Updated 12/14/2023
The menorah remained lit until the 8th day despite not having enough oil
When the Maccabees took back the second temple in Jerusalem from the Greek-Syrians in the 2nd Century B.C., they had to rededicate it back to God and His purposes because it was occupied and defiled by pagan rituals. The cleansing and dedication ceremony took eight days, which comes from when God told the people to consecrate priests and the temple through seven days, so that the dedications could be held on the eighth day (Shemot/Exodus 29:30; Vayikra/Leviticus 8:33-9:24; Divrei Hayamim II/2 Chronicles 7:8-9, 29:17).
However, when the Maccabees captured the temple, they could only find enough olive oil for one day of lighting the temple’s golden menorah lampstand. They decided to light the menorah anyways and through God’s grace and miracle, He kept the lampstand burning for the whole eight days and into the eighth night
[1.1] (God uses the number eight to symbolize renewal). This miracle of rededicating the temple in Jerusalem is remembered with the holiday of Hanukkah, which comes from the Hebrew verb, chanak ( חָנַךְ ) [“hah-nahhk” or "hkah-nahhk"], meaning “to dedicate, train, or inaugurate”
[1.2].
Both Judaism and Christianity may think they know everything there is to know about the miracle of Hanukkah, but God had me see there is even more to it that goes with the Messiah, Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus). The miracle actually goes with the instatement of the New Covenant to replace the Old Law given to the Jews through Moshe/Moses. When Yeshua came in the first century AD and went to Jerusalem, He got angry at the merchants staked out at the temple and threw them out, yelling, "Remove these things from here! Stop making My Father's house a marketplace!" (John 2:13-16).
Then the Jews confronted Him and asked, "What sign do You show us [as your authority] for doing these things?" And He responded, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:18-19).
Yet that second temple was still standing decades after Yeshua was crucified in Jerusalem, and still, to this day, it has not been rebuilt. Why then does the New Testament record Yeshua saying He would destroy it and raise it up in three days? We will soon see how He did this and why it is linked to Hanukkah.
After Yeshua was captured, the Jewish leadership interrogated Him and sought evidence to condemn Him to death. Specifically, they wanted to catch Him in blasphemy, which had a death penalty, and they had already heard about Him claiming to be of divine origin and even claiming to be God
(see Ehyeh in God's Names for more). By their laws, that was the sin of blasphemy. However, they could not get consistent witness testimony against Yeshua
(Matthew 26:59-60; Mark 14:55-59).
But then two people told them, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days'” (Matthew 26:61; Mark 14:58; John 2:19), and the Jewish Cohen HaGadol (High Priest) asked Yeshua, "Do You not give an answer for these witnesses against You?" (Matthew 26:62; Mark 14:60). Christ kept silent, and the Cohen HaGadol questioned Him again, "Are You HaMashiach, Ben HaMevorach? [Are You the Messiah/Christ, Son of the Blessed One?]" (Matthew 26:63; Mark 14:61).
Yeshua answered them,
"Ehyeh [I am - I will], and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:62; Matthew 26:64).
That was the confession that condemned Yeshua. After he heard this, the Cohen HaGadol tore his clothes in anger and agony, and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses? You heard the blasphemy!" (Matthew 26:65; Mark 14:63-64).
Christ acknowledged that He was HaMashiach - The Messiah, Christ, and Ben HaMevorach - Son of the Blessed One (Mark 14:61) – the true Son of God, and having power equal to Him, El Elyon, God Most High (Mark 14:62; Matthew 26:64). Yeshua's acknowledgment equated Him to be equal with God and so He was convicted of blasphemy, which was punished with a death sentence (Matthew 26:65-66; Mark 14:63-64).
I used the Hebrew, "ehyeh," in the quote above because Christ would have used it speaking Hebrew to the Jewish interrogators to make them understand for certain that He was equating Himself to God because of what they knew of God's use of ehyeh to identifying Himself (see
Ehyeh in God's Names for more).
When Mashiach Yeshua was nailed on the cross, passer-by’s mocked Him, saying, “Ha! You that will destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:29-32). The chief priests and scribes who condemned Him also mocked, “He saved others, yet He cannot save Himself! Let this Mashiach, King of Israel descend now from the cross, so we may see and believe!” (Matthew 27:41-43; Mark 15:31-32).
So when Christ died and the temple in Jerusalem remained standing long after, most of the people went on believing Mashiach Yeshua was not truly the Mashiach – the Messiah King that God promised to them through the prophets, as He said through Jeremiah, “’Behold the days are coming,’ declares Yahovah, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign as King” (Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah 23:5), and to Daniel through the angel Gabriel, God gave a more specific timing of the Mashiach – Messiah - “Know and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and sixty two weeks. The street will be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times. And after sixty two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have no one” (Daniel 9:25-26).
