Tis the season for Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

These two glad greetings and good-byes are still echoed globally in homes, in churches and synagogues, on the streets, in the market places, and even the halls of some governments … except for the “politically correct” Happy Holidays among us.

It has been said that Hanukkah is the Jewish Christmas. Is it?

An immediate reaction would be: No way. Not if you’re Jewish, especially an observant Jew!

However, a 2013 poll disclosed that 32% of American Jews put up Christmas trees. Also, 34% of the Jews interviewed said it’s possible to believe that Jesus is Messiah and still be Jewish.

Please see Eye of Prophecy article: Jewish Christians / Christian Jews … An Oxymoron? Posted 6-30-18. With the summary conclusion that the most Jewish thing a Jew can do is to embrace Jesus as Messiah Savior; as did thousands upon thousands in the first century. Tens of thousands of (Messianic) Jews world-wide are Jewish Christians, many of whom currently celebrate both holidays.

After all, Jesus was a Jew through and through. He was a descendant of King David from the tribe of Judah. He taught in the Temple and synagogues; observed Sabbath and the Jewish festivals, including Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah).

Did you know that several Jewish composers have written Christmas songs?! And several Jewish singers have performed these songs. One of them is regarded as the greatest song ever sung (most played): White Christmas. Composed by Irving Berlin and originally sung by Bing Crosby in the hit movie Holiday Inn (1942). Granted, however, none of these (that I know of) Jewish composed carols such as Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or a Holly Jolly Christmas contain any reference to Jesus, in contrast to traditional sacred Christmas songs. Like: Joy to the World or O Come All Ye Faithful.

Equally intriguing: Not only Gentile and Messianic Jewish believers in Christ Jesus, but also millions of unbelievers the world over sing or listen to both sacred and secular Christmas songs. They, too, exchange gifts and put up Christmas trees and lights, although the 21^st century trend is to call them Holiday trees and lights.

And not only people sing these songs.

Hark … the Herald Angels Sing!

A Connection Between Hanukkah and Christmas?

At face value there doesn’t appear to be any correlation between the two.

Hanukkah is the commemoration of the successful Jewish Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Dynasty under the rule of Antiochus Epiphanies IV in the 2^nd century B.C. Not long before this uprising, Antiochus had desecrated the Jewish Temple, killed some 40,000 Jews, and enslaved another 40,000. The Maccabean victory is still considered one of the greatest military upsets of all time—not unlike the miraculous Israeli victory in their 1948 War of Independence against overwhelming odds of five Arab armies. Or their spectacular victory in just six days of June 1967.

A second miracle remembered during Hanukkah was a one-day supply of the sacred oil used to light the seven Menorah lamps, that lasted for eight days. Thus, the traditional Hanukkah Menorah of eight lamps or candles … nine including the candle that lights the other eight. As originally ordained by God (Exodus 25), the Menorah had seven lamps, shaped from one solid piece of gold! However, because the Menorah was to be kept in the Temple and not duplicated, Jewish tradition holds that other menorahs could have fewer or extra stems, but not seven.

So, we ponder the question: What, if anything, does Hanukkah have in common with Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ (Immanuel … God Incarnate with us)? If so, what is the significance of this correlation(s)?

Based on Biblical evidence and secular history, I firmly believe there are parallels between the two. Just like the seven God-instituted Biblical festivals bear a significant prophetic relationship to the First and Second Advents of the Messiah (Jesus).

Refer to Eye of Prophecy article: Messiah and the Jewish Festivals … An Extraordinary Connection! (Posted 9-24-16).

Followed by five consecutive articles that explain in detail these correlations for all seven festivals. Each of these memorial feasts were harbingers of who and what the Messiah is and will do for his people and the whole world. Such as the (Passover) “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Proclaimed by John the Baptist, the next prophet after Malachi. And to fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) as the Messiah who will dwell (tabernacle) among us upon his return.

Two Clear Correlations between Christmas and Hanukkah

(1) Physical Parallel

Physical, in the sense of proximity—the day of the month and time of the year when both are observed.

The celebration of Hanukkah begins on the 25^th day of Kislev (Jewish calendar). On that day the Jews (after defeating the Greek/Syrian armies) began the cleansing and rededication of the 2^nd Temple, which had been desecrated by Antiochus IV.

The Hebrew month of Kislev overlaps the months of late November and all of December on the Gregorian (Gentile) calendar. Although Hanukkah almost always pre-dates Christmas, the first day of Hanukkah matched perfectly with Christmas Eve in 2016, something that hadn’t occurred since 1978.

