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When asked,
“What is the miracle of Chanukkah?” the traditional
response is: “Chanukkah is about a great miracle
that took place in Israel when the Jewish people
fought against the Syrians who had invaded Jerusalem
and desecrated the Temple. The Temple was dedicated
to Zeus and unclean pigs were offered there. The
Syrians also forbid circumcision and Sabbath observance
and the practice of the Torah. They intended to
wipe out the faith of the Chosen People. That
would have been a disaster for the world, since
they alone knew God, had the Bible and through
them Messiah the Savior would come. But after
three years the Jewish people recaptured Jerusalem
and the Temple, and relit the golden menorah that
gave light inside the Temple. At first, there
wasn’t enough holy oil for the menorah, but a
miracle occurred, and the oil that was enough
for one day miraculously burned for eight days
until more oil could be obtained. That’s the miracle
of Chanukkah”!
But that’s
not the miracle of Chanukkah! The legend of the
oil is not found in the original accounts, and
most likely never happened. The real miracle of
Chanukkah is that a small number of Jewish people,
supernaturally empowered by God, were able to
overcome the vastly superior armies of Syria.
The righteous few overcame the godless many, and
the weak who had faith in the true God overcame
those were stronger than they were. They won miraculous
victory after miraculous victory until the Syrians
were defeated, our capital city of Jerusalem was
recaptured, the Temple was cleansed and rededicated
for the worship of the One True and Living God
who alone can save and rescue and deliver human
beings from the very real and utterly destructive
forces of Satan, sin and death. From the rededicated
Temple the presence of God and the truths of the
God who alone can save mankind were one revealed
to Israel and the nations of the world!
Chanukkah
is about the supernatural victories of the Jewish
people and the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem.
The dedication of the Temple was very, very important.
The Temple was the most important place on Earth.
It was that special place which is what true Torah-Judaism
is all about - not the man-made Judaism of today
that substitutes synagogues for the Temple, rabbis
for priests, and human efforts for the blood of
the sacrifices.
The Temple
was that very special place where God chose to
manifest His presence on Earth in the most profound
way - where the Kavod Adonai, the Glorious Presence
of the Lord, and the Shechinah - the Dwelling
Presence of the Creator were manifested most powerfully
on this planet.
The Temple
reminds us that the God of Israel is not the kind
of God who is distant from His creation, and wants
to remain aloof from mankind. He is the kind Supreme
Being who wants to be close to us, to be with
us, to live with us, to teach us and make atonement
possible for us. The Temple enabled the Holy God
to live in a limited way among human beings.
We needed
the Temple because this fallen world is under
the power of the Evil One. The Temple was like
the beginning of God's invasion and recapture
of planet Earth, like a little beachhead that
He won that had been dominated by enemy forces.
The Temple
was that place where the principles of sin and
sacrifice and atonement were most clearly presented
to a fallen and dying and religiously confused
world.
The Temple
was the place where bulls, goats, lambs, rams
and pigeons were killed, and their blood was spilled,
gathered and then sprinkled on the altar by Jewish
priests, to make a temporary but real and beneficial
atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel.
Chanukkah
is about the Temple and its dedication. That was
very important. But no matter how important the
Temple was, it was not complete. A greater and
more important Temple, a Temple more able to save
us needed to come - not another building made
of gold and silver and wood and stone, but a living
human being, made in the image of God; a holy
and dedicated man in whom God could live and reveal
Himself and provide an even greater atonement
for humanity - not a temporary atonement, and
not a lesser atonement based on the blood of animals,
but a greater and eternal atonement based on the
precious blood of the eternal Son of God!
Yeshua
is that Greater Temple, that place where God lives
and reveals Himself to fallen human beings. Yeshua
is that Temple that provides complete and lasting
atonement. Yeshua is that Temple where the truth
about God and the principles of atonement are
most clearly seen!
The Son
of God, who lived with the Father from eternity,
came to Earth. The One who is properly called
Immanuel, God With Us, became incarnate, which
means He took on a human body, became flesh, and
dwelt among us. In Him the fullness of God lived
in human form. This Wonderful Counselor, this
Mighty God, this Father of Eternity, this Prince
of Peace became a child who was born to us, and
a son given to us. Through the incarnation, Yeshua
became that even greater Temple of God. That is
why He could tell a group of Jewish leaders:
Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will
raise it up... speaking about Himself and
His death and resurrection.
When the
Son of God died, something supernatural happened
to the Temple. The veil to the Most Holy Place
in the Temple was divinely torn from top to bottom.
That teaches us that because of Messiah's death,
the dwelling presence of God was for the first
time being made available to all mankind - not
just to the High Priest of Israel. God is now
welcoming everyone - Jews and Gentiles, into His
eternal presence. All anyone has to do is believe
that Yeshua is the Messiah and the risen Lord
and that person is welcomed into God’s presence.
Then 50
days after He died, the Father and the Son poured
out the Spirit They share into those first Messianic
Jewish disciples, and they became the Temple of
God, the place where God lives and reveals Himself
and teaches and saves! Do you not know that
you are a Temple of God, Rabbi Paul asked
the Corinthians, and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you? In his second letter to that
community of Jews and Gentiles, Paul writes: We
are the Temple of the Living God; just as God
said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them;
and I will be their God, and they will be my people”.
Think
of it! Fallen human beings, Jews and Gentiles,
once spiritually dead because of their trespasses
and sins, and alienated from God, are now being
built together into a dwelling place for God's
Spirit. The Father and the Son, by Their Spirit,
have taken up eternal residence in us!
