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Caption transcript for Psalms of Ascent (2018): “Psalms 130 & 131” (6/8)

• 00:05 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved,
• 00:11 for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
• 00:14 for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.
• 00:39 Welcome to Zola Levitt Presents.
• 00:40 I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 00:41 And I'm David Hart.
• 00:43 We hope you're enjoying this Series "Psalms of Ascent"
• 00:45 with our great teacher Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
• 00:48 We also have Eitan Shishkoff
• 00:50 who is bringing us a word every week
• 00:52 from northern Israel.
• 00:53 Marty Goetz.
• 00:55 Yes, love his music.
• 00:56 Brings a song every week.
• 00:58 Chaim Malespin is with us.
• 00:59 And Sarah Liberman is bringing us a Hebrew Lesson,
• 01:02 teaching the Names of God in Hebrew.
• 01:05 She's great.
• 01:05 Yes, she is.
• 01:07 Today Dr. Seif is starting his study from Psalm 130.
• 01:10 So if you have your Bible
• 01:11 get it open,
• 01:13 and get it ready for the teaching,
• 01:14 but first let's go to our dramatic re-enactment.
• 01:19 In the darkest hour of the darkest day
• 01:22 the warmth of the sun seems lost forever.
• 01:26 Friends are gone.
• 01:28 Hope is gone.
• 01:30 But, a still small voice yet remains.
• 01:34 "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord,"
• 01:38 hear my voice,
• 01:40 "let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of Israel."
• 01:44 And the sun returns.
• 01:47 With the Lord, thereis mercy.
• 01:51 With Him, there is redemption.
• 01:54 The Lord, will redeem you.
• 02:01 Different things can bring people down in life,
• 02:05 can cause discouragement, despair, disorientation,
• 02:09 decay, pain.
• 02:13 It can be because of circumstances that beset the person.
• 02:17 It can be because of sins that the person is forever reminded of.
• 02:22 And with the sin comes a sense of guilt,
• 02:26 which says, "I did something wrong,"
• 02:28 and shame which says, "I am something wrong",
• 02:32 depending on the nature of infraction.
• 02:36 The reason why I mention that is
• 02:39 burdened by various cares, Israelites
• 02:43 have been coming to this place for years.
• 02:47 This place immediate behind me
• 02:49 is the Western Wall.
• 02:51 The closest place where Hebrews can get,
• 02:53 to the Temple that once stood upon that mountain.
• 02:56 Right now there's an Islamic Shrine there.
• 03:00 There's no biblical basis for it being there.
• 03:02 Once upon a time, placed there was this sanctuary.
• 03:06 People came and they prayed there,
• 03:09 and they came and they brought sacrifices there as well.
• 03:12 And Why?
• 03:13 Because there was a House that was set up
• 03:15 to deal with a human problem,
• 03:17 one particular problem,
• 03:19 a problem called sin.
• 03:22 I mention this because as here in the Psalms Ascent,
• 03:25 a voice is given to pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem
• 03:29 on account of sin, wanting to attend
• 03:32 to that which burdens us within.
• 03:36 There are different things people can do
• 03:38 to try to get rid of the pain of sin.
• 03:40 Some drink it away,
• 03:41 different vices to try and snuff out that perennial discomfort.
• 03:46 But the way some people choose to get rid of that,
• 03:49 is they deal with it head on,
• 03:51 and they come to God, and ask for forgiveness.
• 03:54 And what do they discover?
• 03:56 Well, the psalmist discovered,
• 03:59 and he gives voice to it in Chapter 130.
• 04:02 He says,
• 04:08 The point of course there, is that nobody is perfect.
• 04:11 So he goes on to say in verse 4,
• 04:14 [Speaking first in Hebrew]
• 04:20 Truth of the matter is people come here to find forgiveness.
• 04:26 And they're encouraged in verse 7 and on.
• 04:29 The psalmist says,
• 04:31 [Speaking first in Hebrew]
• 04:49 Sometimes we can feel so very bad,
• 04:53 so very downtrodden,
• 04:54 and we forget that with God there is in fact, mercy.
