The Winter Feast: 

"Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Yeshua was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade.  The Jews gathered around Him, saying, 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.' Yeshua answered, 'I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for Me, but you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one.' Again the Jews picked up stones to stone Him, but Yeshua said to them, 'I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?' 'We are not stoning you for any of these,' replied the Jews, 'but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.' Yeshua answered them, 'Is it not written in your Law, I have said you are gods'? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken, what about the one whom the Father set apart as His very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse Me of blasphemy because I said, I am God's Son? Do not believe Me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe Me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.' Again they tried to seize Him, but He escaped their grasp. Then Yeshua went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here He stayed and many people came to Him. They said, 'Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.' And in that place man believed in Yeshua” (John 10:22-42).

He gave up the glory of Heaven to come to earth:

What Yeshua gave up to come to earth (at His conception) was exceedingly great and beyond our ability to imagine. From a position of reigning in equal glory with the Father and Holy Spirit, where He received continuous praise from attending angels, He descended to earth, where He experienced the humiliation of anonymity, servitude, suffering and even death on a cross.    

In addition, Yeshua gave up the independent exercise of His own divine attributes. Because He did not consider "equality with God a thing to be grasped," He emptied Himself, "taking the form of a bond-servant being made in human likeness" (Philippians 2:6-7). 

The subjection of His will to the will of the Father meant that Yeshua's omniscience (knowing all things) that He possessed in His own right, was retained in a subordinated state. Thereby, He determined (during His first visitation to earth) He would not exercise the divine attribute in His human conscious awareness, or His omnipotence (cf. the narrative of the wilderness temptation) without the assistance of the Father.

A good example of Messiah Yeshua's divine restraint is demonstrated in His statement about His Second Coming: "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone" (Mark 13:32). This divine restraint (when not even the Son knew the hour of the second coming), however, was not present after Yeshua's resurrection. After the resurrection, the glorified Messiah was exercising all of His divine faculties.

In the beginning of the Book of Acts, it is only the disciples who continue to be unaware of the exact time of Messiah Yeshua's Second Coming: "So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom of Israel?' He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth'" (Acts 1:6-8).

It is obvious in the Messiah's post-resurrection statement that He no longer shares His disciples lack of perception regarding "the times or epochs which the Father has fixed." After fulfilling His mission on earth, thoroughly demonstrating what the Perfect Man is, the Messiah once again is seen exercising unrestricted use of His divine attributes. A full demonstration of Yeshua's divinity will be clearly displayed when the Messiah one day gloriously returns to earth a second time (no doubt, due to current prophetic events, in the very near future).

God's Son came to deliver us from the tyranny of sin:  

The final thoughts of the Second Person of the Godhead before He descended from heaven's glory to take human form on earth are recorded in Psalm 40 and Hebrews 10: "Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, 'Sacrifice and offering Thou has not desired but a body Thou hast prepared for Me; in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast taken no pleasure.' Then I said, 'behold I have come (in the roll of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God'" (Hebrews 10:5-7). 

When the author of Hebrews quotes the Septuagint version of Psalm 40:6-8, the final words spoken by Yeshua in heaven are revealed. The words He uttered just before the incarnation were:  "I have come to do Thy will, O God." 

The Seed of the Woman: 

It was at the exact moment of saying, "I have come," that the Seed of the Father entered the body of Mary and became the "Seed of the woman" (Genesis 3:15). This Yahweh did to provide a Savior for humanity:

"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.'  But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Yeshua. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.'  Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin?' The angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.'  And Mary said, 'Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her" (Luke 1:26-37). 

The timing of the coming of Messiah from heaven to earth was perfect. I believe the angel Gabriel visited Mary shortly before Chanukkah (Chislev 24, 6 B. C.). On Chanukkah Eve the Jewess Mary was told that she was chosen by God to be the mother of the long awaited Messiah (cf. our article, "Hanukkah Eve"). 

Mary's relative Elizabeth, who had been barren and advanced in age, had already miraculously conceived (the prophet John) and was then in her sixth month of pregnancy. 

It was revealed to Mary that the Holy Spirit would "come upon her, and the power of the Most High wouldl overshadow her; and for that reason the holy Child would be called the Son of God." Therefore, the Messiah, like the first Adam, did not come to be conceived through the agency of a sinful human father but He was made by the Holy Spirit after the likeness of God the Father.  