Christmas is observed on December 25^th. As some may know, the historical choice of that date was both complicated and somewhat arbitrary. And is most likely not the actual day that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Some Bible scholars, including me, strongly believe that Jesus was born between mid-September and mid-October, probably during the week-long Festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot). The important thing: there is a day to remember this magnificent milestone of human history.

In 336 A.D, the Roman Emperor Constantine—the first Christian Caesar (whether a true Christian or one in name only is still debated)—chose December 25^th from among other dates as the day to remember the birth of Messiah Jesus. A few years later, Pope Julius I declared December 25^th as the official day of Christmas.

The historical evidence also suggests that one of the factors in choosing the 25^th day of December was because Hanukkah (referred to as the Festival of Lights by Historian Josephus …the Books of the Maccabees called it the Dedication, the Hebrew meaning of Hanukkah) also began on the 25^th day … of Kislev.

(2) Spiritual Parallel

Summed up in one word: LIGHT.

The kind of light that is often expressed by the spoken and written word in the spiritual sense of light and darkness.

It is God’s light—through His truth that would illuminate mankind—revealed to the Jews then extended to the Gentiles. Reflected literally and symbolically in the original Menorah, which also represented the (purifying) fire of God’s holiness.

Most Jewish Rabbis—both past and present—agree that God made Israel his special possession to bring the light of God’s Attributes and Word to Israel and through Israel to the nations. They are right about their status as God’s chosen people … the Jews. However, they see this light exclusively in the context of the Old Covenant Mosaic Law. They still deny that God’s New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah has been implemented, because they do not believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah.

Since the first century birth, life, death, resurrection, return of Jesus to heaven, and the ensuing Christian faith (that most Jews regard exclusively as Gentile) embraced by hundreds of millions claiming Jesus is the Messiah and Savior, Judaism was forced to reinterpret (misinterpret) several Messianic passages of the Old Testament. Such as Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 49, and others.

Another reason is that the different sects of Judaism and even those within sects don’t agree on just how much the Messiah can or will do for Israel upon his appearance … according to Judaism, one and only arrival. Whether he is Divine or merely a man. And what or how much the Jews must do to prepare for or (some say) even precipitate Messiah’s appearance.

The second-most visited Eye of Prophecy article of the 275 posted to date (Where is Messiah? Is He Already Here? June 2016) begins as follows:

Globally, especially in Israel, both religious and secular Jews are longing for redemption.

Yet, they do not all agree on the scope of this redemption. Will it be individual, national, or both? Will it be physical, spiritual, or both? Orthodox Jews, particularly Rabbis, contend that penitence is a prerequisite to their redemption. But they differ on what constitutes repentance … to what degree or for what exactly should they repent. Most Jews simply don’t know what’s expected of them, if anything.

In general terms, it is Biblically true that Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles. Yet originally (Genesis 3:15) and ultimately (Israel didn’t obey the Lord, let alone disseminate the light of God’s Word to the Gentiles) the Messiah who would come from the descendants of Abraham would be that LIGHT. The Jews themselves, both religious and irreligious, need that same light (of salvation). The miracle that produced the Hanukkah lights would herald an even greater miracle when the Christmas Light of the World was born of a Virgin.

A pivotal passage referred to often by many Jewish rabbis is found in Isaiah. Usually, however, they ascribe and promote the subject of this passage as Israel, not the Messiah, himself—despite the clear use of the personal pronouns “I” and “me.” Or the fact that Israel is the object of what the personal Messiah would accomplish. At the very least, they confine the subject of the passage to Israel.

Here are the words of Messiah, who speaks not only to Israel but the entire world:

“Listen to me, all you distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name…. He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory’” (Isaiah 49:1 & 3).

You are my servant Israel is interpreted as the nation of Israel by rabbis. Whereas, this is the case in, for example, Isaiah Chapter 41, it is not the correct application in Chapter 49. For three main reasons: (1) Isaiah 49 is clearly identifying an individual (Messiah) via personal pronouns, as already indicated; (2) The Messiah here is identified as Israel itself because he is the exclusive essence of and composite hope for Israel’s redemption and restoration, as well as the Gentiles; (3) The fact that Israel cannot save or restore herself back to God.

To further establish point #3, let’s continue the passage:

“And now the Lord speaks—the one who formed me (back to the personal pronoun depicting Messiah) in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him…. He says, ‘You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Isaiah 49:5-6, italics for emphasis, parenthesis mine).

