Here's a fun little factoid for you, did you know Chanukah is in your bible?
don't believe me huh?
And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
John 10:22
You may be saying to yourself; "Um…I see winter and dedication, I don't see the word Chanukah at all."
Well my friend, it's because you don't know the meaning of Chanukah or the fact that it's the only feast in "winter" that is celebrated by jewish people. Chanukah is the "Feast of dedication" that is its meaning, it is more than what you see on the surface level, it is more than lighting some candles for eight days. Yeshua(Jesus) found Chanukah important enough to be in the temple, at the time of it's celebration.
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
John 10:23
What did Yeshua say in John chapter 8? He called Himself the "Light of the World",
do you not see the symbolism of lighting the chanukiah?(Chanukah Menorah) it goes much deeper than that. A chanukiah(a menorah specifically used for Chanukah) has a total of 9 candle holders, usually one candle holder on the chanukiah is raised a little higher than the others, this is called the "Shammash candle" this is the candle that is lit and then lights the other candles on the menorah. Shammash means "Caretaker" or "helper"or a better way to put it is "Servant", this is usually a title given to a person in a jewish synagogue who takes care of temple duties, in christianity this would be called a "Deacon".
Yeshua was absolutely a servant, He only did the Fathers will, and like the "Shammash candle" that gives light to the other candles, is Yeshua not our light? without Yeshua we are nothing, and we must be shining beacons of light, and only by Yeshua is it possible for us to be light! Where is such symbolism, such biblical affirmation in Christmas? think about it, what does Christmas even have to do with Yeshua? sure, you say;
"it's when our savior was born!"
but really that's not even biblically accurate at all, and even if it were true…what exactly does santa clause and decoration of a tree have anything to do with His birth? none the less I'm not writing to talk about Christmas, I'm writing to share how biblical and important Chanukah is.
I did say it was more than lighting a menorah, some call it "the festival of lights" and I suppose it is, but its meaning is really "The feast of Dedication", the question becomes, what exactly is being dedicated? Well, you would have to know the story of the Maccabees, which oddly enough is in the Catholic cannon. The story of Chanukah is really found in the first book of Maccabees, I'd say if you want to know the whole story read chapters one thru four. Basically It's about the hellenization of Israel, the spread of greek culture and their philosophy forced down the throats of the jewish people.
This hellenization happened slowly, it really started with Alexander "the great" and only infected and spread after Alexander passed away and divided his kingdom up among his generals. To the greek mind set the jewish people were barbaric for they only "worshipped one GOD" and their laws and customs were looked down upon. Some jewish people welcomed the change, and had no problem adopting pagan customs, but most were really forced to change or they were put to death. King Antiochus attacked Jerusalem and pillaged the Temple, took all the gold out of the temple and defiled the temple of the LORD our GOD the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and made it a worship place for zues, turned the temple into a place of orgies and pagan sex practices to please their "gods".
They would gather up the jewish people and murder them if they didn't worship their gods, and murder them if they tried to hang on to any type of jewishness. It's even recorded that there was a mass slaughter of jewish people who refused to worship their gods and adopt pagan practices, they were keeping the sabbath and refused to take up arms against Antiochus's forces, so they were massacred without fighting back. Well a man named Mattathias and his sons were disgusted with what was happening with Jerusalem and their people being forced into hellenistic practices, and they were not going to stand for it any longer.
This small band of jewish men who were devoted to God and His commandments started up a revolt against Antiochus, they were vastly out numbered but it was shown that God was absolutely on their side. THe real leader and hero of the story is Mattathias's son Judah/Judas Maccabee who was steadfast,loyal and brave…a cunning warrior very much like Gideon.
Judah Maccabee took back Jerusalem and the temple, and they "re-dedicated" the temple back to the LORD, which took eight days, not only was it a miracle that they took back the temple but when they started to dedicate the temple and cleanse it from it's perversion they only found enough oil to last one day but the oil lasted eight days…hence the eight day celebration of Chanukah.
How is this not important? Shouldn't we as believers in our jewish savior Yeshua Ha'Mashiach(Jesus Christ) honor the days of Chanukah? It was apparently important enough to Yeshua that He went to temple during the feast. Don't the events of Chanukah parallel for us today?
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:19
As believers in Yeshua, full of the promised Ruach Hakodesh(Holy Spirit), our bodies are the temple, Chanukah is a time of declaring such, Chanukah is a time of clarification and dedication of our bodily temple to God. I mean, can you seriously not relate to the Maccabees? have our beliefs not been hijacked…has "Christianity" itself not become "hellenized" or to put it in todays terms "Westernized". We live in a culture that is saturated with unbiblical thinking, unbiblical theology and unbiblical living…and just like back in the days of the Maccabees some of us have no problem adopting paganism, and following the ways of the world while still claiming to be for God. Just like the days of the Maccabees we will come to a time where we will no longer be able to walk the fence, we wont be able to walk on the line of worldliness and Godliness, I promise you there will come a time where you are going to have to choose a side, and there will come a time where you will be faced with either surrendering your faith in the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob or being faced with death…..which would you choose?
I hope you would stand and fight, and refuse to surrender just like the Maccabees !
