There I said it—Christians should also celebrate Hanukkah!
Hanukkah should have always been celebrated as part of our yearly cycle. This statement is NOT replacement theology nor is it an attempt at cultural appropriation! It’s simply this— if our Lord and Saviour visited the Temple during Hanukkah, as the New Testament clearly teaches, what can Christians learn from that? And if Jesus himself observed the Feast of Dedication, for heaven’s sake, why don’t we Christians?
The Hebrew word Hanukkah means “dedication” and commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. John 10: 22-23 states, “Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.” So Jesus specifically meant to be in his father’s house at that time. He honored the Feast of Dedication that commemorated the great Maccabean victory over the Hellenists and the cleansing of the temple. (As the Gospels teach, Jesus was “into” the cleansing of the temple big time because on another occasion he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and drove them out with a whip! In a sense Jesus was following in the Maccabean tradition when he said in Matthew 21: 13, “It is written ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of thieves.’”)
The Books of the Maccabees were included in the Septuagint but not in the Masoretic Hebrew canon, the Tanakh. However, early Christians considered 1 and 2 Maccabees as deuterocanonical works. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians still consider them deuterocanonical. Protestant Christians include 2 Maccabees in the Apocrypha.
It was prophetically significant to see Israeli soldiers erecting a Hanukkah menorah in Gaza this week. A new level of evil was unleashed on the world October 7 by Hamas terrorists. But Satan overplayed his hand. The sadism of Hamas was unmasked. And the people of the Book— Jews and Christians— are becoming closer allies during this holiday season because we are both targeted by the jihadists.
In New York City pro-Hamas protesters brought swastikas and genocidal chants to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center and in my home state of Virginia, a menorah lighting ceremony was refused in Williamsburg for fear of looking “inappropriate” due to the war. For the same reason Christmas was cancelled this year in Bethlehem!
As the historian Victor Davis Hansen has noted, Americans do not look kindly upon the audacity of guests in our country, whether on student visas or first generation immigrants, when they choose to disrupt iconic events such as the Thanksgiving Day parade or Christmas tree lighting or when local towns refuse public Hanukkia lightings. Furthermore, when the pro-Hamas people protest against Israel, they are the ones wearing masks to hide their faces.
In a time when gross darkness is creeping over the earth, Hanukkah, the Feast of the Temple’s Dedication, is a perfect time for Christians to rededicate ourselves to the truth of the Word of God.
If ever there was a time not to be silent, it is now!
Christians should understand the importance of the Maccabean victory in Jewish history that helped to pave the way eventually for Christianity. Hanukkah kept the Jewish people as a separate nation (Num. 23: 9), so without Hanukkah there would be no “Christmas.” There would be no chosen nation into which our Messiah was born!
Hanukkah isn’t a “Jewish Christmas,” although if Jesus had been born during the Feast of Tabernacles, as many scholars believe, he would have been incarnated in the Virgin’s womb around the time of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication.
Recently my husband and I visited northwest Saudi Arabia where many explorers now believe is the region of the real Mt. Sinai. We visited Refidim where Amalekites attacked Israel after crossing the Red Sea, and we saw many hills and mountains that could have been where Moses sat with his rod and his weary arms upheld by Aaron and Hur during battle. Israel prevailed.
One of the compound names for God is Adonai-Nissi, most often translated “The Lord My Banner” introduced by Moses in Exodus 17:15. The title could also be translated “The Lord My Miracle” because the word banner, nes, is used to describe a victory banner but also means miracle in modern Hebrew.
This wonderful compound name, Adonai Nissi, is a memorial to the defeat of Israel’s enemies. God said in Exodus 17: 16, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
Rabbinic literature presents Amalek as the arch enemy of the Jewish people. The spirit of Amalek manifests as violent antisemitism today. Hamas is a prime example.
But Hanukkah is a time of miracles. The menorah oil for one day was multiplied to last for eight days.
All of us need a miracle from time to time, and it’s important to keep our faith built up. It was prophesied in the Book of Daniel that the Maccabees would be strong and accomplish great exploits. (Daniel 11: 32)
Especially in these perilous times we have to be sure our faith is strong and not weak—because we never know when our faith will be tested like the hostages and their families and all of Israel is being tested.
During this Hanukkah let us pray for light to overcome darkness.
What would be your greatest Hanukkah miracle this year?
Don’t fail to ask for a miracle from the God of the Maccabees!
To contact Christine Darg, visit www.JerusalemChannel.tv