However, unlike the first Adam, the Messiah had a human mother, the Jewess Mary. This fulfilled the prophecy of the "seed of the woman" (ishah zera) who God promised would one day overcome the "seed of the serpent;" bringing humanity deliverance from sin, so that humankind might become reconciled to God:  And God said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He [the Messiah] shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel"  (Genesis 3:15). 

The Messiah liberated humankind from the bondage of sin and death by dying an atoning death on the cross for our sins and His being resurrected from the dead that we too might receive the promise of eternal life. 

The miracle occurred when Mary's mother relit the lamp: 

Shortly after Gabriel announced the good news of Messiah's miraculous birth to Mary I believe Mary participated in the ceremony of lighting the first Chanukkah lamp in her own home.

If her mother was deceased or unable to light the lamp then Mary may have lit the lamp herself. However, due to Mary's young age (most scholars say age 14-16) I believe her mother lit the lamp. 

I believe that Mary's mother represents the Jerusalem above, who Rabbi Paul (the apostle) allegorically has tied to Sarah, the freewoman, who represents the heavenly Jerusalem, who is "the mother of us all." This phrase refers to the fact that we are all reborn from heaven above through the new birth process caused by the Holy Spirit. This refers to the miracle new creation that Messiah is bringing forth through His New Covenant: 

"Sarah, the free woman, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. And she is our mother. That is what Isaiah meant when he prophesied, 'Rejoice, O childless woman! Break forth into loud and joyful song, even though you never gave birth to a child. For the woman who could bear no children now has more than all the other women!'" (Galatians 4:26-27). 

Paul's teaching originates from Isaiah's prophecy: 

"Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,’ says Yahweh"  (Isaiah 54:1). 

The problem put simply was that heaven became barren from the moment that the first Adam sinned up to the time of Messiah; who is the second Adam because God was also His father. Due to sin, man became estranged from God and the "bitter" fact was that due to sin heaven had become barren. As long as sin existed in the dead soul of man (the Holy Spirit had ceased to dwell within man), humankind was cut off from fellowship with God and citizenship in His heavenly kingdom. 

God's remedy for the bitterness of heaven: 

The Messiah was the permanent remedy to the problem of sin.  Where the first Adam failed to remain sinless and be His wife's Savior, the last Adam succeeded. By Messiah remaining faithful to God in all His Torah, He was able to be humankind's sinless Kinsman Redeemer. The second Adam succeeded where humanity's nearest kinsman (fallen Adam) had failed. The Messiah overcame the temptations of Satan. He remained sinless. Therefore, He was able to die an atoning death for His bride, redeemed humanity. 

Unlike the first Adam, Messiah, the Son of God, possessed the necessary power and virtue required to defeat Satan whose lies had led to man's fall due to sin. At Chanukkah there came down from heaven the immortal life and virtue of the Holy Spirit to ignite in Mary's womb a light that would shine forever in the Messiah and in the lives of all who believe in His Torah: "So Yeshua said to those Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you continue in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'" (John 8:31-32). 

From the moment the Chanukkah lamp was lit in the household of Mary's father (the household of her ancestor King David) on Chislev 25, 6 B. C., the world has never ceased to be without the means to be liberated from sin and to inherit the gift of eternal life. 

Messiah came to earth to liberate humanity on Chanukkah: 

The Golden Lampstand is fashioned after the Almond Tree:

Paul uses the temple Golden Lampstand, which describes the Messiah, to illustrate the pattern the Holy Spirit uses to develop and perfect all believers: "Now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light (for the fruit of light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8b-10). 

This golden lampstand, located in the Temple (of our body that belongs to God), is fashioned after the Almond Tree. The Messiah, therefore, is depicted as an "Almond Tree." He is the tree of Life and Light. 

Rabbi Paul's point is that indwelling the believer's body exists the life of the Messiah, who is sustaining and maturing the believer. In descending order of vertical prominence the "fruit of light" is described as Yeshua's goodness, righteousness and truth. Trees grow vertically and the golden lamp stand is fashioned after an almond tree that possesses three pairs of perfectly symmetrical branches. 

Paul developmentally organizes the fruit emanating from the six branches of the lampstand (the seventh component of the tree is the stem and the roots: the Stem is the Spirit of Yahweh and the Roots are the Godhead; Father, Son and Holy Spirit) into three couplets of divine attributes. 

*One, the spirit of wisdom and understanding indicates the fruit of light that is "Goodness." 

