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Caption transcript for “Letters and Revelation Preview”

• 00:01 ♪♪♪
• 00:03 male announcer: Welcome to, "Our Jewish Roots"
• 00:06 with insightful Bible teaching by Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
• 00:09 This week we answer your letters and preview our new series,
• 00:13 "Revelation: Unveiling the Visions."
• 00:15 ♪♪♪
• 00:18 David Hart: We're so glad you've joined us today.
• 00:20 I am David Hart.
• 00:21 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 00:23 Jeffrey Seif: I am Jeffrey Seif, and we are doing something
• 00:25 a tad bit different.
• 00:27 David: Yes.
• 00:28 Jeffrey: I say that because we normally do series, but we're in
• 00:30 between here.
• 00:32 We just finished one.
• 00:33 I loved doing it.
• 00:35 We're in "Kings and Kingdoms."
• 00:36 There's a lot of political intrigue in this world,
• 00:38 and I thought we'd look at political intrigue in the Word
• 00:39 and see what we can learn.
• 00:41 The "Revelation" series forthcoming,
• 00:42 you're gonna love it.
• 00:44 You're gonna be scared by it, but you're gonna love it more
• 00:45 than you're gonna be scared by it as we look at things
• 00:47 unleashed to the ragged edge of time as told by John
• 00:49 the Revelator.
• 00:51 Now we wanna look at questions that you're asking, thus a
• 00:54 program dedicated to Q & A and letters.
• 00:57 Kirsten: It is, we get a lot of letters, and I'm thankful for
• 00:59 all of you that send both, questions in and comments.
• 01:04 We love your positive comments.
• 01:06 Part of my job, what I do is I help edit both the personal
• 01:10 letter and the Levitt Letter.
• 01:11 So some of you write in, and you think, you know, "Do they read
• 01:14 it, do they not?"
• 01:15 We read everything that you write in.
• 01:17 Some of you love us.
• 01:19 Some of you have some questions.
• 01:21 And kind of what we're doing a little today--we'll be doing
• 01:23 many different things--is we're gonna be going through some of
• 01:26 the questions that we get in from viewers.
• 01:29 David: Can I start?
• 01:30 Kirsten: Go.
• 01:32 David: I have a question.
• 01:33 So you're a policeman.
• 01:35 You probably know that.
• 01:36 You also are a teacher, but you also have
• 01:39 a congregation, correct?
• 01:40 Jeffrey: Yeah.
• 01:42 Kirsten: Do it all.
• 01:43 David: You are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area?
• 01:46 Jeffrey: Yeah, I told my wife, "Look, I have
• 01:47 a multiple-personality disorder.
• 01:49 That's the bad news.
• 01:50 The good news is every one of them is making a living."
• 01:52 David: You're a busy man.
• 01:53 Jeffrey: I've been a pastor for many, many years, as well, and
• 01:55 have a Messianic Jewish congregation.
• 01:57 You know, the policing, I'm on the streets very rare anymore
• 02:00 these days and was an adjunct professor part-time in that.
• 02:04 I've had careers in both, but pastoral work is really
• 02:08 in my heart, and the congregation's unique.
• 02:11 We meet on the Sabbath.
• 02:13 We place a premium on retaining Jewish experience
• 02:19 and expression.
• 02:21 This is a television program that's dedicated to that, but
• 02:23 people that come to Sar Shalom congregation, "Prince of Peace,"
• 02:27 in English, in Arlington, they don't wanna just learn about
• 02:30 something intellectually but wanna participate in developing
• 02:33 a community that is Jewish, on the one hand, and Jesus-centered
• 02:38 on the other, and we're kind of wrestling with the question of
• 02:40 what that looks like, and I have the opportunity to pastor many
• 02:42 fine people.
• 02:44 Kirsten: I do have a question about that.
• 02:45 What percentage do you have that are Messianic Jewish believers,
• 02:48 and what percentage are Christians that are interested
• 02:51 in Judaism, Jewish way of life?
• 02:53 Jeffrey: Maybe we're looking at about 30%.
• 02:56 A lot of these messianic congregations--
• 02:57 Kirsten: Thirty percent Jewish?
• 02:59 Jeffrey: Jewish, yes.
• 03:00 Kirsten: Okay.
