From: Luana Fabry
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Chanukah
HAPPY
CHANUKAH TO ALL!
From
Luana Fabry
Beit
Y'shua Ministries Australia
THE CHANUKAH STORY
Chanukah ~ Feast of Dedication
Chanukah is a memorial Feast to remember the rededication of the
Temple in Jerusalem, under the leadership of Judah Maccabea in the
year 167 BCE. Maccabea is a derivative of the Hebrew word for "hammer"
and it is also an acrostic created by combining the first letter of
the Hebrew words "Mi Kamocha Be'Elim Adonai," - "Who is like you, O
Lord, from amongst the gods?"
The Festival of Chanukah was established by Judah Maccabea himself in
167 BCE. Although not one of God's "appointed times", Chanukah was
celebrated in Yeshua's time and observed by him. In John 10:22 we
read, Then came Chanukah in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Yeshua was
walking around inside the Temple are, in Solomon's Colonnade.
There is much to be learned in the story of Chanukah. In a nutshell,
this is how it goes:
In the fourth century BCE, Alexander the Great ruled most of the
known world. He dominated all of the Near East, which included the
land of Israel. During this time, the Greek (Hellenistic) culture was
enforced. Jewish practices, such as the keeping of the Sabbath and
circumcision were forbidden and the Jews were commanded to sacrifice
pigs to Zeus in the Temple. In order to "fit in", many Jews
assimilated into the Hellenistic culture: Come, let us reach an
understanding with the pagans surrounding us, for since we have
separated ourselves from them, many misfortunes have overtaken us.
Some Jews resisted and upheld the Torah, keeping themselves separate
to YHVH. Many of these were brutally murdered.
In Jerusalem, the Greeks built a gymnasium. Because those who
frequented the gymnasiums did so naked, Jews disguised their
circumcision and abandoned the Torah for philosophy, submitting to
heathen rule and the so called "New World Order".
When Alexander the Great died, his kingdom was divided into four parts
(Daniel 8:21-25). Antiochus Epiphanes (god manifests), won rule over
Egypt and Israel. The Jews continued to submit until it was too late
- Antiochus broke into the Holy Place in the Temple and stole the
Golden Altar and Menorah. Two years later, he set himself up as god
and supreme ruler in Jerusalem, putting the following laws into
effect:
* All are to be a single people.
* Disobedience will be punished by death.
* Torah study is banned.
* All books of the Torah are to be burned.
* Those who circumcise their children will be flayed alive with their
child.
Antiochus Epiphanes' final desecration was the sacrificing of a pig in
the Temple. He forced the Priests to eat the flesh of swine and then
poured the blood on the Altar.
A rebellion began led by Mattathias the Priest and his five sons. This
family was respected and influential and they led the Jewish people
into fasting and repentance. During the rebellion against the Greeks,
many Jews were martyred, but many battles were also won. When
Mattathias died, his son Judah took over. Judah was a man of great
courage and fully trusted in God - he was known as Judah Maccabea -
the hammer!
Although outnumbered 4 to 1, Judah's army won every battle against the
Greeks and turned many Jews back to Torah. In the last battle, the
Maccabim killed over 8000 pagans.
On the 24th of Kislev, the Temple was rededicated and purified -
exactly three years to the day since it was desecrated. The Talmud
says that a miracle occurred in that while the Temple Menorah only had
enough oil to last one day, it remained burning for eight days. Judah
and the Maccabim decreed that from then on, this rededication of the
Temple was to be an eight day memorial, beginning on the 24th of
Kislev, every year. And it has been ever since.
The story of Chanukah is very relevant to the days in which we live.
Society and religion have become very Hellenistic - body worship
(through the overwhelming focus on gymnasiums etc), lawlessness, new
world orders, and the pressure to "assimilate". The compromising Jews
of the days before the Maccabim, surely did not want to see their
Temple desecrated, their Torah burned, nor their people killed. Yet,
their lack of love for God's Commandments, their desire to be like
everyone else, and disregard for being a people set-apart, all led to
the inevitable consequences which followed. Today we seriously need to
make some choices before it becomes too difficult or too late. Will we
obey God or follow the leading of men? Do we desire acceptance from
the world, or of YHVH the Creator?
