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Though facing
unbelievable odds, being totally outnumbered by the enemy, Judah and
his men won a total victory over Antiochus and his entire army. Then
on the 25th day of Kislev in the year 165 B.C. E., exactly three
years to the day after the Temple had been defiled, Judah and his
men cleansed the Temple and rededicated it to the God of Israel.
An eight day
celebration began as the Temple lamp stand was illuminated. However,
there was only enough oil to keep the lamp stand burning for one day
but God performed a miracle and kept the lamps burning for eight
full days so the Israelites could fully celebrate the victory that
God gave them. For this reason, Hanukkah is also known as the
“Season of Miracles.”
As believers in Yeshua, Hanukkah is of great
importance to us because WE are the ‘temple!’ In John 2:19, Yeshua
said “Destroy this temple and in 3 days, I will build it again” -
speaking of His own body-resurrected after 3 days. As believers, we
are His body (the temple).
In 1st Corinthians 3:16 Paul said “Don’t
you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit
lives in you-if anyone defiles the temple- God will destroy him.”
Be careful how you treat yourself! Our healing ministry, “Koom
v’Heet Ha Laych” is connected with taking care of our bodies, which
are the temple.
In 1st Corinthians 6:18-20- Paul again
says “Flee from sexual immorality. Do you not know that your body
is the temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore honor God with your
body.”
Ephesians 2:21 - “in Him (Yeshua) the whole building
is joined together , and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord,
and in Him, you also are being built together for a dwelling place
of God in the Spirit.”
Just as Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of
the temple, as the Maccabees did, it is also a designated time for
us to cleanse and rededicate our bodies to the Lord.
Furthermore, Yeshua Himself attended the Feast of
Hanukkah (John 10). If it’s good enough for Yeshua, it should be
good enough for us! He was at the Temple in Jerusalem where the
‘miracle of oil’ took place 200 years earlier speaking about the
‘miracles’ He does in His Father’s Name.
A further Scriptural account of Hanukkah is found in
Daniel 8 and 11, which predicted the rise and fall of Antiochus.
The Hanukkah story itself is found in the two books of the Maccabees,
which are part of the Apocrypha. The 14 books of the Apocrypha are
not included in the canonized Bibles of Judaism and Christianity.
They are included in the Septuagint which is the Greek translation
of the Bible for Greek speaking Jews.
Before we continue to look at Hanukkah as the season of miracles,
let’s look at God’s greatest miracle of all to us, which is first
revealed in the Torah.
The revelation begins in Numbers 21:8-9 where we read
that the people were sinning against God and Moses. The Lord sent
fiery serpents who bit the people and many died. The people begged
Moses to intercede. Moses prays for the people and God tells Moses
to make a fiery serpent and set it up on a ‘pole’ - that whoever
would look upon it would live. The Hebrew word used for ‘pole’ is ‘nes,’
which means ‘miracle.’
As we all know
the serpent being lifted up on the pole in the wilderness points to
Yeshua. He Himself said in John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal
life.”
The Israelites sinned, but God lifted up a ‘miracle’
for them in the wilderness.
We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
- but God has lifted up a ‘miracle’ for all of us also! Yeshua!
Yeshua adds in John 3:16- “For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.”
We must never forget -THAT is the greatest miracle of
all!
And the story didn’t end there-Yeshua rose from the
dead and ascended back to His Father as King of kings, Lord of
lords. That also is a miracle we must never forget!
To continue on
celebrating the season of miracles, we read in 2nd King
4 (NKJV) the story of Elisha and the Widow’s Oil.
1
A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried
out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you
know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is
coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”
2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you?
Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your
maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere,
from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few.
4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door
behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels,
and set aside the full ones.”
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her
and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it
out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were
full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”
And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil
ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And
he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your
sons live on the rest.”
There are several things of importance to note.
According to the historian Josephus, the theologian
Rashi and other leading rabbis, this widow’s husband was a righteous
man by the name of ‘Obadiah.’ Though a servant of the evil king
Ahab, Obadiah rescued one hundred of the Lord’s prophets from being
massacred by Jezebel (1st Kings 18:3-4).
There’s also a suggestion in rabbinic literature that
she carried on with her husband’s work after his demise, which led
to her severe poverty. She was a very righteous person, just as her
husband was and this is why the Lord sent Elisha to her.
Notice also,
Elisha tells her to “shut the door behind her” after the empty
vessels were brought to her (vs. 4). Filling the jars with oil
behind closed doors changes the miracle from a ‘public spectacle’
into a ‘private need’ - privately met by a sovereign, intimate and
loving God! This conforms to the words of Yeshua in Matthew 6:6,
“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut
your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place;
and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly..”
Notice also, that through this “miracle of the oil,”
God not only met her immediate need of paying off her creditor, but
also her future needs. Verse 7- “go sell the oil and pay our debt,
and you and your sons can live on the rest.”
This conforms to
the words of Yeshua in Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to
you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own
trouble.”
Furthermore, this widow, in her impoverished state,
was still suffering from the effects of evil Ahab and Jezebel who
persecuted her husband. But God took a small amount of ‘oil’ and
turned it into a vast supply.
God hears the cry of His people; He provides all of
our needs through the riches of Yeshua! He can make a way when
there seems to be no way. He took a small amount oil and turned it
into an abundant supply. God’s anointing breaks every yoke of
bondage. “…When the enemy
comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a
standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19)
No matter what you’re going through today, whether
sickness, disease, poverty, depression, or any other attack from the
enemy, take whatever ‘oil’ you’ve got left in your jar, offer it to
God-and watch him turn it into a ‘miracle.’
The Maccabees,
who were the heroes
in the Hanukkah story, and the poor widow - though world’s apart -
had one thing in common – faith that could move mountains!
With a small band of men, Judah & the
Maccabees trusted God for the victory over a huge army.
With a small jar of oil, the poor widow
trusted in God to meet all of her needs.
Both cases led to ‘a miracle of oil!’
HAVE FAITH IN GOD AND EXPECT A MIRACLE!
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