*Two, the spirit of counsel and strength gives forth the fruit of light that is "Righteousness."  

*Three, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh gives forth the fruit of light that is "Truth."

Truth:

Since trees go through a developmental process, it appears chronologically that the "First developmental stage," represented in the first couplet of branches grown out of the Spirit of Yahweh, is the fear of Yahweh and the spirit of knowledge. 

In Proverbs 9:10 we read, "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom." Therefore, the beginning of a believing person's developmental journey is spent reverencing God (fear is reverent trust) and acquiring the knowledge of God. The new believer learns obedience by being discipled in Yeshua's Word, which is Truth.

Righteousness:

The "Second developmental stage" involves the fruit of righteousness. This involves appropriating the power of God to do His will. 

The power to do God's will enables the believer to participate in a wider spectrum of experientially knowing God, walking in His counsel. 

Goodness:

The third and final developmental stage of a believer's maturation involves the fruit of goodness (God-likeness).

The fruit of goodnes represents a state of relational intimacy with God. It is the mature alone who possess reflexive skills of discernment (understanding). A mature believer is skilled in understanding God's will sufficient to quickly oppose evil and just as swiftly embrace what is good (Hebrews 5:14; Romans 12:9). 

The mature are wise. Wisdom involves horizon-to-horizon thinking. Wisdom is mastery of the art of living. These mature characteristics can only be sustained in an abiding experience of loving (obeying) God. 

A young adult can see part of the big picture (have visions) but the mature adult alone can perceive the horizon-to-horizon view of God's life (dream dreams).   

Chanukkah reveals God's developmental plan:   

John, the beloved apostle, presents a similar three-fold developmental process involving these:

*First, childhood, when God the Father is related to as the giver of "forgiveness;"

*Second, young adulthood, when believers can "overcome the evil one" through their abiding in God's Word and consequent strong faith; 

*Third, mature adulthood (spiritual parenthood), when one has experienced relational intimacy with Yahweh, sufficient to the degree that they "know Him who is from the beginning" (1 John 2:12-14).

Mature believers, like Paul, are passionately concerned about the formation of Yeshua's life in the conscious awareness and everyday activities of their fellow believers' lives. Mature ministry is like a "laboring mother" who is determined to give birth (Galatians 4:19).   

New believers need help in their struggles to become consciously aware of their new life in the Messiah. They need assistance moving from the landscape of the initial indwelling experience of Messiah (conversion), to the landscape of the conscious living of the Anointed One (sanctification). For John and Paul, this is illustrated as a developmental movement from conception to birth. In the Tanach (Old Testament) this is illustrated as a sojourn from the wilderness to the Promised Land.   

Chanukkah points to the birth of God's Kingdom on earth:

The virgin birth narrative, so wonderfully depicted in the Gospels, is depicted in the Sukkot (Feast of Booths) holy day testimonial to Yeshua (Colossians 2:16-17; Revelation 19:10). The conception to birth depiction is represented in the two Festival of Light holy days, Chanukkah and Sukkot. 

Similarly, the conception to birth process is illustrated in the procreative life and activities of the Almond Tree. On Chanukkah the Light that is celebrated inside the temple is hidden from public view. Only the small light that peeks out of the temple windows can be seen from outside. 

Two hundred and eighty-five days (forty weeks) later the festive Feast of Booths (Sukkot) lights are illuminated "outside" the temple in the Courtyard of the Women. The Sukkot lights were said to be so luminous that they lit up the entire city of Jerusalem.  The four giant lamp stands, used to project this great temple light were so large that ladders had to be used to climb up high enough to refuel them.    

During the seven days of the feast of Sukkot, seventy bulls were sacrificed. The rabbis believe that these sacrifices cumulatively and collectively represent a global sacrifice (representing the original seventy nationalities recorded in Genesis). Additionally, the great outdoor lights (lamp stands), four in all, represented the Shekinah glory cloud shining brilliantly out over all four corners of the earth (north-south-east-west).

The marvelous annual visual display of Sukkot reached the zenith of its meaning when the Messiah, while attending the festival declared: "I am the light of the world, and he who follows me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life." Following that defining event, the illuminating presence of Yeshua has been enjoyed wherever His gospel has been preached.  

Chanukkah teaches the lesson of the Almond Tree:

Another testimony to the epigenetic work of God in the Messiah may be observed in the procreative activities of the almond tree itself. 