• 04:59 He then goes on to say,
• 05:01 [Speaking first in Hebrew]
• 05:10 Bible readers are beckoned to understand
• 05:12 when they make their way to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage,
• 05:15 that they can find God there,
• 05:17 and a God who isn't inclined to mark iniquities,
• 05:21 to hold everything against us,
• 05:23 that the score is indelibly marked against us.
• 05:27 He's not inclined to do that.
• 05:29 Similarly, they're encouraged to experience
• 05:32 a God who is said to come with mercy, with " chesed ".
• 05:38 And beyond that there's the reminder that with Him
• 05:41 there is plenteous redemption.
• 05:44 Redemption is an interesting concept.
• 05:46 It means, "to buy back from slavery."
• 05:49 The chains of sin can weigh,
• 05:53 and drag individuals a certain way,
• 05:55 but God can redeem from that.
• 05:57 There's a wonderful exhortation in verse 8.
• 05:59 He says,
• 06:00 [Speaking Hebrew first]
• 06:14 They came here from all over the Roman world in fact,
• 06:20 in Yeshua's day, in Jesus' day,
• 06:22 because Jews were scattered round about.
• 06:24 The compliant would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
• 06:27 in order to experience God in a special way,
• 06:31 in order to have their problems in life ameliorated, improved.
• 06:37 I want you to know as I'm speaking to you from here,
• 06:40 that the place is open to receive you,
• 06:43 that still people come to the Kotel and they put their prayers in the wall.
• 06:48 I want you to know, however, that to get God's attention,
• 06:51 you needn't do that,
• 06:53 though personally I think you'd be blessed
• 06:55 to make a pilgrimage to Israel,
• 06:57 and that's what the Psalms of Ascent addresses.
• 06:59 Though I believe you'd be blessed to do that,
• 07:01 I want you to know you needn't just do that
• 07:04 because the truth is you can call upon the Lord wherever you are.
• 07:09 The word "Jesus" is just an English way of saying "Yeshua".
• 07:15 The verb "Yeshua" means,
• 07:22 Noted in his Name is what's promised here in the text.
• 07:27 Again, you can, wherever you are call upon Him,
• 07:32 and you know what the Bible says?
• 07:33 He will answer you.
• 07:35 You can receive the forgiveness of sins,
• 07:37 the newness of life,
• 07:40 and experience the fresh rejuvenation
• 07:42 that comes by virtue of your so doing.
• 07:49 We know that satan comes to steal, kill and destroy,
• 07:53 and only Yeshua can save us from that.
• 07:55 We are safe in His arms.
• 07:57 Just like a little baby that's safe in it's mother's arms.
• 08:01 I love that imagery.
• 08:02 Psalm 131 speaks of that,
• 08:05 and that's what Dr. Seif will be teaching on
• 08:07 after our dramatic re-enactment.
• 08:11 The love of a mother knows no boundaries.
• 08:15 And the child, now weaned from it's mother
• 08:19 has discovered a new world.
• 08:21 The colors are alluring.
• 08:24 The shapes so intriguing.
• 08:27 It could take a lifetime to taste them all.
• 08:30 But, at the end of the day
• 08:32 there's no greater comfort in all the world
• 08:36 than that found in the arms of mother.
• 08:40 "My soul is even as a weaned child,"
• 08:43 says the psalmist.
• 08:45 "Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever"
• 08:52 "Comfort"
• 08:54 In so many ways it's in such high demand
• 08:57 and short supply these days.
• 09:00 To be sure, when pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem
• 09:03 they were looking for comfort among other things.
• 09:06 And the reason why I say "among other things",
• 09:08 is there's such a wide range of interest in
• 09:11 emotions in the Psalms in general,
• 09:14 and in the Psalms of Ascent in particular.
• 09:17 We're looking at Psalm 131 now.
• 09:20 In the Psalm before it, there the issue was
• 09:23 dealing with guilt and shame associated with transgression
• 09:27 and the intended personal discomforts.
