Being
Hanukkah Prepared
12/18/14
Many
of us know about the Jewish tradition of Hanukkah and most of these
individuals, such as myself, are still learning about the details of this
holiday. Of course there is the Jewish history lesson and how this
holiday represents lights and how to be prepared. For Christians it
is a symbol of our savior and how we must be spiritually prepared for His
return and never be off trying to get things in order when He comes for
us. For the physical aspect of this holiday the same concepts and
applications must be in order to ensure our readiness in troubled times. The
question that remains is of our overall preparedness on all of these levels and
how we are doing to make sure that we are ready at all costs.
Up
until a few decades ago I pretty much kept my distance from all Jewish
holidays. It was this ignorance of mine that cost me dearly in the
understanding not only of the history of the Jewish people but also many
foundational aspects of the Christian Church. I find it amazing of
how many Jewish holidays, both the feats and the fasts, relate to our
relationship with God and how He views our lives; also, how we should view our
overall existence in and through Him as well. There is so much more
information about Jewish history that I still have to soak in and the same goes
for my understanding about God.
There
was a crisis within the Jewish community in ancient times and this crisis was
inherited as a result of the world not accepting the Jewish cultures and
faith. The community had suffered great torture and sacking with
many others running in fear for their lives. Times were tough and
supplies had been running low due to the sacking and usage. Total carnage
was all around the Temple and the work began to restore its holiness which
meant that more supplies were needed to complete this mission. Much hurt,
devastation and anger had to be present within the hearts of the Jewish people,
yet with meticulous workmanship they tried their best to restore things as they
had been before.
After
the Jewish community had retaken the land of the Temple it was to be rebuilt
and rededicated. In order for this to occur, pure olive oil had to
be used so that total purity would be a guarantee. There were not
enough oil basins to complete this task so runners had to be set out as soon as
possible to obtain more oil. Only one basin was present and it had
been sealed for a long period of time and was known how pure its quality was,
the only problem was that this basin would only allow the lamp to burn for one
day. The basin was unsealed and its contents used in order to begin
the process of restoration. However, with the quantity being so
short the people understood that the oil was sure to be used up before the
runners returned with more oil. But everyone involved trusted God to
provide, and as my dad always says, “then God showed up.”
Miraculously
the lamp continued its burning a second day, then a third, fourth and all the
way up until the runners returned from their mission. As soon as the
runners had delivered the oil reserves, the lamp went out which was no longer a
concern because the replacement fuel was ready to be used. For eight
full days that single lamp and its contents burned brightly, showing the Jewish
population and to whomever wished to view that the repairs of the Temple were
blessed by God. This is how the holiday of Hanukkah originated and
why it is so important to the Jews’ lives. This holiday should also
be understood by non Jews as well for it plays a significant part in our lives
and what Jesus means to us and how important it is that we never forget this
truth.
In
the Christian aspect of this holiday we can find many facts that lead us into the
acceptance of Jesus as our one and only savior. The physical
destruction of the Temple could not be rebuilt exactly as it had been before
because we all know that once a physical characteristic is demolished for
whatever reason then rebuilt “exactly” as it was before does not measure up to
the first structure. It may look the same and feel the same but
inside and other physical details are not exactly replicated as previous
standards. This physical destruction represents our physical lives
and how sin has entered into us and completely devastated our physical
presence. It would have been wonderful to know how it felt to have
an eternal physical body, but because of our choices we have the lives that we
know about today.
It
was the pure oil that was needed in order to guide the Jewish community so that
they could see to rebuild the Temple. While they were interested in
rebuilding the physical Temple the same facts can be applied to our temple as
well. Every detail was supplied for the rebuilding but for the
people to see what was going on and to allow them to work as needed, they
needed a light source. The Middle East is full of olive trees and
their oil is very abundant and could have been easily purchased without much
hesitancy. But it was the quality of oil that was needed in order to
keep the sanctity and purity of the rebuilding process and nothing less than a
pure olive oil would do. This is where Jesus comes in to provide the
light unto a dark and dying world. It was His pure blood that was
shed in order for us to be restored to purity within the eyes of God. Jesus
is the only one that had pure and holy blood coursing through His veins and
therefore only His quality can do the job.
