Prophecy of A Forgotten Festival
**************************************
ALSO AVAILABLE IN: Indonesian
**************************************
That morning I woke up at 3.30 am. After quickly going to the bathroom, I sat on my bed and started praying, praising and worshiping God. Soon, the Presence of the Holy Spirit fell on me and I let my self be immersed in Him.
The message I received that day was about a festival forgotten by the church and the vast majority of believers in the whole world. Thousands of years ago GOD had made a great effort for Israel, only about 160 – 165 years before the Messiah, Jesus (Yahshua), was born in Bethlehem.
The message I received from Him that morning was about the one festival to celebrate God’s greatness by the church. Thousands of years ago, only about 160-165 years before the birth of Jesus (Yahshua) God did amazing things for Israel.
He reminded me of the history behind this festival which was told by my Torah and Hebrew language teacher a while ago. When I thought through the history again that morning I was touched deeply by God’s intervention over 2,000 years ago which only proved how much He has always loved His people and how He would never stay quiet without defending them. The terror of the God of Israel was once again was demonstrated in that particular historical event. It is this certain event that the church has forgotten to celebrate.
The Holy Spirit prompted me to tell this story to the world once again, especially to those who has forgotten the great works of the God of Israel. I was at first worried of what people may think of me if I wrote about this festival and that was why I asked the Holy Spirit for any sign that would encourage me to tell the story.
He gave me 3 signs.
The first sign given to me through a verse that seemed to jump out of the Bible straight into my heart after my session of praise and worship. It was Zec 1:14-15.
So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
In the Indonesian language verse above is translated as, “I have done great works for Jerusalem and are displeased with the heathen…”
God has done so much for Jerusalem in Zion in order to get rid of all the heathen influence in the lives of the people of Israel. But the news of whatever God has done is silenced by the evil one by covering up history or preventing believers from celebrating God’s work. Are we not generally called to be witnesses of everything that the God of Abraham has done, whether they are His works recorded in the Old Testament or the (re)New(ed) Testament through the redemption of the Holy Lamb. Are we not called to declare to the world all the good works that God has done?
There are amazing things that God has done that goes unnoticed by the world as they have not been declared by the people that call themselves “believers” in YHVH through the Messiah. One of those works is the one celebrated in a festival written about here.
The second sign was a reminder by the Holy Spirit on a verse that I read a while ago. The verse showed how Jesus (Yahshua) Himself actually celebrated this festival.
Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. (Joh 10:22-23 CJB)
In the King James Version the word “Hanukkah” is translated as “The Feast of Dedication” which is another name for Hanukkah besides “The Feast of Light”. The festival is to commemorate the re-dedication of the Holy Temple of YHVH that was marked by a historical event, involving a godly-zealous Jew named Judah Maccabee.
The church believe and declare that they are a representation of the Body of Christ. The ‘real’ Christ that they are representing today lived 2000 years ago and as He walked on this earth, He celebrated this festival. Thus, it has been a great inconsistency by the church if she, as the “Body of Christ” doesn’t even celebrate what the Christ Himself did.
But the Holy Spirit explained to me also that these days are the days that the sanctification of the “Body of Christ” the Temple of God in the members of the church is coming to a higher level – a level that nobody has ever thought of before. The standard of holiness and standard of obedience of the church will be restored and matched with the one of Jesus (Yahshua). And the standard of the Christ who walked this earth was from His own Father, written in ink in the TORAH.
The third sign was something that the Holy Spirit showed me in my own calender of 2011. After showing me the two other signs above, the Holy Spirit prompted me to open up my Jewish calender application on my cellphone. I noticed that this year’s Hanukkah falls on the 20th December 2011.
To most of my readers, this probably doesn’t mean anything. But for me, this sign was something that would encourage me even more to write about Hanukkah and why it is important for believers in YHVH through Jesus (Yahshua) to celebrate it just as Jesus Himself did. In the evening of the 20th Dec, which is the first night of 8 nights of Hanukkah, the church in Semarang that our little church, JKI Mount Tziyon, is associated with is holding a service in Jakarta to celebrate nativity.
