Candle #8

                                               

Our last candle.  My son said that he loves watching all the candles and he wishes we could keep lighting our Hanukkah candles all year long.

As is so appropriate, when drawing our year to a close or looking forward to any new thing, we have hope.  The last candle represents "A New Beginning."  There is new life in Christ.  Your past no longer matters if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior.  You are free to look ahead.

"Therefore, if any man is in Christ,

he is a new creature;

the old things passed away;

behold, new things have come."

2 Corinthians 5:17

Candle #7

Hanukkah is drawing to a close.  This evening, we lit seven candles (not including the Shamesh), the seventh representing "Completion and Rest," which naturally follows "Creation".

If you recall, God created the world in six days and on the seventh day, He rested.

Tomorrow is our pomp and circumstance, the culmination of this eight-day celebration.  We are having our Hanukkah Party with all the good food, games and gifts.

"And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done;

and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,

because in it He rested from all His work

which God had created and made."

Genesis 2:2

Candle #6

It's Christmas.  We're celebrating Jesus' birth.. and at the same time, we're celebrating the sixth day of Hanukkah, beginning in just a few hours at sundown.  After an hour of opening Christmas gifts, we still get to relax and look at the Hanukkah candles and open one more present.

Tonight's candle represents "creation".  How appropriate.  God created the world in six days... and we are on day six of Hanukkah.  Okay, I'm overdoing the significance.  You can make the rest of the tie-ins yourself.

"Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth,

who hast displayed Thy splendor above the heavens! 

When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers,

the moon and the stars which

Thou hast ordained."

Psalm 8

Candle #5

On our fifth day of Hanukkah, which begins tonight at sundown, we are also celebrating Christmas Eve this year.  The candle, though, represents the "Grace of God."  After hearing about the judgment candle yesterday, God's grace is a welcome gift.

The Jews are seeking the Messiah.  They expect Him to conquer their oppressors and set up a kingdom.  I know that the Messiah has already come once, in Jesus.  During His first visit, he was our sacrificial lamb who saved us from our sins, if we believe on His Name.  He died on the cross and rose from the dead to make our redemption and salvation possible.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."

Ephesians 2:8-9

Candle #4

And the fourth candle represents Judgment.

"But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds."

Romans 2:5-6

Candle #3

Our third day of Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown when we will, again, light the candles.  This time, there will be three candles, plus our Shamesh, who has been serving us well.

Yesterday's candle reminded us that we need to be unified with each other.  Tonight's candle represents the unity of our Trinity.

"There is but one true and living God.  God is an infinite, all-knowing Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (MacArthur, J., MacArthur Quick Reference Guide to the Bible, W Publishing Group, 2001).

 "And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water;

and behold, the heavens were opened,

and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove,

and coming upon Him, and behold,

a voice out of the heavens, saying,

'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.'"

 Matthew 3:16-17

and

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, 

entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

with all humility and gentleness, with patience,

showing forbearance to one another in love,

being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

"There is one body and one spirit,

just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:1-6

Candle #2

Last night was special. The boys are older and can appreciate lighting candles and, of course, opening presents. We’re still working, though, on appreciating new foods and not telling Mom that her food is "yucky and disgusting".

Tonight, is the second night of Hanukkah. The candle stands for "Unity".

Those of us who believe in God (and even those who say they don't) tend to limit God. We know, in our head, that all of His attributes are in perfect, harmonious balance but we invariably emphasize one of His traits or qualities over another. What do we call that? In Exodus 20:3, it says "You shall have no other gods before Me." When we redefine God into what we wish or choose to forget certain attributes, we are essentially creating a god in our own image. "We crudely patch together anecdotes and selected scriptures that reinforce his idea of the divine" (Grabbe, D.C., CGG Weekly, August 7, 2010).

The key to peace here on earth is to love and be unified with others. Philippians 2:2 says "make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose." We don't all have to think the same way. God knows we will have differing opinions and contrary personalities. He created us that way. But each of us is beautiful. We were created in His image and bear the responsibility to love and care for everyone (who is unlike ourselves) and recognize each person's God-given role in our universe.

"and I have made Thy name known to them,

and will make it known;

that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them,

and I in them."

John 17:26

Candle #1

Tonight (at sundown) begins the wonderful celebration of Hanukkah.  We have eight days of lighting candles and remembering the miracle God performed... but before I get ahead of myself, I'll start at the beginning.

Judea was part of Egypt until 200 BCE when King Antiochus III the Great of Syria defeated King Ptolemy V Epiphanes of Egypt. Judea became part of Syria and King Antiochus III the Great, wanting to conciliate his new Jewish subjects, guaranteed their right to "live according to their ancestral customs" and to continue to practice their religion in the Temple of Jerusalem. However in 175 BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus III invaded Judea, ostensibly at the request of the sons of Tobias.

The Tobiads, who led the Hellenizing Jewish faction in Jerusalem, were expelled to Syria around 170 BCE when the high priest Onias and his pro-Egyptian faction wrested control from them. The exiled Tobiads lobbied Antiochus IV Epiphanes to recapture Jerusalem. 

When the second temple in Jerusalem was looted and services stopped, Judaism was outlawed.  In 167 BCE Antiochus ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He banned circumcision and ordered pigs to be sacrificed at the altar of the temple. Antiochus's actions provoked a large-scale revolt.

Mattityahu, a Jewish priest, and his five sons led a rebellion against Antiochus. By 165 BCE the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy was successful. The Temple was liberated and rededicated.

The festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate this event.  Judah, one of Mattityahu's sons, ordered the Temple to be cleansed, a new altar to be built in place of the polluted one and new holy vessels to be made. According to the Talmud, olive oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was required to burn throughout the night every night. The story goes that there was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared by the Jewish sages to commemorate this miracle.

Many people see a menorah (seven candles), used in the Temple, and think of Hanukah.  But the one used for our yearly celebration is called a Hanukkiah and it holds nine candles.  Eight are in one level (one for each day of celebration) and one is either off-set or raised up, and it is the Shamesh ("Servant Candle") and is used to light the other candles.

Tonight we will be lighting the Shamesh and day 1 will commence our eight days of remembrance.

For this evening, we will be lighting our Hanukkah menorah as you see below and I will explain to my children that this first candle (not the Shamesh, which represents Jesus) stands for the "One True God".

 "Hear, O Israel!

The Lord is our God, the Lord is One!

And you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart and with all your soul

and with all your might."

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

The Season has Arrived

My intentions are pure and yet I am unable to keep up.  Life is so busy when entering the winter gauntlet of parties and dinners and hosting and presents.  We have already been to two parties and I have been shopping for our many nights of Hanukkah, plus Christmas (no, we don't do Kwanza) and keeping the boys from wrecking our tree.  I already caught them hiding out opening presents without permission.  Boy, did they get it. 

"If I catch you doing that again, I will return everything you opened!"

And they know I will.

My hope during this season is to not go crazy.  I have my goals and I would love to survive this time with as few scrapes as possible.  The difficulty is even in accomplishing grocery shopping, I have to brave the crowds.  I insist on 20 uninterrupted feet surrounding my person at all times.  But holiday shoppers are out and about even while I am food shopping.  Growling and hissing accompany the trip.  Everyone, usually very courteous, has grown horns and green monster-eyes and are cutting and weaving through the aisles.  Where are those police officers when you need them??

Until next time, give a smile to those harried holiday-shoppers.  They will need it.. and so will you.