The
last portion of this holiday I am going to share is the one of being
prepared. Being prepared does not always mean to have excess goods
present in case a disaster occurs. It also can mean that when a
disaster does occur we have the frame of mind to understand our surroundings
well enough that we have the knowledge of the resources needed to restore our
facilities when this type of event occurs. While physical disasters
require us to search out needed items for our survival and are very important
we must consider that our spiritual well being is just as important and in my
opinion more important because as I have stated before eternity is a very long
time to be without.
It
is well known that it is only a matter of time before the life we know it comes
tumbling down. Every sign imaginable is pointing to this direction
and with a certain amount of astrological patterns coupled with our current
form of spirituality we are ripe for a huge shaking, one that would affect the
entire world. Remember God is a complete God and He usually does not
leave anyone exempt when He has to grab our attention. It is in this
situation and condition that we need to be prepared, not in the disaster itself
but how we are going to begin to repair ourselves after this disaster
occurs. As of now we have no idea of how or what will occur but we
do have the capability to understand how to rebuild afterwards. The
only question is if we will rebuild correctly or rebuild according to how we
here in the West have done it previously. It does not take too much
digging to find this selfish rebuilding pattern, we only have to look back to
the year 2001.
It
is through this selfish and worldly rebuilding process that we have guaranteed
ourselves another lesson from God, for we have had the chance to reclaim His
promises by His manners yet we have constructed our lives by these gifts
through our own ways. We still have one more small window of opportunity
to correct this wrongdoing and the holiday of Hanukkah would be the perfect
stepping stone to show God that we do still want His ways into our lives. If
we do not rebuild our temples with God first and His ways it is a guarantee
that He will have to show us our transgressions once again. It may
be through man’s actions, it may be through His methods, or even both. But
why do we have to go through a long period of hardships because of our selfish
behaviors? Why do we have to rebuild our temples once again? There
is a process in which all of this tearing down and rebuilding can be bypassed.
The
Jewish people tried to rebuild their Temple according to God’s laws and they
did a good job of it the first time around, but after the second Temple was
destroyed not much could be done due to the geographical circumstances of that
time. While the Temple was rebuilt physically the Jewish
people totally missed out on what God was really trying to show them about
their lives. Yes, they rebuilt it according to God’s laws and God
honored that but God also understood that if they did not understand what the
true Temple was and what it represented their physical Temple meant absolutely
nothing, for it was their eternal temple that God was trying to get them to
rebuild in the same manner.
The
same holds true for our lives as well. It is our inner and eternal
temple that God is trying to get us to rebuild. The physical things
of this world will pass away and will return but our eternal beings have but
only one life and it is quite evident that we have voluntarily strayed from the
correct course and chose to accept our own ways instead. God shall
have to correct this course if we do not recognize this fault
immediately. God shall never force Himself upon us even though He
might have to show us a corrective action or two. However, we must
remember something about God, He has a way of doing a corrective measure once
and He will allow us to rebuild. But just as with the second Temple
in Jerusalem and its destruction, there is only a single wall up for that
destruction was far greater and lasted longer than the first temple
destruction.
There
are many more details about this holiday that needs to be addressed, but it is
our responsibility to understand that Hanukkah is not just for the Jewish
people but for everyone. Allow God restore our destructive hearts
and allow Him to use His son’s blood to give us the light that we so
desperately need. It is through this holy blood that is the one way
that will guarantee our restoration both physically and spiritually. I
ask you to look and see what the world is doing and in which direction it is
taking us. The world can only lead to death for that is all it can
offer. Christ is the only way to salvation, happiness and
restoration. It is important that if we do not change our ways God
will have to wake us up once again, but this time it shall be wider and far
greater than ever before. If we chose to allow it to come to this
act of God, may we recover quickly and return back to His ways instead of our
own.
The
true spirit of Hanukkah has an opportunity to shine bright through our lives in
an entire new capacity if we fully understand its meaning. I hope
that you study this holiday further and grasp its entire meaning for our
lives. You do not have to be Jewish to celebrate this holiday
because it is a holiday that is for everyone to enjoy and to remember how God
is our provider. I am thankful that God
is sharing with me some of the information about His life through our
history. I pray that God shares with you
some of the things that God wants to give to our lives. It is an awesome experience and a wonderful
and fulfilling life in Him.
DLB
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