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Caption transcript for Divine Deliverance (2020): “Jacob” (3/11)

• 00:03 male announcer: Welcome to "Our Jewish Roots"
• 00:05 with insightful Bible teaching by Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
• 00:09 In this program, the desire for wanting a blessing results
• 00:12 in a wrestling match with an angel.
• 00:14 Today on Divine Deliverance.
• 00:20 announcer: From the beginning, our Creator revealed
• 00:24 his will to the common man.
• 00:26 Individuals listened to his call and responded in obedience from
• 00:32 the first Hebrew Avraham to the culmination
• 00:35 salvation Messiah himself.
• 00:39 The Lord faithfully intervenes with his Divine Deliverance.
• 00:45 ♪♪♪
• 00:53 David Hart: So glad you've joined us today.
• 00:54 I'm David Hart.
• 00:55 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 00:57 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: I am Jeffrey Seif,
• 00:58 and we are in for something.
• 01:01 I was having a conversation with my wife this morning.
• 01:03 We were thinking how, goodness gracious, people can be so
• 01:06 trippy, it's amazing God gets any work done on planet earth.
• 01:10 A case in point, Jacob.
• 01:13 Kirsten: Okay, we were chatting, if you don't mind me
• 01:16 saying, right before we started taping this, and I said it's
• 01:20 crazy that a mom would name her son deceitful.
• 01:23 Like doesn't that set him up for a crazy life, right?
• 01:26 Isn't that what his name means?
• 01:28 Dr. Seif: So, it seems there's some interesting names
• 01:29 in biblical literature and that conniving connotation
• 01:34 is interesting to be sure.
• 01:37 Kirsten: It is, and he gets a name change.
• 01:38 Dr. Seif: Yes, he does.
• 01:40 Kirsten: And he makes that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• 01:42 He makes that threesome.
• 01:45 Dr. Seif: Yes, and there's something about--
• 01:47 I mean, there's a song, not that I need to teach you
• 01:48 about Christian songs,
• 01:50 there's something about that name.
• 01:52 And well that famous song in churches, you know, Jesus,
• 01:56 Jesus, but there's something in the names, isn't there?
• 01:59 Kirsten: That was good. I'm excited for today.
• 02:01 David: Yes, deception is brewing in Isaac's family today.
• 02:03 Let's go to our dramatic reenactment right now.
• 02:07 ♪♪♪
• 06:12 Dr. Seif: I get it, we get hungry, it happens, and
• 06:15 certainly Isaac's at a place in his life where he's at the end
• 06:19 of life, and I get wanting to get that last supper.
• 06:25 With all that, there's a problem of all this.
• 06:28 Here I'm holding this venison in my hand, and you know what?
• 06:32 There was a son who brought it by his hand to his father's,
• 06:36 but there was deceit in the mix.
• 06:38 Oh, it troubles me.
• 06:40 I don't like to see brothers pit against brothers, but I raised
• 06:44 boys, I know it happens.
• 06:45 There's family intrigue here.
• 06:47 The mother pivots away from one toward the other,
• 06:51 that's problematic.
• 06:53 A brother who--son who lies to his father, who stealthily
• 06:57 deceives him in order to gain something from him,
• 07:01 that bothers me.
• 07:03 Like I said, there are a number of problems in this text.
• 07:07 There are a number of possibilities as well.
• 07:09 And when God put the story in the Bible, he wasn't looking for
• 07:12 my permission, and he wasn't necessarily looking
• 07:15 for my understanding.
• 07:18 But I'm left to make sense of it.
• 07:21 Inasmuch as I find problems with the story, I, at one level,
• 07:25 shouldn't be too surprised because there's a problem when
• 07:28 you look at Genesis, you know, five minutes into the reading,
• 07:31 you realize something has gone horribly wrong.
• 07:34 Case in point here, we're looking at biblical literature's
• 07:38 major dysfunctional family.
• 07:42 Now, that's contemporary language, but when you look
• 07:44 at Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jacob's brother
• 07:48 and what have you, there's all this family intrigue,
• 07:51 everything you don't want, and it really is
• 07:54 a dysfunctional family.
