Category: Chanukah

Hebrew for Festival of Dedication, relating to the Temple and to Yeshua (Jesus)

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions

‘I and the Father are one’: Was Yeshua’s shocking Chanukah proclamation blasphemy? (John 10:22–39)

'I and the Father are one': Was Yeshua's shocking Chanukah proclamation blasphemy? (John 10:22-39) Adobe AI-generated impressionist artwork shows a man in the foreground with his back turned holding up a shepherd's crook while facing a crowd under Solomon's colonnade in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The declaration from Yeshua (Jesus) that “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30) was in line with messianic expectation. While there are directives in the Torah, Prophets and Writings about blasphemy, those Scriptures also contain details for the calling card of Messiah. This Bible study suggests that these clues should have inspired introspection among Yeshua’s critics who knew the Scriptures — who were “elohim” of Israel (John 10:34-35). And the leaders’ judgment could have been informed by the timing (Festival of Dedication, aka Chanukah or Hannukah) and location (Temple) of Yeshua’s alleged blasphemy.

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Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions Prophets and Writings

Haggai and Chanukah: How Messiah fills God’s House with greater glory

Heaven calls us to be “ambassadors” of the Messiah (Christ) and “temple(s) of God” (1Cor. 3:16; 6:19), and Yeshua (Jesus) called His body a temple (John 2:19–22).

The prophet Haggai’s message was that the House of God is not a building, but it does reflect the heart condition of the people. Haggai proclaimed that the glory of God and foretold a time when God will fill His house with a greater glory than He did when Solomon commissioned the first Temple (Hag. 2:9). That greater glory arrived when Yeshua stepped foot into the Temple during the Festival of the Dedication (Chanukah, John 10:22-39) in fulfillment of what that prophet foretold would be a crucial work of the Mashiakh (Christ).

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Apostolic Writings Chanukah Discussions Torah

Matthew 24 and Chanukah: Why Yeshua warned believers to run to the hills

The righteous didn't suddenly become righteous, they just didn't go over the cliff with everyone else." Adobe Spark Banner Art

Why Yeshua (Jesus) went to the Temple on Chanukah, aka the Festival of Dedication and the Festival of Lights, wrapped in the history recorded in 1-4 Maccabees.

Those are prequels of sorts to the Gospels. You see why the Romans are in the Holy Land, why Yeshua  warned in Matthew 24 that in the last days God’s people will have to “run to the hills,” and what the “abomination of desolation” (Dan. 11:31; 12:11; Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14) actually looks like. 

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Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

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

Lighting the Chanukkah lights at Chabad Hanukkah lighting in Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa, Calif., on December 26, 2016. Photo by Tammy Quackenbush

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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Appointments With God Chanukah Pentecost/Shavuot

Shavuot (Pentecost): Spirit-transformed to follow God’s Law

Colorized photo of a wheat harvest in Pennsylvania in 1943. Photo by John Collier, public domain photo.

Shavuot for Jews. Pentecost for Christians. We can have a great dialogue with our brethren in faith in the Holy One of Israel about the lessons taught in this memorial of the revelation of God. The Word was spoken and written at Sinai, become flesh in Yeshua the Mashiakh (Jesus the Christ), and put into action by the transformation of the Spirit.

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Appointments With God Chanukah

Chanukah drama: Conquering compromise

Kari briefs Rose on the role of Antiochus IV.
Kari briefs Rose on the role of Antiochus IV.

Similar to the dramatic reading and play that Hallel Fellowship puts on to teach the text and themes of Purim, the festival in the biblical book of Esther, the congregation presented a play about Chanukah, the Festival of Dedication, aka the Festival of Lights.

Categories
Apostolic Writings Appointments With God Chanukah Discussions Prophets and Writings

Chanukah: Prophecy and memorial for conception of Messiah and declaration of His mission

Jeff

What does ‎Chanukah (Festival of Dedication) have to do with believers in ‎Yeshua (‎Jesus)? It’s in the ‎Bible, and Yeshua celebrated it. In doing so, He gave one of the most startling teachings about Himself (John 10:22-38). As well as a remembrance of the perils of giving up God’s words to fit in or save one’s neck, Chanukah is a memorial of the great miracle of the conception of the ‎Messiah — ‎Immanuel (God With Us) — through Miriam (Mary) (Luke 1; 1Chronicles 24; Haggai 2).