• 03:02 Jeffrey: And that would be high as compared to a number of
• 03:03 Messianic Jewish congregations are constituted by people that
• 03:05 are viewers like you that watch a program like this.
• 03:07 You just love the Jewish roots of the Jesus story, and people
• 03:09 come to galvanize their enthusiasms and participate in a
• 03:13 community around that.
• 03:15 David: I love it when we go to Israel on tour, and we observe
• 03:19 worship in Israel.
• 03:21 Do you have that kind of worship, Hebrew worship in
• 03:24 your congregation?
• 03:25 Jeffrey: Yes, it's that genre.
• 03:27 It's that type, and the music is very Hebraic.
• 03:31 The festivals that are celebrated are Hebraic.
• 03:35 I don't wanna be casting aspersions on classical
• 03:38 Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter, et cetera, but the
• 03:42 kind of people that come to a congregation like this are more
• 03:45 predisposed to want to celebrate the Jewish feasts, and they love
• 03:48 that Semitic flavor and music.
• 03:50 David: Love it.
• 03:52 Jeffrey: They think that--well, they wanna participate in a
• 03:54 revival of that.
• 03:55 If you look at when the Jesus story all began, these were Jews
• 03:58 and non-Jewish people who joined in it that it was the Jewish
• 04:02 world the more so.
• 04:03 That fell off the cliff, and now there's this looking to
• 04:06 recover that.
• 04:08 David: It's Scripture put to music, I love that.
• 04:09 Jeffrey: Yeah.
• 04:11 Kirsten: Beautiful, I just wanna jump in real quick.
• 04:13 For all our viewers, if you are not aware, we have two
• 04:16 periodicals, should I say, publications that go
• 04:19 out monthly.
• 04:20 One is called the "Personal Letter."
• 04:22 It's a personal message from us, and there's tour info and that
• 04:25 kind of thing, and then we also have the "Levitt Letter," both
• 04:28 every month go out.
• 04:30 The "Levitt Letter" is chock full of current information of
• 04:34 what is happening in Israel.
• 04:36 I write a monthly article and usually it's kind of a
• 04:38 devotional, per se, that is kind of zoomed in on the Jewish
• 04:44 people, of course, and Israel.
• 04:46 And you mentioned Hebrew worship.
• 04:50 Sarah Liberman is a writer that we've had new in the "Levitt
• 04:55 Letter," if you've noticed her articles.
• 04:57 She's a boots-on-the-ground worship leader, messianic
• 05:00 worship leader in Israel, up in the Galilee, and she now is
• 05:04 going to be writing the "Personal Letter."
• 05:07 So she's starting in July.
• 05:09 Tony Derrick has done a wonderful job keeping that
• 05:11 periodical going, and now Sarah is taking over, and, oh, she's,
• 05:16 just, she's fantastic, you will love her.
• 05:18 So if you are not signed up to receive both of those
• 05:21 newsletters, please do so.
• 05:23 There's a wealth of information in there.
• 05:26 But we can go right back to Hebrew worship.
• 05:30 Hey, we have some questions that have come in from all of you
• 05:33 viewers, and we're gonna go over some of those.
• 05:35 We're gonna be talking about the upcoming new series, but to tie
• 05:38 in--go ahead.
• 05:39 Jeffrey: On the front end, have I rehearsed these questions
• 05:40 with you?
• 05:42 No, this is just, I said, live.
• 05:43 I don't wanna do this scripted.
• 05:45 Let's just do it extemporaneous.
• 05:46 Kirsten: And we do get a lot of letters, so there's some
• 05:48 great questions.
• 05:49 Jeffrey: Yeah, and if you can settle with--for "I don't know"
• 05:51 as an answer, we'll get along just fine.
• 05:52 Kirsten: I have that answer for a lot of things.
• 05:54 Do you wanna read yours first?
• 05:55 I love this.
• 05:57 David: Sure, even some questions that we, as Gentiles, wonder
• 05:58 sometimes too, so, you ready?
• 06:00 Kirsten: Do you need your readers, grandpa?
• 06:02 David: Okay, here's number one, I think I got it.
• 06:03 "Is it possible to follow the law?
• 06:05 If not, why did God give us the law?"
• 06:08 Kirsten: That's a hefty.