• 07:57 If you look in your own family system and you consider dynamics
• 08:01 and you find problems with it, don't think for a minute
• 08:04 that all is lost.
• 08:06 And I say that, nevermind the bad news, nevermind casting
• 08:09 negativity of what I'm looking at, the story here is
• 08:14 fascinating because God still comes through.
• 08:18 He comes to and works through flawed humanity.
• 08:24 And by the way, that's a testimony to God's grace,
• 08:27 his graciousness, that he is so very inclined to do that.
• 08:31 That's good news for modern man.
• 08:34 The truth of the matter is a little bit of deceit,
• 08:36 a little bit of manipulation, a little bit of hustle,
• 08:38 that unfortunately, is part of the human condition.
• 08:45 Speaking of the human condition and going negative,
• 08:47 it's interesting when dad beckons the son forward,
• 08:53 when Yitzhak calls forth his son thinking it's Esau.
• 08:58 Isaac said to his son, "How in the world were you able
• 09:02 to find this meal so quickly?"
• 09:05 In chapter 27, verse 20.
• 09:09 He said, and listen to the son's response.
• 09:13 It's so telling to my way of thinking.
• 09:15 He said, "Because Adonai your God facilitated it
• 09:21 happening for me."
• 09:23 [speaking in Hebrew]
• 09:26 Your God, it wasn't my God.
• 09:31 And I mention that because when it comes to religion, a lot
• 09:34 of people, that's your religion, it's dad's religion,
• 09:38 it's mom's religion, but there's no personal experience.
• 09:44 This fella Jacob is going to experience a transformation.
• 09:48 He won't be performing like this forever.
• 09:51 And again, for my money,
• 09:52 manipulating a dad is inexcusable.
• 09:56 He is going to reform, as you'll see as we walk through this
• 10:00 because he's going to experience deliverance,
• 10:04 and he is going to have a change of constitution,
• 10:08 and he who was your God, he will become my God.
• 10:16 ♪♪♪
• 10:22 male narrator: And Jacob left his mother and father
• 10:24 in Beersheba, and journeyed toward Haran.
• 10:35 Finding a suitable stone for a pillow, he lay down
• 10:38 and fell asleep.
• 10:43 And Jacob dreamed there was a ladder that reached up
• 10:47 into heaven.
• 10:50 He saw angels of God ascending and descending.
• 10:54 And the Lord said, "I am the Lord,
• 10:58 the God of your grandfather Abraham.
• 11:01 I am the God of Isaac.
• 11:03 I will give you the land that you are lying upon.
• 11:07 I will give this land to you and to your seed, and your seed will
• 11:11 be like the dust of the earth and you shall expand to the west
• 11:15 and east, to the north and to the south.
• 11:19 All the families of the earth shall be blessed because of you
• 11:23 and your descendants.
• 11:26 I am with you and will protect you wherever you go
• 11:30 and will bring you back to this land.
• 11:33 I will not leave you until I have done
• 11:36 what I have promised."
• 11:42 Dr. Seif: One of the reasons why I am unimpressed by Jacob
• 11:46 is because he, in effect, was a mama's boy.
• 11:50 Probably get some mail for saying that, but you know,
• 11:52 his brother Esau was the, you know, quarterback
• 11:54 of the football team, most likely to succeed,
• 11:57 and Jacob's always hanging around with his mother
• 11:59 helping out in the kitchen.
• 12:00 I mention this because he's on the road.
• 12:03 He's on his own now.
• 12:04 And you know, it's the first time in his life.
• 12:07 He is, in effect, the prodigal son.
• 12:09 He's on the run.
• 12:11 He's running for his wife.
• 12:14 Ostensibly, truth be known, he's running for his life.
• 12:17 Mother knew we need to get this boy out of here
• 12:19 because his brother's gonna kill them.
• 12:21 And off he goes alone, doesn't have two nickels
• 12:23 to rub together.
