Welcome to Back To Our Roots. 00:00:01.36\00:00:02.76 Today we have a great program for you. 00:00:02.76\00:00:05.10 We're going to be talking about Was Jesus raised as a Jew? 00:00:05.10\00:00:08.57 And more importantly, when He grew, did He teach against 00:00:08.77\00:00:12.27 the Mosaic law? 00:00:12.27\00:00:13.68 Stick around. We have a great program for you today. 00:00:13.68\00:00:16.11 Welcome to Back To Our Roots. 00:00:36.10\00:00:38.57 Wonderful to have you join us again. 00:00:38.77\00:00:40.67 Today we have a very special program. 00:00:40.87\00:00:42.94 We're going to be talking about Jesus as He is. That's right! 00:00:43.14\00:00:47.58 Real important concept. And let me introduce myself. 00:00:47.91\00:00:51.38 I'm Pastor Alex Schlussler, pastor of a congregation, 00:00:51.58\00:00:54.68 a church down in south Florida. 00:00:54.68\00:00:56.52 And... My name's Rachel Hyman. I'm a minister of music. 00:00:56.72\00:00:59.82 So Rachel and I have come up in a similar way: 00:01:00.06\00:01:05.23 both of us raised as Jews and then found Jesus as our Messiah. 00:01:05.43\00:01:11.30 And you know, when we bring a topic such as this, 00:01:11.50\00:01:14.00 Jesus As He Is, I think the first thing that people are 00:01:14.00\00:01:17.87 going to ask us is: "What do you mean Jesus as He is? " 00:01:17.87\00:01:21.28 Well Jesus is the God of the Christians so to speak. 00:01:22.88\00:01:26.95 And you know, from a Jewish perspective 00:01:27.18\00:01:30.05 I know that was a real hindering block for me. 00:01:30.25\00:01:33.32 Um-hmm. I don't know how that affected you, Rachel. 00:01:33.62\00:01:35.86 Well history and Christianity today portrays Jesus as 00:01:35.86\00:01:39.09 oh, very Christian or even sometimes pagan. 00:01:39.29\00:01:42.13 So to think of Jesus growing up as Jewish 00:01:42.36\00:01:44.90 in a Jewish home and even with possibly Jewish traditions 00:01:44.90\00:01:47.94 and customs seems a little... kind of a little foreign. 00:01:47.94\00:01:50.87 So you're saying and I know that's what we're saying 00:01:51.07\00:01:53.34 is that Jesus was raised as a Jew. 00:01:53.54\00:01:57.15 The culture that He came up in, 00:01:57.55\00:02:00.05 the traditions... He wouldn't have pushed them away. 00:02:00.18\00:02:04.19 He was very much a part of that civilization, of that culture, 00:02:04.39\00:02:09.12 and I think that that culture was very much a part of Him. 00:02:09.12\00:02:11.59 Yes. Today, Rachel, once again we have our good friend 00:02:11.79\00:02:15.73 Alexander Bolotnikov, Sasha we call him, 00:02:15.96\00:02:18.53 is here to throw a theological perspective on our discussion. 00:02:18.73\00:02:22.54 So Sasha, why don't you come on out and join us. 00:02:22.74\00:02:24.41 I'm glad to be with you again. 00:02:26.54\00:02:29.04 Yeah, Sasha. So Sasha, as I've told you 00:02:29.04\00:02:32.51 in the past, Sasha is a good friend of ours. 00:02:32.51\00:02:34.78 I've known Sasha for many years. 00:02:34.98\00:02:36.69 He is a wonderful speaker and teacher. 00:02:36.89\00:02:40.56 He is working on his Ph. D. right now, 00:02:40.76\00:02:44.99 almost completed. Yeah, almost completed. 00:02:45.19\00:02:47.13 Almost completed. So Sasha, today we're talking 00:02:47.13\00:02:49.76 about this idea of Jesus as He is. 00:02:49.76\00:02:51.80 And what we man by that is well, Jesus as a Jew 00:02:52.00\00:02:54.54 and how important that is for us as followers, 00:02:54.54\00:02:58.07 as believers in Jesus, to understand that. 00:02:58.27\00:03:01.38 So you know the question that we threw out was, was... 00:03:01.38\00:03:04.41 Jesus, He was a Jew, He was raised as a Jew 00:03:05.48\00:03:08.58 so I guess that means that He received a Jewish education 00:03:08.78\00:03:12.12 as well. So what would that have meant to Him? 00:03:12.32\00:03:16.06 It is interesting how the gospels portray 00:03:16.29\00:03:20.30 Jesus' childhood. 