The Jewish roots of Christianity

Home » Zola TV » Video Archives » ZLM Video

Bible teaching with an emphasis on Israel, prophecy and the Jewish roots of Christianity

This program is not available for playing in your browser (see below for alternatives).

Play video (28:30)

Note: You can control playback speed from the gear menu in the player above.

Episode: “Religion”
At archaeological excavations in Qumran, the remains of a mikvah (ceremonial bath) exemplify the importance played by that ritual. To prepare for worship, a person would step daily into the cleansing mikvah water. At the Jordan River, Zola explains how the First Christians’ baptism closely paralleled this Jewish mikvah practice. Indeed, the synagogue remained a vital part of life to those who first believed in Yeshua.
Series: “The First Christians (2019)”
The Life and Times of Those Who First Believed in Jesus
Originally produced in 1995, The First Christians series explores the background of the customs and manners of Jesus’ day, unearthing the Jewish roots of Christianity. God chose this one people to speak to all humanity for all time. This nine program series seeks to better understand the people with whom He chose to reside on earth. From the studio, David and Kirsten Hart talk with Dr. Jeffrey Seif about the importance and modern applications for each program.

Caption transcript for The First Christians (2019): “Religion” (7/9)

  • 00:01 Jeffrey Seif: Jesus once spoke to a Jewish religious leader
  • 00:03 and said that he, Nicodemus, needed to be born
  • 00:06 of water and the spirit.
  • 00:10 Let's find out what that's all about today
  • 00:12 on "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 00:15 ♪♪♪
  • 00:19 male announcer: Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
  • 00:22 to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
  • 00:26 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
  • 00:29 for the same Lord overall is rich
  • 00:31 unto all that call upon him.
  • 00:34 "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 00:37 ♪♪♪
  • 00:43 ♪♪♪
  • 00:53 David Hart: We're so glad you've joined us today
  • 00:54 on "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 00:56 I'm David Hart.
  • 00:57 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
  • 00:58 Jeffrey: And I'm Jeffrey Seif, and you are in for a surprise
  • 01:00 as we go back and look
  • 01:02 at the Jewish religious world in Jesus's day.
  • 01:06 David: I want to say I'm kind of surprised
  • 01:07 that this first aired 23 years ago.
  • 01:11 As we watch Zola teaching, it looks like he was
  • 01:13 just here teaching with us.
  • 01:15 Great music, messianic music. Last week was government.
  • 01:20 This week, it's all about religion.
  • 01:22 Jeffrey: Yes, and you know, Bible colleges and seminaries,
  • 01:24 and that's the world that I fare from, they have Jewish studies
  • 01:27 departments to look at the Jewish religious world,
  • 01:30 the background world of century one.
  • 01:32 I believe it's very important, and so do the deans.
  • 01:35 That's why I've made a living teaching as a professor.
  • 01:38 Kirsten: We have all of that, a lot of information
  • 01:40 for you today, good information.
  • 01:43 But first, to learn about our first century Christians,
  • 01:45 we're going to go back in time and travel to
  • 01:48 the ruins of the Essenes.
  • 01:50 Let's go there now.
  • 01:55 announcer: The archaeological find of
  • 01:57 the 20th century took place here in caves of
  • 01:59 the mountains adjoining the Dead Sea.
  • 02:02 Here in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls bore proof
  • 02:06 to the authenticity of the Bible.
  • 02:09 Stephen Pfann, director of the Center for Early Christianity,
  • 02:12 has translated some of the texts taken from these caves and
  • 02:16 is an expert in the religious practices of the first century.
  • 02:20 Stephen Pfann: Behind us here are two of the caves
  • 02:22 found here at Qumran.
  • 02:24 Cave number four further behind me with the
  • 02:26 triangular entrances, and down below me here is
  • 02:29 the collapsed cave, cave number eight.
  • 02:32 Inside these caves were found many scrolls, which we've all
  • 02:35 heard about and have come to appreciate because they
  • 02:38 represent actual scrolls used by people during the time of Jesus.
  • 02:43 Also in here, however, were found mezuzahs
  • 02:47 and phylacteries, also known as tefillin.
  • 02:51 Now, the mezuzah was used according to the commandment
  • 02:55 in the law in the books of Moses, in the book of Exodus
  • 02:57 and the book of Deuteronomy.