If Israel is the subject of this passage, then the following portion of this passage would read: who commissioned Israel to bring Israel back to him (God the Father). According to the Bible, Israel saving herself is both physically and spiritually impossible. Beginning with the Exodus, Scripture time and time again reveals that only the Lord could (ultimately) deliver Israel from her enemies and from herself. The latter part is why the Lord replaced the Old Covenant of the Law with the New Covenant of Grace—as prophetically announced by Jeremiah (Chapter 31).

This same analysis applies to the next portion of the passage that states, “You (the Messiah) will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.”

If the I, Me, and You of this passage is Israel, then the sentence would read: Israel will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. Which is nonsensical.

Thus, it is Messiah (Jesus) and only he who will bring light and salvation to both Israel and the (Gentile) nations.

Arguably, the most well-known Messianic passage in the Old Testament is Isaiah Chapter 53; although some observant Jews do not consider the chapter Messianic, as such. Those who consent to Chapter 53 as Messianic, do so by realizing that the description of the Lord’s suffering servant begins in the last three verses of Chapter 52. With verse 15 plainly referring to the Messiah:

“And he will startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence…” And before that verse 13: “…he will be highly exalted.”

And verse 14 says:

(God sometimes refers to Israel as his son, daughter, servant, special possession, chosen ones, but not as “a man”)

The last part of Isaiah Chapter 52 and all of Chapter 53 is both a sorrowful description of the suffering Messiah and a glorious account of what that suffering would accomplish. But Judaism has been unable to reconcile this passage (and a few others) with the Messianic promises of Israel’s conquering King who will rescue Israel from her enemies and establish God’s Kingdom on earth through Israel. To the extent that many Rabbis believe there will be two Messiahs, not just one.

See Eye of Prophecy article, More Than One Messiah? Posted 12-5-15).

In Isaiah Chapter 53, Judaism (particularly after Jesus Christ changed the very keeping of time when he came to this earth) also substitutes the nation of Israel for what is an unambiguous depiction of Messiah.

If I counted correctly, there is the amazing total of 37 references in Isaiah 53 to God’s suffering servant (Messiah) using the personal pronouns, he, him, or his (a total of 45 if you start with Isaiah 52:13). Moreover, there is the same scenario so evident in Psalm 49 that we just covered: Israel cannot save itself and certainly not atone for her own sins, individually or nationally.

“…And because of his experience (Messiah’s suffering and death on a cross— “pierced for our rebellion” Isaiah 53:5), my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins” (Isaiah 53:11, parenthesis mine).

Under the New Covenant: Messiah himself would (once for all) bear all their sins. Because the Lord, “…laid on him the sins of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Biblical salvation is the only way to a right standing with God—sins forgiven for all time, with eternal life in heaven awaiting those who simply say, “Yes,” to Messiah Jesus. Who agree with the Lord: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

No one on this planet—past, present or future—can save themselves; no matter what we think, say, or do. Salvation is a gift to be received, not merited or inherited.

Scripture declares that: “The Lord is Our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6 & 33:16). We have none of our own.

The Lights of Hanukkah

Rabbis (correctly) contend that the event of Hanukkah was pivotal in reaffirming God’s destiny for Israel by accomplishing two things of great significance: (A) Reestablished Israel to a greater degree of national autonomy not experienced since before the Babylonian exile. (B) Rededication of the Temple as the center of Jewish worship; thereby, renewing the tenets of Judaism on a national level. It was a victory over the secular Greek Hellenism of the time that threatened to assimilate the Jewish religion and the Jews themselves into pagan Gentile culture.

However, the Maccabean revival didn’t last much longer than the spiritual turnaround of the Jews after Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s time. When Jesus arrived, Judaism had splintered even more into rival sects (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and others), each claiming religious or secular authority (or both) over Israel; and each adjusting to the Roman subjugation of Israel in their own way. These dichotomies and divisions led directly to the zealot’s revolt of 66 A.D. that ended in the greatest tragedy experienced by Israel until the Holocaust.

All because God’s chosen people (as a whole) flatly rejected Jesus’s claim that he was the Messiah (the Light of the World). A claim confirmed by his numerous miracles that had never been seen before; and his teaching with power and authority that amazed both the secular and religious among them.

Messiah Jesus … Light of the World

He spoke these words during one of his many visits to the Temple. Specifically, he was in the Court of Woman near burning candles that symbolized the pillar of fire that protected and guided God’s people in the wilderness.

