THE FEAST OF DEDICATION
THE FEAST OF DEDICATION
Hanukah
begins on the 12th of December this year. It is an eight day feast
known in the bible as the Feast of Dedication. Jesus celebrated this feast and
He was walking in the temple across Solomon’s portico when the religious
leaders asked Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If you are the
Christ, tell us plainly.”
According
to Rabbi Zev Porat, the 9 stick Menorah is not biblical, but became a tradition
of the Rabbis. HE says that the 7 stick Menorah represents Jesus better and it
is the only one he will use. The seven candles of the Menorah represent Jesus
in His perfection as One who has the 7 spirits of God which are listed in Isa.
11:2:
1.
The Spirit of the Lord
2.
The Spirit of wisdom
3.
The Spirit of understanding
4.
The Spirit of counsel
5.
The Spirit of might
6.
The Spirit of knowledge and
7.
The Spirit of the fear of the Lord
Hanukah,
like the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated for 8 days. The number 8 is
important to the Jews. To them all of history is wrapped up in the number 7.
Just as creation contained 7 days, so earth’s history under the rule of Satan
will be 6 days, or 6000 years followed by the millennial earthly reign of the Messiah,
a 1000 year Sabbath followed by the 8th day which represents a time
of new beginnings… a new heaven and a new earth… sinless eternity.
It is
in the circumcision of the male child on the 8th day that Paul makes
his analogy of the birth of the sons of God in Romans 8:19-23 saying: for the anxious
longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For
the creation was subjected to futility, not of i8ts own will but because of Him
who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from
its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth
together until now. And not only this but also we ourselves, having the first
fruits of the Spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting eagerly
for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”
Again
in Colossians 2:9-12 Paul says: For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in
bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete and He is the head over all
rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also
raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the
dead.”
In this
circumcision we are cut off from the seed of Adam and born again of the incorruptible
seed of Christ. We die to Satan’s kingdom and are born again into the kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This then is no casual acceptance of a set
of doctrines as in the articles or rules of a fraternity. We literally die to
Satan’s kingdom and we are born into another kingdom, another realm in which God
is now our Father and we are His children and we are circumcised with a
circumcision made without hands. It is a circumcision of the Spirit as He cuts
us off from our flesh to live by His Spirit rather than by the flesh.
So when
Christ’s light is in us we too become lights, for Jesus said: “You are the light
of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Mt. 5:14.
In this
kingdom in which we believers live, we have a sort of food to eat that the world
does not understand. We live in the middle of a great conspiracy. We are caught
in a Matrix that is run by Satan. If we eat the spiritual food of this matrix
we will die, but if we eat of the bread of life we shall live. It is the life
of Christ administered to us by His Holy Spirit.
Jesus,
as a matter of first priority went into the wilderness to face our enemy straight
on. He was led there by the Spirit because Jesus is the champion of our faith… the
David against our Goliath. There Yeshua introduced to us the breakfast of
champions saying: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God.” Mt. 4:4.
If we
are to lead a Spirit filled life then we need spiritual food and Jesus said it
straight out. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words
that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” John 6:63. God’s Word is
spiritual food… and while we may understand it to some extent with our fleshly
minds, it is truly intended to feed our spirit, for the things of the Spirit
are spiritually understood.
Paul
explained it in 1 Cor. 14-16 saying: “But the natural man does not accept the things
of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand
them because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all
things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the
Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
In many
ways, I believe that the truths found in the Torah are more for our day than
they were for theirs. It was written for us upon whom the ends of the age have
come. Why? It is because that which was given in physical signs and symbols, in
types and shadows is truly better understood spiritually. And as Jesus told His
disciples in John 14:15-17:
“If you
love Me, you will keep My commandments and I will ask the father and He will
give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not behold Him or know
Him, but you know Him because He abides WITH you and WILL BE IN YOU.”
What we
have in the New Covenant then is a spiritual unfolding of the physical truths
presented in the Old Covenant. They are given understanding and life by the
very Spirit of Christ. And He assured them saying in the next verse: “I will
not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:18.
Now,
because of Yeshua’s life and teaching, we have spiritual understanding of those
things which they fulfilled as ritual and tradition. Jesus breathed life into the
truths that God had first established in types and shadows. He lived them in
the Spirit. And this is precisely why Jesus said that He did not come to destroy
the Law or the prophets, but to fulfill. It wasn’t a doing away with or a
chopping off of the Old Covenant… in fact the Old Covenant becomes the very
foundation on which the New Covenant perfectly sits.