• 06:09 Jeffrey: Well, when you say, "us," if you look at the Hebrew
• 06:11 Bible, the Torah, the five books of Moses was given--it's a
• 06:15 covenant contract between God and the people whom he rescued
• 06:20 out of Egypt, people that we call "Jews" today.
• 06:23 And it's a contract that includes a number of things,
• 06:28 quite frankly.
• 06:29 It includes--there's the ceremonial stuff relative to the
• 06:32 sanctuary, but the civil law, this criminal law, there's
• 06:36 constitution for living.
• 06:38 It really can't be kept anyways, 'cause we don't live in
• 06:40 that culture.
• 06:42 We don't live in a theocracy.
• 06:43 We live in a democracy, and it's impossible to keep all the
• 06:46 particulars of it anyway, even if you wanted to.
• 06:49 That's my knee jerk response to that.
• 06:52 David: There are a lot of laws.
• 06:53 Kirsten: There is.
• 06:55 Jeffrey: And, then, you know, and, listen, I have training as
• 06:56 a police officer.
• 06:58 The penal code, the traffic code, the code of criminal
• 07:00 procedures, civil codes, et cetera, I mean, there's a lot
• 07:04 that we regulate life with--the traffic code, speeding, and
• 07:06 the like.
• 07:08 If you look at the Torah, it deals with regulating life in
• 07:10 that world, and it's another culture.
• 07:13 It's another economy.
• 07:14 It's not going to be lived out today in total.
• 07:17 It can't be.
• 07:19 Kirsten: We have so much more coming up in this program.
• 07:21 Stay with us.
• 07:23 ♪♪♪
• 07:30 announcer: Our resource this week, the series "Kings
• 07:32 and Kingdoms."
• 07:33 These eight programs examine the rulers of ancient Israel and
• 07:36 Judah because, within their stories, we find lessons of
• 07:40 godly leadership and principles we can observe today,
• 07:43 even in our political leaders.
• 07:45 Get this series for yourself or to share with friends by
• 07:48 contacting us and asking for the DVD series "Kings and Kingdoms."
• 07:56 announcer: If you're thinking about visiting the Holy Land,
• 07:58 come on a Zola tour where the Scriptures come to life as you
• 08:02 get teaching from a messianic perspective.
• 08:05 Our spring tour goes to Israel and Petra.
• 08:08 In the fall, you can add a cruise of Greece and Ephesus.
• 08:12 Come to Israel.
• 08:14 See the Jewish roots of your faith.
• 08:16 Call us at 1-800-WONDERS, or click on the
• 08:20 levitt.com/tourinfo.
• 08:23 ♪♪♪
• 08:27 ♪ Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one ♪
• 08:33 ♪ He gave to us his law ♪
• 08:37 ♪ He gave to us his Son ♪
• 08:41 ♪ Moriah, on Moriah, he gave his only Son ♪
• 08:48 ♪ Moriah, on Moriah, the sacrifice is done ♪
• 08:56 ♪ Messiah, our Messiah, you came to us alone ♪
• 09:03 ♪ Messiah, our Messiah, make all of us your own ♪
• 09:13 ♪♪♪
• 09:26 David: We really are thankful to be at this desk today
• 09:28 There's been a lot going on in the last few months with
• 09:30 this pandemic.
• 09:32 I'm sure it has with you.
• 09:33 We, for a living, we speak to big groups, and we haven't been
• 09:38 able to do that, but it's starting to feel like it's
• 09:41 opening up a little bit.
• 09:43 Kirsten: And you're a worship leader in churches, groups of 50
• 09:45 or more, right?
• 09:46 Lot of things have changed.
• 09:48 And do you want me to say it, or do you wanna bring it up?
• 09:50 David: We've had some changes with our little family, yes?
• 09:53 Kirsten: Okay, I've called it "COVID hair," COVID hair.
• 09:56 Lot of you--I mean, there are a lot of memes and funny things on
• 09:58 social media, talking about the hair growth.
• 10:01 So I'm a grandma, you're a grandpa.
• 10:03 David: Yes.
• 10:05 Kirsten: You're Papa, I'm Gigi.
• 10:06 So you grew your hair out too, right?
• 10:09 Kirsten: So we're changing and evolving in the hair.
• 10:13 And your hair looks wonderful too.
