WhyChannukah

Heart and muscles are the customites of Minolta, Then have a party, we'll all dance the Balla. Gather round and see who will give you a kiss, A cradle to play with, nothing to do. And while we are playing, The candles are burning off. One for each night and each day, And we'd like to remind us of days long ago. One for each night and each day... Hello, this is Daniel Rendleman with the Met Ministries. Welcome to our teaching today called Why Hanukkah? It was a heartfelt and sincere question. I had gone into the post office and wanted to buy some stamps. I said, do you have any Hanukkah stamps? And the postal worker just leaned across the counter and said, Sure I do, but tell me first, what is Hanukkah? Why do you celebrate Hanukkah? You're not Jewish. Well, over the next few minutes I was able to share with him a little bit about Hanukkah, a little bit about my faith. It was a special time, one of those preordained times when I was able to tell him all about who I am as a believer in the Bible and as a person who celebrates Hanukkah. Today we're going to look at that question and we're going to discuss it a little bit ourselves. What is Hanukkah and why Hanukkah? Everybody knows about Christmas. We know about the Nativity scenes. We know about Santa Claus coming down the chimney. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. We even know about the mean old Grinch. He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch. Everybody knows about Christmas. Yet many people wonder and want to know what exactly is Hanukkah and why should a person who's not Jewish, why should even a Jewish person celebrate Hanukkah? Why is Hanukkah celebrated? Is it only for Jews? Can anyone celebrate it? Is it in the Bible? All this is going to be answered today and more. As we search the Scriptures, we look to the Bible as our authority and we begin to discuss Hanukkah. Now, to begin, a lot can be said for a name. Today as we're discussing the name of this holiday, it's called Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a Hebrew word. It simply means dedication. It means to dedicate or to consecrate. Hanukkah has many levels. There are many meanings in this holiday. There are many different applications and different stories that we can learn from when it comes to Hanukkah and much that we can really learn about and adapt into our lives to make ourselves a better person and have more faith. Now, today as we have our discussion, we're going to be using some other special Hebrew words. The first of which is the Hebrew phrase Yahweh. Again, that's the Hebrew phrase Yahweh. This is the Hebrew name of the Creator, of the Almighty, as found throughout the Scriptures. Now, you might say, I've never read that in the Bible. Well, if you're reading in the Bible and you see a capitalized L-O-R-D or a capitalized G-O-D, the translators are letting you know that this is the sacred Hebrew name Yahweh. In Hebrew, it's spelled Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, called the Tetragrammaton. And this is a four-letter Hebrew name used over 7,000 times in the Scriptures as the specific name of the Creator. He says in Exodus chapter 3, this is my name forever as a memorial for future generations. And so we call his name Yahweh. And it means to be. He says, I am, the great I am. We'll also be using a name that you may be familiar with if you've seen the Passion of the Christ movie. It's the name Yeshua, and this is the name that was given to the Son. You know, many people celebrate in December Christmas saying this was the time Jesus was born. Well, in all actuality, Jesus was never called Jesus while he was on the earth. Jesus is an English term translated from a Greek term translated from a Hebrew term. And as you know, if you're speaking with someone and they speak another language, perhaps Spanish, perhaps French, there's much lost in translation. And so by going back to the Hebrew, original Hebrew terms that were used and to the Hebrew root words, we are able to have a greater understanding and appreciation of not only biblical terms, but also the Savior and the Almighty himself. So by calling him Yahweh, we're putting him back in the context in which he is and which he's always been. He says that I am Yahweh, I change not. And Yeshua was, he is, and he is to come. And it says that Yeshua is the name of the Savior. It says in the first book of Luke, it says you shall have a son and you shall name him Yeshua for he shall save his people from their sins. That's what the term Yeshua means. It means Yahweh is salvation. In fact, the word for salvation in Hebrew, you guessed it, is Yeshua. So we're going to be using those terms. We may also use the term Ruach HaKodesh, which is the Hebrew phrase for the Holy Spirit or the set-apart Spirit. Back to Hebrew. The entire Bible is for us, from Genesis to Revelation. And so when we read the Bible, when we study the Bible, when it says to do something, that's a commandment for us, and it explains what our faith and what our life is supposed to be about. And so when we see the Messiah, the Savior, doing something, he's putting his seal of approval upon it, and therefore we can follow in his footsteps and walk as he walked and do as he did. Now again, when it comes to Hanukkah, the question is, what exactly is Hanukkah? And we've said that Hanukkah is the Hebrew word for dedication. Now, the festival of Hanukkah, technically it's pronounced Hanukkah with kind of a sound, kind of from the back of your throat or so, but either way would work. But the festival of Hanukkah calls to memory