00:03:20.50\00:03:23.00 The only gospel written by a non-Jewish author, Luke, 00:03:23.20\00:03:27.67 because the other authors of the New Testament are Jewish. 00:03:27.67\00:03:31.67 Luke is not, but he is the only one who actually 00:03:31.67\00:03:34.91 goes into detail describing to us Jesus' upbringing. 00:03:34.91\00:03:38.88 And he starts with the fact that Jesus first was circumcised. 00:03:39.08\00:03:43.95 OK. So as it comes out does it literally say that? 00:03:44.15\00:03:47.82 Or is that something that through the way it's written 00:03:48.02\00:03:50.59 it infers that? No, no, it's very clear 00:03:50.59\00:03:54.56 in the text of Luke chapter 2 that His parents brought Jesus 00:03:54.56\00:03:59.30 to the temple to be circumcised. 00:03:59.50\00:04:01.84 So that would have been the eighth day. Of course. 00:04:01.84\00:04:03.71 On the eighth day. That's very clear in Jewish 00:04:03.71\00:04:06.51 commandment. And even today that's a traditional thing 00:04:06.51\00:04:09.21 which by the way - yes - I went through that as well. 00:04:09.21\00:04:11.65 Sasha, so go ahead. 00:04:11.95\00:04:14.22 Well basically that's the first interesting episode. 00:04:14.42\00:04:17.99 And this shows how basically... to me it tells me that 00:04:17.99\00:04:23.39 God has no intention to separate Jesus from the community 00:04:23.59\00:04:29.60 He lived in. Right. So He was circumcised on the 00:04:29.60\00:04:32.87 eighth day. Then what's the next thing 00:04:32.87\00:04:34.87 that we see happening in the gospels? 00:04:34.87\00:04:37.07 The next thing what we have in the gospel of Luke again 00:04:37.07\00:04:39.64 chapter 2 is the episode when He is 12 years old. 00:04:39.64\00:04:43.14 OK. And it says very interestingly 00:04:43.35\00:04:47.52 His parents attended the temple at the Passover 00:04:47.72\00:04:51.79 every year. Which would have been exactly 00:04:51.99\00:04:55.69 a traditional thing. God had commanded - right - 00:04:55.89\00:04:58.23 that the Jews would do that. Exactly. So we talk about 00:04:58.23\00:05:01.63 Mary, His mother, Joseph, you know. 00:05:01.83\00:05:04.73 We talk about... Luke - who is not Jewish - 00:05:04.97\00:05:08.74 clearly portrays them as Jewish parents. 00:05:08.94\00:05:11.61 So they're there around His twelfth year 00:05:11.81\00:05:15.78 for the Passover, but there would have been more going on. 00:05:15.98\00:05:18.88 Of course. What happens at the twelfth year... 00:05:19.08\00:05:21.38 What happens is He's lost in a way. 00:05:21.58\00:05:24.79 It's all very well known... it's a Christian story. 00:05:24.99\00:05:27.52 But people don't pay attention to the details. 00:05:27.72\00:05:30.49 So His parents come back to look for Him on the third day. 00:05:30.69\00:05:34.46 They find Him in the temple among the rabbis. Right. 00:05:34.66\00:05:40.20 And my question always when I like to discuss this story 00:05:40.40\00:05:44.74 my question is always: in the temple among rabbis? 00:05:44.97\00:05:50.95 What do rabbis do in the temple? 00:05:51.15\00:05:53.88 Because it's where the priests are supposed to be. 00:05:54.08\00:05:56.95 So literally doesn't mean that Jesus was somewhere 00:05:57.15\00:06:00.82 at the altar or God forbid at the Holy Place 00:06:00.82\00:06:04.56 or Most of Holy. It wasn't about He was doing some ritual. 00:06:04.56\00:06:07.96 He was at the adjacent facility which was actually 00:06:08.16\00:06:12.20 separated specifically for the study of Torah, the scripture. 00:06:12.43\00:06:17.17 And He was there studying scripture with rabbis. 