Did Mashiach Yeshua fulfil the timing given by God through Gabriel? Did He come after seven and sixty two weeks or sixty nine weeks and get cut off? And how does that fit with His statement to destroy the second temple and rebuild it in three days?
Through historical records and the work of Sir Robert Anderson in his 1894 book, The Coming Prince, we now know Yeshua DID fulfil the timing given by God. The Lord guided Anderson to see that Daniel’s sevens were periods of 360-day years from statements given in the Book of Revelation that said 1260 days were equal to 42 months or 3.5 years (Revelation 11:2-3, 12:6).
1260 days divided by 3.5 years = 360 days per year. This gave Anderson the measure of time that God was using in prophecy – one of Daniel’s sevens equals seven 360-day years.
Then Anderson knew from Daniel 9:25, the sevens began with a “commandment to restore and build Jerusalem” when the walls and streets would be rebuilt. He found that decree in the Bible in Nechemya/Nehemiah 2 where it says that in the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah asked the king to go to Jerusalem so he could rebuild its walls and gates (Nechemya/Nehemiah 2:1-8).
That king was Artaxerxes I, whom history outside the Bible records 465 BC as his first year of reigning[1.3, 1.4]. His 20th year would then begin in 445 BC, and more specifically went from April 13, 445 BC to April 2, 444 BC[1.5]. Does that timeframe match the timing given to Daniel and for the coming of the Mashiach, Messiah Christ? (Daniel 9:25-26) Anderson said it did match if Christ came and got cut off in 32 AD. He chose the coming of Christ to be His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem the week before His death. This is celebrated by the church as Palm Sunday every year.
When I first heard of Anderson’s calculations, I thought it could be correct, but did not have time to double-check the timings. I set the revelations aside until this year when I felt I should look at this again. To double-check his calculations, I created a computer program to count the 69 of Daniel’s sevens as Anderson described, using “years” consisting of 360 days, starting from mid-April, 32 AD when Anderson believed Yeshua was crucified. I chose April 15 to start counting back from, because Pascha/Easter and Pesach/Passover when Christ died, on average, occurs in the middle of April.
I give the date calculations at below and list the sevens so you may double-check them. Each entry is a difference of 360 days going backwards in time from the death and resurrection of Christ in 32 AD. When the calculations get to the first seven, it should be when Nehemiah asked King Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem and the date should be within the 20th year of his reign (April 13, 445 BC to April 2, 444 BC). Does it line up?
The start date shown by the calculations is 444 BC March 20, which is indeed within the 20th year of King Artaxerxes I. God’s prophecies do not lie. We can see the dating given by Nehemiah for the rebuilding of Jerusalem matches non-Biblical historical records. This means HaMashiach – The Messiah did come and get cut off after the 69 sevens or 69x7x360 (173,880) days, just as Gabriel told Daniel.
For Christians, this is an amazing confirmation of the faith we have in Christ, but I’m connecting this with Hanukkah to have our Jewish brethren take notice, too. Your Mashiach – Messiah King - is the very same Lord and Savior Yeshua that died on the cross in 32 AD.
Some of you may be wondering, but this cannot be correct, because it is commonly known in the church that Christ died at 33 years of age after about three and a half years of conducting ministry - “When He began His ministry, Yeshua Himself was about thirty years old” (Luke 3:23). If He died in 32 AD and not 33 AD, then things are one year off and so Daniel’s 69 sevens do not work with the historical dates for King Artaxerxes I.
The resolution to this problem is simple, though. Like many ancient cultures, the ancient Hebrews started dating a person’s age at 1 when they were born because they viewed life as beginning at conception. So indeed, scripture and God’s prophecy remain solid -– Yeshua was 33 years old by ancient measure when He died and that timing in 32 AD does match historical timing given by Nehemiah and non-scriptural, historical records of King Artaxerxes I.
If you are a Jew who still does not believe in Yeshua, may you heed this fulfillment of what you call HaNeviim (The Prophets). It is time to leave the old Law of Moshe/Moses and come forth to Mashiach Yeshua. Sixty nine of the full seventy weeks given to Daniel was fulfilled in the time of Christ, for as Gabriel told Daniel, “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem until the Mashiach the Prince shall be seven weeks and sixty two weeks. The street will be built again, and the wall, even in troubled times. And after sixty two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have no one” (Daniel 9:24-26).
Jerusalem and its walls were rebuilt as you know from Nehemiah and HaNeviim/The Prophets, and it happened in troubled times because there was violent opposition to this rebuilding (Nechemya 3:33-38, 4:1-17/Nehemiah 4:1-23).
