Walk In The Light
by PJ
Over 2,000 years ago, a Greco-Syrian man named Antiochus ruled the land of Judea (modern day Israel). Antiochus banned Jewish religious practices, and anyone who disobeyed his rule was either tortured or put to death. In an attempt to strengthen his hold on the Jewish people, Antiochus captured the Holy Temple of G-d in Jerusalem and dedicated it to the Greek god, Zeus.
Angered by the treatment of the Jewish people, a Jewish man named Yehudah Maccabee led a revolt against the tyrant king. With the help of his four brothers, Yehudah drove out Antiochus and liberated Judea.
Following the victory of the Maccabees, Yehudah returned to Jerusalem and found the Holy Temple desecrated. After cleaning and repairing the temple, the Maccabees wished to have a dedication ceremony for the newly restored temple. However, only one can of olive oil was discovered to light the menorah. One can would only last one day and it would take a week to prepare more oil because the purity of the oil demanded a rigorous process that extracted one drop of oil per olive. Miraculously, the oil lasted eight days and eight nights—the same amount of time needed to press and consecrate new oil.
The Jewish people rejoiced and declared the 8 days to be observed each year in remembrance of their liberation and celebration of the rededicated holy altar.
Yeshua declared during Chanukkah that He was the Light of the world and as I began to look at Chanukkah, I began to see many correlations to Yeshua. Yochanan / John 8:12 DARBY "Again therefore Jesus spoke to 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."
He is the Shamash, the middle raised candle of the Chanukkiah that is the servant candle to light all the others. The other candles represent mankind through the years allotted. He lights us and we burn until our time is up and the flame extinguishes. The same oil that lights the Shamash, lights us too. We are all connected by the oil of the Spirit of G-d. We do not operate separately....in fact it's impossible. You are either with G-d or not. The light power of the Chanukkiah is multiplied as each candle is lit. And what light in that multiplication! Darkness has no power at all over it.
The numerics of the Chanukkiah are representative of all Ages, i. e., the first 6,000 years, the millennial reign of Moshiach and movement into the eighth day with G-d in the new heavens and new earth! Eight is a number of infinity. The menorah is the light of the Temple......and the Spirit of G-d is the light of us as living temples of the Most High G-d!
Yehudah Maccabee is a type of Yeshua, a deliverer. He threw off tyranny and bondage and went to redeem the temple just as Yeshua threw off tyranny and bondage of satan to redeem His living temples, i. e., you and me.
The greatest mystery in the story of Chanukkah is that it is the prophetic story of the end times and how to survive. We, like the Maccabbees, must give up everything and put our entire faith in G-d to break the sword of the adversary. It is by the Word and by the Blood that we shall overcome.
We cannot afford to allow the things of this world and the lies of darkness to block the light of G-d in our lives.
WALK IN THE LIGHT!
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