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Shalom dear
Friends. I hope I'm not boring you. The light of the world has
come, but men loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil.
Of course, CHRIST is the LIGHT of the world. Did you ever notice that
darkness flees in the presents of light? QUICKLY I might add. Over come evil
with good. Someone said, two wrongs don't make a right.
Well, God who's
name alone is YaHWeH (Psa.83:18) commanded Moses to put a Menorah in the
tabernacle which God designed to give light inside the tabernacle to dispel
the darkness therein. It was NEVER to go out, but was to burn
continually.
Just as when we
allow the Holy Spirit to come into our lives by accepting the promised
Jewish Messiah, we can have a changed heart. We get a heart of flesh
for our old heart of stone. We can become a light in this dark, sinful
world, ourselves (as we follow CHRIST, and walk in HIS foot steps).
Menorah (pictured above) --- The Golden
Lamp stand
Old Testament Significance: Symbolizing light from God, the
intricately patterned Lamp stand was to give light continually, fueled by
clear olive oil (Exodus 27:20)
New Testament Lessons: Rev. 1:12-20 indicates seven local
churches represented by golden candle sticks. YaHWeshua is the
light of the world (John 8:12). Christians are to be a light to the world,
also (Matthew 5:14).
As a golden lamp stand, we individually can
REFLECT the LIGHT of the Messiah to the lost of this world, as we stand up
for CHRIST instead of putting our light under a basket. Shalom, the
Sabins
For more information on the feasts: http://biblicalholidays.com/links.htm
(I do not say I necessarily agree with everything on
this website). Also I want you to know that we are students ourselves
and am learning as we go here. Please don't think we think we are know
it alls. There is so much more for us to learn and we look forward to
growing in Christ our Lord.
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Fifth day of the Feast of Dedication
In
these last days of this festival we are going to examine four more issues.
Prophecy today, Legalism tomorrow - should almighty YaHWeH grant us another
day of life, then the priestly prayer or Blessing of Passover and Chanukkah,
lastly a review and reason why this festival lasts for eight days.
Hope you will decide to join us in this journey re-discovering TRUTH
from the Biblical Past.
PROPHECY
TODAY:
Some
of the Preterit Heresy have latched onto only the first part of what I'm
going to share next. We must understand that scripture can have
several applications, but only one true teaching. Also that some
prophecies happen in picture or type, yet can have a future or other greater
climax as the final authoritative conclusion or fulfillment. Having
said that I will be quoting from David H. Stern's , Jewish New Testament
Commentary, page 827. (I do not say I necessarily agree with every
conclusion of this author).
Quoting
--- "Many scholars regard Daniel's prophecy as fulfilled in
168-164 B.C.E. by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV, who 'changed times and
laws', even causing pigs to be offered to idols in place of the daily
sacrifice, an abomination which desolated the Temple (Daniel 9:27, 11:31,
12:11) for three-and-a-half years ('a season, seasons and half a season'),
until the Maccabees recaptured and rededicated it, an event memorialized by
the festival of Chanukkah (John 10:22). But since Yeshua (YaHWeshua
would be more correct) renewed the prophecy two centuries later, there
must be a later fulfillment as well. See: (Matt.24:15
& Mark 13:14 under the authority of John 17:8."
--- End Quote
Shalom
until tomorrow,
The
Sabins
REJOICE
in YaHWeH ALWAYS, Again I say REJOICE...
Psalm
20:5, 32:11, 33:1, 35:9, 40:16, 97:12,
105:3, and 118:24 Have you rejoiced in the God of your
salvation yet today?
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Day six of the festival of Lights
Have you
rejoiced in your Salvation today yet? Have you rejoiced in the Saviour
yet today? Well, I don't want to get legalistic about it, but the FATHER
seeks those which will worship in Spirit and TRUTH. You are the TEMPLE
of God today, if you are a true believer in Messiah. Greetings, peace and
shalom on this sixth day of Chanukkah. The day, Adam (man) was
created, or six being the number of man. Just as 666 will be, the
triune number of man, for the anti-christ. It's appropriate that we
would take a look at legalism on this day, numbered with man's number, or
the 6th day.
