‘Tis The Hanukkah Season – HANUKKAH 3

HANUKKAH 3

The Festival of Hanukkah and the celebration of Christmas fall pretty close together, and they both carry a message of hope, miracles, and bringing light into a world that is embraced by both Christians and Jews.

Jesus Celebrates Hanukkah!

John 10:22 (ISV) 

Now Hanukkahh was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter,

Solomon’s porch: Jesus walked in the temple (John 10:23)in Solomon’s porch; as it is called (Acts 3:11), not because it was built by Solomon, but because it was built in the same place with that which had borne his name in the first temple, and the name was kept up for the greater reputation of it. Jesus Christ walked, to observe the proceedings of the great Sanhedrim that sat there (Ps. 82:1); he walked, ready to give spectators (to any that should apply to him), and to offer them his services. He walked, as it should seem, for some time alone, as one neglected; walked pensive, in the foresight of the ruin of the temple. Those that have anything to say to Christ may find him in the temple and walk with him there.

  

John 10:22-40

King James Version (KJV)

v  22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.

24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

30 I and my Father are one.

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

 It was at the Feast of Dedication, and it was winter, a feast that was annually observed by consent, in remembrance of the dedication of a new altar and the purging of the temple, by Judas Maccabaeus, after the temple had been profaned and the altar defiled; there is the prophecy of it, Dan. 8:13, 14. The return of their liberty was to them as life from the dead, and, in remembrance of it, they kept an annual feast on the twenty-fifth day of the month Cisleu, about the beginning of December, and seven days after. The celebrating of it was not confined to Jerusalem, as that of the divine feasts was, but every one observed it in his own place, not as a holy time (it is only a divine institution that can sanctify a day). Christ forecasted to be now at Jerusalem, not in honor of the feast, which did not require his attendance there, but that he might improve those eight days of vacation for good purposes.

John skillfully selects the Hanukkah event because of the festival impact on the crowd. In contrast to the arrogant and blasphemous statement by Antiochus IV, Jesus truly is God manifest in human flesh. The second purpose was to challenge people to put their trust (believe) in the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who died for their sins and rose again from the dead. When they trust Him, God gives them the gift of eternal life, forgiveness of sins and a home in Heaven. There seems to be a marked contrast between the response of the Jews on the Temple Mount (10:37–39). Have we trusted the One who is the fulfillment of Hanukkah?

The End

Happy Hanukkah!

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

http://mybiblestoriesblog.blogspot.com