When
people out of ignorance say that the Jews have nothing to do with the last
days, they have no idea what they are saying. Believing Jews know more about
the last days than most Christians do. The Old Testament is full of end time
prophecy, including Zechariah 12:10 when they will look upon Him whom they have
pierced. It is the “Time of Jacob’s Trouble that will bring them to that point and
that is where replacement theology has blinded Christians. The time of Jacob’s
Trouble is exactly what it says; it is Jacob’s Trouble… Israel’s trouble.
But
more than that, they understand the 8 days of creation for it is written both
into the Feast of Dedication (Hanukah) and in the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).
We have lived 6 days (6000 years) under the fall of man, that will be followed
by a seventh day (1000 years) of the earthly reign of Messiah under King Yeshua
where we will reign with Christ for 1000 years as it says in Revelation 20:4.
This
7000 year history then is followed by the 8th day… a day of new
beginnings when a new heaven and a new earth will be created. The first heaven
and the first earth will be no more, circumcised if you will… cut off and replaced
by the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As I have
mentioned so many times, the Fall Feasts form an outline of earth’s final
events and as Rabbi Mark Biltz says,
we can’t even begin to understand the book of Revelation properly unless we
understand the Fall feasts for the book of Revelation is written in the language
of the Feasts and we can only rightly understand the significance of John’s
symbolism if we understand the feasts.
Revelation
19 tells us that we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air for the marriage
of the Lamb. This can only be a period of 3 1/2 or 7 years (depending on
whether the tribulation is 3 ½ years or 7 years) and then we return with Jesus
(Rev. 19:8, 14, Zech. 14:5) to the battle of Armageddon. He slays them with the
breath of His mouth and then sets foot on the Mt. of Olives (Zech. 14:4) and
from there He goes into Jerusalem through the eastern gate and takes up His
millennial reign.
This is
why General Allenby got off his horse and walked into Jerusalem in 1917, just
100 years ago. Apparently they knew their bibles better than we do today.
1 Cor.
10:11 tells us saying:”Now these things happened to them (Israel) as an example
and they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have
come. “
I moved
to a Messianic Fellowship because in my study of Bible prophecy I began to
understand that I was missing vital information concerning the last days. One cannot
rightly understand Bible prophecy or even God’s overall plans if they believe
in replacement theology. We did not replace the Jews; we were grafted into the
Jewish Olive tree. Romans 11:17. By faith
in Yeshua (Our Jewish Messiah) we become Abraham’s seed and heirs according to
promise. (Gal. 3:29)
According
to Ephesians 2 God’s goal and desire is that we, Jews and Gentiles will become
one new man in Christ and we see this desire played out in the New Jerusalem
which has foundations of the Apostles who were actually Jews and gates named
after the 12 tribes of Israel, also Jews.
I don’t
think that anti-Semitic people will be happy in heaven. It is, after all,
through Abraham that all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Romans 11
assures us that God’s promises to Israel are irrevocable and that they are held
in partial blindness until the fullness of the Gentiles are come in and then He
will finish His covenant with Israel. This He will do during the time of Jacob’s
trouble and that is one of the reasons why we believe that the 70th
week of Daniel happens at the end of time. The mandates given in Daniel’s 70
week mandate cannot be completely fulfilled until Israel is once again united
with her Messiah.
Paul sums
it up saying: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways.” Rom. 11:33
In the 4th
century Christianity divorced itself from its Jewish roots only to turn around
and marry the pagans. Whether by design or by default the church became
pagan/Christian rather than Judeo/Christian. But now we are rapidly approaching
the end of the times of the Gentiles and it is time for the family of God to be
reunited. This I believe to be the purpose for which the Lord has raised up the
Messianic movement in these last days. They have a twofold mission:
1.
They are to remind the church of its Judeo/Christian
roots and to place it back on its foundations
2.
They are to present a Jewish Yeshua to the Jews,
because, as in the story of Joseph, his brothers didn’t recognize him because
he looked like an Egyptian. Today Jesus looks more pagan than Jewish and if we
are going to win the Jews to Jesus we need to present Him as He really is.
Interestingly
enough hundreds of Jews are coming to Christ in Israel right now because of the
Messianic movement and many churches in America and around the world are waking
up to their Jewish roots as well.
To this
very day the Pope of Rome is still trying to gain control of Jerusalem. He
believes in replacement theology as did Constantine. But the New world Order is
seeking to divide and conquer Israel as well, because Satan wants to rule from
Jerusalem in the place of Christ. The
book of Revelation reveals Satan’s plot to rule the world with his unholy
Trinity, the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet.
We are
looking down the gun barrel of these events taking place in our day and we need
to understand the issues as God would have us understand them.
Meanwhile,
Happy Hanukah, for just as God used the Maccabees to overthrow Antiochus
Epiphanes in times past, so He will use His people under the leadership of
Yeshua to overthrow the antichrist that is rising in our day. Selah.
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