Home
Audio by Sam
 Upcoming Events
Messianic Leaders
Seminars/Programs
Women's Ministries
Messianic Tracts
Jewish Believers
Ministry Reports
E-Mail Q & A's
 Word Articles

Bookstore
May Specials!

Russian Website
Beliefs & Vision
The WMM Blog
Support WMM
Links to Israel

Discover these 
Biblical festivals!


 GoodSearch: You Search...We Give!

 


 

 
The Feast of Dedication!
by Sam Nadler
Hanukkah was established as a memorial to the purification and rededication of the temple in Jerusalem in the Jewish month of Kislev 25, 165 BCE . Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria, had captured Jerusalem, plundered the temple treasury, and to add insult to injury, profaned the temple by sacrificing a pig to Zeus on the temple altar. His attempt to Hellenize Judea resulted in what is known as the revolt of the Maccabees. Therefore,Hanukkah is a joyous holiday that celebrates the victory God gave through the heroic efforts of the faithful Maccabees and their followers.


Legend Of The Oil
Hanukkah is actually the Hebrew word for dedication. An eight-day celebration, Hanukkah is thought by many people to be eight days long because of a legend regarding the oil in the Temple. According to this tradition, when the Maccabees recaptured and rededicated the Temple, they attempted to light the Temple menorah. This menorah, which was to burn continually, represented the eternal light of God. However, there was only enough oil to last for one day, but according to the legend, this oil miraculously lasted for eight days.
Among the festivities and symbols associated with Hanukkah, one of the best-known is the children’s game called dreidel. The Hanukkah menorah is called a Hanukkiyah, and has nine branches rather than seven. Eight of the candles are lit for each night of Hanukkah, and the ninth is called the shamash, which is the Hebrew word for servant.

The Shamash, or servant candle is lit first, and is then used to light the other candles, increasing by one each night successively. Foods traditionally enjoyed on Hanukkah include: Latkes (potato pancakes fried in oil, my favorite) and in Israel, jelly donuts fried in oil (my wife Miriam’s favorite). Though considered by many as simply a Jewish holiday, Hanukkah contains profound biblical truths for all people to seriously consider.
The Believer
As A Dedicated Sanctuary
In 1 Kings 8:62-66 we see that the purpose of dedication was to bring spiritual intimacy and worship: “Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, 22,000 oxen, and 120,000 sheep” (1 Kings 8:63). This passage shows us that spiritual intimacy with God has its price. Imagine what this looked and sounded like at Solomon’s temple. How much would 142,000 head of livestock have cost? Dedication is costly. Think of what it cost the Maccabees to fight the mighty Syrian army for three years.
Many lives were sacrificed for the cause of liberating and rededicating the Temple. In a similar way, Messiah gave His life as a sacrifice to redeem us as the Temple of God. Dedication is measured by sacrifice. The Maccabees, Moses, and Solomon understood that God’s dwelling place was dedicated to the Lord. In the same way, spiritual intimacy with God requires us to yield ourselves for God’s use only. “So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:64).
 When the Temple was dedicated, it fulfilled God’s purpose. When you are dedicated to Him, you find God’s purpose for you as well. Your heart is His dwelling place, an altar for prayer. This is where we meet with God intimately. If you restrict your life “for God’s use only,” then you will find fulfillment. At Hanukkah the Temple was rededicated, not for a once-a-week visit, but for daily service. For example, the priests did not announce, “Las Vegas night on Tuesdays, poker on Thursdays, and holy worship on the Sabbath.”

No, the priests understood that ten percent dedication meant a hundred percent desecration. As the temple of the Holy Spirit, are you desecrated or dedicated? Desecration is often found in vain religious activity, but genuine worship is found in sincere dedication. Is God in control of your life and your actions? Only cleansed and consecrated worship brings fulfillment in the Lord.

The Believer As A Dedicated Son
For all of us, spiritual maturity is the result of consistent dedication. Regarding this Solomon wrote, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Here we see the process of dedication, which is based on a relationship. Even as a child is trained up in “the way he should go,” spiritual maturity in God is achieved through a process of dedication.
The Hebrew word translated “train up” is derived from the same word for Hanukkah, or dedicate. Children are to be trained in the truth. Dedication is not just a matter of a well-rounded education, but rather being properly focused on the truth.

For all of us, the lack of spiritual maturity comes from a lack of consistent dedication. Godly discipline in childhood brings godly self-discipline in adulthood. To dedicate a child is to train up the child in light of who he actually is, just as God does with you. But remember, when we train up a child it is the dedication of the parents, not the child, that is being considered.
Dedication is more than just praying, reading the Bible, and hearing godly teaching. Dedication is the consistent application of truth in a person’s life for all believers. With this is the promise: “…when he is old he will not depart from it.” He may detour, but he will not depart.

Some may ask, “What if you do all you can and your children still do not turn out as you had hoped?”
Remember the story of the prodigal son? (Luke 15). In that parable the father represents God. He had two sons: one was self-righteous, and the other was an utterly wasteful person. If that father represents God, and both of His sons are moral failures, does that make God a failure? Of course not. Then what's the point? Even for God the job is not to produce perfect children, but to love imperfect children perfectly. Eventually the prodigal son returned home, for after all, he was still a son.

The Believer As A Dedicated Servant
Those who completely give themselves to God will share in His glory. However, the undedicated did not share in the victory. Who does God use to free those dominated and ensnared by the enemy? He uses only the dedicated servants (hanikim). It is not our ability, but our availability that counts. The dedicated are spiritually successful. Of course, Messiah is the perfect example of a dedicated life: He is our true Sanctuary and the true Servant of God: “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mat. 20:28). He came only to serve. He gave up the glory of heaven to become a servant and fulfill the will of God, His Father. He is given us an example of true dedicated service. Yeshua is the true Son of God; the reality of God made manifest. He models for us the true sonship that faith brings. He is the true Sanctuary of God, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev. 21:22). He is our true sanctuary, our temple.

Yeshua died for you. He paid a great price that you might be set free from the bondage of sin and live unto God. Victory is certain; therefore be a dedicated Temple of God. Dedicate, or rededicate your life to Messiah, and have a Happy Hanukkah.Y

 

 


Next Page

More Word from the Word

Special of the Month

Previous Month

 
                                             
                                             

 

Word of Messiah Ministries,  PO Box 79238 Charlotte, NC 28271
Phone/Fax: 704-362-1927

 Contact Us/E-mail