Not long after declaring that he was the light of the world, we find Jesus observing Hanukkah.

“It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. The people surrounded him and asked, ‘How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly’” (John 10:22-24).

*Note: Like the religious leaders repeatedly demanding heavenly signs from Jesus to prove he was the Messiah, the people in the Temple also had seen Jesus’s many miracles and/or heard his astonishing messages. Reading on:

“Jesus replied, ‘I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is in the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me 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 will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me … The Father and I are one” (John 10:25-28 & 30).

Then Jesus said in that same scene: “But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father” (Verse 38).

Those (his sheep) who believed and received Jesus as Lord and Savior knew he was the Messiah.

They believed not only with their eyes, but with their mind and heart. He was the superior Prophet spoken of by Moses, the Great Shepherd, Immanuel, the living Word of God, the Menorah Light of the World, and all the other things written about and names given to him by God the Father through the prophets. John began his New Covenant Gospel with this magnificent tribute to Messiah Jesus:

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God…. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (John 1:1-2, 4-5).

The brutal death of Messiah Jesus did not silence him nor extinguish the light of God’s salvation through him. In fact, it purchased and sealed that redemption for all who would believe in him.

Satan did not defeat him. Death would not finish him. The grave could not hold him.

He is who said he is. Because:

If Hanukkah is so highly regarded, then why disregard (to the point of denial) the illuminating light of Jesus’s miraculous Virgin birth, his astounding teachings and miracles, and (most of all) his supernatural resurrection from the dead?

Didn’t both Hanukkah and Christmas occur after the canon of the Old Testament was complete; after God stopped speaking to his people for over 400 years?

There is another stunning prophecy that has been regrettably overlooked by millions of Jews and even dismissed by nearly all (non-Messianic) rabbis. A prophecy that is seldom spoken of by rabbis or written about in Jewish literature … be it books, articles, or commentaries. One that documents beyond all doubt that Messiah (first) arrived in Israel long ago. Here is another excerpt from: Where is Messiah? Is He Already Here? (which focuses on just a portion of one verse of the totality of these powerful prophecies in Daniel 9:24-27):

After this period of 483 years, “…the Anointed One will be killed, appearing to have accomplished nothing, and a ruler will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple…” (Daniel 9:26)

Daniel’s prophecy is unambiguously clear: The Messiah would appear before the destruction of the Temple, which took place in 70 AD. And that’s exactly what occurred … Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection some 40 years before the Romans sacked Jerusalem, which irrefutably validates the accuracy of Daniel’s prophecy.

Whereas, the religious leaders and people of Jesus’s time scorned him for the reasons given thus far—most prominent of which was ignoring the plain evidence for the time of Messiah’s appearance and marginalizing or outright rejecting his teachings and miracles—all those who deny that he is Messiah after the Temple was destroyed have no grounds whatsoever to refute the Messiahship of Jesus.

Why?

Because they have the 20/20 hindsight of history, right up to the present day. The Messiah would come at the end of 483 years, exactly when Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem … hailed by the people as the Son of David, the Messiah.

Then the Messiah would be killed BEFORE the Temple was destroyed by the armies of a ruler who would arise (shortly) AFTER Messiah arrived and was killed.

According to the time-line of Daniel’s prophecy, there is no way that the Messiah could (first advent) arrive on the scene of history AFTER the Temple was destroyed.

As Zola Levitt, a well-known Messianic Jew used to say: “And that’s all there is to that.”

The Severe Consequences of Israel’s Missed Opportunity

God’s precious promises of end-times redemption and restoration for his special possession Israel are already in the making, beginning prominently with the 20^th century rebirth of Israel and the ancient Hebrew language.

But for now, it is as it was in the first century when the Jewish Apostle Paul penned these words:

“Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share then they finally accept it” (Romans 11:11-12).

Then Paul states: “…Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of the Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved…” (Romans 11:25-26).

In the previous Eye of Prophecy article posted 12-8-18 (Peace Between Israel & Judah … Then World Peace!), I quoted Jesus’s compassionate words for his people not long before his crucifixion.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate (predicting the Roman sack of Jerusalem). For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:37-39, parenthesis mine).

Luke’s Gospel presents part of Jesus’s words not recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, also concerning what would happen to Israel at the hands of the Romans and why.

“But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. ‘How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long (less than 40 years would transpire) your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation’” (Luke 19:41-44, italics for emphasis, parenthesis mine).

