Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration beginning at sundown on the 24th of Kislev. A new Day begins in the evening, therefore, Hanukkah begins on the 25th of KISLEV, the Ninth Month of the Biblical Calendar.

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It is interesting to note that the date for Christmas falls on the 25th of December, which mimics the date for Hanukkah, and Christmas also follows the Hanukkah Tradition in the celebration of light during the darkest period of the year; PRAISE GOD…

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It appears that over the years, the Hanukkah celebration of the 25th of KISLEV commemorating the Restoring of God's Temple has been adapted as Christmas for the birthday of our precious LORD.

 

Incidently, our LORD was neither conceived nor born anywhere near this date. By Biblical History, for God's People, this festive date of the 25th that falls in December is originally the celebration of the Rebirth of the Temple of God.

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A convergence of Christmas with Hanukkah is a rarity that comes only every few decades. This means that at a convergence, while the Saints around the world are celebrating Christmas, they would indeed be commemorating Hanukkah with its time of lighting the Shamash and the other Candles of the Season.

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UNUSUAL CONVERGENCE

A recent convergence occured at the beginning of Hanukkah on the evening of the 25th of KISLEV, which was the 24th of December 2016, ahead of the dawning of Christmas morning. Christmas also intersected with the lighting of the Shamash and Eight Candles for the ending of Hanukkah on the 1st of TEVET which was December 25th 2022. Hence, unlike in recent times past, we have experienced an Hanukkah - Christmas convergence in back to back decades.

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A MAJOR SIGNIFICANCE OF HANUKKAH TO CHRISTMAS

Even though Hanukkah is little known among Christians, it was celebrated some 200 years before Christians and the rest of the world began to organize and highlight the 25th as Christmas.

 

And even though not included in the Torah Record of Levitical Feasts, Hanukkah is centred in the rededication of the Temple, and remarkably, the miracles that characterize Hanukkah signify that this Feast is also one that is sanctioned by God. Besides, the Bible was intentional to include that LORD Jesus taught in the Temple at Hanukkah, also named the Feast of Dedication [John 10:22-23].

 

The desecration of The Temple of God fuelled the events of Hanukkah. The Temple is at the centre of Hanukkah, which is about cleansing and restoring holiness. The Temple of God had to remain holy in order to implement the divine purposes for which it was built.

 

The Temple, erected after the Pattern of  the Tabernacle of Moses, had been the centre from where God administered His Holy Elements for the Earth. Not only had God administered His Holy Elements through the Temple but through its maintenance which was overseen by His Levitical Priesthood. Hence, the Priesthood also needed to be reestablished to officiate in the Temple.

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As a result, the heroes of Hanukkah, the Maccabees, a priestly family of Jews, organized and led a band of warriors to victorously fight down the ruling Seleucids to regain control of God's Temple that had been desecrated - a desecration headed by Antiochus Epiphanes. The Maccabees led the way for the Temple to be cleansed and rededicated unto God. And the rededication is one point where Christmas can be connected to the miraculous accomplishments of Hanukkah. Our Lord, as the First-Born of Mary, was to be consecrated unto God in the Temple according to Kingdom Protocol. Consequently, it required that the Temple of God be in operation, functioning in God's Holy Things, for the arrival of Baby Jesus and for the LORD's Ministry to the Earth.

 

IN GOD'S PLAN

The significance of the Temple of God to the Plans of God and to the Peoples of Earth is yet to be fully comprehended by those of us outside the tutorship of our Rabbinic Leaders.

 

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Pastor Lucy

Session Notes © 2017 by THY KINGDOM REIGNS

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