• 10:15 Jeffrey: Thank you very much.
• 10:16 It took a lot to get it ready for the program.
• 10:18 Kirsten: That's COVID hair, people.
• 10:21 But, no, we're thankful that this is open.
• 10:24 I mean, we're a little--we're distancing a little bit.
• 10:26 We're trying to be safe and trying to be wise.
• 10:29 Jeffrey: So that's why.
• 10:30 I thought maybe there was something personal that
• 10:32 you were--
• 10:33 Kirsten: The hair, it was the hair.
• 10:35 No, I'm kidding.
• 10:36 David: We took your temperature today.
• 10:38 Jeffrey: Okay.
• 10:39 Kirsten: Yeah, we're all good.
• 10:41 We're practicing safety as we tape this program, but we wanted
• 10:42 to bring, actually, a continuation, from our first
• 10:44 segment, some viewer letters that we get in, some questions.
• 10:47 Are you ready?
• 10:48 Jeffrey: Fire away.
• 10:50 David: Professor, are you ready?
• 10:51 Jeffrey: Go for it.
• 10:53 David: Okay, I love this-- Kirsten: Wait, Papa, do you need
• 10:54 your readers?
• 10:56 David: I think I'm good.
• 10:57 I love this question for many of us.
• 10:59 "What makes one Jewish?
• 11:00 By blood or by faith?"
• 11:02 Kirsten: It's a biggy.
• 11:03 Jeffrey: Well, the Hebrew people, the word ebrew,
• 11:05 etymologically comes from a word meaning "beyond the river."
• 11:07 Harks to Avraham, Abram, who came from Ur of Chaldees, which
• 11:11 is modern Kuwait, went on a journey, and he sired, you know,
• 11:15 this Avraham, Yitzhak and Ya'akov, Abraham, Isaac, and
• 11:17 Jacob--had 12 sons, and those that are descendant from them
• 11:21 are known as the Hebrew people.
• 11:23 A common term is "Jew" today, generally speaking.
• 11:26 So in a biological sense, they are the Hebrew people, but when
• 11:29 you read Rabbi Paul in the New Testament, aka apostle Paul, he
• 11:34 gives voice to the fact that people of non-Jewish extract who
• 11:37 have come to faith in Israel's Messiah, are in some sense,
• 11:40 grafted in to the people.
• 11:42 So is it one or the other?
• 11:45 There's a sense in which now, again, through Israel's Messiah,
• 11:49 people participate in the Jewish experience in some sense.
• 11:52 David: When we started hosting this program three years ago, we
• 11:56 got excited because we thought Kirsten might have some Jewish
• 11:59 blood in her, and even did the testing, and I don't think--
• 12:03 Kirsten: I don't.
• 12:04 David: No, you don't.
• 12:06 Kirsten: I don't.
• 12:07 David: But she thought she did.
• 12:09 Kirsten: But here's a question too, and this is kind of a
• 12:10 biggy for a lot of our viewers.
• 12:12 We've heard of Christians that say they're messianic, and then
• 12:15 Jewish messianic people say, "No way, that's us."
• 12:18 Like, you can't be messianic if you're not Jewish.
• 12:23 Is that something you run into at your--
• 12:27 Jeffrey: Well, I can't control what people say and think, just
• 12:28 what I say and think, you know?
• 12:30 I mean, in the marketplace of religious ideas, people have
• 12:32 stuff floating around in their mind.
• 12:34 Now, if you look at the Messianic Jewish experience,
• 12:40 I define it--a Messianic Jew is someone who wants to participate
• 12:43 in the Jesus story and the Jewish story, in some
• 12:46 sense, together.
• 12:48 Now, there are individuals of non-Jewish extract, many who
• 12:51 wanna participate in the Jewish Jesus-related experience, and so
• 12:57 I don't care what you call it.
• 12:59 I'm just glad to have all the friends.
• 13:01 I mean, If you look in the newer testament, this is a--you know,
• 13:04 God is an equal opportunity employer, open to people from
• 13:07 every nation, tribe, and tongue, but there are people that are
• 13:10 Hebrew people that are from that group genetically.
• 13:13 Kirsten: Right, and it's interesting because right before
• 13:17 we began with--started with the program, we were in Israel, and
• 13:21 this is--if you are a Christian and you're learning all about
• 13:25 the messianic world and Judaism, sometimes there's some terms
• 13:29 that we get off.