00:06:17.37\00:06:21.68 And it is interesting that He was asking them questions 00:06:21.88\00:06:26.38 and answering their questions. 00:06:26.58\00:06:29.48 And at the 12-year-old... This is actually the time, 00:06:29.68\00:06:33.09 13-year-old, every Jewish boy 00:06:33.29\00:06:36.99 becomes what's known... literally known... the son 00:06:37.19\00:06:41.16 of the commandment - Bar Mitzpah. 00:06:41.16\00:06:43.26 Yeah. The son of the commandment means it's the period 00:06:43.47\00:06:46.63 of maturity - OK - when a teenager 00:06:46.87\00:06:52.21 is now responsible, he under- stands the commandment. Right. 00:06:52.21\00:06:56.28 So let's... Before we go any further, Sasha, 00:06:56.28\00:06:58.18 let's back up just a little bit and kind of briefly 00:06:58.18\00:07:02.05 can you take us through the progression that a young boy 00:07:02.28\00:07:06.49 would go through? Approximately what age 00:07:06.49\00:07:09.66 would he start his studies and how would that progression 00:07:09.66\00:07:12.29 go as he moves along? 00:07:12.49\00:07:14.83 Well the young boy today we know goes to 00:07:15.00\00:07:18.37 school to study the Torah 00:07:18.57\00:07:21.84 from four years old... four years of age. 00:07:22.04\00:07:25.37 And unlike Christian children 00:07:25.57\00:07:27.68 that actually start to learn about the Bible through some 00:07:27.88\00:07:31.18 felt tactile, the traditional Jewish children 00:07:31.18\00:07:35.68 they go start studying letters - the alphabet - so that they 00:07:35.88\00:07:40.06 could read the Torah. 00:07:40.06\00:07:41.46 And it's interesting. They have a chart with an alphabet 00:07:41.46\00:07:45.49 and they would make child recognize letters. 00:07:45.69\00:07:48.23 There's honey candy and they would... 00:07:48.43\00:07:51.20 and the child would pick up the candy. And every time he 00:07:51.20\00:07:55.34 recognized the letter he would get the candy. 00:07:55.34\00:07:57.57 Yeah. That's like Thy word is sweetness in my mouth. 00:07:57.77\00:08:00.84 Yeah, yeah... that's Psalm 19. 00:08:01.04\00:08:03.01 That's a good way. That's a good example of 00:08:03.21\00:08:06.11 how we teach our children to understand the book. 00:08:06.31\00:08:10.15 So as they moved along what would be the next step now 00:08:10.15\00:08:12.25 once they moved past that? 00:08:12.45\00:08:14.09 Then the next step is preparation to adulthood. 00:08:14.29\00:08:18.79 So they go to the rabbi and the rabbi teaches them 00:08:19.03\00:08:22.46 the Torah so that on their Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13 00:08:22.66\00:08:26.87 they could be prepared and they could answer questions. 00:08:26.87\00:08:30.04 They could give a little reading, you know, and discourse 00:08:30.04\00:08:34.04 over the Torah. And that's what Jesus came 00:08:34.04\00:08:37.15 to do at the temple. 00:08:37.35\00:08:40.12 When Mary and Joseph came and said: "Where are you? 00:08:40.35\00:08:43.95 Where have you been? " He said: "Don't you know 00:08:44.15\00:08:46.02 that I was where... "I must be about My Father's business. " 00:08:46.02\00:08:50.09 Well, the literal translation of this text says: 00:08:50.29\00:08:53.26 "I was in what belongs to My Father. " 00:08:53.26\00:08:57.80 OK. And what belongs to the Father? It's... 00:08:58.00\00:09:01.84 And actually Father's business is a good translation, 00:09:02.04\00:09:04.81 good explanation. This is the study of the Torah. 00:09:04.81\00:09:08.44 He wasn't kind of sitting at the temple like people imagine, 00:09:08.64\00:09:12.65 you know, around some kind of a huge cathedral 00:09:12.85\00:09:16.08 sitting in front. No! He was spending time with the 00:09:16.08\00:09:20.39 traditional learning institution. 