  • 02:59 It was commanded that the--that the Israelites would take
  • 03:02 these Scriptures and apply them to the doorposts.
  • 03:07 This would be a protection upon the house.
  • 03:10 They were also commanded that when they pray, that they take
  • 03:13 these Scriptures and wrap them around their arms and apply
  • 03:17 them to their foreheads, in order that they would have
  • 03:21 this blessing from God as they prayed.
  • 03:24 All Jews had to pray this way all through history.
  • 03:30 We still even today can see Jews in Jerusalem praying
  • 03:34 at the western wall with their phylacteries
  • 03:37 laid on very carefully.
  • 03:39 This practice was taking place as we have evidence here
  • 03:42 in the first century among Jews.
  • 03:45 And it would have also been practiced by
  • 03:47 Jesus and his disciples.
  • 03:53 announcer: This is a photo of the phylactery found
  • 03:55 in the Qumran cave.
  • 03:57 It's as intricately made as a Swiss watch
  • 03:59 and smaller than a paperclip.
  • 04:01 Seen here enlarged, the leather pouch looked like this closed
  • 04:05 and like this when opened, containing four separate
  • 04:10 compartments for Scripture.
  • 04:13 Passages from Exodus and Deuteronomy had been
  • 04:15 handwritten in microscopic Hebrew.
  • 04:18 The Essenes's encampment here at Qumran covered nearly two acres.
  • 04:23 Their purpose in moving to this desolate area
  • 04:25 was to totally dedicate themselves to what they
  • 04:27 believed was the way of the Lord.
  • 04:31 Steve takes us now to the site of a mikvah or ritual bath
  • 04:35 used by the Essenes for purification.
  • 04:38 Stephen: Behind us here, we have the plain of the Dead Sea.
  • 04:42 Down at the far end, we can see one of the two sites
  • 04:44 of the Essenes that existed here.
  • 04:48 The Ein Feshkha behind me is the site of Khirbet Qumran.
  • 04:52 Down below was where the married Essenes would have lived.
  • 04:55 Here we have the site where the priests and
  • 04:59 the single Essenes would have lived.
  • 05:01 In my hand, I actually have a copy of the rules that governed
  • 05:08 the people who lived at this site, many copies of which were
  • 05:11 found in that cave which I just pointed out to you.
  • 05:15 In front of us, we have one of the important installations
  • 05:19 here at the site of Qumran.
  • 05:21 And as in many different places, including Jerusalem and
  • 05:25 Sepphoris up in the north, there are numerous pools like these
  • 05:29 known as ritual immersion pools, or in Hebrew mikvah or mikvaot.
  • 05:41 announcer: The mikvaot, of course, were vitally important
  • 05:43 in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus.
  • 05:45 Here along the southern wall of the temple,
  • 05:47 cleansing in the waters of this pool was an integral part
  • 05:50 of preparation for worship.
  • 05:53 Everyone who sought to worship the God of Israel
  • 05:55 had to be cleansed.
  • 05:57 But yet there were differences.
  • 05:59 Stephen: The Pharisees said that if you went down
  • 06:01 and fully immersed yourself and came back up, you were
  • 06:04 pure and equipped to be able to go on into a pure area.
  • 06:10 But the Essenes said that's not enough.
  • 06:12 A person also has to be right in his heart, he has to be right
  • 06:16 toward his brother, and he has to be also right toward God.
  • 06:20 In fact, in this scroll, it's required and it says, "By the
  • 06:23 Holy Spirit of the community, in his truth, shall he be cleansed
  • 06:27 from all his sins; and by the Spirit of uprightness
  • 06:30 and humility shall his iniquity be atoned.
  • 06:33 By his soul's humility toward the precepts of God shall his
  • 06:36 flesh be cleansed by the lustral waters and sanctified
  • 06:39 by the flowing water."
  • 06:42 It's the two together according to the Essenes, both right
  • 06:45 attitude and right way of life, before going down into the pool
  • 06:51 in order to come up clean and justified and pure before God.
  • 06:58 announcer: To better understand how the Essenes actually went
  • 07:01 about the cleansing process, Steve takes us
  • 07:03 to yet another mikvah.
  • 07:06 Stephen: Here we are at another mikvah
  • 07:08 within the site of Qumran.