• 13:31 And remember the gal at the hotel in Jerusalem?
• 13:35 You said--she was Jewish, and you said, "I'm so glad you're a
• 13:37 Christian now."
• 13:39 And she goes, "I am not a Christian.
• 13:41 I'm a Jewish believer in Messiah."
• 13:43 So it can get a little sticky.
• 13:45 Jeffrey: People come up to me, and they say--they'll ask me how
• 13:47 long have I been a converted Jew, and I tell 'em I'm not a
• 13:50 converted Jew.
• 13:51 I'm a converted sinner, and it's not a sin to be a Jew.
• 13:55 Jewish people accept the Lord, and part of this whole Messianic
• 13:58 Jewish experience is we wanna remain in our own culture, in
• 14:03 part, because we feel that and love that culture, in part too,
• 14:07 that we don't want Jewish people to think that, if you accept
• 14:10 Israel's Messiah, you're no longer Israel's people.
• 14:13 That's kind of stupid at one level.
• 14:16 And the perception is, listen, you used to be Jewish, now
• 14:18 you're a Catholic.
• 14:20 You used to be Jewish, now you're a Baptist.
• 14:22 And--but rather than even speak in those terms with that
• 14:27 paradigm, I like to say I was born and raised Jewish.
• 14:30 I accepted Israel's Messiah, and now I'm a Messianic Jew.
• 14:34 Kirsten: That's very interesting--differentiating.
• 14:37 That's a big word.
• 14:39 I should probably stay away from those.
• 14:41 Those that have the DNA--
• 14:42 Jeffrey: Well, that's a lot of syllables for a blonde,
• 14:44 you know, so--
• 14:45 Kirsten: I'm blonde now, right?
• 14:47 Differentiating the faith or religion versus the DNA line.
• 14:51 That is very interesting 'cause it's something that is unique
• 14:54 for Jewish people.
• 14:56 Jeffrey: Yes, and what's interesting, by the way, is, you
• 14:59 know, it used to be historically people wanted to disparage Jews,
• 15:03 you know?
• 15:04 The Jews are bad people the way it's perceived in Christianity.
• 15:06 But now there are many people that are born and raised
• 15:07 Christians that wanna discover Jewish roots, and there's an
• 15:10 interest in blood tests and the like and DNA in order to check
• 15:14 heritage that there's this wanting to participate.
• 15:17 That's why people go to messianic congregations that are
• 15:20 non-Jewish extract.
• 15:22 That's why you--God bless you--not only watch a program
• 15:24 like this but support it financially 'cause you want this
• 15:27 to exist, I love it.
• 15:28 David: You know, our son lived in Jerusalem for three years,
• 15:31 and he wasn't trying to become Jewish, but God placed him there
• 15:37 to work and live, and he loved it.
• 15:40 Jeffrey: A Jewish heart, pun intended.
• 15:41 David: That's right.
• 15:43 Kirsten: Right.
• 15:44 Jeffrey: Pun intended.
• 15:46 Kirsten: And that's what many of our viewers have, obviously,
• 15:47 that they're watching this program, "Our Jewish Roots."
• 15:49 We wanna be you, we wanna be--
• 15:50 Jeffrey: No, no--be you, be you.
• 15:52 Kirsten: But what I'm saying--that people that watch,
• 15:54 we're so thankful for the insight that you bring, and
• 15:57 there's more coming up on our program.
• 15:59 Jeffrey: Well, you're kind, thank you.
• 16:00 David: We have so many more questions here, but on our next
• 16:02 segment, we're gonna be talking about our new series
• 16:05 "Revelation," stay tuned.
• 16:08 ♪♪♪
• 16:15 announcer: Our resource this week, the series
• 16:17 "Kings and Kingdoms."
• 16:19 These eight programs examine the rulers of ancient Israel and
• 16:22 Judah because, within their stories, we find lessons of
• 16:25 godly leadership and principles we can observe today, even in
• 16:29 our political leaders.
• 16:31 Get this series for yourself or to share with friends by
• 16:33 contacting us and asking for the DVD series "Kings and Kingdoms."
