Feast of Dedication - Hanukkah - Festival of Lights by Mary Fairchild

Photo by Steve Martin - our home Hanukiah (Hanukkah menorah)

Feast of Dedication

Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, Festival of Lights

Mary Fairchild, About Religion

Christianity Expert

Feast of Dedication - Hanukkah - Festival of Lights:

The Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, is a Jewish holiday. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. We will look at the Feast of Dedication from a Christian perspective, explaining its biblical basis, traditional observances, seasons, facts, and an interesting section revealing the fulfillment of the Messiah, Jesus Christ through the feast.

Time of Observance: Hanukkah is celebrated during the Hebrew month of Kislev (November or December). It begins on day 25 of Kislev and lasts for 8 days.


• See Bible Feasts Calendar for actual dates.


Scripture Reference: The story of Hanukkah is recorded in the First Book of Maccabees, which is part of the Apocrypha. The Feast of Dedication is mentioned in the New Testament Book of John, chapter 10, verse 22.

About the Feast of Dedication: Prior to the year 165 BC, the Jewish people who dwelled in Judea where living under the rule of the Greek kings of Damascus. During this time Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greco-Syrian king, took control of the Temple in Jerusalem and forced the Jewish people to abandon their worship of God, their holy customs and reading of the Torah, and he made them bow down to the Greek gods.

According to the records, this King Antiochus IV defiled the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and spilling its blood on the holy scrolls of Scripture.

As a result of the severe persecution and pagan oppression, a group of four Jewish brothers, led by Judah Maccabee, decided to raise up an army of religious freedom fighters. These men of fierce faith and loyalty to God became known as the Maccabees.

The small band of warriors fought for three years with "strength from heaven" until achieving a miraculous victory and deliverance from the Greco-Syrian control.

After regaining the Temple, it was cleansed by the Maccabees, cleared of all Greek idolatry, and readied for rededicated. The rededication of the Temple to the Lord took place in the year 165 BC, on the 25th day of the Hebrew month called Kislev.

So Hanukkah received its name, the Feast of Dedication, because it celebrates the Maccabees' victory over Greek oppression and the rededication of the Temple. But Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Lights, and this is because immediately following the miraculous deliverance, God provided another miracle of provision.

In the Temple, the eternal flame of God was to be lit at all time as a symbol of God's presence. But according to tradition, when the Temple was rededicated, there was only enough oil left in the Temple to burn the flame for one day. The rest of the oil had been defiled by the Greeks during their invasion, and it would take a week for new oil to be processed and purified. But at the rededication, the Maccabees went ahead and lit the eternal flame with the remaining supply of oil, and God's Holy presence caused it to burn miraculously for eight days, until the new sacred oil was ready.

This is why the feast is also called the Festival of Lights, and why the Hanukkah Menorah is lit for eight consecutive nights of celebration. Jews also commemorate this miracle of oil provision by making oil-rich foods, such as Latkas, an important part of Hanukkah celebrations.

• Learn more about Hanukkah traditions and celebrations.

Jesus and the Feast of Dedication:  John 10: 22-23 records, "Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the Temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade." (NIV) As a Jew, Jesus most certainly would have participated in the Feast of Dedication.

The same courageous spirit of the Maccabees who remained faithful to God during intense persecution was passed on to Jesus' disciples who would all face severe trails because of their faithfulness to Christ. And like the miracle of God's presence expressed through the eternal flame of God burning for the Maccabees, Jesus became the incarnate, physical expression of God's presence, the Light of the World, who came to dwell among us and give us the eternal light of God's life.

More Facts About Hanukkah 

Hanukkah is traditionally a family celebration. 

The lighting of the Menorah is the center of the Hanukkah traditions. 

Fried and oily foods are a reminder of the miracle of the oil. 

Dreidel games are traditionally played by children and often the whole household during Hanukkah. 

Probably because of Hanukkah's proximity to Christmas, many Jews give gifts during the holiday. 

More about Hanukkah.

Source: Bible Feasts

Sharing Love From Sweden - "TOGETHER HAVING THE SAME VALUE - BUILDING A LIVING TEMPLE" - Eva Haglund

TOGETHER HAVING THE SAME VALUE 

- BUILDING A LIVING TEMPLE

Eva Haglund, Sweden

As the members in the human body are connected to each other, and together form a complete body, we need each other in Body of Christ. This is taught in 1 Cor 12. We need each other. Not to just meet on Sunday in a church building.

We do not go to the church - we are the church. The church is not a building. Even if we have a building to meet in, it is good to also meet in homes. We know that Jesus also taught in a home where Martha and Mary lived. We can seek God together along with friends. 

About gifts - we all have our own calling and gifts, unique  as we are. As members in the human body need each other, so we need each other with these unique gifts and callings. It would be boring if all had the same calling and gifts. But God has given us different gifts to build beautifully together. 

Sometimes some gifts are looked down at by people. Sometimes practical gifts are not counted as high as theoretical gifts but this is not as God looks at the gifts and callings. 

