Chanukah Kadosh / Holy

chanukah kadosh  |  Chanukah Kadosh / Holy

The Hebrew word for "dedication" is Chanukkah. Chanukah is not one of the commanded feasts of Vayikra 23; however Yochanan tells us that our holy Rabbi, Maran Yeshua celebrated this feast. 

"Then came Chanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonade. So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, ‘How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are Messiah, tell us publicly!’ Yeshua answered them, "I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf; but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one." Yochanan / John 10:22

Now for some History: 168 Before the coming of King Mashiach the evil Seleucid ruler Antiochus Epiphanes persecuted the Jewish people.  They were forced, under pain of death, to do away with all things Jewish.  Some of the requirements were as follows:  wear Greek clothing, change their names to Greek names, no study of Torah, no keeping of the feasts or Shabbat, forced to worship idols and to pray to idols.   Many of the Jews complied out of fear and some because the ways of the Greeks seemed well to them.   Antiochus also profaned the temple by entering it and erected a statue of the Greek god zeus.  He also offered up to zeus a pig which was sacrificed on the temple altar.   There were those Jews who chose death rather than abandon the ways of the only true God, the God of Israel. There were some who chose to fight, not to be like every one else, to be different / kadosh.

So is with these times.  Many of us are afraid to be different. The Hebrew word for different or separate is Kadosh, which can be translated Holy.  Many of us are afraid of our bosses or of losing our jobs, so then we work on the Shabbat to keep our job. Many of us compromise our lives in our families because our children want the latest trend and we allow them to break the Shabbat just a bit, here and there.  Many of us do not mind dressing like every one else (modesty goes out the window).  Many of us in the name of not being different eat non-kosher food (forbidden by our creator) so as to not offend those who do not walk in the ways of HaShem.  Many of us do not live our lives to the best of our abilities for our loving heavenly Father because we may be too lazy to do so. Many of us do not choose our hebrew names, and we are known by our gentile / exile name. Many of us do not stand up for Israel because it is not political correct. Many of us do not visit or even plan to eventually live in Israel because of fear of our enemies, etc…

King Mashiach said, “14:15 If you love me, keep my mitzvot… 14:21 One who has my mitzvot, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him."

Therefore, since King Messiah is our example, let us do what King Messiah would do. Do HaShem’s commandments.

 

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