00:09:20.39\00:09:23.19 It's called Yeshiva. 00:09:23.39\00:09:25.16 Yeshiva comes from the word Yesha... to seek... 00:09:25.36\00:09:28.06 when the disciples sit in front of the rabbi and they listen. 00:09:28.06\00:09:32.87 Wow! That exists even today. 00:09:33.07\00:09:35.34 For a Jew to go study in higher learning they would go 00:09:35.54\00:09:39.31 to Yeshiva. Now a quick question: 00:09:39.31\00:09:42.18 you know, today in Jewish communities Jewish people 00:09:42.38\00:09:45.71 keep not only Biblical laws but also Jewish tradition. 00:09:45.71\00:09:50.85 Would you say that Jesus also not only kept 00:09:51.05\00:09:54.26 obviously Biblical Jewish laws but also participated 00:09:55.62\00:09:59.09 in typical traditions? What would you say about that? 00:09:59.09\00:10:01.43 And even with a Bar Mitzvah, that's pretty much a custom? 00:10:01.43\00:10:05.87 Of course, there is nothing in the scripture about Bar Mitzvah. 00:10:06.07\00:10:10.34 Right, exactly. And we can look at Jesus. 00:10:10.34\00:10:13.58 At times He criticizes rabbis. Right. 00:10:13.78\00:10:17.51 And the gospel is our starting point to understand 00:10:17.75\00:10:21.52 where Jesus disagrees with rabbis and where He agrees. 00:10:21.75\00:10:25.75 So I guess we maybe want to say He kept the Jewish traditions 00:10:25.75\00:10:28.46 that wouldn't go against scripture. But that would be 00:10:28.46\00:10:30.69 just tradition. I mean, this is great. I mean, Bar Mitzvah... 00:10:30.69\00:10:34.23 Teaching the child, it's in harmony with what it says 00:10:34.46\00:10:38.70 in Proverbs where it says "instruct your child. " 00:10:38.70\00:10:42.67 "Raise up a child in the way he should go 00:10:42.87\00:10:44.77 and when he is old he will not depart... " 00:10:44.97\00:10:46.44 He partook of the tradition of the time. 00:10:46.44\00:10:48.01 Yeah, exactly. And you made a good point 00:10:48.21\00:10:50.25 because I think that what we see Jesus doing is 00:10:50.25\00:10:53.15 as long as those traditions didn't go contrary 00:10:53.35\00:10:57.69 to the Bible - to the scriptures - 00:10:57.69\00:11:00.69 He always supported it. 00:11:00.89\00:11:02.29 But we're going to shift just a little bit, and I want to ask 00:11:02.29\00:11:04.83 you this question, Sasha, because I think some people 00:11:04.83\00:11:08.56 may think the answer would be yes, and that is: 00:11:08.56\00:11:11.23 Did Jesus teach at any time against the Mosaic laws? 00:11:11.43\00:11:15.64 Against what we would know as Torah? Oh absolutely not! 00:11:15.84\00:11:18.97 And in fact we have touched on this in our previous 00:11:19.17\00:11:23.61 programs. But my entire doctoral dissertation 00:11:23.81\00:11:27.58 is actually dedicated to the question of whether or not 00:11:27.78\00:11:31.75 Jesus nullifies the law of divorces which is written 00:11:32.05\00:11:38.03 which is written in Deuteronomy 24 verses 1-4. 00:11:38.23\00:11:42.43 Because Jesus in the gospel of Matthew chapter 5- 00:11:42.63\00:11:46.67 the Sermon on the Mount - says: "You heard it spoken 00:11:46.87\00:11:51.21 if someone divorces his wife he shall write to her 00:11:51.41\00:11:56.04 a deal of divorcement. " 00:11:56.24\00:11:58.08 And it is often in the margins or in the commentaries 00:11:58.28\00:12:03.32 there is always a reference to Deuteronomy 24. 00:12:03.52\00:12:06.86 And as we mentioned before, often this is taken 00:12:07.09\00:12:11.16 for granted without actual reading of the law in the Torah. 00:12:11.36\00:12:15.36 The law in the Torah does not legislate divorce. 00:12:15.56\00:12:19.10 The law in the Torah is kind of lengthy and basically 00:12:19.30\00:12:22.30 what it says is it addresses the situation 00:12:22.30\00:12:26.47 when divorce actually has occured - it happened - 00:12:26.47\00:12:31.11 and the remarriage follows divorce. 