HANUKKAH

HANUKKAH

Friday – December 23, 2016

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are knee deep into a wonderful time of year, Thanksgiving is behind, Hanukkah is here, Christmas is two days away and a New Year is breathing down our collar. God is so good. You may be wondering why I am talking about a Jewish Holiday that is not one of the Feasts’ of the Lord. Just as God has moved many times on behalf of the Jewish people so does and will He move on behalf of the Church when we submit ourselves to Him crying out in repentance, and tearing down the high places once again dedicating this tabernacle to Him and Him alone. Before I dive into this please be reminded to pray for the people of God, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church is in ruin but there will be a real Church arise and take this world by storm before the coming of Christ to catch the Church away. Which of us will have our lamps trimmed and have plenty of oil when the bridegroom appears for the Church?

It appears that Jesus may have celebrated Hanukkah being present in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of the Dedication.

John 10:22-23 (KJV)
²²And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
²³And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

December 24^th at 6 PM is the beginning of the nine day Festival of Dedication. This feast is also known as a Festival of Lights or more commonly Chanukah (Hanukkah). Chanukah is not one of the Feasts of the Lord enumerated in Leviticus Twenty-Three. The origins of Chanukah took place during the inter-testament period. The Holy Land including modern day Israel at that time was occupied first by Alexander the Great of Greece and then following his death by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175 BC – 164 BC). Antiochus was a brutal ruler who outlawed Judaism and placed a statue of Zeus in the Most Holy Place of the Temple. On top of all that he sacrificed unclean animals in the Temple. But worse still it is reported by Josephus the Jewish Historian and in the book of Second Maccabees 5:11-14 and 6:1-11 (not canon) that Antiochus would sacrifice pigs, cut the hands off Jews and cut out their tongues and sacrifice them as well with the unclean animals.

The Jews revolted led by the Maccabees and liberated Jerusalem in about 165 BC. They immediately set about the cleansing of the Temple, to return the Temple to its intended use, to rededicate the Temple to the True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When they went to light the menorah located in the Holy Place they found there was only enough special oil for one day and it takes eight days to make new oil. Pictured is a standard Menorah or candelabra with six lamps and a center lamp (seven total) called the servant lamp. The candelabrum is of pure gold. The oil represents the Holy Spirit, the six lamps represent mankind, the gold represents purity, and the servant lamp is Jesus. The Servant lamp is used to ignite the fire in the other lamps. I think you can readily see the picture of the Holy Spirit always being present but becomes a purifying flame when Jesus enters the picture. They lit the Candelabra anyway knowing there was only one day of oil and it would take eight days to make more of this special olive oil for this purpose.

The oil miraculously burned for eight days until the new oil was ready. Now Chanukah is celebrated with a nine candle candelabra recognizing that God delivered them once again from their enemies and caused the candles to flame miraculously for eight days. There are four candles or lamps on each side of the servant lamp. Eight is the number of new beginnings and the number nine represents divine completeness given from the Lord. The center lamp is still representative of Jesus and the flame the Holy Spirit. Jesus and the Holy Spirit brought Devine completeness to all peoples. I am sure that all of us recognize that Israel, the first Covenant people, have been preserved by the Hand of God over and over down through history and they will be a people of God forever.