Spiritually speaking, Paul warns believers that their bodies are the
Temple of God: "What agreement is there between the temple and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God... Therefore come out from
them and be separate, says the Lord" (2 Corinthians 6:16,17). "Do not
be conformed to the pattern (culture & practices) of this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2).
Naturally speaking, in every era of Israel's Temple history, the Jews'
desire to assimilate with the pagan inhabitants of the land resulted
in an abomination to be set up in the Temple. The first Temple was
desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes, the Second Temple in 70 CE, by
Vespasian of Rome. With the plans to rebuild the Third Temple pretty
well in motion, no doubt another Antiochus or another Vespasian will
come, who will desecrate it one last time.
Like the Maccabim, we are to sing the "Song of Moses" (Exodus 15:11):
"Mi Kamocha Be'Elim Adonai" - "Who among the gods is like you, O
LORD? Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory,
working wonders?"
"And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and
standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast
and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given
them by God and sang the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb..."
(Revelation 15:2)
Luana
*******************************************************************
From Barbara DiGilio (Mayim Chayim Ministries)
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.rog
Subject: Chanukkah Candle Lighting Ceremony
Shalom to all,
Happy Chanukkah to everyone of you around the world. May the True
Light of this season shine brightly on you, and your family.
Below you will find a Messianic candle lighting ceremony for
Chanukkah. It was send to me by HINENI INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES. To
all of you who have never lite the lights on a Chanukkah Lampstand,
you should try doing it this year. Most Wal-marts sell them for a very
little price. I picked up one for a young boy that was a train, and
its cost was up $15.00. You know our Yeshua Messiah did all the Feasts
of the LORD, and Chanukkah as well.
Messianic Jewish Chanukkah Candle Lighting Ceremony
(Traditional) Blessed art Thou O Lord our God, King of the universe,
who has sanctified us with thy commandments and commanded us to light
Chanukkah lights. Baruch Ata Adonai Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, asher
kidshanu b'mitz-vo-tayv v'tzee-va-nu l'had-leek ner shel Chanukkah.
(Messianic version) Blessed art Thou O Lord our God, King of the
universe, who has given us holidays, customs, and times of happiness,
to increase the knowledge of God and to build us up in our most holy
faith.
Baruch Ata Adonai Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, asher natan lanu cha-gim,
min-ha-gim, oo-mo-ah-dim l'sim-cha, l'hag-deel et da-at Adonai,
v'liv-not oh-tah-nu b'emunah ki-do-shah v'na-ah-lah.
Blessed art Thou O Lord our God, King of the universe, who performed
miracles for our fathers in those days at this season. Baruch Ata
Adonai Elohaynu
Melech ha-olam, she-ah-sah niseem la- ah-vo-tay-nu ba-ya-meem ha-hem
baz-man ha-zeh.
On the first night you can add:
Blessed art Thou O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has granted
us life and sustained us and permitted us to reach this season. Baruch
Atah Adonai Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, she-he-che-yanu v'kee-ma-nu
v'hi-gee-ah-nu laz-man ha-zeh.
Shamash (Servant) Candle
Messiah Yeshua stated in Mark 10:44-45:
Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be the servant of all. For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give His life a ransom for many.
First Candle
Genesis 1:3-4 describes the creation of the first light:
God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that
the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
Second Candle
Exodus 13:21-22 reveals that God is the source of Israel's light:
And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to
lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them
light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take
away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from
before the people.
Third Candle
King David reminds us that God Himself is the source of our own
individual light:
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the defense of my life; whom shall I dread (Psalm 27:1)? For You
light my lamp; the Lord my God illumines my darkness (Psalm 18:28).
Fourth Candle
Psalm 119:105 and Psalm 119:130 describe the light that comes from
God's Word:
Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. The
unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the
simple.
Fifth Candle
Messiah Yeshua is the greatest light of all:
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John
1:4-5).