• 16:41 announcer: If you only watch us on television, you are missing
• 16:43 additional content available only on our social media sites,
• 16:47 Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
• 16:50 You can always visit our website, which is home base for
• 16:53 all of our ministry activities and information.
• 16:56 There, you can sign up for our free monthly newsletter, watch
• 16:59 the TV program, or visit the online store.
• 17:03 You can sign up for a tour of Israel and Petra or a cruise to
• 17:07 Greece and Ephesus.
• 17:09 Please contact us for more information.
• 17:16 David: Not only on this program, but you can connect with us in
• 17:18 many ways: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
• 17:22 Thank you for joining us on that.
• 17:24 You're asking questions today, and on Facebook, we give you
• 17:28 that chance to do that.
• 17:30 Kirsten: That, and also, some of you aren't even on social media,
• 17:33 and we understand that.
• 17:35 If you have a piece of paper and a pen, you can still write
• 17:38 to us, you can go on our website.
• 17:39 There's the address.
• 17:41 There's even little, like, boards that you can send
• 17:43 in questions.
• 17:44 So we have some questions for you, kind of, about
• 17:47 your new series "Revelation: Unveiling the Visions."
• 17:50 It's a brand-new series, right?
• 17:52 Jeffrey: Mm-hmm.
• 17:53 Kirsten: Comin' up.
• 17:55 David: It's gonna be a good one.
• 17:56 Kirsten: You ready, Papa, you need your readers?
• 17:58 David: Okay, I believe this is a question about our new series,
• 17:59 and she asks this from a sweet, sweet spirit.
• 18:02 So are you ready?
• 18:03 Kirsten: She even said that.
• 18:05 David: "Have any of the seals opened yet?"
• 18:08 Jeffrey: She could ask it from a mean spirit, by the way.
• 18:10 The people are entitled to ask their questions, and they're
• 18:12 entitled, as well, to not agree with my answers.
• 18:14 Just because I say, "Yeshua," instead of "Jesus," doesn't mean
• 18:17 I'm an expert on all things, and I understand myself to be a
• 18:20 student of the Bible, not an expert in it, but even the
• 18:23 question about opening the seals, it presupposes a more
• 18:27 sophisticated understanding of the literature that she has.
• 18:30 She's familiar with the fact that there's a scroll and
• 18:33 there's different seals, and they open up and give voice to
• 18:36 these things that are unleashed upon planet Earth.
• 18:40 And given that we find ourselves today amidst the turbulence of
• 18:43 trying times, people wonder if the times we're in today hark to
• 18:47 the time that's noted yesterday in the literature.
• 18:51 It could minimally be some kind of antecedent to it.
• 18:55 Certainly, we see a world that has woes unleashed upon it, so
• 19:00 in that sense, yes, but keep in mind it's been like that since
• 19:03 the dawn of creation.
• 19:05 I mean, right from Eden, you know, they get kicked out of
• 19:08 Eden, and brother kills brother.
• 19:10 There's sexual impropriety, infidelity in the marriage, war,
• 19:13 destruction of the earth, and it doesn't get a whole lot better.
• 19:17 David: Yeah, we both grew up in the church, and I don't know
• 19:20 about you, but I don't remember hearing a lot of sermons about
• 19:22 this subject.
• 19:24 Kirsten: About Revelation.
• 19:25 David: Yeah.
• 19:27 Kirsten: Right, it's a tough one.
• 19:28 Jeffrey: Partly because, for a book that's called Revelation,
• 19:30 it's not very revealing.
• 19:31 It's about as clear as mud to many.
• 19:33 I get it because they don't look at the literature through a lens
• 19:35 of Jewish literature and understanding in Century 1, when
• 19:38 it was written, and so people stay away of it from
• 19:41 that reason.
• 19:43 Another reason principally is people have so much bad news in
• 19:45 their life.
• 19:46 People wanna go to church to get some good news, and you have to
• 19:48 sift through the literature to land on it here, and it makes it
• 19:51 a little harder.
• 19:53 Kirsten: I'm jumping in on you.
• 19:54 What I love about this series that you've done, 'cause we've
• 19:56 already viewed it--is there's hard time.
• 19:59 There's famine, there's plague, but then there's a vision
• 20:01 of heaven.