Again quoting
from David Sterns, Jewish New Testament Commentary. I have replaced
YaHWeH (John 5:43) back into the Saviour's name and added a couple of notes
for clarification. So this is very slightly edited, but I have not
changed the tone, nor the conclusion of this Messianic Jewish writer.
From his
Commentary of Galatians Chapter 4 QUOTING:
Why was
YaHWe-shua born into such a society? (Jewish Society) So that
HE might redeem those in subjection to this legalism. ('In
subjection to this legalism' again is a rendering of 'upo nomon').
YaHWe-shua had to submit HIMSELF to being in the same predicament as we
humans are in order to redeem humanity; therefore, HE was 'born from a
woman.' Additionally, HE had to submit to being in the special
circumstances Jews are in - namely, being legally bound by a covenant to
obey the Torah (Exodus 24:7 their marriage vows) and at the same time being
in a culture where the norm is to pervert that Torah into a legalistic
system - in order to enable us, both Jews and Gentiles, to be made God's
sons, adopted by God the Father (see Romans 8:14b-16). Romans 8:3 and
Matthew 2:14-18, 4:14-16 deal with the same subject and are essential
commentary on this verse. Paul empathizing with the situations of
various classes of unsaved people (1Cor.9:19-23) may well be imitation of
the Messiah (1Cor.11:1), as reflected in these two verses and verse 12.
Galatians
4:8-10 Beings that in reality are non-gods, i.e.,
idols, are one species of elemental spirits verse 3.
The Gentiles to whom Paul is writing served them before they came to put
their trust in YaHWe-shua.
Judaism,
as Conservative Jewish Rabbi Abraham Heschel eloquently pointed out in his
writings, is a religion based on the sanctification of time. Jewish
communal life thrives on celebrating biblically prescribed times. The special
days come once a week - Shabbat (Sabbath - Rest).
Months are noted at Rosh-Chodesh, the "head of the
month," celebrated when the new moon becomes visible and commences a
month of the Jewish calendar. Seasons include the
three Pilgrim Festivals --- Pesach (Passover), Shavu'ot Weeks,
Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles) --- along with Rosh-HaShanah
(New Year), Yom-Kippur (Day of Atonement), Chanukkah (Dedication,
Lights), Purim (Lots) and other minor festivals and fasts.
The years are the Sabbatical Year (every seven years), the
Jubilee Year (every fifty years) and other years related to tithing; and
there may be reference to the life-cycle events of milah (circumcision),
pidyon-haben (dedication of the firstborn son), marriage and the
ceremonies related to death. Also see Colossians 2:16-17
But when Gentiles
observe these Jewish holidays neither out of joy in sharing
what God has given the Jewish people nor out of spiritual
identification with them, but out of fear induced by the
Judaizers who have convinced them that UNLESS they do these things, God
will not accept them, then they are not obeying the Torah but
subjugating themselves to the legalism of men - becoming men pleasers.
Hence Legalism is just another species of those weak and
miserable elemental spirits, no better than the idols left behind.
(An alternative
interpretation, however, is that the "days, months, seasons and
years" of this passage do not refer to the Jewish holidays at all but
to pagan Gentile feasts, naturally and directly reflecting "those weak
and beggarly elements." According to this understanding Paul
was worried that his ex-pagan converts might be returning to these
pagan festivals.)
Gentile Christians
who choose to add a cultural identification with the Jews to the spiritual
identification they had already made by trusting the Jewish Messiah, or
those who enjoyed the beauty and significance of the Jewish
rituals, are, according to Romans 14 and 1Cor.8, free to observe them.
Moreover, Gentile Christians on their own have developed many
adaptations of Jewish ceremonies. The very idea of a weekly Sunday
church service is an adaptation of the Jewish Sabbath (Acts20:7 a
continuation meeting over into the next day and sending off party for Paul
and 1Cor.16:2 - or at least for money collection and changing not to pollute
the Sabbath --- used 50 times in the N.T. of which nine verses are in
Acts ) It is said that Christmas is celebrated on December 25
because Chanukkah begins on the 25th day of the Jewish
month of Kislev. Erich Werner wrote an entire book detailing
the Jewish roots of various Christians worship practices (The Sacred
Bride: the Interdependence of Liturgy and Music in Synagogue and Church
During the First Millennium, 1959). ... But a Gentile
who supposes that he earns God's favor or approval by conforming his
religious ceremonies to Jewish practice violates the message of Galatians by
subjugating himself to legalism. There are many cults on the fringe of
Christianity that foster such legalism Judaizing of Gentiles.
