Being carefully observant Paul sought to connect by appealing to an altar he had seen with this inscription, "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD". Apparently the Athenians just wanted to make sure they had all their bases covered so they erected a generic altar for a god they didn’t know, just in case they missed one!

“Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you." Paul used his observation to his advantage and proclaimed this "unknown" God to them in the verses that followed:

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:24-28).

Today we appeal to a world where, to so many, like the orthodox Jews, Jesus is an unknown God. God created within our inmost being the need to follow after One greater than ourselves. Of course He desires that we worship Him not in ignorance, but in Spirit and in Truth. And the way we follow the True God is to open His Word to our hearts making it a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, we thank You for those who go to the uttermost parts of the world and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, making known the "unknown God" to the people of that land. From the very beginning You created a hunger within our hearts to serve you, but far too many misfeed that hunger and instead "worship gold, silver or stone, images from the art and thoughts of man". Instead we choose to feed that hunger by loving You with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are grateful for the wooing of Your Holy Spirit that convicts us of our sin and reveals Your great redemptive love to us. Thank You for making Yourself known to us in Your Word, in nature, in our spirit, and in the experiences of everyday life. Amen.

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"You Are God Alone" Watch on YouTube Phillips, Craig, & Dean

"Unknown God" Watch on YouTube David Andrews

To be clear Jesse was primarily interested in learning more about the orthodox Jews and not preaching to them but as we discussed afterward there is sure a sense we sought to be a witness for Christ.

Beth Medrash Govoha (it's worth opening this page just to see the photo)

* The parking lot was empty since the orthodox Jews do not use vehicles on the Sabbath. As we drove through the town we saw many Jews walking to their destination.

We shared some photos of orthodox Jews visiting the Old Windmill Farm in this Daily Encouragement, "A Lesson From Succot" last October.

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