When I noticed the coincidence in dates, the Holy Spirit said, “It is not a coincidence that I arranged for the church to celebrate and hold a service to honor Me in Jakarta exactly on the first night of Hanukkah.”
For the next few days after that morning, I looked deeper into the history of Hanukkah and prayed to understand the meaning, prophetically and historically, of this festival. I learned about Judah Maccabee from the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus and also the two Books of the Maccabees which are included in the Catholic Bible. The more I understood the historical background of this festival, the more I felt touched by what God has done 2,000 years ago through the Maccabees, and the more I felt compelled to celebrate it with and for Him.
The Historical Even of Hanukkah, A Prophecy Fulfillment
At the end of this article you will find a cartoon video which tells the story of this historical event. The video is made in English but has Indonesian subtitles translated by East Lightning Media Ministry.
In the year 168 BC the Greek King Antiochus was holding Jerusalem in captive and forced to enter the Holy Temple to turn it into a place of worship in honor to the Greek god, Zeus, a.k.a. Jupiter in Roman myths. In the place of the blood of lamb and bulls, the King sprinkled water on the altar. The water had been used to boil pig meat in the Holy of Holies. Instead of bulls or lambs he also sacrificed pigs on the altar.
Then Antiochus erected the statue of Zeus in the Holy place of the Temple, whose face was changed into the face of the king himself, proclaiming himself as god. He made the people of Jerusalem kneel down in front of the statue and those who refused was sentenced to death by the sword and by fire.
Defiling the Holy Temple was an abomination for the Jews and by Jewish historians this act of the king was referred to as an “Abomination that Causes Desolation“.
The term above was exactly the same term that Daniel used in Dan 11:31. In this passage, Daniel prophesied that there will be armed forces from a nation that would profane the sanctuary of the Holy Temple. The king of this nation will cause Israel to worship other gods to save their lives or to gain promotion and riches. Those who refuse would die.
Armed forces will come at his order and profane the sanctuary and fortress. They will abolish the daily burnt offering and set up the abomination that causes desolation. Those who act wickedly against the covenant he will corrupt with his blandishments, but the people who know their God will stand firm and prevail.
(Dan 11:31-32 CJB)
This caused the Maccabees (literally means ‘hammer’) a Jewish family to lead a revolution. For 3.5 years Judah Maccabee and his army fought against the Greek until he won the war in 165 BC. His army was small, only 12,000 people against the one of the Greeks which was 40,000. But just like in the wars of Gideon, God’s hand was with the smaller band of soldiers so that victory was in the hand of the Maccabees.
Through these 3.5 years the Israelite were under oppression and were deprived of their freedom to worship the God of Israel. This was a fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy who said that Israel would be under this kind of oppression for “a time, and times and a half”… or a total of 3.5 times (as in other translations).
The man dressed in linen who was above the water of the river raised his right and left hands toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and a half, and that it will be when the the power of the holy people is no longer being shattered that all these things will end.
(Dan 12:7 CJB)
When the Maccabees reclaimed the Holy Temple, they started the process of cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple. The statue of Zeus and the alter were hammered and grounded to dust. As in 2 Chr 29:16-17 the cleansing process had to last for 8 days.
And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron. Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. (2Ch 29:16-17 KJV)
When the Jews looked for pure oil to light the 7 candles of the lampstand in the Temple for 8 days, they were only able to find enough oil for 1 day. But once again God intervened and a miracle of multiplication happened as the oil was enough to burn the candles for 8 days long.
So the times of abomination ended with the sanctification of the Temple for 8 days. Those who understand the prophetic meanings of numbers understand that 8 symbolizes a new beginning. There are 7 days in a week. The 8th day is really the 1st day of a new week. It is a new day, a new beginning of a new week.
Continued to page 1 2
1 2
Posted by Elisheva Wiriaatmadja
on December 20, 2011. Filed under Ev. Elisheva Wiriaatmadja, Hebrew Roots, Prophecies, Teachings, Writers.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
English
Bhs Indonesia
Recent Comments