As flowers in creation are beautiful together so we are beautiful with our gifts and callings together. Our gifts are not just for a church building but also to be used in other places. In 1 Corinthians 12 we can see that all members are needed with different gifts, and each have the same value. It is written in the verses 15-18, "For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, "I am not a hand therefore I am not of the body, is it not therefore of the body? If the whole body were an eye where would be the hearing?" 

Here we see that all have their unique callings. We need to share our gifts with each other. Even a cup of coffee can encourage, and a smile shared with another. 

David took care of sheep in the Bible. God cared about the sheep and David was taught how to take care of sheep. He also was learning how to know God in a deeper way as he sought Him alone and sang beautiful songs to the Lord. 

Our gifts also can be seen in our friendships. Fellowship is important among Christians and is more than just doing things for God. The most important friendship is with Jesus, but it ought to go hand in hand with friendship among Christians. God is love and that love ought to be seen among us. We need each other.

In Acts 2:46 we understand that there were Christians who lived close to each other and met. I think God wants to restore more of this among us. In church meetings I think we need to hear not just leaders preaching but also other people. For instance, one can share a prophecy, a Scripture, an experience or a dream. In small home meetings this becomes more natural. 

I think gifts are like bread, which we need daily. We have all pieces of bread and together it forms a full loaf. 

The church, the Body of Christ, is also like stones. As it is written in 1 Peter 2:5, "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house." We are different stones, but together we build the temple , with Jesus as the Cornerstone. I think that more of the stones will be connected to each other in the new prophetic time, as the living stones will create a temple of the Lord.

Love is important. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 we read "But now abide faith, hope and love, these three,but the greatest of these is love."

Yeshua (Jesus) is love. He gave all in love for us. We read in Isaiah 53 so that anyone who believes in Him will be saved. Get to know Jesus.

A Messianic perspective on Tisha B'Av

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 |  Connie Fieraru  Israel TodayShare on blogger

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Messianic Jews

I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.” You came near when I called you. Lamentations 3:56-57

On the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, 5773 - the most tragic day on the Jewish calendar - thousands of religious Jews approached Jerusalem’s Kotel (Western Wall), the holiest site for Jews and Christians, to commemorate the destruction of the holy temples, Jerusalem and the Jewish commonwealth. This year marks 1943 years since the Second Temple’s destruction in the year 70 CE.

Tisha B’Av is the lowest point of a three week period of mourning. During this time all celebratory occasions are forbidden. It is a time of solemn reflection and mourning for Israel and the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people.

Traditions associated with this day include sitting on the floor reciting prayers, walking without leather shoes, refraining from washing and fasting for 25 hours. Many Jews spend the night next to the Kotel, the last remaining remnant of the Second Temple, and pray for its rebuilding and reestablishment. Today the Temple Mount is in Islamic hands, with mosques now occupying the place where once stood the Holy of Holies.

Believers in Yeshua (Jesus) see him as the true Temple of God that dwelt among us. The Tabernacle was a temporary dwelling place, as was the physical Temple, for, as it is written (2 Chronicles 6:18), God could never be contained in a house made of stone, cedar and gold. Furthermore, Yeshua told the Pharisees that he was greater than the Temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 12:6). Yeshua himself is the divine presence of God, which tabernacles among us (Colossians 2:9).

To those, however, who still mourn the destruction of the Temple, Yeshua remains ‘the stone that causes them to stumble.’ They stumble because they do not believe that Yeshua is the sanctuary for His people. While the Temple stood it signified that the way into God’s holy presence had not yet been disclosed (Hebrew 9:8). It presented an obstacle to those who would worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23) and a barrier to the Gentiles coming to faith in the one true God.

Yeshua himself was not only the Holy of Holies, but also the Lamb of God, the one and only perfect sin offering. When his flesh was destroyed the curtain in the Temple was also destroyed, thus releasing His presence to all who would approach and draw near to Him in faith.

But what of the promises regarding the Temple in Jerusalem?

God’s promises that one day the Temple will be restored and the children of Israel will be re-gathered from the nations are far from null and void. It is evident today that the promise of return is rapidly being fulfilled. And, interestingly, the day of mourning for the Temple is already, even before it has been rebuilt, starting to become a time of renewed hope, faith and restoration.

A new short film by the Temple Institute is just one example of how Tisha B’Av is gradually reframing itself and rising up from the sackcloth and ashes. Titled The Children are Ready II, the video depicts an emotional journey starting in the synagogue where the traditional lamentations are read. But, the focus is not on the adult’s recitation; rather, it is on the children in the next room playing with their building blocks. It is the children whom are awakened to the fact that the time of mourning has ended. The film ends with the children leading the adults out of the door of the synagogue into a bright white light with the words: ‘The children are ready’.

This image of the next generation pioneering change by replacing mourning with building and strengthening the destiny that lies ahead for Israel and her people is insightful; for while it focuses on the promised physical rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, it is also very much representative of the promises spiritual awakening of Israel that will lead them to their Messiah.

Tisha B’Av must become for us a time to rejoice that the Temple’s foretold destruction signifies that the way into God’s presence has been opened through Yeshua, and we must earnestly pray that the people’s hearts continue to be softened so that they see in Him their hope and the embodiment of the Temple they so yearn to see reestablished.