Preparing.org - Y'shua In Chanukah

Chanukah IN y'shua

Celebrating the Light

During the Hebrew month of Kislev [corresponding to December/January], many worshipers of YHWH around the world celebrate Chanukah, also known as Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, and the Feast of Lights.

This ancient Holy Day is kept to commemorate the victory of the ancient Israelites over the Greek occupation of Jerusalem in 165 BC. The event is recorded in the Apocryphal book of Maccabees. The celebration centers on the Menorah, or Hebrew Ceremonial Lamp; an item of furniture YHWH instructed Moses to fashion and place in the holy place of the Tabernacle.

At the time the feast was instituted - after their victory over the Greeks - the Israelites cleansed and rededicated the defiled temple, and the lamp was lit. Although the priests only had enough oil to last for one day, the lamp miraculously stayed lit for eight days.

The Menorah our fathers used had seven branches (Ex. 25:31-40). Although most celebrants among European 'Jewry' use a menorah with nine branches, the Biblical Menorah has a divine spiritual purpose. The seven branches represent a physical pattern resembling the times and seasons of the seven feasts recorded in Leviticus 23.

There are three branches on one side representing the feasts in the Spring, (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits), three on the other side representing the feasts in the Fall, (Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles), and one branch in the middle, representing the middle feast that occurs in the month of Sivan (Feast of Pentecost/Weeks).

Although the Feast of Dedication is not listed in Leviticus 23, and is therefore not one of YHWH's original seven High Holy Days, it too, points to Christ...

During a Chanukah held during Y'shua's ministry, while He was at the temple in Solomon's porch, the 'Jews' approached Him and asked, "How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly". It was at that point in time when He proclaimed, "I and my Father are one." (John 10).

What makes this proclamation even more profound is the public declaration Y'shua made prior to the feast. He proclaimed, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12).

For the 'Jews', this was impossible, since Y'shua wasn't a Levite, much less an Aaronite, and was therefore seen as unqualified to be "the light." We, however, as Messianic Hebrew Israelites, have been blessed to understand that both the menorah and the Temple itself were, in the truest sense, memorial types and shadows pointing to YHWH's Mashiach...

For those who choose to celebrate the Feast of Dedication/Chanukah/Feast of Lights, let us do so in the light of truth - that Christ is our Menorah; our Divine illumination; with the oil of YHWH's anointing miraculously sustaining His glorious seven-fold Light forevermore...

Prophet's Commentary