• 09:30 In the Psalm after that the Psalmist is talking
• 09:33 about, "He's not going to go into his house"
• 09:35 "until God has a place for him."
• 09:39 There's a sense in which...
• 09:40 we're working with varied interests,
• 09:42 and here there's an image of a baby
• 09:46 comforted at the child's mother's breast.
• 09:51 It's an interesting image for a variety of reasons.
• 09:53 I want to explore that with you.
• 09:55 It comes from Psalms 131.
• 09:57 And in verse 2 it says in Hebrew here,
• 10:01 [First speaking Hebrew]
• 10:08 It's a fascinating image.
• 10:10 Let me explore around it.
• 10:11 In verse 2, to look at the whole verse, he says,
• 10:25 He says it twice.
• 10:27 The imagery here isn't a child being driven by appetite,
• 10:31 wanting to secure some nurture from the child's mother's breast.
• 10:36 No, the food staple has already been delivered.
• 10:41 Here there's the after moment.
• 10:44 That is to say, the child
• 10:45 just glad to be there with his or her mother.
• 10:51 The imagery here interestingly
• 10:53 is God represented as a mother.
• 10:58 Here the child is just glad to be in mom's presence.
• 11:02 This becomes a religious poetic expression
• 11:07 for being close to God.
• 11:10 Now, this is an interesting illusion
• 11:13 for a variety of reasons,
• 11:14 not least of which is the fact that God represented
• 11:18 with something of a feminine tone.
• 11:20 And it seems to me that the author here
• 11:22 is taking a poetic license to create
• 11:25 a vision to help create a moment.
• 11:28 And certainly if one looks at the Psalms,
• 11:31 if one looks at poetry,
• 11:32 the name of the game in poetry,
• 11:34 and the Psalms are all about poetic language,
• 11:37 the name of the game is to paint on the human imagination.
• 11:41 Here it seems to me that God was way ahead of the feminists.
• 11:44 That is to say, in Scripture
• 11:46 the motif is borrowed to underscore
• 11:49 the kind of contentment that can be had.
• 11:52 And by the way, that's the principle message of the Psalm.
• 11:55 Just before it the psalmist says,
• 11:57 "You know, I'm not all about pursuing my acquisitive interests,"
• 12:02 "and giving voice to my acquisitive impulses."
• 12:05 Lord only knows we have that.
• 12:08 Contentment is so very difficult for the soul to be at rest.
• 12:12 It seems there's different seasons in life,
• 12:15 and I hear the engines of ambitions revving in my own psyche,
• 12:20 deep in my own soul, in my own person.
• 12:23 But it seems to me there's a kind of contentment that we
• 12:25 have in our relationship with God.
• 12:27 It's one of the reasons I think Yeshua,
• 12:29 why Jesus said advising soldiers,
• 12:31 "Learn to be content with your wages."
• 12:33 It's not just soldiers.
• 12:35 The honest truth is that a lot of us wish we had more,
• 12:38 and think we deserve it,
• 12:39 and then our engines are all revved up because
• 12:41 we're not happy with the way we are treated in this world.
• 12:45 It's interesting that in the Psalms of Ascent here,
• 12:48 "Those that walk with God to Jerusalem are
• 12:51 experiencing in language the imagery of contentment,
• 12:56 harking back to a mother and a child.
• 13:00 Would that you and I can recall the days when we were parenting.
• 13:04 For some it's a lot closer.
• 13:06 My kids have grown up,
• 13:08 and the grand kids haven't come yet.
• 13:09 In fact, I have a wedding that's forthcoming soon,
• 13:11 and I'm trusting grandchildren will be coming,
• 13:14 and I'll be able to experience that tender moment,
• 13:17 an infant and a caring, nurturing person,
• 13:19 that transaction.
• 13:21 You know, for those of us that are a little removed from it,
• 13:24 and those of us that are engaged in nurturing the young at that level,
• 13:27 for all of us it's good to know that God is there.
• 13:30 That's the message of the psalmist,
• 13:32 to be that nurturer,
• 13:34 to meet us at that point of need.