  • 07:09 This is probably the most important ritual immersion pool
  • 07:12 in the entire site during the first period
  • 07:14 of their existence here.
  • 07:16 That is, up until it was destroyed by an earthquake,
  • 07:18 and you can see the great destruction that happened here
  • 07:22 in the earthquake of 31 BC.
  • 07:25 But until that time, this was so important because this is
  • 07:29 the ritual immersion pool into which the novices would
  • 07:32 enter and come up for the first time a renewed son of light.
  • 07:38 And it has a division between the avenue for going down before
  • 07:44 the immersion, and going up afterwards.
  • 07:48 So that those who go down who are unclean will not
  • 07:52 come in contact with those that are clean.
  • 07:55 You can see these runnels right here, which remain
  • 07:58 as a separation between the unclean and the clean.
  • 08:03 It was also used during the time of the renewal ceremony every
  • 08:07 year, where the people would come here in droves,
  • 08:12 large numbers of people, for a renewal of their
  • 08:15 commitment to the beliefs of the Essenes.
  • 08:18 But also it was used in order to enter the site in order to be
  • 08:22 able to eat the sacred meal on a daily basis.
  • 08:28 So, as a person would enter in, you can see first of all that
  • 08:31 there are a series of steps here, and then a wider step.
  • 08:35 Another couple of steps and a wider step.
  • 08:38 This was so that during the year, as the water would
  • 08:41 evaporate down, there would be a proper platform for an
  • 08:44 individual to go ahead and stand here in their loincloth,
  • 08:53 they would immerse themselves down so that every
  • 08:56 part of them would be covered with water.
  • 09:00 They would get back up and walk up to the top.
  • 09:09 They'd enter into the site and put on white clothing,
  • 09:12 after which they would be able to go into the dining room
  • 09:14 and eat with their fellows.
  • 09:17 ♪♪♪
  • 09:25 Zola Levitt: Well, here we are at the famous Jordan River.
  • 09:27 And this is a most beautiful part of it just south of the
  • 09:30 Sea of Galilee, where the water proceeds out to
  • 09:33 roll down through the land, a curved path all the
  • 09:37 way down to the Dead Sea.
  • 09:39 At this point, it's very pure, very clean.
  • 09:42 People are baptized here all the time, and I'm not far
  • 09:45 from a baptistery that a kibbutz has actually installed along the
  • 09:51 river so that people can walk down steps to the river safely
  • 09:54 and so on, and be baptized in these waters in which,
  • 09:57 of course, our Lord himself was baptized.
  • 10:00 Well, Steve has told us about the mikvaot
  • 10:02 there at the--at Qumran.
  • 10:05 A mikvah is a Jewish ritual bath, more than
  • 10:08 one plural is mikvaot.
  • 10:11 And we saw the mikvaot there.
  • 10:13 You know, it is so ancient a ceremony, the idea of washing
  • 10:17 with water for purification, or to make a change,
  • 10:21 or to be cleansed for some new belief.
  • 10:24 The Jewish sages actually teach that this goes all the way back
  • 10:28 to Abraham's journey to Canaan in the first place.
  • 10:32 If I can go back all the way to Genesis 12, the chapter
  • 10:36 where God said to Abraham, "Get thee up and go,"
  • 10:39 and sent him to the land of Canaan.
  • 10:42 Verse 5 says, "And Abram took Sarai," their
  • 10:45 names were different at that point.
  • 10:47 "Abram took Sarai his wife, and lot his brother's son,
  • 10:51 and all their substance that they had gathered,
  • 10:54 and the souls they had gotten in Haran."
  • 10:58 Along the way, they stopped at the village of Haran,
  • 11:01 which still exists in Syria.
  • 11:04 From--they started at Ur, went up the Tigris, Euphrates
  • 11:08 fertile valley into what is now Syria, stopped at Haran,
  • 11:12 then continued on to Canaan.
  • 11:13 When they stopped at Haran, it says there were
  • 11:15 souls they had gotten.
  • 11:18 The sages teach that the implication is they had
  • 11:21 converted people, they'd brought them into Abraham's faith,
  • 11:24 that is faith in the covenant of the land that he was going
  • 11:28 to have with God, and followed Abraham to the
  • 11:31 land that was promised to him.
