WHY I AM CELEBRATING HANUKKAH
AND NOT CHRISTMAS
I have been reborn since 2001, but it was only recently when I started understanding the importance of going back to our Hebraic roots. If you are not on the same page as I am, don’t stop reading this. Think about what I am going to say.
I remember growing up as a Catholic thinking that Jews are bad people because they killed Jesus. I never even realized that Jesus Himself was a Jew and so are all His disciples. When I got reborn, I was drawn to the Old Testament, particularly the Torah, without even knowing that this is the core of the entire Bible. God said in Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy ways prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. The book of the law that God was referring to was the Torah.
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5:17 that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. This means that Jesus Himself is our Torah teacher, through the Holy Spirit. This I believe is the reason why I was drawn to go back to our Hebraic roots. It was my hunger to learn more from our Teacher that eventually led me to seek for deeper things about God. When God saw that it was the right time, He then connected me, through my husband, to El Shaddai, a Hebrew Roots Resource and Teaching Ministry.
I have to admit that I am a babe in this Hebraic teachings, yet I am serious to know and understand more. One of the things I am learning and understanding is God’s command to follow His feasts. In Leviticus 23, God laid down His feasts and told Moses to speak unto the children of Israel and say: The appointed seasons of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons. Each of these appointed seasons has its fulfillment in the life of Jesus and His second coming.
1. Passover: Jesus’ Crucifixion – Liberation from the slavery of satan and sin.
2. Unleavened Bread: Jesus’ body is buried.
3. Shavuot (Pentecost): The disciples received the Holy Spirit.
4. Feast of Trumpets: The trumpets will announce the 2nd coming of Jesus.
5. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): Jesus’ second coming.
6. Succoth (Tabernacles): Wedding Feast of the Lamb
If this is the first time you’ve heard about this, doesn’t it make a lot of sense? These feasts are the FEASTS OF THE LORD. They are recorded in the Bible and practiced by the disciples of Jesus themselves.
Look at these verses in 1 Corinthians 5 …
7Purge (clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough, still uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ, our Passover [Lamb], has been sacrificed.
8Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened [bread] of purity (nobility, honor) and sincerity and [unadulterated] truth.
Another verse to meditate upon is Acts 18:21 (KJV)…
But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
And another one …
For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of PENTECOST.... (Acts 20:16)
There are other Scriptures that show and prove that we are to celebrate God’s feasts. I mean, come on, if you are celebrating worldly holidays such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, etc…shouldn’t you be more interested in celebrating the feasts of God???
This is the reason why I am celebrating HANUKKAH and not CHRISTMAS.
Though Hanukkah is outside of the feasts of the Leviticus cycle, it is still worth celebrating it. Here’s why …
I mentioned in my article, WHY ARE YOU CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS, that there is no Biblical account to Christmas except the Nativity but which didn’t happen in December 25. And if we are to celebrate the coming of the Messiah to this world, then we are to celebrate it everyday.
Hanukkah originated as the festival of the dedication or cleansing of the Temple. It marks the victory won by the Maccabees in 165 B.C.E. The Syrian leader Antiochus had defiled the Temple and turned it into a heathen shrine. Hanukkah then reminds us of the victory over this heathen act and the need to cleanse the temple, as well as ensure the purity of worship of God.
Isn’t this what we should all be doing? We have to make sure that our “temple” is always clean and pure before God.
Jesus Himself used the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah to proclaim Himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:22).
If you want to get deeper, check this out …
The book of Daniel (Daniel 8 & 11) predicted the rise of Antiochus to represent a figure in the future whom we Christians call as the Antichrist, who will also defile the Temple. The Antichrist will cause great persecution for the Jewish people, a time known as Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:4-7). At this time, we believe that the Messiah will come and win a great victory, greater than that won by the Maccabees (Zech. 12-14; 1 Peter 5:4).
Hanukkah then is a Jewish feast that looks back to a victory and the preservation of the Jewish people when they were in the land. For us Christians, it looks forward to a time when our people will be preserved despite intense suffering. It is an anticipation of the coming back of our Messiah.
Knowing now the significance of Hanukkah, don’t you think it is a feast worth celebrating more than the pagan Christmas holiday?
Think about it.
