Seeing the light

Dear friends,

With the switching on of Christmas lights taking place all over the world it is worth taking a moment away from our festive preparations to consider the Jewish celebration of Hanukah, also known as the Feast of Lights, which this year begins tomorrow evening. Hanukah means ‘Dedication’, and is the time of year during which Jewish families commemorate the re-dedication of the temple after the defeat of the forces of the Syrian king Antiochus IV by Judas Maccabeus in 165 BC.
The Syrian king Antiochus defiled the temple in Jerusalem with idols and on 25th Kislev 168 BC sacrificed a sow on the holy altar. In 167 BC, the Maccabees set into motion an uprising against Antiochus, who had set up his altar to Zeus in the temple and profaned the holy sanctuary. Eventually the Syrians were driven out of Jerusalem and the Jews set about cleansing and rededicating the temple to the true and living God.
The celebration of Hanukah is a great reminder to us of God’s faithfulness to his people in days gone by; a faithfulness which remains today. Comparisons can be drawn between the paganism of those who oppressed Jewish people and our own contemporary problems, with the rise in secularism and the anti-God culture that we as believers have to do battle with today. As followers of Jesus prepare to celebrate his birth, the sad fact is that most people will be celebrating a Christ-less Christmas during which the recognition of the greatest gift God ever made to mankind will play no part. Despite this, God sustains and remains faithful to his remnant, helping them overcome apparently insurmountable challenges just as he did during the time of the Maccabean revolt.
However, Jewish celebrations will focus less on the great military triumph over the Syrians and more on the miracle that is told of the single day’s supply of consecrated oil which burnt continually, and miraculously, for eight days until more oil could be found. According to the Talmud (Shabbat 21b), this was the only oil in the temple that had not been desecrated by Antiochus and the invading Syrian forces. This miracle is commemorated daily with the lighting of the nine headed candelabra called the menorah. Each night a new candle is lit using the centre Shamash or ‘Servant’ candle until the entire menorah is lit up.  
In the daily lighting of the eight menorah candles with the Shamash, we can draw parallels with the One who came two centuries later as both the suffering ‘servant’ and ‘the Light of the World’, to fulfil the divine plan of redemption, calling his people out of darkness and into his marvellous light. As we remember this Christmas time how Jesus, who promised his followers ‘the light of life’, humbled himself by coming down in human form to bring reconciliation between God and man, it is worth considering this central practice of the festival of Hanukah, which itself sometimes coincides with Christmas day. Just as this single servant candle provides light to the other candles on the menorah, so the Lord Jesus provided light, reconciliation and redemption to those he came to humbly serve.
It is interesting to note that the only time we find mention of the Hanukah in the Bible is in the New Testament when Jesus entered the temple at ‘the Feast of Dedication’ in John 10:22-24: ‘Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”’
The fact that John records Jesus entering the temple at this time is significant. On his visit to the temple in John 8, Jesus declared himself the ‘Light of the World’. The giver of true light and new life now stood in the place that had been desecrated two centuries before, where the holy lamp had burned miraculously and where God’s faithfulness had been proved.
Over the coming season of festive celebrations, whether it be Christmas or Hanukah, as those commanded and commissioned by Jesus, let us not only remember the one who is able to give the ‘light of life’ but also be concerned to let our light shine before our unsaved families and friends so that our Father in heaven may be glorified. Please also remember to pray for the many Jewish people who have been challenged with the gospel over the past year, that they will see and indeed meet the true Light and servant Messiah as we draw ever nearer to the day that all Israel will be saved.

The following excerpt is from the 1847 Editor's end of year letter to readers of The Jewish Herald and supporters of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, the organisation which later became Christian Witness to Israel:
'We are approaching a season distinguished for social enjoyment and good cheer. May such a season yield its full measure of delight, being sanctified by the word of God and prayer! But amid the festivities of Christmas, let the claims of God’s Kingdom be first regarded. Thousands perish for a lack of knowledge. And beside our very door, crowded together in the narrow streets and alleys of our great cities, are those who are living and dying without Christ. Shall not some special effort be made for these before the year closes? 
Some may cast an eye upon this page, who, whatever else they may have done for the cause of Christ during the year, have proffered no help to the Jew. The people, whom the Saviour commended to the special charge of his church, have received from them no sympathy. Without a priest, without a temple, without sacrifice, the unhappy condition of the dispersed of Israel has wrung no pity from their heart. Is it so with you, my reader? Then something remains for you to do ere the year closes. One command of our Saviour remains to be obeyed. One channel hitherto unopened, yet remains, in which our benevolence is to flow, and through which, a blessing shall flow back to your own soul.'
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Yours for the salvation of Israel,

Mike Moore
General Secretary
Christian Witness to Israel
 
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