• 12:24 Now, the family had some means, but mother wasn't able to fill
• 12:28 his pockets with American Express card and cash,
• 12:30 he's on his own.
• 12:32 And as much as we want our children to experience God in
• 12:35 church, sometimes they have to go out on their own
• 12:39 and find him on the road, and that's our story here.
• 12:45 It's his first night out, you know, scared as a cat.
• 12:48 I'd imagine he lays down.
• 12:50 It's a restless night.
• 12:52 You know what it's like when you're up against
• 12:53 uncertain circumstances.
• 12:55 But guess what.
• 12:56 Amidst the turbulence of his trying times,
• 12:59 God shows up for him.
• 13:02 And the Word in chapter 28 in Genesis is striking.
• 13:06 The Word in verse 13, "I am Adonai,
• 13:09 the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac."
• 13:14 "Yeah, you know, I am the guy.
• 13:16 You know, you are God, his God.
• 13:18 Yeah, I am that guy."
• 13:21 And he goes on to say, guess what, in verse 15,
• 13:25 "I'm gonna be your God too."
• 13:29 "Behold I am with you, and I will watch over you
• 13:34 wherever you go."
• 13:39 Listen, I'm a dad.
• 13:41 I've raised sons, and you know, they're under your tutelage when
• 13:43 they're little and off they go into this scary world, off they
• 13:48 go into the wild blue yonder.
• 13:51 When I read this, I retroject back to the moment, and I've
• 13:57 experienced in my children's life a God who is watching over
• 14:02 his Word to perform it and who is with them, that this boy has
• 14:09 an experience where heaven opens up and he sees coming down
• 14:13 from heaven and going into heaven.
• 14:16 And let me say a flash like that is what our children need.
• 14:26 Like I said, it's a great story.
• 14:28 It's not just reading about those people back then,
• 14:30 but it's a story about redemption
• 14:32 and deliverance unfolding.
• 14:35 Deliverance is here coming to a young man, and we're going
• 14:40 to see deliverance coming through that young man.
• 14:44 But here we experience him experiencing God and saying,
• 14:49 "Truly, this is a stairway to heaven.
• 14:52 This is the place," and he names it the House of God.
• 14:58 If you're at a place in your life where you're ready to give
• 15:01 up on your kids, don't, because they too might find
• 15:06 a stairway to heaven.
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• 15:47 Kirsten: Now let's continue our story as Jacob receives
• 15:50 a name change.
• 15:56 narrator: Thinking it best that he appease his brother,
• 15:59 Jacob with this servants saying, "Maybe Esau will forgive me
• 16:04 and accept me if I present him gifts."
• 16:08 Specially selected herds of animals would be gathered
• 16:11 and sent ahead of their personal meeting.
• 16:13 His wives, maids, and children would also proceed Jacob.
• 16:18 But first, that very evening, there would be a remarkable
• 16:23 encounter with the divine.
• 16:25 It would change Jacob's life forever.
• 16:29 ♪♪♪
• 16:34 ♪♪♪
• 17:18 Dr. Seif: I've raised boys, and to be gut-level honest,
• 17:21 there have been times when I felt they've wrestled with me,
• 17:25 and even wrestled with religious issues,
• 17:28 and it's been rather unpleasant to behold.
• 17:31 Now, there's an argument I shouldn't say this on national
• 17:33 TV, and of course, my boys aren't here
• 17:35 to defend themselves, but I think if we're honest,
• 17:38 part of growing up and moving on,
• 17:40 kids do that normally.
• 17:42 It's not even a critique.
• 17:43 It's more of an observation.
• 17:45 This guy did it. This guy did it.
• 17:48 If you look at Jacob, he's transformed.
• 17:52 In fact, we say, "Come with us to Israel."
• 17:56 Why don't we say come with us to Jacob?
• 17:59 The word Yakov has a name that kind of implies a kind of
• 18:02 craftiness and deceitfulness, but his name was changed and it
• 18:07 was changed to Israel, sariel arguably is a prince of God.
• 18:13 This guy didn't just had a change of name,
• 18:17 he had a change of perspective,
• 18:19 and it came through a wrestling match.
