Yeshua and the Festival of Lights
The Festival of Lights is happening all over the world and believers from every nation are lighting their hanukkiahs (Hanukkah Menorah) in memory of the miracles that God performed some 2,200 years ago in Jerusalem. This event marks that Hanukkah has started.
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
The First Miracle
The first miracle was God’s deliverance and provision.
For many years, the Jewish people were oppressed by the Greeks, who desecrated the Holy Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar.
They imposed idolatry, forbidding the Jewish People to read the Torah and follow it.
God delivered His people through a Jewish priest named Mattathias and his sons. They led a small group of Jewish men who rose up against the 25,000 Syrian/Greek army soldiers. This was the First and Real Miracle of Hanukkah.
When Jewish priests entered the Temple to rededicate it and light the Menorah, they found only a bottle of pure oil – enough to last only a day.
The Anointing
Miraculously, that tiny supply of oil lasted a full eight days.
This second miracle gave the priests enough time to create more sanctified oil to keep the Menorah Temple lit 24 hours a day.
More than 100 years later, Yeshua was in the Holy Temple in Hanukkah when He was asked directly, “Are you the Messiah?”
“Then came the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) in Jerusalem. It was winter and Yeshua (Jesus) was in the Temple area walking in the Colonnade of Solomon.
“The Jews gathered around him, saying: ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’”
John 10:22–24
The Confirmation
In that Hanukkah, Yeshua confirmed to those who asked if He is the Messiah, the Shepherd of Israel.
Other verses confirm that He is the Light of the World (John 8:12) and also that through Him we can be lights shining in the darkness of these Last Days (Philippians 2:15).
Our Wish and Hope
My family and I will be thinking of YOU as we light each of the candles on this Holy Days of Hanukkiah.
May this Holiday season be lit up with the
Light of the world – Yeshua HaMashiach.
Shalom!
Rabbi Douglas