And it was Mashiach Yeshua who finished transgression and ended sin, and reconciled for iniquity, for His death on the cross was atonement for all sin, as you have surely heard, and this atonement is eternal, for if you so choose to believe and remain in Him who cleansed all sin with His blood and the New Covenant, you will receive the everlasting righteousness of which Gabriel spoke, for upon Yeshua’s shedding of blood, He sealed up vision and prophecy to bring the New Covenant of which God promised through Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah, “Behold, the days come, says the Lord Yahovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant [Old Law of Moshe/Moses] which they broke, although I was a Husband to them, says Yahovah. But this will be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, says Yahovah, I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Yirmiyahu 31:30-33/Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Daughter Israel, the new covenant God promised through Yirmiyahu was promised in the last days of Jerusalem under the kings of David. It is the very same New Covenant that the Lord our God brought through Mashiach Yeshua and the church.
These words from HaNeviim/The Prophets have been fulfilled, for you and all nations now know the Lord, for the Gospel of Christ has reached the ends of the earth, and so as God said, we all know the Lord, and so they will teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother to know the Lord Yahovah. His fame has crossed the nations, for the Lord our God anointed the most Holy, our Eternal Savior and King, Mashiach Yeshua (Christ Jesus).
He is the Son of Man whom Daniel saw when he said, “I saw in the night visions, behold, one like a Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, so that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom will not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13).
It is no accident Mashiach Yeshua called Himself the Son of Man and told the Jewish leaders who condemned Him that He would sit at the right hand of power of God, the Ancient of Days, and come on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64). The priests recognized the words of HaNevimm/The Prophets and so condemned Yeshua for claiming to be who He actually was and still is.
He was and is that Son of Man and the Son of God, for He was resurrected as the gospels record, and so returned to His everlasting state, truly one with God our Father, Whom Daniel called the Ancient of Days. The Mashiach (Christ) shares the Father’s name, יהוה (Yahovah), which is no empty claim, for the Lord God said through Yeshayahu/Isaiah, “I am Yahovah, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another” (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 42:8).
So see that the Son of Man, Mashiach Yeshua, was and is the fulfilment of another of God’s prophecies recorded by Isaiah, “For a Child was born to us, a Son was given to us, and the government is on His shoulders. His name is called, Pele Yoetz, El Gibbor, AviAd, Sar Shalom [Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace]. There is no end to the greatness of His government or peace on the throne of David and over His kingdom. Established and upheld with justice and righteousness. Now and forevermore. The zeal of Yahovah of hosts will accomplish this” (Yeshayahu 9:5-6/Isaiah 9:6-7).
The titles given to Mashiach Yeshua are unmistakable. They equate Him to God – El Gibbor (Mighty God) and AviAd (Everlasting Father) – truly the Lord our God does not give His glory to another, for He is one and the same in Mashiach Yeshua. He was and remains the true King of Israel. The fulfilments of prophecies I shared here should make this truth plain.
But what is not evident is how Yeshua destroyed the second temple in Jerusalem and rebuilt it in three days. To understand this, we must go back to the miracle of Hanukkah. God’s miracle of renewing oil was temporary. It ended when the eight days of rededication for the temple was finished. But the miracle of dedicating God’s temple I alluded to with Mashiach Yeshua is an everlasting one that comes with the New Covenant He inaugurated.
When Christ was on the cross, the priests and scribes mocked, “He saved others, yet He cannot save Himself! Let this Mashiach, King of Israel descend now from the cross, so we may see and believe!” (Matthew 27:41-42; Mark 15:31-32). How little did they know, they were condemning and mocking the King Savior God promised through the prophets.
And few could understand at that time, even Christ’s own disciples, that it was God’s plan for Him to die on the cross. Why was it necessary? Those who know the Law of Moshe/Moses, know that blood sacrifice is necessary to atone for sin. This was ordained by God, and for Jews, it was most prominent on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when Cohen HaGadol (high priest) would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the ark of the covenant to atone for the nation’s sins. All of Israel is called to remember sin and God’s atonement on Yom Kippur, but that is the old way for the Old Covenant – the covenant God made with Israel when He led them out of the land of Egypt.
To replace it, the Lord our God said He would make a New Covenant and because a large part of it is to atone for sin, for of this covenant, He said, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Yirmiyahu 31:33/Jeremiah 31:34), blood sacrifice had to be made. It was His very own blood that God ordained would atone for the sins of humanity with – as the virgin Mary begat the Mashiach Christ, not through means of flesh, but through the Spirit of God, and He would walk as a man to fulfil and seal prophecy, and make final the New Covenant which atones for all sin by shedding His own blood on the cross.
But what most Jews do not know is, and even many in the church, there’s another miracle that goes with the New Covenant. One that is a direct correlation with the dedication miracle of Hanukkah. God said, “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Yirmiyahu 31:32/Jeremiah 31:33).