• 20:03 So it's something like what we've been walking through this
• 20:04 whole coronavirus that, in the midst of hard times, we need
• 20:08 that hope.
• 20:10 We've gotta have that, and that's coming up in the
• 20:12 new series.
• 20:13 Jeffrey: And to that point, I think that the first to hear and
• 20:15 embrace the literature of the book Revelation were those who
• 20:18 found themselves pressed amidst the turbulence of trying times,
• 20:21 and what they gathered from it was that the seals were open,
• 20:25 the seals were unleashed--to that question.
• 20:28 That is, they found themselves amidst turbulent times, but they
• 20:31 saw hope in the midst of it so--
• 20:32 Kirsten: Hope, hope, hope.
• 20:34 Jeffrey: What else you got?
• 20:35 David: We have more questions for you, but first--
• 20:37 Kirsten: Oh, we have a preview of Dr. Seif's new series,
• 20:40 "Revelation: Unveiling the Visions."
• 20:44 ♪♪♪
• 21:00 Jeffrey: The book of Revelation has been a go-to source for
• 21:03 a long, long time, individuals trying to look at what's
• 21:07 happening in the news on the one hand, and to look at what's
• 21:09 happening in the good news on the other, to see if there's
• 21:12 a correlation.
• 21:14 Well, here we wanna peek behind the veil and look at the visions
• 21:18 noted in the apocalypse.
• 21:22 ♪♪♪
• 21:25 Jeffrey: So our author is here in the Aegean Sea.
• 21:29 He sees that, in heaven, he envisions a scourge on the
• 21:33 earth, but he sees 12,000 from each tribe that are faithful to
• 21:39 the Lord.
• 21:40 Many people think, "You know, oh, the Jews, you know,
• 21:42 rejected Jesus.
• 21:44 Jesus rejected the Jews.
• 21:45 That's the end of that."
• 21:47 No, there is this resurgence, this revival.
• 21:49 ♪♪♪
• 21:51 Jeffrey: You know, the word "Revelation" from apokalupsis
• 21:56 harks to "unveiling," being able to see it for what it really is.
• 22:02 And the author of Revelation looks at a sin-soaked world, and
• 22:07 he wants to see it for what it really is.
• 22:10 He sees the believers being oppressed in that world, and he
• 22:14 gives voice to their eventual triumph finally and fully, and
• 22:19 we're looking at it now.
• 22:22 We're told in verse 5, "No longer is there darkness.
• 22:25 People will have no need for lamps," for menorahs, for
• 22:28 sunlights, "for the Lord God will shine on them, and they
• 22:34 shall reign forever and ever with him."
• 22:38 ♪♪♪
• 22:42 David: We are excited to bring you this new series on
• 22:44 "Revelation," and we just have to say that we could not do any
• 22:47 of this without your support.
• 22:49 We just wanna thank you for that.
• 22:51 Kirsten: David and I, we're in church work, and that's been our
• 22:53 whole livelihood for our lives, and I honestly thought that,
• 22:57 when everything was closed, churches were closed, people
• 23:00 couldn't gather together, that giving would be down, would just
• 23:03 plummet, but actually the church has risen up, and churches are
• 23:08 doing well.
• 23:10 I mean, actually, we survived.
• 23:12 They survived the COVID-19 situation because of all you
• 23:16 givers, and you've helped sustain this ministry also.
• 23:20 Do we need your help?
• 23:22 Yes, but we're still here.
• 23:24 That's amazing, right, that we're still on the air and
• 23:25 have money to pay for television.
• 23:30 Jeffrey: You know, Jesus said, "The gates of hell will not
• 23:32 prevail against it."
• 23:33 You know, it's--the Gospel story has been told for 2,000 years,
• 23:38 and a lot worse has been thrown at it.
• 23:41 Personally, when I think of money, I don't even think
• 23:43 of money.
• 23:45 I think of you, and I say that because money is just life with
• 23:48 a number put on it.
• 23:49 If someone makes $20 an hour and they put $20 bill to support
• 23:53 something in a ministry, they've given an hour of them to
• 23:56 support it.
• 23:58 There's a way that we monetize our own extension of love and
• 24:02 affection, and that's the way the game is played.
• 24:05 And if in your heart of hearts, you do find something in you
• 24:09 that resonates with something like this, please put your money
• 24:14 where your heart is and help us to get the story out so others
• 24:18 might cultivate an appreciation for it.