Like the Scriptural progression indicated in Numbers 17:8, the almond tree first produces buds, then blossoms, then the appearance of fruit, followed by maturation of the fruit. 

1. The bud to bloom cycle follows a good chill during November and December (the variant season of Chanukkah). 

2. By mid-December (about the time of winter solstice, 21-22 December), the almond season is inaugurated by the presence of pollen grains. 

3. Thereafter, the post winter solstice trend of shorter nights and longer days triggers a climactic change that induces the tiny buds into rapid growth with the help of the warmer weather. 

4. From January to February (in Israel, later in California), the beautiful blossoms bloom. 

5. By March the fuzzy gray green fruit appears visibly, "showing" forth the natural life that had been invisibly indwelling the pollinated buds three months earlier. 

The first observation worth noticing here is that the almond tree is a fruit tree and its epigenesis of fruit life is inaugurated approximately mid-December, with the accelerated transformation and visible showing forth of fruit displayed by March.   

The Torah of the Almond Tree:

Correspondingly, it is interesting to note that Jewish doctors in Bible times would validate a pregnancy after ninety days. This was so because the doctors had determined that after three months, a definitively sufficient length of time had elapsed to validate a pregnancy, due to visible proof. Three months is also the time it takes for the conceived (pollinated) buds to mature to blossoms. The defining characteristics of the blossoms are their beauty in appearance and their joyous announcement that Spring is soon to occur.

6. After the almond petals drop, the tree leafs out.

7. Then the almond fruit appears. 

8. The hull of the fruit begins to harden and mature.

9. By July the hull begins to split open. 

10. From late July to October, the split widens (dilates), visibly exposing the almond's fruit.   

11. Finally, the whole nut is available for harvesting, when the hull opens completely (full dilation).

12. Thereafter, the fruit is separated from its hull (birthed) and therefore, harvested. 

The second observation, related to the Torah of the Almond Tree, is related to birth.  In Israel, the almond season, is inaugurated around mid-December and culminates in October. This closely parallels the time frame of Chanukkah (the Feast of Dedication) to Sukkot (the Feast of Booths).

The Almond Tree reveals when the Messiah was born: 

This forty-week period of time (286 days) is analogous to an average period of human gestation, wherein there exists maturation, dilation and birthing behavior similar to that of the almond tree and its fruit.

The Almond Tree points to the Messiah's birth occurring at the Feast of Booths, at Sukkot. This was the exact time of Messiah's birth and this will be the time of Israel's rebirth, at the beginning of the millennial kingdom (after the Messiah Yeshua returns to earth a second time).    

In teaching about the Festivals of the Messiah, it is important to move the dialogue from what has happened to what it means. The Holy Spirit is constantly moving us back and forth between what the Scriptures are saying and what they mean to our daily lives. It is not hard to see how God's defining ceremonies (the festivals of light) and defining symbol of the golden lampstand, provide us with a narrative testimony to God's procreative plan through the Messiah: 

*It is Yeshua's conception and birth that provide humanity with a saving hope. 

*Through the Anointed One a miracle week has been conceived. 

*A new creation has been inaugurated. 

*Through Messiah the fruit of goodness, righteousness and truth is maturing and becoming readied for the harvest. 

*Finally through Messiah, a new permanent King and kingdom have been birthed.

The narrative of God, His living Word, is transforming our lives and the lives of others through its procreative character and regenerating power.  

God triumphs over evil through the Llfe of His Beloved Son:

The virgin conception and birth is a horizon-to-horizon view of what forgiveness actually is and what forgiveness actually means. True forgiveness is the gift of the Father (cf. our articles on the ten forgiveness narratives of the Messiah). What God has done is that He has sent His beloved Son into the world, in human form, to personally secure forgiveness for all who will believe. 

Now that this has been accomplished through Yeshua's life, death, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit, the Forgiving One, now resides in every believer's life. This means that every believer, whether he is consciously aware of it or not, is filled with an intercessory life of forgiveness, the Forgiving One, who constantly cries out "Abba! Father!" "Father forgive them." For the Spirit helps believers in their weakness because they do not consciously know how to pray as they should. Therefore, the Spirit Himself prays "for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26; cf. our article, "Messiah in Yom Teruah").  

From the festivals we learn that through the life of God's Beloved Son Yeshua, He the Eternal One, is not only cleansing us (forgiving us) but He is also, through His Holy Spirit, making "all things new" (Revelation 21:5).  Happy Chanukkah!