Yep! You heard me right – Happy Hanukkah!
Hanukkah, which means to dedicate or rededication, is a profoundly important holiday for many reasons, and one that followers of Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, could learn a few things from. It began on the evening of Sunday, December 2nd and goes until the evening of December 10th. It’s not just called Hanukkah, but it’s also called the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication! It’s an eight-day celebration of the miracle of the menorah staying lit for eight days, when it only had enough oil for one. Tradition states that after the victorious undertaking of a Jewish family against an evil Syrian king, who desecrated and defiled the temple of God, this family – actually a family of priests – made efforts to cleanse and re-dedicate the temple back to God. In doing so, they found a small batch of undefiled oil, enough to light the menorah lamp for one day. In faith they lit it, knowing that in twenty-four hours this “eternal” lamp, intended to stay lit always, could possibly burn out. However, miraculously, the flames remained for eight days, exactly the amount of time it took to make a new batch of pure olive oil for the lampstand. It was a miracle, one that would be celebrated from that time forward, an eight-day celebration of the miraculous provision of God!
But this is not just a story about the miracle of the menorah burning for eight days on one day worth of oil. It’s also a story about a fierce, victorious, military campaign against an evil king and a family devoted to the one true God taking a stand against a pagan empire. But even MORE exciting and important than that, Hanukkah has the most specific and precise revelation regarding the end times, and the strategy of how to overcome them! It’s truly a remarkable story on many fronts. But for the sake of time I want to focus on just a couple of things: rededication and faith.
The story of Hanukkah is not found in the old testament, except in the book of Daniel when he prophecies about this evil king who defiles the temple of God, and the coming anti-christ figure who will go about things the same way. However, it is found in the new testament when Jesus is mentioned with it in John 10. Problem is, when the translators translated the Bible from Greek to English, they made it easy to overlook. Most people do not realize it’s there because it doesn’t say Hanukkah, rather it’s translated as Feast of Dedication, which is the same as Hanukkah. The story itself is found in the historical book of the Maccabees. Bibles do not include 1 and 2 Maccabees, with the exception of a Catholic bible, and perhaps one of two other denominations, but the Apocrypha does.
It’s the story of Israel’s oppression and persecution under the hand of an evil Syrian king named Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He was the successor to Alexander the Great, who influenced Israel, and other nations within the Greek empire, with the Hellenistic culture – a pagan culture. When Antiochus came into power, many of the Jewish people had adopted this pagan culture and were basically allowing their heritage to be wiped out by succumbing to persecution tactics, and ultimately embracing the culture being forced upon them. Antiochus only made things worse for the Jews by increasing the persecution, including forbidding them to read the Torah and defiling and desecrating the temple of the living God. Antiochus had pigs slaughtered on the altar and erected a statue of Zeus in the house of God. This was an abomination which incited a rebellion from a Jewish family named the Maccabees, a family of priests, who ultimately obtained victory against this evil ruler. When they observed the state of the temple afterwards they knew they needed to cleanse it and rededicate it back to God – essentially hanukkah the temple back to God. This is where the re-dedication took place, the temple of God.
And why should followers of Jesus care? Because our bodies are now the temple of the living God (1 Cor. 6:19), housing the Holy Spirit within us. Hanukkah is not just a Jewish history lesson but a good lesson for us as well as we prepare our hearts during this Christmas season. First, just as evil rulers imposed their pagan culture on the Jewish people, this is a good time to reflect on our own culture and what it may be imposing on us and our beliefs. Jesus never compromised the word of God for the sake of the culture, nor should we.
Secondly, just as Antiochus desecrated God’s house and defiled it with all kinds of abominations, so too must we be careful not to allow other “rulers” to come and desecrate us, His temple. Hanukkah is a good reminder for believers in Jesus to re-examine their lives. What is defiling your temple? Are you taking care of your body? What consumes your mind and thoughts? What are you speaking forth about yourself, or others? Are you blessing or cursing? Are you worshipping other idols? What takes precedence over cultivating a prayer life or time spent in the presence of your Savior? What monopolizes your time?
Perhaps we take the next eight days of Hanukkah and recalibrate, clean house, re-dedicate ourselves back to God. When I was in Israel we visited Cana where we re-dedicated ourselves back to our bridegroom, Jesus. We were reminded that this place, this world, is not our home. This is our place of preparation, not our destination, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you” (1 Cor. 6:17), or “be holy for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44-45, 1 Peter 1:16). If you find that you are more drawn to this world, and the things of it, rather than pursuing His, then it might be a good time to take the next eight days during Hanukkah and ask yourself why? What is the lure of this world to you?
Lastly, Hanukkah is also a good reminder to have faith! The menorah was lit, regardless of knowing that there was only enough oil for one day. The Jewish people had the faith to light it anyway, and God miraculously showed up. Every day, if we are spending time with the Lord, He is asking us to step out in faith. He has asked many things of me, as of late, that I don’t quite understand, but in faith I say “yes”, make a move, and He miraculously shows up. Perhaps it’s time to let go of fear and ignite faith. We ignite fear when we doubt God and forget that nothing is too hard for Him! Nothing!
So, maybe this Christmas season you make it a point to look at the eight days of Hanukkah as a time of not just celebration, but preparation. First, find time to read the book of the Maccabees. And second, consider this a time of re-dedicating your temple back to God and taking a new step in faith, a step out of the old and into something new. You just might find a Hanukkah miracle yourself.
Love,
Jeremiahs Call Ministries
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