Hanukkah and Jesus (Yeshua)

Hello friends, I'm Chadwick Harvey and this is Faithful Performance, where we explore the testimony of the biblical prophets and how they perfectly correlate with the current events of today. Thank you for joining us.

In this episode, we're going to discover the origin, the history, and the prophetic understanding of the festival of Hanukkah. Before we commence, I'd like to make a special announcement. I'll be releasing a debut single and album with my good friend Taylor Strickland on November 26th — Black Friday. It's called "The Ark of God," which is the name of both the album and the lead single. The song is based upon the biblical story of Noah and his personal journey, but I've also tied in my own personal journey, and I hope it gives inspiration to everyone on their own personal walk as well. We really appreciate your support.

Now let's talk about the festival of Hanukkah. This year, Hanukkah occurs on November 28th through December 6th on the Gregorian calendar. On God's calendar — the biblical calendar — it occurs on Kislev 24 through Tevet 2. Hanukkah is a great festival to understand. Yes, it is a Jewish festival, but I believe Gentile believers can gain great understanding from it and celebrate it as well, because it all points to Jesus. As we'll see, Hanukkah will occur again at the end of the age with the Messiah and the final Antichrist, and we'll explore those connections as we continue.

Hanukkah is a minor feast day. It is not one of the moadim of Leviticus 23 — the divine appointments of the Lord we discuss in relation to the spring and fall feasts — but it is a minor feast day commemorating the Maccabean victory against the Syrian army of Antiochus Epiphanes IV and the rededication of the temple. In fact, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication." It is also called the Festival of Lights, and we'll explore that symbolism as well. It is also known for the miracle of the oil, which we will address. Hanukkah is an eight-day festival celebrated by the Jewish people, and I believe Gentile believers in Yeshua — Jesus — should celebrate it as well.

I want to bring out several important points on why we should celebrate the festival of Hanukkah. As born Gentile believers, we have to remember that we are grafted into Israel's tree, as described in Romans 11. Ephesians 2 tells us we are part of the commonwealth of Israel. Once we receive the blood of the Lamb — once we receive Jesus as our Savior — we are no longer considered Gentiles in the eyes of God. We are part of the commonwealth of Israel and should be understanding what Israel celebrates.

A related point comes from Galatians 3:26-29, which says that if you are in Christ, you are a seed of Abraham and an heir according to the promise. That promise is rooted in the Abrahamic covenant. Jesus is the seed of the Abrahamic covenant who will rule over the promised land. This builds further into the Davidic covenant — he is the seed of David who will rule from David's everlasting throne. And as we know, he is himself the new covenant. That is why Matthew 1 calls him "the son of David, the son of Abraham" — directing us back to those covenants. Matthew is saying: return to the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants, because Jesus is the new covenant who will fulfill them literally at his second coming and throughout his millennial kingdom. It is vital for born Gentile believers in Yeshua to understand that we are grafted into these things, and as we will see, it all points to Jesus — including Hanukkah and its prophetic foreshadowing of how, at the end of the age, he will defeat the Antichrist and dedicate the millennial temple.

The first specific reason to celebrate Hanukkah is what I call the preservation of the pure royal lineage seed. We have to understand that if it were not for events like Hanukkah — and specifically Judah Maccabee's role in it — or for events like Purim with Esther and Mordecai, who is to say that the pure royal lineage seed would have been preserved? God had to raise up Esther, Mordecai, and Judah Maccabee to preserve that seed line, because the Messiah had to come through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David — specifically through the tribe of Judah. This conflict goes all the way back to Genesis 3:15: the seed of the woman, who is Jesus, against the seed of the enemy, who is Satan. All throughout history, Satan has sought to destroy the Jewish people because of that seed line. It had to flow through Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David — and Satan understood this.

I wrote about this in my second book, God's Fishermen, Satan's Hunters. The central concept is that every time God was about to make an everlasting covenant — with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and ultimately through the new covenant in Messiah — Satan came against every one of them and tried to eliminate them because of the seed line. So when we celebrate Hanukkah, we are celebrating the preservation of that seed line to Messiah. God raised up people like Judah Maccabee, Esther, and Mordecai to accomplish exactly that.

As believers, we naturally oppose the genocide of the Jewish people or anyone else. But in this specific context, what is at stake is the preservation of that pure royal lineage seed that Satan has been targeting and will continue to target. Revelation 12 confirms that he will continue to pursue the seed line of the Jewish people. He hates the Jewish people because of Yeshua, because of the seed line, and because of the promises God made to them. He is trying to make God a promise-breaker — but God is a promise-keeper. He will keep his promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and his beloved Son, Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. These are the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants, and understanding covenant theology keeps our theology correct and guards us against replacement theology — the erroneous teaching that the Gentile church has replaced the Jewish people. As Romans 11 makes clear, Gentile believers are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel alongside the Jewish people. We are not a replacement; we are participants.

The second reason to celebrate Hanukkah is that it will happen again. As we go through this story, we'll see how Antiochus Epiphanes IV foreshadows the eventual, final Antichrist. He will come from the same region. The desecration of the temple will follow the same pattern. And the redemption will follow the same pattern — only this time, it will be our Lord, our Messiah, Yeshua, who descends to defeat him and redeem his people.

Another reason is that Hanukkah points to Jesus. Everything must point to the Messiah — if it doesn't, we want no part of it. Hanukkah does point to Yeshua, and you're going to see both symbolic and prophetic connections as we continue.

The final point is that Jesus himself celebrated Hanukkah. If it was good enough for Jesus, it is certainly good enough for us. We must remember that he is Jewish. We cannot separate his Jewish identity from him, because when we do, we run into serious problems when reading the Holy Bible, especially in the area of eschatology. He is Jewish. He is coming back as a Jewish king, a Jewish Messiah. The Scriptures make this abundantly clear through the covenants and the prophets. We cannot strip him of his identity — and yet some want to, presenting him as an "American Jesus" or a "Roman Jesus," which is a serious distortion and, in my view, borders on heresy. We must place him back in his original scriptural context: he is Jewish, the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, the Holy One of Israel. He is the descendant from the tribe of Judah, the line of David. When we fail to see him in this proper context, we open the door to replacement theology and many other errors prevalent in the modern church.

Yeshua did celebrate Hanukkah, and we find this recorded in John 10:22-30: "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.' Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.'"

It is remarkable that Jesus spoke these words specifically at the Feast of Dedication — at Hanukkah. When you read John chapters 7 through 10, the narrative carries you from the Feast of Tabernacles, where he declared in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world," all the way forward to Hanukkah. Whether he stayed in Jerusalem for the months between the Feast of Tabernacles and Hanukkah, or traveled back to Galilee and returned — the Scriptures do not specify — the significance of his presence there is unmistakable. Either way, the effort involved speaks to the importance he placed on Hanukkah. There were no automobiles; travel was by foot, by donkey, or by camel. A winter trek from Galilee to Jerusalem was no small undertaking. If our Lord and Savior placed that level of importance on Hanukkah, then it certainly carries weight for us as well.