Yeshua is the Hanukkah Light of the World

by Lonnie Lane

Hanukkah, the Festival of
Dedication, is the celebration of the Hebrews rededication of the temple after
it was desecrated by the Syrians while God kept the “perpetual light” lit for
eight days with only one day’s worth of oil. Yeshua is the light of the world
and the perpetual light in our lives. This isn’t just a Jewish folk tale. There
is much to be learned of Him to inspire us in the Hanukkah story.

To begin with, the Hanukkah event took place inbetween the
writing of the Old and the New Testaments, so it’s not recorded as one of
Israel’s Biblical holidays. However, this was such a miraculous event in
Israel’s history that a commemoration of it takes place every year since 164
BCE among the Jews. Hanukkah is “The Festival of Dedication” because it is when
the temple was rededicated in holiness to God after having been made unholy by
Antiochus and his Syrian armies. Yeshua celebrated it as well: “At that time the Festival of the Dedication
took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in
the portico of Solomon” (John 10:22, 23). What surrounds that statement of
Yeshua being in the temple at that time had more significance to John’s Jewish
readers than you may be aware of.

I’m going to assume you are somewhat familiar with the story of Hanukkah. If
you are not, or if you want to understand the circumstances surrounding it, go
to: “The Other Hanukkah Story & What It Might Mean to Us Today.” The short story is, for the
sake of this message, Israel’s enemy destroyed their holy place of worship. The
Syrian leader, among other blasphemous acts, sacrificed a forbidden pig to Zeus
on the altar on which only sanctified animals were to be sacrificed to YHWH. This
was blasphemy of the highest order. A small group of priests we know as the
Maccabim (plural for Maccabee) organized an army and set about liberating the
temple from the Syrians. Having driven them out, they were now left with the
task of restoring the temple which meant rebuilding it and most importantly sanctifying
it once again as holy unto God. Of prime importance was the relighting of the
lamp which was to burn “perpetually.” Here are God’s words to Moses about
it: “You shall charge the sons
of Israel, that they bring you clear oil of beaten olives for the light, to
make a lamp burn continually. In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is
before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to
morning before the LORD; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout their
generations for the sons of Israel” (Exodus 27:20,21, my emphasis here
and following).  

Now this oil was not just your ordinary buy-it-in-the-bottle olive oil. This
was oil that was very precisely prepared as holy oil. Here are God’s
instructions for the oil (don’t skip over all these quotes, they’re important):
“You shall make of these a holy
anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a holy
anointing oil. With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of
the testimony, and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and
its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the
laver and its stand. You shall also consecrate them, that they may be most
holy; whatever touches them shall be holy. You shall anoint Aaron
and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister as priests to Me. You
shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘This shall be a holy anointing
oil to Me throughout your generations. ‘It shall not be poured on anyone’s
body, nor shall you make any like it in the same proportions; it is holy,
and it shall be holy to you. Whoever shall mix any like it or whoever
puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people.'”

Then the LORD said to Moses,
“Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, spices with
pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. With it you shall make
incense, a perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. You shall
beat some of it very fine, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent
of meeting where I will meet with you; it shall be most holy to you. The
incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for
yourselves; it shall be holy to you for the LORD. Whoever shall make any
like it, to use as perfume, shall be cut off from his people” (Exodus
20:25-38).

The only time this specifically prepared anointing oil with it’s specific
ingrediences could be used upon a person is when anointing Aaron and his sons
as priests, or when Samuel anointed David as king: “Then Samuel took the horn of oil
and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward”
(1 Sam. 16:13). Get the implications of this: David was sanctified and set
apart as holy unto God. He wasn’t just a man called into an office. His
revelations of God give some indication of how God was invested in David. We
get more insight into how being anointed with this holy oil set David apart
from Psalm 89: “Once You spoke in vision
to Your godly ones, and said, ‘I have given help to one who is mighty; I have
exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David My servant; with My holy
oil I have anointed him, with whom My hand will be established; My arm also
will strengthen him’” (Psalm 89:19-21). So as you can see, this was no
ordinary oil, nor used for ordinary purposes.