the dedication of the biblical temple after it was invaded and controlled by Greek oppressors. Now what's interesting about this is that we find Hanukkah is actually celebrating a military victory thousands of years ago. This is not celebrating some jolly fat man coming down your chimney with a bunch of animals, you know, flying animals, if you know what I mean. This is celebrating a real military victory that the Hebrews had over Greek oppressors, and it's a historical event, it's a true event, and so it brings to mind what happened there. You see, many years ago, between the Testaments, between the Testaments is when the events of Hanukkah took place. You see, you have the Older Testament, and then you have it ending around Malachi, and then you've got the Newer Testament beginning with Matthew. Well, in between that, life still went on, and what we found out is that many things still occurred, and one of the things that occurred was there was a man in history called Alexander the Great. You've heard of him maybe in your history classes in college or high school. Well, Alexander the Great had pretty much controlled the world. Well, when he died, the world was divided into quadrants, and each of his generals were given a different area of the world to control and be the ruler over, and it just so happens that a man named Antiochus or Antiochus was given control over the land of Israel. What Antiochus did was he wanted to wipe out the biblical mode of worship, and he wanted to wipe out the Hebrew people, basically. He took over the city of Jerusalem. He took over the nation of Israel. He invaded the country. He passed many laws and rules and regulations. He did some horrible, horrible things that stopped the Hebrews from worshiping in the biblical way. You see, the biblical mode of worship was centered around the temple in Jerusalem, and after the fall and the death of Alexander the Great, this ruler named Antiochus Epiphanes, this commander, came to power, and he took over. He plundered the whole city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel. Now, his name in history is called Antiochus Epiphanes or Antiochus Epiphanes. Now, Epiphanes is not his last name. It's not like Daniel Rendleman is my name and that's my given name. Well, his name was Antiochus, and he chose the name Epiphanes because of what it means. Now, Epiphany, think about the meaning of that word. Epiphanes means God is with us. You see, Antiochus considered himself as a Greek and Roman ruler to be God in the flesh. So Antiochus Epiphanes considered himself this. He was an evil ruler. History accounts that he was an oppressor and that he led an army into Israel, into Jerusalem. This was in the 2nd century B.C. or you could say B.C.E. After conquering Jerusalem, he showed his utter contempt to the Hebrews and to the Holy One of Israel, Yahweh. He sacrificed a pig on the altar. He declared that everyone had to be Greek and no one could study the scriptures, no one could do true worship. He led an army that came into the temple and they desecrated it. It's actually documented in history that he broke every one of the Ten Commandments inside the holy gates of the temple in Jerusalem. This was not a good deed. This was an evil ruler with utter contempt against Yahweh and against the Hebrew people that had been chosen to bring the light and the love of the Creator to the world. You see, he took the temple and he desecrated it. He defiled it with this Greek idea of everybody needs to be Greek and do things the Greek way. We have to understand that in history the Greek method was very humanistic and still is to this day. While the biblical worldview is just the opposite. It's very different than the Greek and humanistic worldview. When this Greek king came in or this general came in, he didn't understand the principle of biblical worship. Yes, it centers around the temple, but our faith is within us. And so even though he destroyed the temple, even though he destroyed the center of our worship, the one who we worship does not resign in that temple as far as you don't have to be there to worship him. We find out in the New Testament that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You can't destroy that seed or that faith inside the people. He thought that if he destroyed the temple, if he destroyed and desecrated the temple, which is what he did, that he could destroy the Hebrew faith, he could destroy the Bible believers, and yet the truth is that is just not the case. And what happened is this evil king, he went in, he desecrated the temple, he broke all the Ten Commandments there, he declared himself to be God in the temple, and history tells us that a very special man named Matthias or Matthew of the Hasmonean tribe and sect, he led a battle against, a revolt against this Hellenistic oppression, this Greek oppression, and they were way outnumbered, but basically this man named Matthias or Matthew, he was a Hasmonean priest, and he said, you know, we just can't do this, and anyone that is for Yahweh, anyone that is for true biblical worship, you come with me and we'll fight a revolt. And so this Hebrew led a revolt against the king and against these oppressors. Well, during the battle, it took several years, he died. The leader of this revolt died and his son took his place. His son kind of rose to the occasion, he took his place and led the battle. And his son's name is Judah, or in Hebrew, Yehuda. And he led the revolt and led this courageous battle against the evil ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes. And what is truly amazing