00:12:31.31\00:12:34.22 And after this the second marriage falls apart. 00:12:34.42\00:12:37.15 Then the law legislates that the former husband 00:12:37.35\00:12:40.72 who initially divorced cannot take his wife back 00:12:40.92\00:12:46.09 after she remarries. That's what the law said. 00:12:46.29\00:12:48.60 Jesus isn't even talking about this. 00:12:48.80\00:12:50.57 Jesus addresses the issue which is in harmony with scripture. 00:12:50.77\00:12:55.44 In Malachi chapter 2 verse 16 00:12:55.64\00:12:59.27 God specifically said: "For I am the Lord, I hate divorces. " 00:12:59.47\00:13:04.65 And Jesus addresses this topic and talks about this. 00:13:04.85\00:13:09.28 So the Sermon on the Mount does not address 00:13:09.28\00:13:12.65 the issue... does not go against the laws which are in the Torah. 00:13:12.85\00:13:18.83 But the difference is in the Sermon on the Mount 00:13:19.03\00:13:23.13 Jesus always used: "You heard it said... 00:13:23.33\00:13:27.07 you heard it said. " And there He's speaking 00:13:27.27\00:13:30.14 in particular - we discussed this a little bit - about 00:13:30.34\00:13:33.04 the oral laws, right? which, at that time and even today 00:13:33.04\00:13:38.15 there is this... these two parallel strains within Judaism 00:13:38.35\00:13:42.72 that the Jews believe that the same time that the Torah 00:13:42.92\00:13:45.95 was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai 00:13:45.95\00:13:47.79 that an oral law was given to him at the same time. 00:13:47.99\00:13:52.03 Right. So Jesus is... He's not just speaking to them 00:13:52.23\00:13:55.93 saying, speaking against the Pharasaic, the Saducees' 00:13:55.93\00:13:59.57 abuse of Torah in how they're interpreting the oral law. 00:13:59.77\00:14:04.14 Yeah, those misinterpretations because the previous chapter 00:14:04.34\00:14:08.48 the story of His temptation at the desert 00:14:08.68\00:14:12.68 He always refers: "It is written; it is written. " 00:14:12.98\00:14:17.19 That's a great story. We'll take just a couple minutes 00:14:17.19\00:14:19.95 and let's talk about that because that's one of my 00:14:19.95\00:14:22.62 favorite examples in the New Testament 00:14:22.62\00:14:25.23 of how Jesus without a doubt is standing very firm 00:14:25.43\00:14:30.47 on quoting words from the Torah. Which by the way 00:14:30.67\00:14:33.67 in previous programs we've explained that when we use 00:14:35.00\00:14:38.64 the term Torah we're speaking most of the times of the first 00:14:38.64\00:14:42.44 five books of the Old Testament 00:14:42.44\00:14:44.45 but it also can mean the entire writings of the Old Testament. 00:14:44.65\00:14:48.55 So here in this little portion in the gospel of Matthew 00:14:48.75\00:14:54.22 chapter 4, you know, after Jesus has been baptized 00:14:54.22\00:14:57.63 and He heads out into the wildereness, literally it seems 00:14:57.83\00:15:01.10 like the Holy Spirit is driving Him out into the wilderness. 00:15:01.10\00:15:04.90 And He's going to spend 40 days fasting, right? 00:15:05.10\00:15:08.80 And then the enemy of our souls, Satan, appears to Him. 00:15:09.00\00:15:13.68 And this is like the greatest swordfight 00:15:13.88\00:15:18.01 with God's Word at this point, right? 00:15:18.25\00:15:20.92 Yeah. Because you get this picture of first Satan 00:15:20.92\00:15:23.95 quoting - at least you think he's quoting - 00:15:24.15\00:15:27.06 directly from scripture. And then we have Jesus 00:15:27.26\00:15:30.39 as you were saying, He'll say: "No, it is written... " 00:15:30.39\00:15:32.93 And there's this back and forth. 