The priests who were reclaiming the temple for God were very much aware of
the requirement for this oil that was to burn perpetually. It must be made
exactly as God had instructed to Moses. It is recounted that they searched throughout the temple and found only one cruse of
oil bearing the High Priest’s seal. It takes eight days to make the new oil
according to the prescription. In their zeal to see the temple restored to God,
they lit the lamp with that oil and the miracle is that it stayed lit for the
eight days till more was produced. The following year the commemorative
celebration was declared with the retelling the story with hallel (praise) and thanksgiving, in Hebrew known as Megillat Taanit.”

As we read the verses above about how specific and
precise and with such reverence the oil was to be treated, does it give you a
deeper sense of the reverence for holiness that would permeate the temple? And
of the calling upon the priests to carry out all this in such holiness that the
very aroma and awareness of holiness would permeate the temple? Everything in
the temple was to be anointed with this oil. The aroma of the oil and the incense
not only would permeate their clothing (which was also holy) but would absorb
into their skin so they would carry the aroma of the temple with them wherever
they went. Does that ring a bell for you? Paul, who was quite familiar with all
the workings of the temple made the analogy of the temple holiness and the presence
of the Lord as we carry Messiah within us: “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in
triumph in Messiah, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge
of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Messiah to God among those who
are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor 2:14,1 5). Stop
for a few moments and let that sink in, like perfume!

To go on with our story we have to peek back into history a little to climb
into the minds of those who lived in the days in which He lived. We’re going
back to the winter of A.D. 29 where Yeshua is observing Hanukkah, or the Festival
of Dedication. This follows in John’s gospel where He is telling of the parable
of the Good Shepherd and his interpretation of it (10:1-18). Any Hebrew listening or reading the
story would immediately pick up on the Messianic implications of this parable
which refer back to Ezekiel 34. Good Shepherd = Messiah. “For thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I Myself will search for My
sheep and seek them out…. therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no
longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another. Then I will
set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will
feed them himself and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God,
and My servant David will be prince among them; I the LORD have spoken. I will
make a covenant of peace with them  (Ex 34:22-25. I suggest you read the whole chapter.)

This is one of many passages which were implied in His parables and messages
in which He was appealing to the temple leaders to rethink how they saw Him and
their intentions toward Him. They could easily have infered from what He was
saying that He meant them. If you read through the whole chapter of John 10 (I
recommend you stop here and go do it), you will see that before and after the sentence
about Yeshua being at the temple during Hanukkah, there seems to be an ongoing
dialog about Him being the good shepherd as opposed to those who are bad
shepherds who “fleece” the sheep. Hear His words: So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am
the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will
be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to
steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for
the sheep” (10:7-11). These are not just poetic words. These are
prophetic words. We understand now what those who heard Him couldn’t possibly.
We know He laid down His life to “save” the sheep of His flock. We understand what
a Good Shepherd He is in so many ways.” Many would undoubtedly remember Him
saying these words and would realize after His resurrection that He did indeed
lay down His life that they could be saved.

What they could understand from all this surrounding Hanukkah in John’s
Gospel is the Messianic implications in what Yeshua is saying. Further, He is stating
a relationship with God no one could have in the natural. Hearing commands from
God directly was something only Moses could do to their thinking. And what is
this about authority to lay down his life? Authority from God?  “No
one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative I have
authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again This
commandment I received from My Father.” (:18). Some people were sure He had a demon and was crazy, but others
said, “A demon cannot open the eyes of
the blind, can he?” (:21). The Hanukkah scenario is a continuation of this
issue of whether Yeshua could be the Messiah because all knew the Messiah was
to be a shepherd from God just as David had been a shepherd. The Messianic
connotations were inescapable.

So now, it’s Hanukkah as Yeshua is walking through the temple area. Some men
come and approach Him (I love how He is so approachable) and ask Him point
blank, “How long will You keep us in
suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly” (:24). Here’s where
a bit of understanding of the socio-political situation will be helpful to understand
what’s really going on here. There are thousands of Jews now in Jerusalem for
the Festival. If He answered in the affirmative, and the word got around that
the Messiah had come and that He was in town, imagine what a riot that could
have set off among the Jews. There
were also the Romans to deal with. At that time, there existed a prevailing apocalyptic
expectation in Israel that God would vindicate Israel and bring judgment
against the unrighteous. There had, in fact, been a song written by a Pharisee
in mid-first century B.C. as a kind of prophecy. It acknowledged the Lord as
King and told of a Davidic ruler who would reign forever. The song tells how Israel
had strayed from Torah and had been punished by God by sending in the Romans.
In the song, the writer prays that God would raise up a king, a son of David,
to rule over Israel. It speaks prophetically in this song (with which the
Essenes would have concurred) that this king would destroy the unrighteous
rulers and purge the Gentiles from Jerusalem and destroy unlawful nations. So
just the mention of Him being the Messiah could have stirred up all that
expectation among the people, but also the Romans would have been moved toward
securing their position over Jerusalem, beginning with arresting Yeshua
immediately. All this if He had answered “Yes” to the question of whether He
was the Messiah.   

