Happy Hanukkah!

Hello folks! Tonight is the first lighting of the Hanukiah! I shared the message at church this morning, so I’m sharing the transcript with you today. May you be blessed by the light!

Yeshua: the Light of the World

Today, during the season of Advent, we’re going to look at the theme of light. Light vs darkness is probably the biggest, boldest, metaphor in the scriptures and in popular culture today. One of the most popular movie franchises of our era is based on the theme of light and dark. Do you recall who said this line?

 “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” 

Or how about this one:

 “If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.”

Yep! I’m quoting Yoda in church. Because the character Yoda understood the intense draw to leave the light and be consumed by the darkness. Of course the Bible gives us a much more robust picture of this theme. So we’re going to do a quick ride through scripture, starting with a verse that we often read this time of year:

Isaiah 9:2, 6

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned…

…For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Do you recall the first words that God utters in the Bible?

 Let there be LIGHT!

And then we get the Gospel of John which focuses heavily on the theme of light. Of Yeshua, John says:

John 1:4-5

What has come into being in him [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Yeshua is the Word and the Word is Light and Life… and it’s exactly what God wanted when He said, “Let there be Light”!

God’s Presence is always associated with light. That’s why, in the Temple, there was a menorah [SLIDE:]  that was to be permanently lit. 

It was to represent God’s constant Presence with His people. Seeing the light was a reminder that God was there, in their midst. 

Yeshua, when He comes onto the scene, is constantly reminding the people of His “light”. He is the Presence of God among the people. So He says things like this:

John 8:12

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 9:5

“While I Am in the world, I Am the Light of the World”

John 12:46

“I have come into the world as a light [Greek: phos], so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.”

Yeshua is like a walking menorah or lampstand. His light is always on and He is reflecting the bright and shining glory of God onto the earth.

 

The Light of Hanukkah

Of all the Jewish holidays and feasts, there is one particular feast that ties in beautifully with the image of LIGHT. It’s Hanukkah. And Hanukkah actually begins TONIGHT at sundown.

And I think it’s worth learning something about Hanukkah because Yeshua most certainly knew about it… and (as we will see) He was dedicated to going to Jerusalem to observe it.

 

[SLIDE:] Quick Hanukkah Lesson: Once upon a time there was a man named Alexander the Great. Ever heard of him? Well, he took over the known world, grasping land all across the Mediterranean, and beyond, and he eventually made his way to Jerusalem in 332 BC. And the people of Jerusalem had a choice: 

• fight Alexander’s massive and domineering army and, inevitably, die and forfeit Jerusalem 
• OR open the gates, invite Alexander in…  and remain alive. 

They chose, wisely, the latter option. 

Because they did not resist Alexander, they were allowed to remain in their city and they were allowed to continue to practise their Jewish beliefs. They just had to share the space with their Greek invaders. And that’s what they did for about 170 years. 

Eventually a Greek kingship in Jerusalem was set up. They were known as the Seleucids and one of their kings, king Antiochus Epiphanes IV, was no longer interested in allowing religious freedom. 

The Jewish people, after all, had the best plot of land and the most impressive building in town… the Temple. That did not sit well with Antiochus, so he took over the Temple of God, erected a statue of Zeus inside the walls, sacrificed pigs in the Temple grounds, demanded that the people stop their Shabbat dinners, banned the ritual of circumcision, and he required that they pledge allegiance to him as king and “god”. Those who did not comply faced death. 

This was a targeted attack against the Jewish people… just another one in history. But it had the potential to wipe out the Jewish culture in a land controlled by Greeks.

This, as I’m sure you are aware, was NOT acceptable to the Jewish people. They formed a rebellion under the leadership of a family known as the Macabbees… and with their guerilla warfare tactics they defeated the evil king and his control over them… YAY! 

And this is where the story of Hanukkah comes in. 

When they reclaimed the Temple they went in to re-dedicated it to God, which means they immediately needed to re-light the Menorah. The menorah was a lampstand that was supposed to continually be lit (symbolizing God’s continual Presence with them), but during the rebellion it had been extinguished. Problem was, there was only enough sacred oil to light the menorah for one single day… but the oil, miraculously, lasted for EIGHT days. And this is why Jews and Messianic Jews light the special menorah known as the hanukkiah for 8 days. A reminder of God’s miracles and light at the end of a time of great darkness. 

That event occurred about 130 years before Yeshua showed up… as the Living Light of the world. 

Hanukkah is the Hebrew word meaning (in English) “dedication” because the Macabbeans re-dedicated the Temple to YHWH …so, in English, Hanukkah is literally the Feast of Dedication. And we know that Yeshua celebrated Hanukkah in Jerusalem because the Bible tells us so:

John 10:22-23

At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple courts in Solomon’s Colonnade. 

This was Hanukkah and Hanukkah was all about remembering the miracle of light. And there’s Yeshua, hanging around the Temple, during the Festival of Lights. He is the Light-bringer (let there be Light) and Hanukkah is the perfect time for Him to shine. 