This will no
more save a person than one which puts their trust in keeping the Roman
Catholic Mass on Easter and Christmas or Mennonite Church Laws . Christians
that believe they please God by KEEPING, some Churches man made
traditions of men are no better off then Gentiles adopting Jewish ritual for
the same reason.
Since
Paul is writing (to prevent Judaizing by zealous law keeping Jews) but also
and primarily to correct a Gentile error, since he is writing to the
Gentiles in Galatia, he is the emissary to the Gentiles, his remarks here
have no relevance whatever to Jewish believers, except as a caution to avoid
legalism in general. To use these verses as a wedge to drive Jewish
believers away from celebrating SABBATH, Passover, the rest of the Jewish
holidays and other Jewish customs, is to misappropriate them for a purpose
that contradicts Paul's teaching and personal practices. For we
know that Paul himself made substantial efforts as a believer to observe the
Jewish holidays (Acts 20:16 & 1Cor.16.8-9), and that the Jerusalem
Messianic community surely did so. The New Testament does not oppose
Messianic Jewish observance of Jewish holidays. Messianic Jews are, at
the very least, free to observe all Jewish holidays and customs without
interference by other Jewish or Gentile believers, and without being
subjected to any accusations or guilt feeling connected with "Judaizing,"
since it is impossible to Judaize other Jews. (Gal.2:14b) The
degree to which , the circumstances under which, and the manner in which
Messianic Jews might be obligated by Torah to observe the holidays and other
Jewish customs is a subject worthy of investigation by believers (for more
information see Messianic Jewish Manifesto, Chapter V, entitled
"Torah"). But the investigation must be conducted by
believers in the Messiah, that are FREE of anti-Torah bias.
UNQUOTE:
Also see
my web page on Law Keeping by clicking on the hyperlink below...
Is
Law Keeping for Today?
Conclusion: Walk in the spirit and fulfill not
the lusts of the flesh. Bring honor to MESSIAH in what you think, say,
and do.
Shalom, the Sabins
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Day SEVEN of the festival of Dedication
Are you
Dedicated to MESSIAH? Number 7, completion, REST, the number after
man. Man needs ONE added to himself to be complete, and that is the
MESSIAH. Once we are IN HIM, then and only then can we have true REST.
Sabbath... Six days shall thou work, but keep the 7th HOLY unto
YaHWeH, a day of REST made for man. Man was NOT made for the Sabbath,
but visa versa. The Sabbath was made for man's REST, enjoyment,
set-a-side TIME for worship and meditation upon God and HIS words, a time
when if man will DELIGHT himself in God, God will in turn BLESS the man.
Psalm 37:4 and Isaiah 58:13-14 furthermore a study on the
KJV word, delight, will show that we are to delight in God and especially
HIS WORD and LAW. Romans 7:22
Without
delighting yourself in God and God's word you will NEVER be complete.
When was the last time you were BLESSED in the Spirit with NEW revelation
revealed to your heart FRESH, beautiful, exciting??? Has it ever
happened for you??? If not, you perhaps are not even saved...
For the Holy Spirit indwells his people and they will delight themselves in
God's word and God HIMSELF will speak to them through HIS WORD.
When ever the
word says, "and Christ blessed ..." without saying exactly what he
said. It was the Jewish blessing used primarily and repeatedly in the
Passover observance and Hannukkah.
"Blessed
are thou, YaHWeH our God, KING of the Universe, who has kept us
alive, sustained us and enabled us to reach this time."
The ending
words can be changed to whatever is the blessing issue, "created the
wheat and bread", "creates marriage...", whatever... "bringeth
forth the fruit of the vine"...
Also there is
the priestly blessing: Numbers 6:22-27
YaHWeH bless
thee, and keep thee,
YaHWeH make HIS
face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee,
YaHWeH lift up
HIS countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Shalom,
the Sabins
P.S. If
you didn't notice yet, we don't know how to light the candles properly.