• 24:21 We live in a world today where many people are cynical about
• 24:24 Christian television and about the church and the Gospel, and
• 24:26 we wanna march to the tune of a different drummer and win fans
• 24:30 back again to the Jesus story, and we think that looking at the
• 24:34 good news through the eyes of the Jews is a worthy story to
• 24:37 bring credibility to the message, and I believe we have
• 24:40 credibility in our messengers.
• 24:42 If you think so too, please help us tell the story.
• 24:46 Make a gracious contribution today.
• 24:48 David: That's right.
• 24:50 So you have your professor hat on?
• 24:52 A viewer's question here that I think will relate to our new
• 24:54 series in "Revelation."
• 24:56 You ready?
• 24:58 Jeffrey: Yeah.
• 24:59 David: 666, the mark of the beast.
• 25:00 Kirsten: Da-da-da-dahh.
• 25:02 Jeffrey: What does that have to do with the story?
• 25:03 What's the question?
• 25:05 You just gave three numbers.
• 25:06 Kirsten: Well, they said, yeah, "What is the symbol?
• 25:08 Is it a literal 666, this mark of the beast?"
• 25:11 It's just kind of that cloud over Revelation.
• 25:14 Well, here's the thing--how it ties into coronavirus.
• 25:17 We've heard so much, and we've watched the news.
• 25:20 People think that you're gonna get an implant chip to combat
• 25:23 this virus.
• 25:25 Are we in the end days and we're getting the mark?
• 25:28 Jeffrey: Well, I like to experience it the way they
• 25:29 would've in the first century.
• 25:31 They're not thinking of computer chips because nothing like
• 25:34 that exists.
• 25:36 They do understand themselves to be amidst the turbulence of
• 25:39 trying times when they read the document, and they understand
• 25:42 there is this nefarious person that is inherently evil,
• 25:47 referred to as the antichrist in Johannine literature, referred
• 25:51 to as "the beast," different names in the Bible to speak to
• 25:53 this person.
• 25:55 There are other names given in the literature, and this
• 25:58 person's will is incarnated, enfleshed in the person of this
• 26:04 evil personality who imposed himself with this particular
• 26:07 mark, this beast identified with 666.
• 26:10 I think, in Century 1, when they read this, they would've thought
• 26:14 of the Roman emperor at the time, that is, this inherently
• 26:17 evil personality given over to debauchery and destruction.
• 26:22 I don't think it's beyond the pale of reason to bring that
• 26:24 forward and say there will be someone at the ragged edge of
• 26:28 time, who similarly has a way of controlling and imposing, and I
• 26:33 think that's what's at play in the literature.
• 26:35 Kirsten: It's both worlds: It's future, and it's first century--
• 26:38 Jeffrey: I'll go with that.
• 26:39 Kirsten: And I just wanna say that is what sets this
• 26:41 program apart.
• 26:43 We bring you the good news through the eyes of the Jews,
• 26:45 and Dr. Seif, you're a genius at opening up this book,
• 26:49 Revelation, and saying, "But we need to look at it through
• 26:52 Jewish eyes and first century eyes."
• 26:54 Jeffrey: Well, you're kind to say that.
• 26:56 I don't see myself as a genius, quite honestly--as a student.
• 26:59 Well, you're sweet to say it, but there's so much that I
• 27:01 don't know.
• 27:03 Believe me, that's true.
• 27:05 Kirsten: That is coming up next week, brand-new series.
• 27:06 Jeffrey: Yes, it is.
• 27:08 David: Lookin' forward to it.
• 27:09 Jeffrey: Yes, and thank you for going with us on the journey and
• 27:11 helping us to go there.
• 27:12 As you go now, Shaalu Shalom Yerushalayim.
• 27:14 David: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
• 27:16 ♪♪♪
• 27:17 David: Join us right now for additional content that is
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• 27:25 Visit our website, levitt.com, for the current and past
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• 27:41 Also on our website is the online store.
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• 27:58 Please remember we depend on tax-deductible donations
• 28:01 from viewers like you.
• 28:04 ♪♪♪
• 28:24 announcer: This has been a paid program brought to you
• 28:27 by Zola Levitt Ministries.