is that this outnumbered, unskilled guerrilla army won a decisive victory over the superior Greek Syrian forces. And it was a miracle. This small group of Hebrews who were not skilled in military battles, they were able to defeat the Greek army, they were able to kick out Antiochus and his commanders, and they were able to reclaim Jerusalem and the site of the Holy Temple. Well, upon entering Jerusalem, they realized what had happened. They began to see that their beautiful temple that had been built to worship Yahweh had been destroyed and been left desolate. And all of the holy things and the holy place was just totally ransacked. I mean, picture someone going into the Crystal Cathedral and shooting up all of the beautiful stained glass on the outside. Picture them turning over the pews and picture them knocking over the pulpit, maybe sawing it in half, killing someone with a knife there on the pulpit, taking a pig, slaughtering it on the pulpit, taking the choir loft and performing sexual acts in the choir loft of the Crystal Cathedral. Picture just a horrible, horrible picture in your mind of someone doing all these things. Multiply it by a thousand and you may have a picture of what Judah, the son of Methathias, actually came into here. And upon entering Jerusalem, they saw this and they mourned over it. But yet, they didn't just mourn over what had happened. They cleansed the temple and then they Hanukkahed it. They rededicated the temple. And so in honor of this military battle and the dedication of the temple, an eight-day festival was begun. That is the history of Hanukkah. The hero of Hanukkah has become Judah. They call him Judah Maccabee or Judah the Maccabee. The Maccabee is basically a Hebrew word and it means hammer. And it's a symbol of Judah's might and the power of the Israeli people. And when we learn about Hanukkah, it's actually the conquering over the Greek and worldly humanistic oppression is the theme here by a Hebrew who had been outnumbered who wanted to restore the biblical mode of worship. And they not only conquered that, but they dedicated and cleansed the temple and was able to reinstate true biblical worship there. So Hanukkah, it's a story of a military battle 2,000 years ago. Before the time of the Messiah came. And it's an amazing historical event that happened. So that's kind of the history of Hanukkah. Now over the years, it has kind of grown in its popularity with Hebrews, with Jewish people, even with Bible believers and even some Zionists as far as... Hanukkah is growing. Now what's happened in the past maybe 30 or 40 years as Christmas has become a retail event and as Christmas has become a time of almost gift-giving, Hanukkah is also kind of shared with some of that. Now nowhere in the scriptures, nowhere even in history do we find a lot of gift-giving during Hanukkah. There's certainly nothing wrong with sharing some gifts and presents. I believe during this time is a time of celebration. And I believe that when you celebrate it's great to give gifts especially to the poor. Maybe not to each other. Maybe not a lot to children. But especially to the poor and to those who are truly in need. Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. It is not some made-up idea of man. But it actually comes about from these Bible believers who dedicated and rededicated the temple. And we actually see that this is in the Bible. It is a theme throughout the Bible. And that our Savior, Yeshua, kept Hanukkah. He actually celebrated Hanukkah. If you were to turn in your Bible to John chapter 10 verse 22 and 23 it tells us, and it was at Jerusalem the feast of Hanukkah or dedication and it was winter and Yeshua walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. So in John chapter 10 verse 22 and 23 we see the Savior going to Jerusalem during winter times which is the time of Hanukkah and during the feast of dedication during the feast of Hanukkah. We never see him celebrating Easter. The Savior never went to a Christmas party. He never sent Valentine's cards. But we do see him keeping the feast of Hanukkah. We do see him celebrating Hanukkah and being there while it was being celebrated. So this is definitely something that we can do because he put his seal of approval he put his stamp upon it and we see him doing this. And so we are to do as he did. To walk after he walked. It says in the book of 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 21 it says that Messiah, Yeshua left us an example that we should follow in his steps. Everything he did was an example for us to follow in his steps. It says in the scriptures that on the Sabbath day that he went into the synagogue and he read from the law or from what in Hebrew is called the Torah. That's an example for us to follow after his steps. To do seventh day worship to go to the synagogue or the place of worship and to read the scriptures and to discuss the scriptures. We are to follow after his example. Everything he did was leaving us his example. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 21 and so we see the Savior celebrating Hanukkah and so we can do that. We can follow his example. Now that we understand it was a military battle and victory. There's no jolly old elf coming in bringing presents. But we also see that there's a powerful principle here that if there had been no Hanukkah there would be no Yeshua. There would be no Savior. Let me explain how I can say such a bold statement. The Greeks when they came in and had basically overtaken the world they were allowing Israel to carry on with its worship. Yet when Alexander the Great died and Antiochus Epiphanes declared himself to be God the one worthy of worship and his Pantheon of Gods he was trying to wipe out this seed very much like Haman very much like Hitler very much like Nero. He was trying to wipe out the seed knowing that the promised Messiah was coming. Very much like Pontius Pilate as he came about trying to kill Yeshua and put him in the tomb trying to wipe out this promised seed of Yeshua reigning and ruling. If there had been no Hanukkah there could be no Savior. You see the temple had to be standing for the Savior to come and to do what he did in the temple. The Jewish people the Hebrew people had to be alive and well for this seed to be passed for this seed to come to fulfillment. And so we see that if Antiochus would have had his way the Hebrew people would have been annihilated and the biblical mode of worship would have been pushed aside. There would have been no genes passed down as far as physical genes. There would have been no king of the Jews because the Jewish people would have all died and the Jewish worship would have not taken place. And so Yeshua came not to start a new religion I tell you but to show us how to worship how to live and he came because of Hanukkah he was able to come because of the military battle because of the miracle that happened there that a small group of Hebrews were able to defeat the Greek Syrian armies. Yeshua was able to come and the Hebrew seed was still alive and well. You know there was another miracle during Hanukkah there's the military battle there's the fact that the Hebrew people were once again saved and yet legend tells us it's actually in the Jewish writings in the Talmud it's a good story more or less a bedtime story that when the Hebrews came in and they began to consecrate the temple they began to cleanse the temple and they were ready to set up the temple the Bible says there should be a huge menorah which is Hebrew for a candlestick or lampstand basically not a candlestick but a lampstand this huge seven branch menorah that stands in the temple that gives light inside there it says that it would be given with gallons and gallons of special consecrated holy oil that was to burn in the temple well the Talmud declares that when they went in to celebrate Hanukkah there was only enough oil for one day and so the priest went ahead and used that oil it would take eight days for the new oil to be made and to be set apart and consecrated as the Bible says and so they went through things they went ahead and lit the menorah and a great miracle happened there the menorah stayed lit for eight days this is another reason why there is an eight day festival now this is another reason why we have light the menorah during Hanukkah now what's lit during Hanukkah is called a Hanukkiah and this is not the Sabbath menorah of seven branches but this one actually has nine branches and the reason why is there is the servant branch that's called the shamash in Hebrew that stands a little bit taller you light that one first and then each night you light another candle growing in your light from day to day from the first day to the eighth day and so what's become a tradition is over the many years since Hanukkah first happened for people to buy a Hanukkiah is what it's called a nine branch menorah and to light it one candle or maybe all the candles every night maybe even place it near a window and let people see the faith and remember the miracle that happened there now that again is a tradition it's not a legend or a story it's a great story that we can share it's not in the scriptures it's not in the historical documents for Hanukkah but again what a great story and I'm full enough just to believe it you know I just have enough faith to believe that our creator could do such a wonderful thing and so Neskado Hayasham it's Hebrew for a great miracle happened there and the first letters from each of those words are taken and put on a spinning top during Hanukkah and these Hebrew letters the hay the sheen the gimel and the moon go on this top it's called a dreidel and it's spun during Hanukkah season and there are special games that are played I'm sure you've heard that song everybody's heard it you know my dreidel dreidel dreidel I made it out of clay when it's dry and ready my dreidel I shall play you know that's the great Hanukkah dreidel song many years ago a dreidel song many children sing during school winter festivals and celebrations and such but it's a Hanukkah song about the dreidel which is symbolic to remind us of Neskado Hayasham each of those letters put on the side of the dreidel reminding us that a great miracle happened there and there were some great miracles however I think the biggest miracle is not the fact that the Hebrews won the battle against this huge army that was a great miracle maybe the idea of the candles and the oil still burning and lasting for eight days that was a great miracle the fact that the seed the Hebrew seed was kept alive another great miracle yet I think the other miracle of Hanukkah is the fact that Hanukkah is about dedication and dedication is a theme throughout the scriptures and it it's a term that's Hanukkah is a term that's used throughout the scriptures and in Hebrew there are root words that all other words are built upon for example you know you could say that supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is a big compound word but it's made up of smaller words and the root word for it would be super and of course the meaning of super is great it's wonderful and then you have