  • 11:34 And the covenant wasn't even enunciated, but Abraham
  • 11:36 had the faith to get up and go when God told him.
  • 11:39 So, these people that apparently were willing to come with him,
  • 11:42 the sages teach must have been washed, must have been purified.
  • 11:46 And they suppose that the mikvah goes all the way back to there.
  • 11:50 I don't know, but it's an interesting thought.
  • 11:54 For sure it goes back all the way to the tabernacle, which
  • 11:57 is a long time ago, because the priests of Aaron, his family,
  • 12:02 were washed before they began their priesthood.
  • 12:05 And that is the beginning of I don't want to say modern baptism
  • 12:10 because baptism is many thousands of years old, but the
  • 12:13 beginning of the concept of being baptized to be enabled,
  • 12:18 to be empowered to carry out the duties of a priesthood.
  • 12:22 And that specifically we find in the book of Exodus
  • 12:25 in the instructions for the tabernacle.
  • 12:28 "This is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow
  • 12:31 them, to minister unto me in the priest's office.
  • 12:34 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the
  • 12:37 tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water."
  • 12:43 They were immersed in water to have a beginning
  • 12:47 to their priesthood.
  • 12:48 What the washing did was to enable them to minister
  • 12:51 to the people for God.
  • 12:53 The priests, the Levites, that tribe, Deuteronomy 10:8 and 9
  • 12:57 selects them and says they shall not have a land inheritance.
  • 13:00 Their inheritance is to minister to the people for God.
  • 13:04 And they pronounce a special blessing even today
  • 13:07 that we all know--
  • 13:08 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 13:10 "May the Lord bless and keep you and so on,
  • 13:12 cause his countenance to shine upon you."
  • 13:14 That is called the Aaronic blessing
  • 13:16 or the Levitical blessing.
  • 13:19 The people of the tribe of Levi, the sons of Aaron,
  • 13:23 the priests say that blessing still today in Israel the first
  • 13:27 day of every month, Rosh Chodesh.
  • 13:30 So, it was all the way back to there.
  • 13:33 Now, this has an antitype or an answer in the New Testament.
  • 13:37 The Christians are all priests.
  • 13:39 And in the New Testament, it is clear that we too are baptized
  • 13:44 to be enabled to carry forth a priestly ministry.
  • 13:47 If I look at the epistle of 1 Peter, all the epistles
  • 13:52 of Peter are addressed to Jewish people.
  • 13:55 Certain books of the Bible, of the New Testament,
  • 13:58 are addressed to Jews.
  • 14:00 Hebrews of course, Peter is one.
  • 14:03 It begins, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers
  • 14:08 scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia," et cetera.
  • 14:11 And he defines those strangers this way in verse 2, "The elect
  • 14:15 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father."
  • 14:18 In other words, those people who originally knew the
  • 14:22 God of Israel, in other words the Jewish believers.
  • 14:26 And he describes them in a special way in the dramatic
  • 14:30 verse, 1 Peter 2:9 and 10, "But ye are a chosen generation,
  • 14:36 a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people that
  • 14:41 you should show forth the praises of him who hath
  • 14:43 called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
  • 14:47 And those who were called to be these priests were baptized.
  • 14:54 This was--you see, all believers in the Lord, all Christians,
  • 14:58 and at that time of course, as we're pointing out,
  • 15:01 most of the church was Jewish.
  • 15:04 These Jewish people were particularly called
  • 15:07 to be priests for the Lord in the new covenant,
  • 15:10 and so they're baptized.
  • 15:12 Every Christian that is baptized at every church, in this river,
  • 15:15 in the baptistery in your church, in the swimming pool
  • 15:18 in your yard, doesn't matter, is being baptized
  • 15:22 in order to be enabled to be a priest.
  • 15:25 Now, the Mishnah, if you go back in the Jewish writing,
  • 15:29 talks a lot about this purification rite.
  • 15:32 The mikvah, the dipping, well, Rabbi Joshua held that a mikvah
  • 15:37 alone was adequate to bring a convert into Judaism,
  • 15:42 the washing by itself was adequate.
  • 15:45 But Rabbi Eleazar held that circumcision
  • 15:47 should also be done.
  • 15:48 This was the sign of the covenant between
  • 15:50 God and Abraham.
  • 15:52 And just like in the church today, arguing over baptism.