• 18:23 Now, let me just say, I think if God was wrestling with man,
• 18:27 it wouldn't last all night.
• 18:29 It wouldn't last for a split second, nevermind I think God
• 18:31 would win it on the quick.
• 18:33 There's a prolonged struggle here.
• 18:35 And you know, you're not gonna just wrestle with God
• 18:39 and the only injury you're going to sustain is something
• 18:42 with the hip.
• 18:44 You're gonna get crushed like an ant.
• 18:46 But God lets this play work its way out in order that people
• 18:52 can be transformed on the out.
• 18:55 And by the way, the word transform,
• 18:57 trans is the Latin for to crossover,
• 19:00 and form, you hear metamorphosis,
• 19:02 meta is change, morphe is form.
• 19:05 People undergo metamorphosis, metamorphe, a change of form,
• 19:10 and it happens internally.
• 19:13 You might know some that are wrestling with God.
• 19:15 I would pray them through.
• 19:17 When you look at this story, we're told in chapter 32,
• 19:20 verse 25, that Jacob is there wrestling, Yakov is
• 19:26 in the middle of a match, and it's prolonged.
• 19:29 In the consequence of which in 29, he says, "Your name
• 19:33 will no longer be called Jacob, but rather, Israel."
• 19:40 Who within the sound of my voice has experienced
• 19:44 a transformation in their own life where you find
• 19:48 that you're different now than you were then?
• 19:52 And what separates you now from then is a wrestling match.
• 20:01 People wrestle with deliverance today.
• 20:05 They wrestle with the divine deliverer.
• 20:10 It's been known to happen.
• 20:12 When I read the New Testament, people are wrestling
• 20:15 with the Lord, the sayings of Yeshua.
• 20:19 But he watches over his Word to perform it.
• 20:23 And somehow, some way, people are transforming in the process.
• 20:28 It's good news for Jews here,
• 20:30 and it's good news for me and you here.
• 20:34 God delivers, he changes people, and he changes circumstance.
• 20:42 David: One of the takeaways that I take from today's program
• 20:45 is there was wrestling with God in the Bible,
• 20:49 and it still happens today.
• 20:50 I don't know about you, but I've had some of those moments
• 20:52 where I'm wrestling with God, why?
• 20:55 Have you ever had that?
• 20:56 Dr. Seif: Yeah, I think everyone does,
• 20:58 and if someone says they don't, they're just a liar.
• 20:59 You know, a lot of times on television,
• 21:01 we just smile and make it look so nice,
• 21:03 every hair in place, everybody happy and clappy.
• 21:05 At the end of the day, we have our private times,
• 21:07 and we do wrestle, everyone, whether you're on this side
• 21:10 of the camera or yours.
• 21:11 Kirsten: That was good because I see the angel,
• 21:14 of the Lord, or angel of God, or God himself,
• 21:16 whoever it was wrestling Jacob, was trying to change
• 21:20 that nature inside.
• 21:22 And we have this nature inside of us sometimes
• 21:25 that we just fight and we fight.
• 21:28 And finally, finally, Jacob gave in and his name was changed.
• 21:33 Dr. Seif: It's a great point because people can change
• 21:37 and we wonder that.
• 21:38 We have difficult people in our life and that might be
• 21:40 why you're up wrestling at night, you know.
• 21:42 And we just wonder, oh goodness, the way they're thinking,
• 21:45 the way they are.
• 21:47 And but we do see transformation,
• 21:50 and we see that at the end of the day here.
• 21:52 After the wrestling match, we see a changed man.
• 21:56 Kirsten: We talked about this, that the hip, Jacob's hip,
• 22:01 right, for the rest of his life.
• 22:03 I don't know, there was something in, I don't know if it
• 22:06 was disjointed or what happened, but it's almost like
• 22:09 a reminder of, "I changed you, but don't forget
• 22:13 where you came from or don't forget what happened."
• 22:15 I don't know.