00:15:33.13\00:15:35.26 And I think that's such an important thing 00:15:35.50\00:15:38.20 for us to understand: 00:15:38.40\00:15:39.80 that Satan really knows the Bible. Um-hmm. 00:15:39.80\00:15:42.27 But it is very important for us to know the Bible 00:15:42.47\00:15:46.54 in it's context. Right, but let me finish 00:15:46.54\00:15:49.31 what I was saying. Satan knows the Bible and 00:15:49.31\00:15:51.61 because of that he really twists it. 00:15:51.61\00:15:54.28 And he will take it out of context... which is exactly 00:15:54.48\00:15:57.59 what this shows us. So Sasha, 00:15:57.59\00:16:01.36 describe to us a little bit from this Biblical standpoint 00:16:01.56\00:16:05.79 how we see Satan on one hand quoting something out of context 00:16:05.99\00:16:11.27 and how Jesus in each one of these back and forth, 00:16:11.47\00:16:14.24 these parries like a swordfight, Jesus is commenting back. 00:16:14.44\00:16:17.81 It is interesting that Jesus always refers 00:16:18.11\00:16:22.98 in His answers for example 00:16:23.18\00:16:26.15 the first time Satan approaches Him: 00:16:26.35\00:16:29.98 "Oh, if you are the Son of God... " which in Hebrew 00:16:29.98\00:16:34.49 also sounds: "If you are divine... " 00:16:34.49\00:16:36.83 You know, "If you have power to turn these stones 00:16:37.03\00:16:41.36 into bread... " And Jesus refers to Deuteronomy 00:16:41.36\00:16:45.27 which means "Not by the bread alone... " 00:16:45.57\00:16:50.14 He cites the text which Moses uses in his sermon 00:16:50.34\00:16:55.18 when talking about the people of Israel walking around 00:16:55.38\00:17:00.95 the desert eating manna and receiving the Torah. 00:17:00.95\00:17:05.22 And so Jesus - unlike Satan, who takes the statement 00:17:05.42\00:17:10.79 out of context - He uses the statement of the 00:17:10.79\00:17:14.73 Torah in their proper context 00:17:14.73\00:17:17.37 and He relies... If we... if we just often say: 00:17:17.57\00:17:21.40 "Oh, not by the bread alone" 00:17:21.40\00:17:23.07 we're not getting the whole picture. 00:17:23.27\00:17:25.41 The whole picture we have to go back to the book of Deuteronomy. 00:17:25.61\00:17:29.41 We have to read what Moses is speaking and then we see 00:17:29.61\00:17:33.68 the whole depth of what Jesus is trying to say. 00:17:33.68\00:17:39.12 And in every instance Satan would use 00:17:39.32\00:17:44.53 some test from a temptation because for example 00:17:44.73\00:17:48.66 he would raise Him on top of the temple wall 00:17:48.86\00:17:54.30 and he would quote to Him from Psalm 90. Right. 00:17:54.50\00:17:59.17 You know... yeah, that's the Bible. 00:17:59.37\00:18:01.58 But Jesus always goes back. And He again goes back 00:18:01.78\00:18:07.25 to Deuteronomy and again speaks: "Thou shalt not 00:18:07.45\00:18:10.99 put the Lord your God to tempt. " 00:18:11.19\00:18:14.36 That's again the same story. 00:18:14.36\00:18:16.06 He goes back again to the same story. 00:18:16.26\00:18:19.19 And there is a very good idea that Matthew 00:18:19.39\00:18:24.80 has why he presents it that way. 00:18:25.00\00:18:27.87 Because in Matthew's composition of the gospel 00:18:28.07\00:18:31.77 Jesus is repeating the exodus from Egypt. 00:18:31.97\00:18:36.54 When people of Israel... whenever they walk through the 00:18:36.85\00:18:40.45 desert... they had their failure. Now Jesus does it over. 00:18:40.45\00:18:44.99 So Jesus walked through the water of Jordan 00:18:45.19\00:18:48.56 imitating the Red Sea. 00:18:48.76\00:18:50.93 Then the next thing He is in the desert. 00:18:51.16\00:18:53.73 And then He goes through trials. 00:18:53.73\00:18:56.16 But unlike people of Israel - they fell under pressure - 00:18:56.36\00:19:00.57 Jesus now does it over and in a sense... 