The center candle is supposed to be the SERVANT and then you light one of
the EIGHT from the SERVANT each new night, if your candles are fueled not to
burn out. So we have been one candle short according to custom each
day so far. Sorry for our over-sight on this matter. It will be
corrected tomorrow, just as the SUFFERING SERVANT (the LIGHT of the WORLD)
came to correct all our faults and sins:-) HallaluYah, Praise HIS name
YaHWeH YaHWe-shua.
Interested in
the name of God? see our site at www.thenameofjesus.com
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The eighth and final day of Hanukah
There we did
get all the candles burning. Are you on FIRE for MESSIAH today?
We relight our candles every night, with the exception of the SERVANT CANDLE
which was a jumbo round one. Then we used our seven candle stick
menorah lighting one additional candle starting on day TWO, because we
counted the SERVANT as number ONE:-)
We have fun,
enjoyment and spiritual growth as we study and observe the different
festivals from time to time. NO, we don't claim to KEEP them. We
DELIGHT in them as we do them, out of a willing heart to please our heavenly
father. We do not do any day or time keeping to stay on good terms
with our God. Nor do we keep any day or time so we can be accepted by
MESSIAH. The finished work of messiah upon the cross is our Passover
and Salvation. But we have learned so much more about our BELOVED
because of Passover and the other feasts. Perhaps you will want to
some day also ?
Let's review
our Rededication to Messiah and see if Canukkah has any parallels to our
personal spiritual life in CHRIST. Oh, perhaps you are the spiritual
Giant which never fails or falters? Or have we had times in our life
that the enemy seems to have taken over and perhaps even defiled us, OUR
TEMPLE. There is HOPE, with FULL repentance, yielding, and turning
back to God. There will be scares many times and that is to be
expected. But the salvation of our soul is important to God and it
should be to you also.
From Stern's
Commentary again:
QUOTE:
Chanukkah,
the Feast of Dedication, in which the Jews since 164 B.C. have
celebrated the victory of the Makkabim (Maccabees) over Antiochus
IV, king of Syria. This is the earliest mention of the holiday in all
literature and the only mention of it in the Bible, since the Tanakh (Jewish
O.T.) was completed before that date (the book of Daniel contains prophecy
about the event celebrated). The apocryphal books, 1,2,3 and 4
Maccabees, present historical and other perspectives on what happened.
Antiochus,
recently defeated in Egypt, expressed his frustration by attacking Judea,
ruthlessly slaughtering men, women and children, and invading the Temple.
There he carried off the golden altar, menorahs (seven stick candelabra)
and vessels; and to show his contempt for the God of Israel he sacrificed
there a pig to Zeus. (Please
note this name injected into the 1611 KJV)
Odd that
it is connected with another Syrian this time, but the Syrian's name is the
same as the O.T. It's the prophet's name that has been perverted in
the KJV1611. This is an actual photocopy of the print and I have a
second witness in my 1841 Hexapla containing the KJV1611 N.T. reprint.
Back to
the quote:
Antiochus,
forbabe circumcision, observing Shabbat (Sabbath) and keeping kosher
(O.T. dietary law), and commanded that only pigs be sacrificed in the
Temple; he himself cooked a pig in the Temple and poured its broth on
the holy Torah (first five O.T. books of the law of Moses) scrolls
and on the altar.
Syrian
officers were dispatched to enforce these cruel and blasphemous decrees.
(Remember this was before the Messiah come). One day when the Syrian
officer in Modi' in commanded Mattityahu HaMakkabi (Mattahias the
Maccabee or Hammer), head of a family of cohanim (you have seen the
last name: Cohen, meaning Priest), to sacrifice a pig, he and his five sons
killed the first Jew to comply and then killed the officer and his soldiers.
This was the start of a rebellion. After Mattityahu's (we know this
name as Matthew) death his son Y'hudah (Judah) (Judas Maccabeus, about whom
Handel wrote his oratorio so named) assembled a number of courageous Jews
and led them to victory over the Syrians, first in guerilla warfare, then
later in open battle. On the 25th of Kislev they rededicated the
Temple and consecrated a new altar. The ner tamid ("eternal
light") was relit, but there was only enough consecrated olive oil
(Holy Oil) to keep it burning for one day, and it would take a week to
prepare more. By a miracle of God reported in the book of 2 Maccabees
the light burned for eight days, by which time a new supply had been
prepared. For this reason Jews celebrate Chanukkah (Hannukah)
for eight days, starting on the Jewish calendar Kislev 25, which can fall
between November 27 and December 27 on the Roman Calendar. The Jewish
calendar is a solar calendar and needs correcting with an odd month from
time to time to bring the seaons back into line. Hence the Roman
Calendar and Jewish calendars are not in agreement as to the individual day
numbers within a month normally.