  • 15:55 This started a long time ago. This started before Jesus.
  • 15:58 This was argued from time immemorial, what
  • 16:01 sort of baptism for what sort of office and so on.
  • 16:04 They even divided converts into two groups.
  • 16:07 There were simply the gerim, the converts, the proselytes.
  • 16:11 And then the gerim hazerekim, the holy converts, who
  • 16:15 were willing to undergo both circumcision and the mikvah,
  • 16:19 who were very serious about going into Judaism.
  • 16:22 Orthodox synagogues today have a mikvah in America.
  • 16:26 And when someone converts to Judaism, that person
  • 16:29 goes into the water, it says like a little child,
  • 16:32 they're described as born anew.
  • 16:34 They actually clip the fingernails close and
  • 16:36 shave the hair from the body, and get into
  • 16:38 the water as babies to be reborn.
  • 16:42 And here Jesus in John 3:3 says, "Ye must be born again,"
  • 16:46 and it's like a reference to this wonderful conversion.
  • 16:51 He is, of course, trying to convert Nicodemus
  • 16:54 at that point into the faith in the Messiah.
  • 16:58 We'll be back after this.
  • 17:08 announcer: Our resource this week, the "Grafted In" package,
  • 17:11 which includes the series "Called Together" on two DVDs,
  • 17:17 a Grafted In necklace, two Stand With Israel koozies, a Grafted
  • 17:22 In decal, a Grafted In pen, our Things to Come bookmark,
  • 17:27 and the Prophesied Messiah bookmark.
  • 17:31 Contact us and ask for the "Grafted In" package.
  • 17:35 And thank you for your support.
  • 17:40 announcer: For insightful perspectives on Israel
  • 17:43 and Bible prophesy, ask for our free
  • 17:45 monthly newsletter, the Levitt Letter.
  • 17:48 At levitt.com, you can read the newsletter, watch
  • 17:51 the TV program, or visit our online store.
  • 17:56 Stay current with us on social media via Facebook and Twitter.
  • 17:59 Come with us on a tour of Israel or Petra, or
  • 18:03 a cruise to Greece and Ephesus.
  • 18:06 Please contact us for more information.
  • 18:10 Kirsten: If you're not following us on social media,
  • 18:13 I encourage you to join our family, Zola Levitt family,
  • 18:17 Zola Levitt Ministries on social media.
  • 18:19 Now, let's go back to Zola.
  • 18:23 Zola: The Essenes, the wilderness people, the ones
  • 18:26 out who worshipped the Lord all the time, must have
  • 18:29 been fascinated with the book of Isaiah.
  • 18:32 It was a favorite of theirs, they certainly copied it
  • 18:35 all the way through.
  • 18:36 And all the other books of the Old Testament except
  • 18:38 Esther were copied by them.
  • 18:41 And they came across the passage which must have just thrilled
  • 18:45 them who lived in the wilderness, "The voice of him
  • 18:49 that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
  • 18:52 make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
  • 18:54 It's Isaiah 40, verse 3.
  • 18:57 "Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill
  • 18:59 shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight
  • 19:02 and the rough places plain.
  • 19:04 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
  • 19:07 see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
  • 19:11 That kind of passage motivated them.
  • 19:14 They were religious people, no question.
  • 19:16 They had a religious council.
  • 19:18 By the way, it had 12 members and an inner circle of 3,
  • 19:22 just like with our Lord and his 12 disciples and
  • 19:25 the inner circle around him of 3.
  • 19:28 The sacred meals that they ate together were
  • 19:30 so similar to communion meals, festival meals.
  • 19:34 They studied together, they ate together, they celebrated.
  • 19:38 They observed the ruach hakodesh, the Holy Spirit.
  • 19:43 They had this conception out of the Old Testament.
  • 19:46 The Holy Spirit didn't just come at Pentecost brand new.
  • 19:49 He was active in the Old Testament, and
  • 19:51 they realized that from their study.
  • 19:53 They wrote often about prophecy, they wrote about the last days.
  • 19:56 There are scrolls of the sons of light versus the sons of
  • 20:00 darkness, which very much resemble the book of Revelation,
  • 20:04 a final battle of the forces of good and evil
  • 20:06 with good triumphing in the end.
  • 20:09 They were Bible people, no question about it.