00:19:00.77\00:19:03.77 does it right... Yeah! Does it right. Yeah, praise God! 00:19:03.77\00:19:06.44 You know, it's so interesting. Sometimes I've been in some 00:19:06.44\00:19:08.71 public places where a guy will have like a dark blonde beard 00:19:08.71\00:19:12.88 and some long blonde hair and somebody will walk up 00:19:13.08\00:19:15.68 to this guy and say: "You look so... 00:19:15.68\00:19:17.72 Has anybody ever told you that you look like Jesus? " 00:19:17.92\00:19:20.82 He'd get hired. You know, play Jesus in a play or theater 00:19:21.02\00:19:24.23 or something. And I'll walk up to him and I'll say: 00:19:24.23\00:19:26.59 "Well actually most likely Jesus probably had 00:19:26.59\00:19:32.07 curly dark brown or black hair and brown eyes. " 00:19:32.27\00:19:35.77 Dark complexion. "Dark complexion, olive skin. " 00:19:35.77\00:19:38.44 And I've heard people like: "Oh, no way. " 00:19:38.44\00:19:40.21 You know, when we look back in history, when would you say 00:19:40.41\00:19:43.18 Jesus got stripped of His "Jewishness" so to speak? 00:19:43.18\00:19:46.61 'Cause we just... Some people are just surprised and shocked 00:19:46.61\00:19:49.18 when they really hear and learn about how Jewish 00:19:49.18\00:19:52.45 Jesus really was. The major problems begin to occur 00:19:52.45\00:19:57.26 right after the death of the apostles. 00:19:57.26\00:20:00.20 Right after destruction of the temple 00:20:00.40\00:20:04.13 and there was another bad event of a big war between... 00:20:04.33\00:20:09.34 in Judea - second Judean war - when there was rebellion 00:20:09.74\00:20:13.78 against Romans raised by the man named Bar Kokhba. 00:20:13.78\00:20:18.51 And this is what actually provoked 00:20:18.71\00:20:23.55 a strong, strong anti-Jewish sentiment 00:20:23.75\00:20:26.99 in the entire Roman Empire. Ummm. 00:20:27.19\00:20:29.16 And what happened: Romans started to mock 00:20:29.36\00:20:35.10 Jews in every possible way including religious mockery. 00:20:35.30\00:20:39.80 They produced - we have the documents - 00:20:40.00\00:20:42.70 where they produced theatrical plays - comedies - 00:20:42.90\00:20:47.31 that would mock Sabbath particularly. 00:20:47.51\00:20:51.18 For example, they would have a camel on the stage 00:20:51.18\00:20:54.78 and they would have him clothed in sackcloth. 00:20:54.98\00:20:59.19 And they say: "Why is he in sackcloth? " 00:20:59.39\00:21:01.89 "Because it's a Jewish camel and it's the Sabbath 00:21:02.09\00:21:04.93 and the Jew doesn't feed the camel 00:21:05.13\00:21:07.00 so the camel is in mourning. " 00:21:07.20\00:21:09.36 And so everybody... the whole audience 00:21:09.56\00:21:12.23 laughs, roars in laughter. That's been documented. 00:21:12.43\00:21:15.24 And so this mockery leads Christians 00:21:15.44\00:21:20.68 who are Judea Christians, many of whom 00:21:20.88\00:21:23.18 joined from the other nations, joined the Judea Christians. 00:21:23.38\00:21:27.58 It leads them to actually push away from the Jewish roots. 00:21:27.78\00:21:32.15 And that's where the problem begins. 00:21:32.35\00:21:34.86 And it's something that progresses on. 00:21:35.06\00:21:36.76 I want to just jump back because we've only got 00:21:36.76\00:21:39.23 just a few minutes left and then Rachel's going to bless us 00:21:39.23\00:21:43.10 with a song. You know, one of the passages 00:21:43.10\00:21:46.74 that Jesus states that I always found very interesting 00:21:46.74\00:21:49.47 when He makes this comment: "Not one jot or tittle will pass 00:21:49.67\00:21:52.97 away. " Sasha, just real briefly what is a jot and a tittle? 00:21:52.97\00:21:56.38 What exactly is that because I know that's not correct. 