In order
for any of God’s temples to accomplish the Lord’s
purposes for that temple, that temple needs to
be dedicated to the true God. It can’t be devoted
to other gods. It needs to function according
to the truth. It needs to operate the way God
intended it, based on the teachings of the Word
of God. That temple needs to be clean and not
get contaminated by anything dirty.
The Temple
in Jerusalem was dedicated to God by the blood
of animals that were sacrificed. That dedication
was maintained by following the teachings contained
in God’s Word about the way the Temple was to
function.
Messiah
is the Greater Temple, and He was dedicated to
God from the beginning. He was devoted to God,
set apart for God, committed to exclusively serve
God.
Throughout
His life He maintained that dedication. He maintained
His dedication by making a decision to put God
first, and not Himself - not His own plans or
goals, but God’s will and desires: He stated:
I came down from Heaven, not to do My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me. I do not seek
My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.
Messiah,
the Greater Temple maintained His dedication by
sanctifying Himself. He said: I sanctify Myself
- I set Myself apart to serve God; set Myself
apart from anything that is unholy, anything that
is against God’s will.
He maintained
that dedication by completely familiarizing Himself
with the Word of God so He wouldn’t violate God’s
teachings. He knew that people were sanctified
by the truth, and that God’s Word is that truth
that sanctifies human beings.
Messiah
was dedicated to God. He was close to God. He
maintained that closeness by talking to God all
the time. And He would continually listen to God
talking to Him. And what the Son heard His Father
saying He acted on.
Messiah,
the Greater Temple maintained His dedication by
realizing that He had a mission to accomplish.
He said: My food (that which is vitally
important to Me and will keep Me alive) is
to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish
His work. Messiah allowed nothing to deter
Him from His mission.
The Son
of God, who is that Greater Temple, maintained
His dedication by not compromising when He was
pressured to yield to something wrong, by not
giving into any threat or any intimidation.
Messiah
Yeshua is the Temple of God and He shows us how
a human being, who has become a temple of God,
maintains its dedication. And, Christians and
Messianic Jews are now the Temple of God, and
we need to dedicate ourselves to God and maintain
our dedication.
We do
that by first realizing that we need to dedicate
ourselves to God. We make a decision to devote
ourselves to God, to set ourselves apart for God.
That is reasonable and right thing to do because
the Lord is not only our Creator but also our
Redeemer who saved us at such a high cost. Have
you done that? Have you made that commitment to
dedicate yourself to the Three-In-One God? Do
you realize that you belong to God, that you have
been bought with a high price, and that it is
your obligation to dedicate yourself to God?
Then,
after we make that initial commitment of dedication,
we try and maintain that dedication. We maintain
our dedication by making a decision to keep on
putting God first, and not ourselves. We make
a decision to follow God’s will for our life.
We try and discern God’s plans for our life -
in the big decisions like the choice of marriage
and career, and also in the little things.
We maintain
our dedication by sanctifying ourselves - keeping
ourselves apart from anything that is unholy,
anything that is against God’s will.
We maintain
that dedication by familiarizing ourselves with
the Word of God so we won’t violate God’s teachings.
We try to think about God’s word throughout the
day, and apply its teachings to each situation
we encounter.
We maintain
our dedication by trying to stay close to God
by talking to God all the time, and trying to
hear Him talking to us. We try to cultivate special
periods of time alone with the Lord. We discipline
ourselves to turn our mind and thoughts throughout
the day to talk with God. We thank God for the
interesting things that come to our attention
and pray about everything that strikes us powerfully.
We thank Him for all the good things He has done,
is doing and will do. We praise Him for the Supreme
Being that He is, and His amazing attributes.
We intercede
for ourselves and others, for our congregations,
for the Messianic Jewish Community, for the Church,
for the salvation of the Jewish community, our
friends and family and for the world.
We maintain
our dedication by realizing that we have a mission
to accomplish and that time is short. Time is
precious. Therefore we don’t waste our time. We
understand that there is important, eternal-life
changing work to be done. We have a task to do,
a job to accomplish, some way of serving God both
outside the community by witnessing about the
truth that alone can save human beings from the
real and ruinous forces Satan, sin and death,
and by doing something inside the community to
serve the community and build up the community
in some way.
We maintain
our dedication by not compromising when pressured
to do something wrong; by being bold and courageous
in the midst of a godless world.
And if
we fail in our dedication; if we allow our temple
to get dirty? We admit our failures, and go back
to God with sorrow and repentance and ask Him
to forgive us. And, we have His marvelous promise:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just and will forgive us our sins and purify us
from all unrighteousness - from everything
that we have done wrong. Then once again we are
rededicated to God. How many times can our temples
get dirty and be rededicated? Not once. Not twice,
not seven times, but I tell you at least seventy
times seven times!
Chanukkah.
It’s about the Temple. It’s about dedication.
It’s about the dedication of the Temple that was
in Jerusalem, and the dedication of Yeshua, the
Greater Temple, and about our dedication as the
Temple of God.
No wonder
why the King of the Jews celebrated the holiday
of the Dedication of the Temple! And, we can honor
the victories of the Maccabees and honor the dedication
of that Temple too! And, now that Immanuel has
come, we can celebrate His greater dedication,
and learn from His greater dedication, so we can
be better dedicated to the Living and Three-In-One
God! And that is what Chanukkah is really all
about!
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