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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Chanukah: Dare to be a Daniel, Joseph, Judas Maccabeus

Yosef (Joseph) a betrayed brother turned slave turned prime minister in Mitzraim (Egypt). Daniel a war captive turned wise man turned second to an emperor in Babylon. יהודה המכבי Yehudah ha-Makabi (Judas Maccabeus) a priest of Yisrael turned leader of a successful insurrection against the Seleucid empire’s campaign of forced conversion. Yeshua ha-Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ) in the Temple during the Festival of Dedication. These four accounts may seem to quite disjointed, but the conjunction of the Torah reading מקצ Miketz/Miqetz (Genesis 41:1-44:14, “from the end”) and the celebration of Chanukah/Hannukah helps underscore that ongoing lessons from both help us understand what Yeshua meant by “the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13 NASB).

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings

Luke 21:5-38: When will the sun, moon, stars darken and Son of Man arrive on a cloud?

We don’t want the Day of the LORD to arrive because of its sadly necessary turmoil, yet we hope for it. The main occupants of the heavens — sun, moon and stars — are going to appear dim and dark. It’s almost the reverse of Genesis 1. This is not going to be a good time. Yet, it’s dread and hope, wrapped in one.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings

Demystifying the mysterious ‘abomination of desolation’

One of the ways we can look at the mysterious apocalyptic phrase “abomination of desolation” is to see it as a “Tale of Three Cities” — Babylon, Tyre and Ninevah — and how all three cities are really symbolic of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) herself. The carnage of the “abomination of desolation” will not come on Babylon, Tyre, Ninevah or any of our great cities of modern times like London, New York or Tokyo. From God’s prophets, we understand that it was and will be the people of Yerushalayim who will have a front row seat, and it will be for the same reasons for the previous desolations.

George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We are blessed to read these repeated warning of the spiritual condition of people God calls before an “abomination of desolation” — and internalize the lessons.