22 | To the Jew First
But the real miracle of Hanukkah was not the miracle of the
lights, but the fact that God had once again preserved His chosen
people against all odds! The Lord kept His promise to Israel that
they would not be destroyed (Jeremiah 31:35 -37, Romans 11:29).
The Lord preserved His people because He had chosen them for
a glorious purpose, yet to be fulfilled! In fact, the best was yet
to come as almost 200 years later God sent His final Word and
ultimate deliverer, Jesus the Messiah, to purchase the salvation of
Jews and Gentiles with His own life.
Think about it this way: If God did not enable the Maccabees
to overthrow Antiochus, the Jewish people may very well been
destroyed. And if the Jewish people had been destroyed then the
birth of the Savior could never have taken place! As the Apostle
Paul wrote in Galatians 4:4-7, “In the fullness of time God poured
forth his son, born of a virgin.”
If the Jewish people had been destroyed during that first Hanukkah,
there would have been no Christmas as the Messiah could never
have been born. The true link between Hanukkah and Christmas is
very simple: God is faithful and always keeps His promises.
This same God continues to keep His promises to the Jewish
people and one day an even greater deliverance than Hanukkah
will take place as the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 11 predicts,
in the power of the Holy Spirit, “all Israel will be saved.” The day
is coming when Jewish people will turn with great fervor to Jesus
the Messiah. I look forward to that great day of redemption.
2C2h o |s eCnh Priestompales MThinriosutrgiehs J. ecwhoisshe Enypeesople.com