I remember growing up as a Catholic thinking that Jews are bad people because they killed Jesus. I never even realized that Jesus Himself was a Jew and so are all His disciples. When I got reborn, I was drawn to the Old Testament, particularly the Torah, without even knowing that this is the core of the entire Bible. God said in Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy ways prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. The book of the law that God was referring to was the Torah.
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5:17 that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. This means that Jesus Himself is our Torah teacher, through the Holy Spirit. This I believe is the reason why I was drawn to go back to our Hebraic roots. It was my hunger to learn more from our Teacher that eventually led me to seek for deeper things about God. When God saw that it was the right time, He then connected me, through my husband, to El Shaddai, a Hebrew Roots Resource and Teaching Ministry.
I have to admit that I am a babe in this Hebraic teachings, yet I am serious to know and understand more. One of the things I am learning and understanding is God’s command to follow His feasts. In Leviticus 23, God laid down His feasts and told Moses to speak unto the children of Israel and say: The appointed seasons of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My appointed seasons. Each of these appointed seasons has its fulfillment in the life of Jesus and His second coming.
1. Passover: Jesus’ Crucifixion – Liberation from the slavery of satan and sin.
2. Unleavened Bread: Jesus’ body is buried.
3. Shavuot (Pentecost): The disciples received the Holy Spirit.
4. Feast of Trumpets: The trumpets will announce the 2nd coming of Jesus.
5. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement): Jesus’ second coming.
6. Succoth (Tabernacles): Wedding Feast of the Lamb
If this is the first time you’ve heard about this, doesn’t it make a lot of sense? These feasts are the FEASTS OF THE LORD. They are recorded in the Bible and practiced by the disciples of Jesus themselves.
Look at these verses in 1 Corinthians 5 …
7Purge (clean out) the old leaven that you may be fresh (new) dough, still uncontaminated [as you are], for Christ, our Passover [Lamb], has been sacrificed.
8Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of vice and malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened [bread] of purity (nobility, honor) and sincerity and [unadulterated] truth.
Another verse to meditate upon is Acts 18:21 (KJV)…
But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
And another one …
For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of PENTECOST.... (Acts 20:16)
There are other Scriptures that show and prove that we are to celebrate God’s feasts. I mean, come on, if you are celebrating worldly holidays such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, etc…shouldn’t you be more interested in celebrating the feasts of God???
This is the reason why I am celebrating HANUKKAH and not CHRISTMAS.
Though Hanukkah is outside of the feasts of the Leviticus cycle, it is still worth celebrating it. Here’s why …
I mentioned in my article, WHY ARE YOU CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS, that there is no Biblical account to Christmas except the Nativity but which didn’t happen in December 25. And if we are to celebrate the coming of the Messiah to this world, then we are to celebrate it everyday.
Hanukkah originated as the festival of the dedication or cleansing of the Temple. It marks the victory won by the Maccabees in 165 B.C.E. The Syrian leader Antiochus had defiled the Temple and turned it into a heathen shrine. Hanukkah then reminds us of the victory over this heathen act and the need to cleanse the temple, as well as ensure the purity of worship of God.
Isn’t this what we should all be doing? We have to make sure that our “temple” is always clean and pure before God.
Jesus Himself used the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah to proclaim Himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:22).
If you want to get deeper, check this out …
The book of Daniel (Daniel 8 & 11) predicted the rise of Antiochus to represent a figure in the future whom we Christians call as the Antichrist, who will also defile the Temple. The Antichrist will cause great persecution for the Jewish people, a time known as Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:4-7). At this time, we believe that the Messiah will come and win a great victory, greater than that won by the Maccabees (Zech. 12-14; 1 Peter 5:4).
Hanukkah then is a Jewish feast that looks back to a victory and the preservation of the Jewish people when they were in the land. For us Christians, it looks forward to a time when our people will be preserved despite intense suffering. It is an anticipation of the coming back of our Messiah.
Knowing now the significance of Hanukkah, don’t you think it is a feast worth celebrating more than the pagan Christmas holiday?
Think about it.
Lisa Maki is the founder/editor of God'z Gurlz. Both Lisa and her husband are into the Hebraic Roots movement and is a part of the El Shaddai Ministries congregation.