• 13:36 The Lord knows we have those needs,
• 13:38 but He's there according to the psalmist.
• 13:41 When they went up to Jerusalem to God's House
• 13:44 they wanted participants to be reminded of the fact
• 13:47 that God is there to meet needs,
• 13:50 to quiet the restless soul,
• 13:54 to solve problems that so vex people.
• 13:58 Oh I think it's a great Psalm,
• 14:00 and you might be at place in your life
• 14:01 where you're experiencing what I've just described.
• 14:04 And it's good for you, it's good for me.
• 14:06 It's good for all of us to be reminded
• 14:08 that we can be calmed in the Lord,
• 14:12 just like a child is at it's mother's breast after the feeding.
• 14:20 I love the image of a mother
• 14:22 holding her little young baby.
• 14:25 And it seems like yesterday that
• 14:27 our boys were that little.
• 14:29 Now we're about to have our first granddaughter.
• 14:31 That's right.
• 14:32 I can hardly wait for that day.
• 14:33 It's coming soon.
• 14:34 Time has flown.
• 14:35 Psalm 131 gives us great imagery of
• 14:38 how the Lord yearns to comfort Israel and us.
• 14:42 Stay with us.
• 14:46 Our Resource this week,
• 14:48 the Grafted In Necklace.
• 14:50 Wearing this lovely sterling silver rendition
• 14:52 of a classic Messianic symbol
• 14:55 shows you recognize the Jewish roots of your Christian faith,
• 14:59 and stirs curiosities and witness opportunities
• 15:03 with this tribute to Light, the Lord and abundant Love.
• 15:08 For this Resource and more call 1-800-WONDERS
• 15:12 or visit us at levitt.com
• 15:16 Zola Levitt Presents is more than just a television program,
• 15:19 there are many ways to connect with us on Social Media.
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• 15:46 Question.
• 15:48 How many people on television in churches
• 15:50 teach the Bible from the Jewish perspective?
• 15:53 Answer.
• 15:54 Very, very few.
• 15:57 At Zola Levitt Presents
• 15:58 we don't want to just get the story out,
• 16:01 we want to get the story straight.
• 16:04 Thank you for helping us to do that.
• 16:06 Jesus was a Jew.
• 16:08 The Apostles were Jewish.
• 16:09 And Christianity in affect is a Jewish religion.
• 16:12 Help us tell this never told story.
• 16:15 We need your help too.
• 16:17 I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't true.
• 16:18 Please be gracious,
• 16:20 and support Zola Levitt Presents.
• 16:33 We thank you for your financial support
• 16:34 in keeping us on the air every week.
• 16:36 Todah , Todah Rabah
• 16:38 "Thank you very much"
• 16:40 One of the highlights of going to Israel is seeing the Temple Mount.
• 16:43 The Temple was a place where Israelis made
• 16:46 animal sacrifices to atone for their sin.
• 16:49 We believers in Yeshua know
• 16:50 that He has atoned for our sin.
• 16:52 But now in Israel, how do the Israelis atone for their sin?
• 16:58 Let's go to Chaim with that answer.
• 17:05 Tough question.
• 17:06 How do Jewish people deal with sins if the
• 17:07 Temple and the sacrificial system is gone?
• 17:10 Deuteronomy 12:13-14 says,
• 17:12 Don't offer sacrifices any where you want,
• 17:15 but in the place that the Lord your God shall choose.
• 17:17 Which we know is Jerusalem.
• 17:19 We know that there isn't a Temple there anymore.
• 17:21 So what did they do?
• 17:22 Well religious Jewish people will often
• 17:25 emphasize Hosea 6:6 where it says,
• 17:27 It's mercy, not sacrifice that God requires,
• 17:31 the knowledge of God more than burnt sacrifices.
• 17:34 So they say, we are seeking to learn the knowledge of God.
• 17:38 But you know, we can't ignore Leviticus 17:11,
• 17:41 "The life of the flesh is in the blood."