• 22:17 Dr. Seif: It seems to me that as this man walked away from
• 22:19 that moment, he carried a memory of it in the way that he just
• 22:22 limbered along on occasion.
• 22:24 And if God wanted to destroy a saga, I mean,
• 22:27 he could have done it, but he just left
• 22:29 that little reminder there.
• 22:31 It's an interesting story.
• 22:32 Kirsten: Not to go back.
• 22:34 Don't go back to that other nature.
• 22:35 Dr. Seif: That is true.
• 22:36 Kirsten: Walk in the newness of what I'm bringing you to.
• 22:38 David: I don't remember-- I don't want to remember
• 22:40 my past, but thankful for the little reminders
• 22:42 that show me where I'm at now and where I was.
• 22:45 Yes, we'll be right back.
• 22:48 announcer: Our Creator chose certain places on the planet
• 22:51 to reveal himself and his message of redemption to us.
• 22:56 Mount Sinai, Moriah, Olives, the Mount of Beatitudes,
• 23:00 as well as various seas, rivers, and deserts,
• 23:03 these were the places.
• 23:05 Some are now only ruins, yet they continue to tell
• 23:09 of the Lord's faithfulness and love.
• 23:12 These sacred backdrops have been beautifully captured in our
• 23:16 resource, this week the book, "Heaven And Earth:
• 23:21 Landmarks of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation."
• 23:25 Our producer and director Ken Berg has assembled some
• 23:28 of his favorite photographs taken during his four decades
• 23:33 of travel through the lands of the Bible.
• 23:38 Contact us and ask for the book, "Heaven And Earth."
• 23:43 ♪♪♪
• 23:53 ♪♪♪
• 24:03 ♪♪♪
• 24:17 David: There was a time not too awful long ago that Kirsten
• 24:19 and I thought we'd never had the chance to go to Israel.
• 24:23 It was a God thing, he allowed us to go,
• 24:25 and it's a God thing for you to go.
• 24:28 If you're thinking about going, we would love for you
• 24:31 to join us on Zola tour.
• 24:32 You can find all the information on levitt.com.
• 24:35 Kirsten: Jeff, thank you for bringing the Word of God
• 24:38 to life to us today.
• 24:40 We so appreciate that and your insight.
• 24:42 Dr. Seif: Well, you're kind.
• 24:44 I love resurrecting these characters.
• 24:46 Of course, the ultimate resurrected character is Yeshua
• 24:50 is Jesus himself, but entering into the biblical world
• 24:56 and bringing this alive, it means something to me.
• 25:00 I hope it means something to you.
• 25:02 And I know it does to some of you because if it wasn't
• 25:05 for you, I wouldn't be here, we wouldn't be here,
• 25:09 wouldn't have the opportunity to tell this story.
• 25:12 And it's interesting, too, by the way,
• 25:14 because there are people that deliberately intend
• 25:17 to go to church, they get in the car
• 25:19 and they go, sometimes serendipitously,
• 25:22 someone just turns on the TV, and all of a sudden
• 25:25 they alight upon something.
• 25:26 It's the way the Lord gets to them.
• 25:29 It's not even so much them coming to the house of the Lord
• 25:32 as much as it is God bringing the house.
• 25:35 And I want to thank you for helping us bring the Word
• 25:38 to your house.
• 25:40 The Lord loves a cheerful giver, he really does,
• 25:43 and I want to encourage you please
• 25:45 to be gracious and share and care.
• 25:47 And if you find value in what we do,
• 25:49 please demonstrate that tangibly in a way that helps us
• 25:53 to keep the ministry going.
• 25:55 Thanks in advance.
• 25:57 Kirsten: Come back next week.
• 25:58 We have more of our series Divine Delivery.
• 26:01 We will end our program today with a beautiful instrumental
• 26:04 by our founder Zola Levitt.
• 26:06 But first...
• 26:07 Dr. Seif: Before you go, as you go...
• 26:10 [speaking in Hebrew]
• 26:12 David: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
• 26:16 ♪♪♪
• 26:26 ♪♪♪
• 26:36 ♪♪♪
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