The Festival of Hanukkah (Night 7) - The New Month of Tevet

Welcome, and thank you so much for joining us tonight on night number seven of Hanukkah as we celebrate the festival of lights, and also the beautiful new month of Tevet — the tenth month on the biblical calendar. We appreciate everyone for being with us as we go through this triple convergence. As we spoke about last night and a couple of nights ago, this weekend brought a triple convergence: the Shabbat we just concluded, the new month beginning tonight, and the festival of Hanukkah. This is the importance of understanding the biblical calendar — we get to recognize these remarkable events that Yah orchestrates through triple or double convergences, or double Shabbats, when the annual feast days fall on a weekly Shabbat as well. There is a great deal of revelation that comes with that, which is why it is so important to be tracking in rhythm with the Most High on the biblical calendar, so we can experience the intimacy he has prepared through the festival of Hanukkah, the Shabbat, and the new moon celebration of the tenth month.

Before anything else, we will light the candles of Hanukkah just as we have done the previous six nights. This is night number seven. We begin by lighting the center candle — the shamash, or servant candle — which represents Yeshua, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as it sits higher than all the other candles. Then we light the newest candle, tonight's seventh candle, and proceed back to night one in descending order.

Just as in the previous nights, you light the servant candle first, then the newest candle, and continue lighting the previous candles in order from that point. As you can see, it grows brighter and brighter with each passing night, representing the Light of the World, Yeshua the Messiah — and he wants us to be that light going forward from this festival.

This Hanukkah festival is unique in that it moves from the month of Kislev into the month of Tevet. It is the only festival or moed that does this — there is no other feast day or minor festival that intersects with two months the way Hanukkah does, and there is a reason for that, of course. Happy Hanukkah, everyone. The seven evenings have gone quickly, yet the revelation and insight that come from this festival are profound. It goes beyond the surface of the origins and history of Hanukkah to include the prophetic understanding of Hanukkah, the personal rededication of our temple during this time — just as the Maccabees rededicated the temple — and the understanding found in the biblical prophet Daniel. Many believe that Antiochus Epiphanes IV fulfilled Daniel 8, Daniel 11, Daniel 7, and related scriptures. As we have shown throughout the week of Hanukkah, he did not fulfill those passages. Their fulfillment belongs to the Antichrist at the end of the age. There is a great deal of revelation within this beautiful festival that meets far more than the eye can see at first glance.

We also went through the teaching on worshiping in spirit and in truth, and the beautiful anointings connected with that, as well as the themes of light versus darkness. As the Hanukkah lights grow brighter during this dark season, that light extends into the month of Tevet. It is very beautiful how the Lord has orchestrated his calendar, and we must understand it from that standpoint. To be in rhythm with him, to be in alignment with him — that is the central understanding. The more we are in alignment with him, the more we begin to see things that religion cannot teach. Christianity does not teach these things, and even though Judaism does observe them, it does so without looking through the lens of Yeshua. We must return to Yeshua, to the Holy Spirit, and to observing the correct way — and it all begins and ends on the biblical calendar.

As you can see on the calendar, we have just entered the month of Tevet. The festival of Hanukkah, the festival of lights, extends from Kislev 25 to Tevet 2. It is an eight-day festival whose final two days fall in the month of Tevet. Day number seven and day number eight are in the month of Tevet. The number seven means spiritual perfection, and the number eight means new beginnings and new wineskin. This is a very important understanding of why Hanukkah extends into Tevet's first two days. The primary meaning is this: we take the illumination we are receiving right now through the blessed Holy Spirit — the purity, the righteous rendered verdicts, all of these beautiful things — and we carry that light into the month of Tevet, because Tevet is ultimately a month of judgment in the scriptures. For believers who are walking in obedience to Yah, however, it is good judgment. There is good judgment and bad judgment — verdicts that can be favorable or unfavorable depending on our obedience and behavior. It is a good thing for believers to enter the month of Tevet illuminated with the Hanukkah lights: eight lights, new beginnings, new wineskin. Pray into these things. These are the anointings of the believer, and as you get into rhythm with the months, you will sooner or later see your personal timeline tracking with that rhythm, because he is tracking with the rhythm of the months and he wants us to track with him as well. That is what is so beautiful about it.

Unfortunately, our Christian brethren do not see the convergence of Shabbat, the festival of Hanukkah, and the new moon celebration — three convergences at one time. You will not find that on the Christian calendar. You will only find it on the biblical calendar. That is why it is important to understand the way God is looking at time — what Yahweh is doing — so that we can meet him on these important events and remain illuminated through his trajectory.

We have just exited the month of Kislev at sundown tonight and entered the month of Tevet, the tenth month. The number ten means the divine perfection of order. There are many beautiful understandings that go into this month, just as with every other month on the calendar. If you are new to this, that is perfectly fine — welcome home, amen, and hallelujah. Take it one month at a time, one Shabbat at a time, and go on this beautiful journey. He will open it up to you. Just as the prophet says in Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me and I will answer you and I will show you great and amazing things that you do not understand." The biblical calendar will do exactly that for you. It makes you accountable — it is the best accountability partner beside the Ruach, beside the Holy Spirit. It keeps us in rhythm on every Shabbat and on every new moon. Just as every weekly Shabbat calls us to renew ourselves — resting from six days of work and renewing on the seventh — the new moon festival is the same. It goes with the cycles of the moon. Just as the moon is renewing itself tonight, he wants us to renew ourselves as well. And prophetically, when Yeshua returns at his second coming on the new moon of the Feast of Trumpets, he will renew Israel one final time — and that includes me and you as well.

There is a great deal of symbolic and prophetic understanding we can draw from all of this, and intimacy is the best word to describe it. This is how he moves: through his months, through the agricultural rhythms of the months, through the anointings of the months, the Hebrew letters for each month, the tribe of the month, and the constellation of the month. This is really powerful, and it connects to Aaron's breastplate and the precious stone for each tribe. It goes very deep with layers of understanding, where deep calls unto deep. He wants us to go scuba diving with him rather than snorkeling. Snorkeling is beautiful, but he wants us to go deep into the scriptures — to go deep with him and understand these profound revelations that draw us closer to him, that make us more like him, that shape our thinking to be more like his. The mind of Christ, the mind of Yah. None of us can fully comprehend that, because he is Yahweh and we are not, but he calls us to pursue his likeness — to be holy as he is holy — and to track with him in this beautiful routine.

We have entered the last quarter of the biblical year. The biblical calendar, not the Gregorian calendar. The end of the Gregorian calendar is coming in about ten days, but on God's calendar we have three more months remaining before the new year arrives in spring — when everything blossoms anew, when nothing is dead in the middle of winter. We must return to the way God has shown us his rhythm and his routine. And it is worth asking: why does the Gregorian calendar place New Year's Day in the middle of winter, when everything is dead? On God's calendar, the new year comes in spring, when everything is coming to life — because that is how he thinks, and that is how he moves.