00:21:56.58\00:21:58.68 Yeah, jot is the Hebrew letter yodh which looks 00:21:58.88\00:22:04.19 like an apostrophe. 00:22:04.19\00:22:05.72 And a tittle is another letter which can be confused. 00:22:05.95\00:22:11.69 It's a letter yodh which you actually draw a little line. 00:22:11.69\00:22:14.76 It's like a stroke. So I guess what He's saying is 00:22:14.76\00:22:18.17 that the letters that even seem to be the least, 00:22:18.37\00:22:21.40 the most nominal of the letters on the scroll, 00:22:21.60\00:22:24.71 even those smallest letters aren't going to pass away. 00:22:24.91\00:22:28.44 What Jesus is talking He is talking about 00:22:28.64\00:22:32.25 the meticulousness of the study of the Torah 00:22:32.45\00:22:35.38 in such a way that when you write these letters 00:22:35.58\00:22:38.89 He will teach you to write it and read it and understand it 00:22:39.09\00:22:43.32 in such a way that you will not confuse that. 00:22:43.32\00:22:46.03 So notice basically in modern English it would sound 00:22:46.23\00:22:49.56 "Not a single word - not a single statement - 00:22:49.76\00:22:54.07 will be confused in My sight. " 00:22:54.27\00:22:56.57 So in other words then to think that in any way that 00:22:56.57\00:22:58.77 Jesus ever spoke against... in any way tried to eliminate 00:22:58.97\00:23:04.51 what we know as Mosaic law, Torah, the Old Testament - 00:23:04.71\00:23:07.65 or His own heritage - right - is absolutely false. 00:23:07.65\00:23:09.85 So I'd love to continue this but Rachel, we want to 00:23:10.05\00:23:12.42 hear from you. You have a song for us today. 00:23:12.42\00:23:13.82 What are you going to sing? Yes me Hoo. 00:23:13.82\00:23:15.79 Yes me Hoo. What does Yes me Hoo mean? 00:23:15.99\00:23:17.46 Yes me Hoo means rejoice. 00:23:17.66\00:23:20.06 Those who keep the Sabbath and call it the delight 00:23:20.26\00:23:25.77 will rejoice in the Lord's kingdom. OK, so Rachel 00:23:25.97\00:23:29.90 and Martin is back with us. Thank you, brother. 00:23:30.11\00:23:33.88 And let's hear this song. 00:23:34.08\00:23:35.84 Wonderful! Rachel, what an awesome song. 00:26:34.56\00:26:38.43 The Sabbath is a beautiful thing to sing about. 00:26:38.63\00:26:40.60 Oh man! That's great. I'd like to sing more. 00:26:40.80\00:26:42.93 That was really good. Well, we want to thank you 00:26:42.93\00:26:45.77 once again for joining us on this program. 00:26:45.97\00:26:48.77 You know, I think it's such an important thing, Rachel, 00:26:49.07\00:26:52.01 that as we draw closer to Jesus we really strive to really 00:26:52.21\00:26:55.68 understand exactly who He is - that's right - in the context 00:26:55.68\00:26:59.11 of all that He was. So we want to thank you once again 00:26:59.11\00:27:02.38 for joining us on Back To Our Roots. 00:27:02.38\00:27:04.99 Rachel, what a pleasure it is to do this with you. 00:27:04.99\00:27:08.59 We want to thank Sasha and Martin again for being with us. 00:27:08.59\00:27:12.23 And we want to thank you most of all. 00:27:12.43\00:27:14.13 We pray that as we bring the Hebraic roots to you 00:27:14.36\00:27:18.90 that God is going to draw you 00:27:19.10\00:27:21.77 even closer and closer to our Messiah 00:27:21.97\00:27:24.31 because that's what it's all about. That's right! 00:27:24.51\00:27:26.37 So I'd like to close today with the Aaronic blessing. 00:27:26.57\00:27:31.18 And I've been saying it to you. 00:27:31.38\00:27:32.81 I'm going to do it in English and Hebrew. 00:27:32.81\00:27:34.32 May the Lord bless you. May He keep you. 00:27:34.52\00:27:36.18 May the Lord make His face to shine upon you 00:27:36.38\00:27:38.05 and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His 00:27:38.05\00:27:40.06 countenance upon you and bring you His peace. 00:27:40.06\00:27:43.02