How does God put His law within us and write it on our hearts? A very important part of the New Covenant and becoming saved in Mashiach Yeshua is our spiritual rebirth. Yeshua spoke of this rebirth as absolutely necessary to enter the kingdom of God.
When a prominent Jewish teacher named Nicodemus spoke with Yeshua, Christ told him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, they cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:1-3).
Of course, Nicodemus could not understand how a grown person could be born again, but Yeshua told him further, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, they cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell from where it came and where it goes, so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8).
Still, Nicodemus could not understand what Yeshua was saying, so He affirmed that what He said is true and that if He told him earthly things, Nicodemus wouldn’t believe it, so how could he believe things of heaven?
Then Yeshua tells him, “As Moshe/Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whomever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:14-17).
Yeshua was speaking of His own death in being lifted up on the cross, because He would have to crucified for all to see, just as the bronze serpent God told Moshe/Moses to make was put on a pole so that those who sinned could look on it and live (Bamidbar/Numbers 21:8).
For the New Covenant, though, it is faith in Yeshua and His eternal atonement that must be acknowledged for one to be saved into God’s kingdom and become born again – with
water and the Spirit of God – as Yeshua said. This rebirth is spiritual – from heaven – but is very literal and not symbolic. The Lord taught this to Apostle Paul first, and in my walk with God, He had these
details of the New Covenant re-iterated.
When we are saved in Christ, we are literally reborn with God’s Spirit. This is how God fulfills the promise of the New Covenant where He said, “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Yirmiyahu 31:32/Jeremiah 31:33). Our spiritual rebirth with God’s Spirit within us, is how God places His law within and writes it on our hearts. Reborn believers have the desire to follow God and His commands because God’s Spirit within compels us to do right, though the degree to which the Spirit has strength in us is very much affected by sin and other factors.
But to continue, to enter into God’s eternal kingdom, to become one of His people, we must believe in Mashiach Yeshua and maintain that loyalty to God through Christ publicly. The full details of this you may see in
The True Gospel and Imposters.
For this writing, though, I will finish by revealing how the miracle of Hanukkah connects with the miracle of being saved in Mashiach Yeshua. As I said, the miracle of renewing oil for the second temple’s rededication ended on the eighth day. The miracle of being reborn and saved into God’s kingdom through Mashiach Yeshua is everlasting, so long as you keep faith and public loyalty to Christ, and it is this rebirth with God’s Spirit literally within us, that dedicates our bodies as temples to God, for as the apostle Paul told the brothers and sisters in Christ, “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price, therefore, glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Now do you understand how Yeshua destroyed the temple in Jerusalem and raised another in three days? When He died on the cross, He finalized the New Covenant which atones all sin for anyone who believes in Him, so that they may be atoned for and enter the kingdom of God. The temple of wood and stone in Jerusalem was destroyed spiritually by God with the New Covenant.
And when Mashiach Yeshua was resurrected three days after His death, He raised another temple – one defined by His immortal body and the body of every believer who remains loyal to Christ, for not only was the Spirit of God promised to be within all who believed, but the resurrection of Christ gave the people the proof they needed to see that what He said was true – we too will be resurrected into eternal life as Christ was.
And so, when Yeshua died and was resurrected on the third day
(see Holy Week in God's Holidays for more about Christ rising in three days), He fulfilled His statement to the Jews about His authority, and that He would,
“Destroy [the temple in Jerusalem] and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:18-19).
Today, almost two thousand years after the death of Christ, we near the end of the New Covenant age. The time is coming when the mystery of Mashiach Yeshua is finished among the world, and God’s great gift of eternal grace will be shut. The third temple in Jerusalem will be built and the final of the 70 of Daniel’s sevens will begin.
God prophesied severe times for this period, but take heart. It is not too late now to accept the salvation of Christ and leave the ways that are bringing God’s judgment upon the world and to believers of every doctrine and community. See first to your faith in Mashiach Yeshua, for the miracle of rebirth God promised with the New Covenant is the never-ending oil for the lamps of the temples of our bodies.
Unlike the oil of Hanukkah, it will not run out, so long as you keep your dedication for God’s temple through Christ in you lit (never go back on your faith in Christ and never deny your faith in Christ to anyone). And as a true temple to God, pursue the righteousness He wants of His people so you are not caught in the floods that come in these days at the end of the age.
Of this righteousness I have spoken of often.
If you have just come to faith in Mashiach Yeshua because of what I’ve stated here, please speak out your belief to someone and never deny your faith publicly, even if you still believe, for the Lord has no pleasure in those who shrink back (Hebrews 10:38-39). Feel free to contact me as well. The joy and peace of Mashiach Yeshua be on you all. Amen.
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