  • 20:13 With the Lord in the gospels, we see arguments over Scripture
  • 20:17 with the Sadducees, with the Pharisees individually.
  • 20:20 He has to debate them each about their conceptions
  • 20:24 of resurrection and whatnot.
  • 20:26 And it's obvious that our Lord was so skilled
  • 20:29 in the Old Testament.
  • 20:30 He lived by it.
  • 20:32 There are churches that think it's invalid.
  • 20:33 It would be news to Jesus Christ.
  • 20:35 He conducted his life by it.
  • 20:37 He quoted the book of Deuteronomy alone 130 times.
  • 20:41 He quoted the Shema, the quintessential Jewish prayer,
  • 20:46 "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one."
  • 20:49 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 20:52 Our Lord read the Torah all the time and quoted from it,
  • 20:55 of course, voluminously.
  • 20:58 And as a Torah reader, he must have been quite expert.
  • 21:02 The Torah reader became practically an occupation,
  • 21:06 and today there are people who specialize as Torah readers.
  • 21:10 In the ancient times or in Jesus's time even, the person
  • 21:13 who read the Torah was considered to have some divine
  • 21:16 spirit upon him, and he would go on and teach.
  • 21:19 In today's synagogue, the rabbi sometimes can read the Torah,
  • 21:25 but more often they have a Torah reader, and
  • 21:28 then the rabbi gives the sermon.
  • 21:31 Some rabbis are able to read Torah skillfully.
  • 21:35 The truth to tell, they may get more credit for
  • 21:38 knowing it than they always do.
  • 21:40 It's more likely the Jewish law books that they know
  • 21:42 and know thoroughly than Scripture itself.
  • 21:46 Paul's requirements for elders and deacons were the same
  • 21:49 as in the synagogue in his time.
  • 21:52 The Jewish regulations are the ones that come into the
  • 21:54 New Testament and are finally observed by the churches today.
  • 21:58 Indeed, they were the first Christians.
  • 22:01 The churches in the empire, not just in Israel,
  • 22:03 were also very Jewish.
  • 22:05 After all, as Paul traveled, he was received in the synagogues.
  • 22:09 What he came to say, that Messiah had come,
  • 22:11 he came to say to Jewish people.
  • 22:14 And they're the ones that heard it, they're the ones that were
  • 22:16 converted, and they're the ones that witness
  • 22:18 to their Gentile friends and brought them in.
  • 22:20 Sometimes, the synagogue was a place where people faked it.
  • 22:25 At the city of Smyrna, I read in Revelation 2:9,
  • 22:28 "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty.
  • 22:31 But thou art rich," he says.
  • 22:33 "And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,
  • 22:35 and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
  • 22:38 Sometimes, the Scripture's twisted
  • 22:40 to anti-Semitic purposes.
  • 22:42 There were people pretending they were Jews to attend
  • 22:44 church in order to trade with the church members.
  • 22:46 They might wear forelocks and a prayer shawl.
  • 22:49 They might adopt Hebrew mannerisms, or
  • 22:52 they might be Jews that didn't believe.
  • 22:54 But anyway, they looked the part of Christians.
  • 22:56 To look like a Christian, you had to look Jewish in
  • 22:59 the early churches, this one in Smyrna in Asia.
  • 23:04 It's funny, I have the experience in my
  • 23:07 life of just the opposite.
  • 23:09 Once, I looked for a job with an insurance company when
  • 23:12 I was in college, and they said one requirement is
  • 23:14 I had to go to church every Sunday.
  • 23:16 I said, "Gosh, I've never gone to church
  • 23:18 in my life, I'm Jewish.
  • 23:19 I go to the synagogue."
  • 23:21 They said, "Well, you need to go to church,
  • 23:22 it's what's required of us.
  • 23:24 We go to a barbecue after, we make contacts that way."
  • 23:27 I said, "Well, I don't believe what's going on there."
  • 23:29 And they said, "It doesn't matter what you believe.
  • 23:31 We're there to meet the church people
  • 23:33 and to sell them insurance."
  • 23:35 Well, they said, "You look just like any one
  • 23:38 of the church people."
  • 23:39 What they meant is you can look Gentile, look Gentile,
  • 23:42 and that way they'll think you're a real Christian.
