be God is understandably offensive to the Jewish people who are
taught that God cannot take on human form. I was taught this as
well growing up in Jewish home. And ordinarily this would be true.
This is the gospel according to Hanukkah: God sent His only
Son as His greatest gift to you and me, which is better than any
Christmas or Hanukkah present by far! And through this divine
Messiah we have true spiritual freedom that will endure forever.
As the Jewish apostle Paul writes,
For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this
mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation
— that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the
fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be
saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” This is my covenant
with them, when I take away their sins. (Romans 11:25-27)
WITHOUT HANUKKAH THERE WOULD BE NO CHRISTMAS
The Hebrew word Hanukkah, means dedication. The festival of
Hanukkah reminds us of the heroism of a small band of Jewish
patriots who overthrew the harsh and unjust rule of Antiochus
Epiphanes and his Syrian Greek followers. The festival developed
during the intertestamental period and was described in the
Apocryphal books of First and Second Maccabees, and, of course,
further developed during the years of wonderful Jewish tradition.
Though the observance of the holiday is not a biblical directive,
and believers in Jesus, Jewish or Gentile, are not under obligation
to observe the festival, Hanukkah has been a great inspiration to
Jewish people throughout the ages. The holiday also contains
some lessons that can encourage those who do follow the
Messiah Jesus.