The
Bible does not state when YaHWeshua (Jesus KJV) was born, perhaps as a
prophylactic against our worshipping "the day" instead of the ONE,
who is worthy. But it is interesting that the early believers in the
Messiah apparently saw a link between Chanukkah and the birth of
the Messiah: the one is concerned with an earthly building, the other with
the living God come to tabernacle with men (Emanuel) God with us, the light
of the world. ...
Chanukkah
is celebrated using a special Chanukkah Menorah which is a
nine stick candelabra. One uses a match to light the shammash
("servant") candle, and then it is use to light one of the
eight candles, one additional one is light each night until all nine are
burning on the eighth night. Note the Hebrew (Jewish) day
starts at sundown, so the "day" begins at nightfall lasts into the
"light" time of the "day" ending at sundown (when it is
still light). So the Jewish day goes from night to day light.
The Roman day starts in the middle of the night and ends in the middle of
the night. Just as a lost sinner begins their natural existance with
the spark of life then darkness falls as sin grows and controls
the person until they turn to God and the real light is shown to them and
they live the rest of their life in "the light" of God. If a
person dies in their sins, they end their life in darkness just as it also
started, like the Roman day.
For
the Messianic Jew the imagery is rich: YaHWeshua, the suffering shammash
SERVANT (Mark10:45) come as the
light of the world (John 9:5, 12:46) to light every man, (John1:4-5)
so that we might be lights unto others. (Mat.5:14)
But
Christmas itself is not a biblical holiday at all. If it is to be
celebrated, it should be observed as a Jewish holiday; for what is more
worthy of voluntary celebration than the coming of the Jewish Messiah into
the world, by whom all may have the light of life? (Much material in
this note is drawn from the chapter on Chanukkah in The Gospel
In the Feasts of Israel, by the Hebrew Christian, Victor Buksbazen.)
End QUOTE.
Well, that's
the story of Hanakuh. I don't know what you used to think it was, but
now we both know:-)
Well, we would
hate to think that our religious experience is limited to lighting a few
candles made of wax. Light up your life and witness of the Salvation
you have in our Messiah to your co-worker, friend, neighbor, or the
clerk at the store, or other people you get to meet and speak to during your
week. Let the next week of your life be sharing some of the
information you have learned from this last eight days of Hanakuh
exploration.
Give away some
LIGHT, of life, sharing the truth of God's word this year. Don't let
your holiday season be like the world, because there are more suicides
during the holidays than at any other time of year. It is clear, they
don't have the light, cheer, or joy everyone pretends to have. LIGHT
is not a string of little electric colored bulbs, cheer is not a bottle of
alcohol, and joy is not receiving a few presents.... when we neglect to take
the free gift of eternal life, the gift of God is eternal life thru
YaHWeshua Messiah, the promised Jewish Messiah "the lamb of God"
which has rose from the death to give each of us LIFE ETERNAL...
Worship HIM
this season,
the Sabins
P.S.
We've received over eight positive replies to our Hanukah emails and not a
single person asking to be removed from the mailing. For those that
just have trouble with things that are JEWISH... well look at it this way,
in heaven Abraham, Isaac, Jacob will be there.... King David, Esther,
Samson, and all the other Hebrew folks from which the nation of Israel
come... Then the Messiah, born of a little Jewish maid named Miriam
(Mary) together with all those JEWISH Apostles... HEAVEN is going to
be a Jewish place folks. Do you still want to go? Go Jewish...
Try it, you'll like it.
And all the Christians like to have "candle light"
Christmas Eve services... and Christmas Lights... WHO and WHERE did
that originate from???
now you have a better idea... So be
very careful WHO you point fingers at for observing Hanukah because there
are three of your fingers in your palm pointing back at you:-)
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