  • 23:44 Well, back in Revelation in Smyrna, it was look Jewish
  • 23:47 and they'll think you're a real Christian.
  • 23:50 The first Christians were Jewish, and we will
  • 23:53 see that in a most dramatic way.
  • 23:56 You know, when the kingdom comes, the
  • 23:57 believers of all ages will come together.
  • 24:00 The Old Testament saints, these first century Christians,
  • 24:03 the church members and the faithful of all ages,
  • 24:06 including our own age, will meet together.
  • 24:08 And then we will be able to worship with the first
  • 24:11 Christians, and we will see they were Jews.
  • 24:14 ♪♪♪
  • 24:25 ♪♪♪
  • 24:36 ♪♪♪
  • 24:46 ♪♪♪
  • 24:57 ♪♪♪
  • 25:07 ♪♪♪
  • 25:16 ♪♪♪
  • 25:26 Kirsten: Family, it's all about family today.
  • 25:28 Jeffrey: Yeah, I feel for those that have trouble in the family.
  • 25:31 You know, I tell my wife Barri that home is wherever she is.
  • 25:36 And people live alone today, and even people live together
  • 25:39 with people and there's pain.
  • 25:41 Recovering a biblical approach to family
  • 25:44 is so, so, so important.
  • 25:46 Kirsten: It is.
  • 25:47 David: We love social media.
  • 25:49 And our kids are on it all the time.
  • 25:51 Back in the day, they didn't have all that, so I think family
  • 25:54 might have been a little tighter back in the day, you think?
  • 25:56 Jeffrey: Well, there's a lot of distractions.
  • 25:58 You know, people--I don't think social media meets the needs.
  • 26:01 People talk about connecting.
  • 26:03 There's still a lot of disconnection.
  • 26:05 And back in the day, they're not distracted by television.
  • 26:08 Sorry, we are on television.
  • 26:10 You know, but a lot of times, people just zone out
  • 26:12 and they don't do things together.
  • 26:15 And it's important to recover that.
  • 26:17 Used to be back in the day, people would gather
  • 26:19 together around a family Bible and pray together.
  • 26:21 My wife and I do that in the morning.
  • 26:23 Simple things there are that people can do
  • 26:26 to strengthen a family.
  • 26:28 Thank you for strengthening our family, that is to say
  • 26:31 "Zola Levitt Presents" is a ministry, and it's all hands
  • 26:35 on deck helping to move forward.
  • 26:37 And it's your contributions to this family that
  • 26:40 help us feed the kids.
  • 26:41 There's a world out there that needs to know the Lord and
  • 26:44 that needs biblical medicine for life's assorted hurts.
  • 26:48 And we think the great physician delivers through
  • 26:51 "Zola Levitt Presents."
  • 26:53 David: I've got to say I'm looking forward to next week,
  • 26:55 it's all about agriculture in the first century.
  • 26:58 We'd love for you to join us for that.
  • 27:00 Jeffrey: Do it please. And as you go now--
  • 27:02 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 27:05 Kirsten: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
  • 27:08 ♪♪♪
  • 27:18 ♪♪♪
  • 27:21 announcer: Our monthly newsletter, the Levitt Letter,
  • 27:23 is free and full of insightful articles and news commentary
  • 27:27 from a messianic prospective.
  • 27:29 Visit levitt.com to find our newsletter, along with
  • 27:32 current and past programs, our television schedule,
  • 27:35 and much more.
  • 27:38 female announcer: Don't forget to order this week's resource
  • 27:40 by calling 1-800-WONDERS,
  • 27:43 or you could purchase it from our store at levitt.com.
  • 27:47 male announcer: Your donations to Zola Levitt Ministries
  • 27:49 help these organizations bless Israel.
  • 27:52 female announcer: Thanks again for joining us this week.
  • 27:54 Zola Levitt Ministries and this television program depend
  • 27:58 on tax-deductible donations from viewers like you.
  • 28:04 ♪♪♪
  • 28:14 ♪♪♪
  • 28:25 announcer: This has been a paid program brought to you
  • 28:27 by Zola Levitt Ministries.

Episodes in this series

  1. Birth
  2. The Home
  3. Livelihood
  4. The Family
  5. Agriculture
  6. Government
  7. Religion
  8. Messiah
  9. Death

Links from this show

Guest organizations and links