supercalifragilisticexpialidocious you know what I'm saying in Hebrew many words have a three letter three letter root word that can shed a lot of meaning on that larger word and so the the word Hanukkah which means dedication has a root word called Hanu Hanu which just doesn't have a k at the end Hanu and it's a word for dedication it just means to dedicate and what's amazing is this is a theme what I believe the greatest miracle of Hanukkah is it's found all throughout the scriptures and it's something not just to be remembered during the Hanukkah season during December but all throughout our year but that we can take this military battle we can take this menorah lighting we can apply it to our lives and we see first it's found in the in the book of Exodus as the first tabernacle is being built after Israel and the building of Egyptian slavery and they build a tabernacle a place of worship and they they pray over it they dedicate it they consecrate it with oil and some powerful things there the building of the temple and let's just go ahead and explain that the temple or the tabernacle is the place of worship it's a place of connecting it's a place of meeting the creator and that's what happens at the temple or the tabernacle and we also find that it was you know it was first during this time and then we find out in the book of 1 Kings and in the book of Chronicles and even in the book of Ezra that it was also dedicated during these times so I'm going to turn right now and I'd like to share with you a few of these verses dealing with Hanukkah and the dedication of the temple because we find out that this is not the first time in biblical history that the temple was desecrated and broken down this is not the first time that this has occurred but it's occurred many times before and it occurred once with Solomon first of all when he builds the temple and it's his lifelong dream of his father and he builds the temple and it says that he dedicated it in 1 Kings chapter 8 verses 63 through 66 and they had a 7 day festival and they ended it on the 8th day so Hanukkah didn't just happen with this military battle it actually the first Hanukkah occurred in 1 Kings chapter 8 and 2 Chronicles chapter 7 with the dedication of the temple now after many years later when the Babylonians come in and they ransack Jerusalem and they take many Hebrews captive we find out that the Hebrews are able to leave from this dispersion and this exile in Babylon they return to Jerusalem they consecrate the temple once more they dedicate it once more in Ezra chapter 6 verses 16 and 17 they dedicated and it says in verse 16 the children of the captivity kept the dedication or the Hanukkah of the house of Yahweh with joy so here they're celebrating Hanukkah before the military battle to take the temple once it's been defiled to cleanse it and then to dedicate it and to set it apart and then of course we have like the third Hanukkah or so being in the history of the Maccabees and Judah Maccabee and beating the Antiochus Epiphanies what's interesting about this is you're not going to find the story of Hanukkah the military in the New Testament because it occurred between the Testaments however you do find the story of Hanukkah in the Apocrypha yes you heard right the story of Hanukkah is found in the Apocrypha which is a group of Catholic books that have been canonized by the Catholic Church and there's actually two books the first book called the book of Maccabees and then the second book of Maccabees and so again what an amazing amazing theme this theme of dedication this theme of setting apart dedicating and rededicating and again the temple is the connection is a place of connection and we also find out in the Scriptures it tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16 that do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit the Ruach Ha Kodesh do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit so I'd like to bring all this together and let us think about this for some personal application here when we think about why celebrate Hanukkah it's easy to get into the emotions of oh well I'm going to do this instead of Christmas or I'm going to do this because my Hebrew friends do it or my Jewish buddies do it or I'm going to connect to my identity as an Israelite yet we should not just jump in it for that we shouldn't jump in it for 8 crazy nights of presents but we should look at this as a time of dedication for our temple do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit your body has been invaded they've been desecrated by sin and by self by our selfish desires and by not following the scriptures by allowing our animalistic nature just to feed on cravings oh I want this or I've got to have that or I've got to see this or touch that or feel this we are just as guilty as Antiochus Epiphanes we've declared ourselves to be God and you might say oh wait a minute now I've never said that I'm God yet by satisfying the lust of the flesh you have by violating the principles of the scriptures by breaking the ten commandments by taking upon a Greek or humanistic thinking or thought process or worldview you have taken a pig and you have destroyed the heart of your soul you have torn it apart and you have desecrated it and I've done it and we've all done that so what we need is a number one a cleansing we need to win that battle over we need a cleansing and then we need a dedication and a rededication of our temple to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication to God and we need a dedication 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