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We are grateful to God our King who has given us life and sustained us and enabled us to reach this day, returning to this season, the season of Hanukkah, otherwise known as the Feast of Dedication. A season where we mark the return of the land of Judah to its proper caretakers. This includes the cleansing of the temple and the relighting of the menorah.
We celebrate, joining with the tribe of Judah unto whom God has given authority to rule over kingdom affairs, until Shiloh comes. It is the Jew who has been given oversight of the sacred oracles and have repeatedly paid the price to hold and preserve the land grant given to our father Avraham by the Almighty. We see Judah's sacrifice in real time today, as it was during the time of the Maccabees.
During the Maccabean revolt, a remnant of Torah observant followers of the Most High refused to be enculturated. They stood against the pagan lifestyle being forced upon them by their Greek captors, willingly going to their deaths rather than succumb to the cultural influence of the Greeks. Led by the Maccabees, they fought for and regained control of the land, particularly Jerusalem and restored Temple worship. This eight-day celebration was a reenactment of the feast of Booths as recorded in 2 Maccabees 10:5-8; Thus, the establishment of this Feast was ordained.
While this is not one of the Holy Convocations, or Moedim, established directly by the Almighty, the Jewish, God-given victory, secured the Land of Judea for the Messiah to come and minister two thousand years ago. Likewise, the Land today is once again under Jewish control and, as prophetic patterns align, we recognize that Messiah's return cannot be that far off.
How does this impact us? Do we simply join in this celebration and when it's over put away our Hanukkiahs and go back to our daily routines? God forbid! The focus of Hanukkah is restoration and, in particular, restoration of the Temple service. We observe eight days for purification.
We are temples of the Holy Spirit and we need to purify these temples daily by offering the sacrifice of ourselves on the altar. Particularly at this time of year, as we reflect upon the great victory won by our forefathers, we are reminded once again of the need for purification and necessity to strive toward holy living. We are commanded to get rid of bitterness, and wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, gossip, foolishness, disobedience, lustfulness, enviousness and hate. We don't just renounce these things from our lives, however. We must invite the Spirit of God to live more fully within us and manifest Himself though His fruit which we are commanded to bear.
There are nine candles on the lampstand used this time of year rather than the seven branched menorah utilized in temple service. Eight candles on this stand represent each day of the feast and one candle is elevated or offset and called the shamash, or servant candle. Believers in Messiah understand this candle to represent our Lord and Savior. Just as there are nine candles on the menorah or hanukkiah, so are there nine fruits of the Spirit. As we ask the Spirit of God to remove the aforementioned shortcomings of character, we seek and pray to be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. For this is how Kingdom people live. We desire to let the words of our mouths and meditations of our hearts be pleasing in the Lord's sight and we cannot do this without submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We are commanded not to quench the Holy Spirit, submitting our character to the ways of the world but rather to walk in the newness of life as He gives it.
Each night of Hanukkah we light the servant candle first and then from the servant candle we light the number of candles corresponding to the number of days of our celebration. One candle for the first day, two for the second, three for the third and so on through the eighth day. Each night the house fills with greater light. Thus it is with the one who walks with God, cooperating with the Holy Spirit and walking in the fruit therein. This is what Proverbs 4:18 refers to as it says, "the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day." Just as light overcomes darkness, so our lives overcome this world by walking in the fruit of the Spirit. But our light must come from the Lord, just as the Hanukkah candles get their light from the servant candle.
Continued next week.
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Retired Messianic Pastor Mark Ostrowski continues to teach on Israel and encouraging the observance of the Lord's Feasts as given to all His people. This year, Hanukkah will be observed from sundown Dec. 14 to sundown Dec. 22.