Most Jews in today’s world, particularly the observant, are still turning down God’s offer of salvation through the New Covenant that Jesus brought to them and the whole world. It’s no coincidence whatsoever that the curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple interior was suddenly torn in two as Jesus died on the cross. (See Eye of Prophecy articles. The Cross and the Torn Curtain I & II … posted 2-6 & 2-13-16).

It was another of God’s manifest miracles to demonstrate that anyone can come directly to Him any time and any place through His Son, Messiah Jesus. The barrier (curtain) between God and people and between Jew and Gentile was removed when Jesus sacrificially gave his life as a once for all atonement for Jew and Gentile alike.

The torn curtain was only the beginning. Less than 40 years later, the Temple itself was demolished and the Levitical Sacrificial System ended when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. As noted, Jesus even predicted this horrific event, even though it broke his heart that it would happen and the reason why.

As Jesus Mourned for Israel, So Israel Will Mourn for Him

Whether Gentile or (especially) Jew, have you considered the question of why Israel will mourn over Messiah’s appearance? Yes, that will take place.

Which is unfathomable—considering numerous Biblical prophecies and the modern-day fact that nearly every Jew, religious or irreligious, longs for and will rejoice greatly when Messiah appears (returns).

Why would they mourn over such a fantastic life-saving (literally) event? There is no reasonable explanation for such a response … save one.

The prophet Zechariah graphically portrays the initial sorrow of Israel when they see their Messiah and gives the (one) reason for that grief. It is anguish so deep and distressing that: “All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives…” (Zechariah 12:12).

Sorrow so painful that the Jews must be alone for a while to bear it.

The Pre-Incarnate Messiah himself explains the reason by speaking in both the first and second person.

“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died” (Zechariah 12:10).

Near the end of the Great Tribulation, the remnant of Israel will see and acknowledge their (the) Messiah. Who is the Son of Man, Son of David, and Son of God (Psalm 110) whom King David prophesied would be “pierced” (hands and feet … Psalm 22:16).

Confirmed by Isaiah: “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins…” (Isaiah 53:5).

None other than Jesus of Nazareth.

“Away with him, they yelled. ‘Away with him! Crucify him!’

‘What? Crucify your king?’ Pilate asked.

‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the leading priests shouted back.

“Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified.

“There they (the Romans) nailed him to the cross…” (John 19:15-16 &18a, parenthesis mine).

But when the mourning is over, there will be jubilation despite Jerusalem surrounded by a huge Gentile coalition of armies (led by Antichrist). Messiah Jesus will rally the people and their soldiers (IDF) and they will rally around him.

“The Lord will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah. On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be a mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord (a title found throughout the Old Testament for the Pre-Incarnate Messiah) who goes before them! For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem” (Zechariah 12:7-9, parenthesis mine).

The final victory will be won as dramatically depicted in Revelation 19. Please see Eye of Prophecy article: Armageddon and Messiah’s Return … An Amazing Sequence of Events. Posted 2-3-18.

“And so all Israel will be saved…” (Romans 11:26a).

Things to Ponder

As said before in some articles: I love the Lord and His Word, and I love Israel and the Jews.

Every morning I conclude my Bible and prayer time with: “Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim; beshem Yeshua HaMashiach” (I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, in the name of Jesus the Messiah).

To pray for such peace is to pray for Messiah’s return, when all Israel will be saved—physically and spiritually.

To echo the passionate hope of the Jewish Pharisee Saul who met the risen Messiah Jesus and was supernaturally saved; born-again as are all who place their trust in Jesus’s sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection. Whom the Lord renamed Paul and appointed him to be a witness first to Israel, then to the Gentiles. Said Paul:

“…the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved” (Romans 10:1).

For God’s people to finally see and receive the light of their salvation—Messiah Jesus.

When that happens: “…All the world will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel” (Isaiah 49:26).

He is the mighty Triune God, whose Royal Son the nations will obey (Psalm 2).

The Royal Son, born on Christmas Day.

Messiah Jesus is the Menorah Light of the World. Both Christmas and Hanukkah are special seasonal times to light up the world with the truth of God’s redemptive rescue.

Hanukkah was celebrated earlier this month (12-3 through 12-10).

Christmas is just three days away.

A time to gaze at the lights and gladly give gifts. In remembrance of the most brilliant light to ever shine and the greatest gift ever given. The gift that keeps on giving … forever!