Rabbi Schneider - The Truth About Hanukkah
Hanukkah in the New Testament is referred to as the Feast of Dedication. The reason the gospels speak about Hanukkah as the Feast of Dedication, the scripture says that Yeshua Jesus was in the temple during the Feast of Dedication. The reason that the New Testament refers to Hanukkah as the Feast of Dedication is because the word Hanukkah actually means dedication.
Some of you may already know that Hanukkah is the celebration of when the Jewish people were able to liberate the temple in Jerusalem. They took it back from the Greco Assyrians, and then they rededicated it. They rededicated it. That's where we get the word Hanukkah and Feast of Dedication back to the Lord. It's a very joyous time of year. As we recall that, we think about how, when they went into the temple and rededicated it back to the Lord, there was only enough oil in the temple that the menorah, the candle in the temple would burn for one day. But supernaturally, tradition tells us, it burned for eight days. That's why we celebrate Hanukkah for eight days.
So Hanukkah is a happy time of year. It's a time of freedom, a time of celebration. It's also referred to as the festival of lights. Of course, in the United States, particularly, Jewish families like Hanukkah, because they don't feel that, their children are missing out on Christmas, because, in Judaism, in the United States, in the Jewish culture, we're giving presents to our children for eight days to reflect the eight days that the light in the temple supernaturally burned. And so, in the United States parents feel "wow, my kids, aren't going to be jealous of Christians because Christians get presents on Christmas day. But now that we're celebrating Hanukkah this way and giving our children presents for eight days, they won't be jealous of their Gentile friends or people that they know that are Christian, because they're getting presents".
It's an interesting phenomenon that in Israel, they don't exchange presents for Hanukkah, generally speaking. But what I wanted to communicate to you beloved one is this: even though Hanukkah is a great time of celebrating how the Jewish guerrilla warfare warriors we call them the Maccabees. That was the name of the little rag tag army that was able to liberate the temple from the Greco Asyrians back in the 160 BCEs. Even though we celebrate this great victory, the sad truth is that it wasn't long before the Jewish people, the Jewish leaders fell back away from God. And what this teaches me is that it's not just enough to win a victory. That victory needs to be maintained. Remember in 70 AD not that long after the temple was liberated in the 160 BCEs, the temple was destroyed. And the Jewish people were scattered. And Yeshua actually said in the new Testament to the Jewish people, that because they did not recognize the time of their visitation, the time that Yeshua came to the earth, that Jerusalem and the temple was going to fall.
And so I want to challenge us today to stay vigilant. It's not just enough to win one victory. We have to maintain the victory and fight for our freedom 'till the end of our lives. This is why Saul, Paul, at the end of his life said, "I have fought the fight, I have run the race, and now there's laid up for me, a crown of righteousness and not just for me, but for all that are looking to King Jesus, waiting for His appearing".
So I want to encourage you today beloved ones, there's a banner of victory over our lives, but our victory must be fought for, we must persist in it, and we must maintain it. And we must be vigilant all the way until the end of our lives. God's got good things in store for all of us, but we need to fight, and we need to keep our guard up and keep persisting in the battle. This is Rabbi Schneider saying Chag Sameach, happy holiday, happy Hanukkah to you and Shalom.