So He answers these men rather indirectly, talking
about the security of having faith in Him that extends even eternally. Quite a
statement to make, isn’t it? If anyone ever tells you that Yeshua never said He
was God, these would be the passages to take them to. He goes on to say, “I and my Father are one” (10:30). Now,
remember that these folks are all gathered there in the temple for Hanukkah.
They are remembering that Antiochus, a mere man, had declared himself a god 200
years earlier and had brought great destruction and desecration to the temple.
A man saying he is God was not something the Hebrews could take lightly. To
Hebrew ears, ‘them’s fightin’ words’ and so many of ”…the Jews picked up
stones again to stone Him” (:31). In their thinking, He was a man who made Himself God
(10:31-33) and they already knew what came of that. Yeshua’s response is
significant. He asks them: “Do you say of Him, whom the Father
sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said,
‘I am the Son of God?’” (:36). At this, they attempted to accost Him again
but He managed to slip away from them.

Yeshua is saying that YHWH is His Father (!) and He has sanctified Him and
sent Him to them right there. Now either you believe that or you don’t. Once
confronted with those words, one has to decide if He’s entirely out of touch
with reality or if it’s true. I can understand it would have been harder to
understand before the Resurrection.  

But here’s what makes Him the Hanukkah Light of
the World. Yeshua just said
that He is “sanctified” by the Father. Sanctified is the word used for the temple
and the priests and the anointing oil and everything in the sanctuary which was
set apart for God as holy. So He’s saying that He is holy! We’re used to
hearing this, but this was outrageous to the people hearing Him. The Greek text
uses the word “sanctified” which is hagiazo
and means “to make holy, to purify or consecrate, to sanctify!” Translate it into Hebrew and it becomes qadash, “to make ceremonially or morally
clean, to dedicate, keep holy, to purify,
to sanctify wholly.” So when Yeshua was saying He was sanctified, He was also
saying He was holy unto God, that He was (entirely) dedicated
to God. If He is the “Dedicated One” then He is the embodiment of Hanukkah
which is all about complete dedication to God.

Yeshua told the people, “While I
am in the world, I am the Light of the world…. I have come as Light into the world,
so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.“ (John
9:5; 12:46). Hanukkah is about
lighting lights, one day at a time for eight days, to commemorate the eight
days they waited to see if it would stay lit till they had more oil. If Yeshua is the fulfillment of the
meaning of Hanukkah in its greater significance, then His light is to shine in
His temple “perpetually” which is another way of saying eternally. As we are His temple, in as much as we
are dedicated to Him, His light shines in us. He is the light in the temple
which we are! We who carry His
light also carry His holiness within us. As we walk in holiness, we bring “the
sweet aroma of the Lord in all places.” What a privilege. This is what it
means to be His witnesses – witnesses of the beauty of His holiness. Then we
can shout out in song with David, “Give
unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness…. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him, all the earth.” (Psalm 29:2; 86:9).

The light we carry of holiness comes through a sanctification process that
we all go through, with God doing the work within us in order to release the
aroma of salvation to others. The light He has placed within you is one that is
“perpetual” and is there at all times, “in
season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2), to bring light to the darkness in
this world around us. Perpetual also means eternal. What greater rest to our
souls is there than knowing as we walk in holiness with the Lord that we are
sanctified and dedicated unto Him forever. Selah!!

At this time of Dedication – though any time is a good time for rededication
to the Lord – let’s enter into the sanctification of the Lord and rededicate
ourselves to Him, putting aside any thing that we know is not in keeping with
His holiness. May this Hanukkah season bring you new revelation of how precious
you are to Him, how He has called you to holiness and set you apart from the
world in order that you may let His light shine through your life.

Hag
Sameach, Happy Hanukkah,
everyone.  Bless you.

Reprint of this article is permitted as long as you use the following; Use by permission by Messianic Vision, www.sidroth.org, 2010.

Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.  All rights reserved. Used by permission.