• 17:45 And He has given it to us upon the altar,
• 17:47 to make atonement for our souls.
• 17:55 Thank you so much Chaim
• 17:56 with your wonderful insight every week.
• 17:58 Now let's go to Sarah Liberman
• 18:00 with another Hebrew Name for God.
• 18:08 Shalom Havarim !
• 18:10 We're here in the City of Jerusalem
• 18:12 talking about the Names of God.
• 18:15 One of the Names that referred to Yeshua - Jesus is
• 18:19 Se Ha-Elohim
• 18:21 Which means "Lamb" - Se
• 18:23 Ha-Elohim "Of God"
• 18:26 When John the Baptist sees Yeshua coming to be immersed,
• 18:30 he says of Him in John Chapter 1,
• 18:33 "Behold the Son of God,"
• 18:36 "The Lamb of God"
• 18:37 "Who takes away the sins of the world."
• 18:40 One of the most incredible things about our faith
• 18:44 as believers, as Jewish believers,
• 18:47 is that we believe in that Sacrifice
• 18:50 that Yeshua made as the Passover Lamb
• 18:53 Se ha-Pesach
• 18:54 and He became the Lamb of Sacrifice
• 18:57 for the whole world so that
• 18:59 all who believe in Him can be saved.
• 19:02 So as we worship and as we pray,
• 19:05 we can call on Him by the Name that
• 19:08 describes His most beautiful and His most wonderful
• 19:12 act of love that He did on this mountain right here.
• 19:16 Se Ha-Elohim "Lamb of God".
• 19:21 We are so thankful that Sarah is now part of our team.
• 19:24 We love having her with us.
• 19:26 She's a great teacher,
• 19:27 but also...
• 19:28 She's a wife and she's a mom,
• 19:31 she's a recording artist,
• 19:32 she's a worship leader in Israel.
• 19:34 We love her worship leading.
• 19:36 And now she's a part of our team
• 19:37 here on Zola Levitt Presents.
• 19:38 Okay, we have a great word today.
• 19:40 I love the message in this.
• 19:41 Good Name of God, "The Lamb of God"
• 19:43 Adonai -
• 19:44 " Se Ha-Elohim "
• 19:46 He is -"The Lamb of God".
• 19:49 And He is the Sacrifice for our sins.
• 19:52 He's our answer.
• 19:54 Now let's go up North (in Israel)
• 19:55 to hear a message from Eitan Shishkoff.
• 20:03 Shalom, this is Eitan Shishkoff
• 20:05 with Tents of Mercy
• 20:06 in Kiryat Yam, Israel.
• 20:08 Kiryat Yam is right next to the Haifa Bay.
• 20:11 I'd like to talk to you about a prophetic picture
• 20:15 that the prophet Joel gives of the end times.
• 20:19 The Book of Joel is dealing with
• 20:21 God calling His people back in repentance.
• 20:24 It talks about blowing a shofar,
• 20:26 gathering the people to pray intensely
• 20:31 for revival and for the outpouring of God's Spirit.
• 20:34 A portion that probably people are familiar with,
• 20:37 that talks about God pouring out His Spirit on all flesh,
• 20:40 and particularly upon Israel.
• 20:42 But before that there's a verse that I believe
• 20:44 relates to you and to me,
• 20:46 and that is in Joel Chapter 2, verse 17,
• 20:55 This is a strong image of the priests
• 21:00 who came before God to intercede
• 21:03 on behalf of the people who cried out to God
• 21:06 for a cleansing of the people of Israel,
• 21:09 for our hearts to be pure toward the Lord,
• 21:12 and for the atoning sacrifices to have affect.
• 21:15 And he is saying that at the end times,
• 21:18 that we as both Jews and Gentiles
• 21:21 who are now priests before the Lord,
• 21:23 that we are to intercede for the salvation of Israel.
• 21:26 Now, several verses later
• 21:28 the Scripture speaks about an abundant harvest.
• 21:31 And God says that He will send the rain,
• 21:34 both the former rain and the later rain.