As Messiah Yeshua was in the Temple in Jerusalem watching the
illuminating lights, He declared: "I am the light of the world; he who
follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of
life" (John 8:12).
Aged Simeon was promised by the Lord that he would not die until
he saw Israel's Messiah. When he saw Yeshua as an infant in the Temple,
he knew that this One was the light of Israel and the Nations. Simeon
declared: "My eye have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in
the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the gentiles,
and the glory of Your people Israel" (Luke 2:30-32).
For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is
the One
who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Messiah (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Sixth Candle
After we come to know Messiah, we are to be a source of light for the
world. King Messiah tells us in Matthew 5:14-16:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be
hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure,
but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your
good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Seventh Candle
The prophet Isaiah speaks of the future glory of a restored Israel in
Isaiah 60:1-3:
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you... And nations will come to your light, and kings to
the brightness of your rising.
Eighth Candle
Revelation 21:22-27 give us a description of our glorious eternal
dwelling place in the New Jerusalem:
And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the
Lamb, are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the
moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its
lamp is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk by its light, and the
kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it. And in the daytime
(for there shall be no night there) its gates shall never be closed;
and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it;
and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying,
shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the
Lamb's book of life.
Thank you Rabbi Loren for your wonderful Chanukkah Candle Lighting
Ceremony.
Shalom B'Shem Yeshua HaMashiach
(Peace in the Name of Yeshua [Jesus] the Messiah)
Barbara Di Gilio
http://www.mayimhayim.org/
**********************************************************************
From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Hanukkah: Let your Light Shine
Taken
from the Book
Hanukkah:
The Light is Messiah
by
HaY'Did
(The Friend) Ministries
PO
Box 804
Independence,
KS 67301
Hanukkah:
The Light is Messiah
http://www.haydid.org/hanuka15.htm
HANUKKAH:
LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE !!!
By
Eddie Chumney
Hanukkah is the story of the struggle of the Jewish people to resist
the pressure to assimilate and conform to the world's ways and the
world's system and choose instead to remain loyal to the ways of the
God of Israel. Today, there are many lessons to be learned from this
struggle for believers in Yeshua/Jesus as Messiah. We also struggle
with resisting the desires of our flesh and conforming to the world's
ways and the world's system. The ruler of the world's system is
HaSatan. When we walk in the world's ways, we walk in darkness. When
we remain loyal to the ways of the God of Israel, we walk in light.
Hanukkah is called the Festival of lights. Our light is Messiah. When
we choose to follow Messiah and walk in the ways of the Kingdom of
God, we are able to resist conforming to the ways of the world. Just
as the Maccabee's were able to overcome the forces to conform to the
Greco world with the supernatural help of God, when we resist to
conform to the ways of the world God will also give us the power to
overcome so that our lights will shine for Messiah!
YESHUA IS THE LIGHT OF THE
WORLD
In John 8:12, it is written: "Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk
in darkness but shall have the light of life."
BELIEVERS
ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
In Matthew 5:14-16, Yeshua said these words: "You are the light of the
world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men
light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it
gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before me that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven."
WHAT DOES IT MEAN
TO WALK IN DARKNESS?
Walking in darkness means that you are living a carnal Christian
life. Walking in darkness means that while you may be saved by accepting
Jesus into your heart and life, you are still influenced by the ways
of the world and are dominated by the desires of your flesh. Walking
in darkness will result in walking in spiritual ignorance to the ways
of God and blind your understanding to the deeper spiritual truths in
God's Word. Below is a list of scriptures which explains these things.
Walking in darkness will keep us
from comprehending God
(John 1:5)
Walking in darkness will blind our
spiritual eyes (I John
2:11)
a) God is light and in Him is no darkness (I John 1:5)
b) Followers of God will not walk in darkness (I John 1:6)
c) Walking in the truth of God's Word will keep us from walking in
darkness
(Psalm 119:105, John 3:21, John 17:17, I John 1:6)
Walking in darkness will produce the WORKS OF DARKNESS which
is the manifestation of the desires of the flesh. The works
of the flesh = Unfruitful Works of darkness (John 3:20,
Ephesians 5:11)
a) The believers are to cast off the works of darkness and
put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12)
WHAT ARE THE UNFRUITFUL WORKS OF DARKNESS?