But first, let’s go back to the prophecies of Isaiah. Isaiah loved the metaphor of light and he used it continually in his prophetic writings. In the 49th chapter he recorded a conversation that YHWH had with His Anointed Servant:

Isaiah 49:6

He [YHWH] says [to the Anointed], “It is not enough for you to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you as a light for the nations, to bring My Salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Yeshua the Messiah fulfilled his commission of being a light which would bring salvation to all the nations. In Isaiah 60 we hear what it would be like when the Light came to the earth:

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of YHWH rises upon you. 

For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but YHWH will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Was Yeshua the promised Light to the Nations? This was the question that the Jews wanted to know. So, during the Festival of Hanukkah, the Jews put this question to Yeshua:

John 10:24-31

So the Jews gathered around Him and demanded, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

“I already told you,” Jesus replied, “but you did not believe. The works I do in My Father’s name testify on My behalf. But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe. My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him.

So, the people wanted to kill Yeshua by stoning on Hanukkah. They wanted to put his light out during the Festival of Lights. But they couldn’t do it.

Yeshua is the kind of light that cannot be put out. Remember what John said at the beginning of his Gospel?… that the Word was the light and life of all people, and that the light of the Word shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it!

Light and Life. Death and Darkness. They are interchangeable in Biblical thinking. Yeshua came to destroy death and darkness on God’s good earth. How did he do it? By submitting to death and then overcoming it. He went to the grave and then He rose up out of it… like a new dawning.

That’s why David, poetically, said this:

Psalm 56:13

For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light [b’ohr בְּ֝א֗וֹר] of the living [ha-chayim].

It’s all about our final destiny… to be in the eternal Presence of God. The Prophet Micah understood that YHWH would defeat darkness, allowing Micah to stand in the light of YHWH’s Presence:

Micah 7:7-9

But as for me, I will look to YHWH; I will wait for the God of my Salvation. My God will hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise; though I sit in darkness, YHWH will be a light to me. …He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

Do you feel like you’re living in darkness? Yeshua came to change that. So why do we sometimes feel like we’ve fallen down and are living under a shadow? 

Yeshua never promised that life would be all star-lights and roses. Sometimes we’ve got to live in the dark to see God’s light more clearly. The writer Victor Hugo highlighted this sentiment in one of his novels when he said this:

Whatever causes night in our souls may leave stars.

Think about that. When we struggle it changes us but it should not defeat us. From our darkest moments we can come out shining all the brighter because the Spirit of God is within us and we cannot be extinguished! 

In all of our trials and dark days, our light can only get stronger if we trust in God to be our eternal light. When we shine in our own darkness, others will see our light and have hope.

Victor Hugo’s novel, titled Ninety-Three, was set during the most violent year of the French Revolution, 1793. In the book one man sacrificed his life so his enemy could live. He was like a light shining in the midst of the darkest war. His friend, however, couldn’t understand the sacrifice, and in his grief and anger he slipped into darkness and took his own life.

Whatever causes night in our souls may leave stars

…but if we’re not careful the darkness may just swallow us up.

If you ever feel like the darkness is winning, please reach out to someone… somebody in this congregation, a family member, a medical advisor. Do not face the darkness alone. God is always with you, but He gave us a family of fellow Image Bearers who can help us walk out of the darkness with our heads held high. 

In this story, one man shone like the stars, the other slipped into the night.

How we, as followers of Yeshua, deal with our days of darkness matters a lot. We have a choice. We can let the darkness overtake us and snuff out our light, or we let our light shine in the darkness, vulnerably, for all to see.

Here’s what the book of Daniel says about thse who choose to shine (which, btw, I think is one of the prettiest verses in the whole Bible)…

Daniel 12:3

The wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.

So here’s the thing. Yeshua came… under the light of a star (if you recall). Death and darkness wanted to take him down. Even as an infant, Herod wanted him dead. But He came anyway. He came, faced the darkness, and conquered death. Now, because of His sacrifice, we have a free ticket into the Kingdom, no questions asked. But God has some expectations for you and me. God wants us to bear His image to the rest of the world. Now, with God’s Spirit within you, YOU are the light. Yeshua said it plainly:

Matthew 5:14-16

[Yeshua:] “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Regardless of your actions, your ticket to the Kingdom is still bought and paid for… but that shouldn’t be enough for you and me. We should be so grateful for the Christmas gift we’ve been given that we should want to share the love by shining God’s goodness onto others… helping the needy, feeding the poor, sitting alongside the brokenhearted, holding the hand of the outcast. This is how we shine like Yeshua, the loving and compassionate Light of Life.

So go home; light the candles or watch the sparkling lights on the tree and along your rooftops… They are a beautiful reminder of God’s light and love… BUT,  always remember that the shiniest thing in your house, and in your neighbourhood, should be YOU.

Happy Hanukkah everyone. Here’s our hanukiah, lit moments ago…