• 21:36 This "later rain" is something that
• 21:39 we are waiting for in Israel.
• 21:41 It speaks of the outpouring of the Spirit
• 21:44 to soften the hearts of our people.
• 21:46 Now, I relate this intercession in two other places in Scripture.
• 21:50 One, is where Yeshua-Jesus is standing
• 21:52 before the grave of Lazarus in John Chapter 11,
• 21:55 and He says, "Lazarus, Come forth!"
• 21:58 You'll remember that just before that He was weeping,
• 22:00 and I don't believe that He was weeping for Lazarus because
• 22:04 He knew He would raise him from the dead.
• 22:06 But He was weeping for all of Israel.
• 22:08 This is the heart of the Messiah.
• 22:10 He desires for all Israel to be saved,
• 22:13 but there is a role for us to play.
• 22:15 We're not just standing on the sidelines in the grandstands watching this.
• 22:19 God is calling us to be tender of heart
• 22:23 whether we have physical tears or not,
• 22:25 and to cry out to God for the resurrection,
• 22:28 for the salvation of His people.
• 22:30 This resurrection is what the prophet Ezekiel saw.
• 22:33 He saw the people of Israel coming back,
• 22:36 the Jewish people coming back to the Land of Israel at this time.
• 22:39 And yet, there was to be an awakening,
• 22:42 a spiritual awakening.
• 22:44 So I want to invite you to pray with me
• 22:47 for this Spiritual awakening.
• 22:48 God is listening.
• 22:50 He's waiting to hear your prayers,
• 22:52 and they are affective.
• 22:54 Thank you.
• 22:57 ♪ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ♪
• 23:02 ♪ Hear Yeshua cry, ♪
• 23:07 ♪ How I long to gather you to me. ♪
• 23:14 ♪ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ♪
• 23:19 ♪ Messiah wept for you ♪
• 23:23 ♪ So, should we not be weeping too? ♪
• 23:33 ♪ For Zion's sake I will not keep silent. ♪
• 23:41 ♪ For Zion's sake I'll not hold me peace. ♪
• 23:49 ♪ For Zion's sake, for Yerushalayim ♪
• 23:57 ♪ I will not rest, I will not rest. ♪
• 24:06 ♪ I've set Watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. ♪
• 24:14 ♪ They shall never hold their peace ♪
• 24:22 ♪ Day or night, all you who call upon the Lord, ♪
• 24:31 ♪ Call upon the Lord for Zion's sake. ♪
• 24:40 ♪ (interlude) ♪
• 24:57 ♪ I've set Watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. ♪
• 25:05 ♪ They shall never, never hold their peace ♪
• 25:12 ♪ Day or night, all you who call upon the Lord, ♪
• 25:22 ♪ Take no rest, and give Him no rest ♪
• 25:29 ♪ Till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth, ♪
• 25:36 ♪ A praise in the earth. ♪
• 25:41 ♪ For Zion's sake I will not keep silence. ♪
• 25:50 ♪ For Zion's sake I'll not hold me peace. ♪
• 25:59 ♪ For Zion's sake, for Yerushalayim ♪
• 26:06 ♪ I will not rest, I will not rest. ♪
• 26:15 ♪ I will not rest... ♪
• 26:20 ♪ I will not rest ♪♪
• 26:47 Thank you Marty.
• 26:48 I love that song.
• 26:49 Especially something that's stuck out to me
• 26:51 from hearing you sing it,
• 26:53 are the words, that God comforts us.
• 26:56 That's right.
• 26:57 Don't we need comfort?
• 26:58 Yes, He's actually called us to share that great,great news.
• 27:02 And also in the song Marty said that
• 27:05 God tells us He will not rest.
• 27:08 So He comforts us and He won't rest.
• 27:11 Amen, so much more next week.
• 27:13 Join us.
• 27:14 But for now,
• 27:15 Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim
• 27:17 Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.
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• 27:24 and full of insightful articles and news commentary
• 27:27 from a Messianic perspective.
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• 27:32 along with current and past programs,
• 27:34 our television schedule and much more.
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