1.ROMANS 13:13
a) Rioting b) Drunkenness c) Chambering d) Wantonness e) Strife f)
Envying
The unfruitful works of righteousness = Works of the flesh (Romans
13:14)
2.GALATIONS 5:19-21
a) Adultery b) Fornication c) Uncleanness d) Lasciviousness e)
Idolatry f) Witchcraft
g) Hatred h) Variance i) Emulations j) Wrath k) Strife l) Seditions m)
Heresies n) Envyings
o) Murders p) Drunkenness q) Revellings
3. 1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-11
a) Fornicators b) Covetous c) Extortioners d) Idolaters e) Railers f)
Drunkards
4. 2 CORINTHIANS 12:20-21
a) Debates b) Envyings c) Wraths d) Strifes e) Backbitings f)
Whisperings g) Swellings
h) Tumults i) Uncleanness j) Fornication k) lasciviousness
5.EPHESIANS 4:17-18
Walking in Darkness and producing the unfruitful works of darkness by
living according to the desires of the flesh is walking in the vanity
of your mind (Ephesians 4:17)
Walking in Darkness: (Ephesians 4:18)
a) Darkens our understanding of God
b) Blinds our hearts
c) Alienates us from the life of God
6.COLOSSIANS 3:5-9
a) Fornicators b) Uncleanness c) Inordinate affections d) Evil
Concupiscence
e) Covetousness f) Idolatry g) Anger h) Wrath i) Malice j) Blasphemy
k) Filthy Communication l) Lying
BELIEVERS WHO WALK IN THE LIGHT OF MESSIAH
WILL
DO GOOD WORKS
Believers who walk in light do good works unto God. Doing good works
does not save you. We are saved by the grace of God through faith and
not by our good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Yet, after we are saved, God
requires us to walk in light and perform good works which is our
reasonable service unto Him. After explaining in Ephesians 2:8-9 that
we are not saved by good works, it explains in Ephesians 2:10 that
after we are saved, we are required by God to do good works of service
for the Kingdom of God as it is written: "For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them.''
These truths can be see in the following scriptures:
1. Yeshua did the GOOD WORKS of God (John 10:32, Acts 10:38)
2. The believers were created before the foundation of the world to do
good works (Ephesians 2:10)
3. By walking in the LIGHT of the life, the world will be able to see
our GOOD WORKS and give glory to God (Matthew 5:16)
4. The believers are commanded by God to do the good works of Messiah
(John 14:12, 1 Timothy 6:17-18, 2 Timothy 3:17, Titus 1:16, 2:14, 1
Peter 2:12)
BELIEVERS IN MESSIAH WILL WALK IN LIGHT
AND
NOT
IN DARKNESS
Believers in Messiah are instructed to: (Romans 13:12)
1.Cast off the works of darkness
2.Put on the armor of light
a) We are to turn from darkness to light (Acts 26:18)
b) We have been delivered from darkness into the kingdom of God
(Colossians 1:13)
3.We are the children of light and not of darkness (I Thessalonians
5:5)
4.We were in darkness but now are children of light (John 12:36,
Ephesians 5:8)
5.God has commanded the light to shine out of the darkness (II
Corinthians 4:6).
We have this treasure in earthen vessels (II Corinthians 4:7)
When the Maccabee's resisted conforming to darkness and the ways of
the world but chose to remain loyal to the ways of the God of Israel,
God allowed their light to shine before men and their story remains
with us to this day. Our light is Messiah (John 8:12). Therefore, let
your faith and love for Messiah shine before men so that they may see
your good works and give glory to God (Matthew 5:14-16). This is the
spiritual message of Hanukkah. So, let your light shine!!!!!
**********************************************************************
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Please visit the Hebraic Roots Global Network
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