The Apostle John tells us that John the Baptist was the first one who proclaimed the primary purpose of Yeshua’s mission. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (Jn. 1:29, 36) But this Lamb did not show up the way the experts wanted and when Yeshua refused to fulfill the violent desires of the religious experts, they inflicted grave violence on Yeshua, but Yeshua expected that, and so did John the Baptist, even though he didn’t live to see it.
The only winter celebration mentioned in the Gospels is the festival of Dedication, or Chanukah. Yeshua was at the Temple during that eight-day celebration and stated boldly, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). This caps a string of clashes between Yeshua and certain religious leaders — recorded in John 7-10 and covering a two-month period from Sukkot, or the festival of Tabernacles, to Chanukah — over whether Yeshua was the Messiah.
Yeshua (Jesus) said His “time” had come at that Passover He died as the Lamb of God. Yet, likely there was an “appointed time” for His conception and birth that was in line with “appointments” the LORD already had established.
Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) had a special encounter with seven of His closest students and was out to rebuild a special one, Peter, following a heart-breaking betrayal. Yeshua taught Peter that to truly love God, he must have not just brotherly love but self-sacrificing love.
Why was Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) go to the temple on Chanukah, the Festival of Dedication, in John 10? The healing of the blind man in John 9, an obscure messianic prophecy in Haggai 2 and Yeshua’s bold statements gave Israel’s leaders their ultimate test of loyalty to the Holy One or to anti-God human laws.