HANUKKAH IS THE OPPOSITE OF CHRIST-MASS

1 Peter chapter 3







Today we are walking in: Hanukkah Is The Opposite Of Christ-Mass







Numbers 7:88

And all the oxen for the sacrifice of the peace offerings were twenty and four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he goats sixty, the lambs of the first year sixty. This was the dedication H2598 of the altar, after that it was anointed







Dedication


Today we look to the word-H2598-Hanukkah--dedication, consecration





The Torah testifies...............

Numbers 7:84

This was the dedication H2598 of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of Israel: twelve chargers of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of gold:








The prophets proclaim..................

Nehemiah 12:27

And at the dedication H2598 of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication H2598 with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.






The writings bear witness...........................







2Chronicles 7:9

And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication H2598 of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.





The Eighth Day into Eternity



So far, I have illustrated that the number “7” is the number that takes us to the “end of sins,” because our Messiah resurrected at the end of the 7th day Sabbath going into the “8th day,” called “First-Fruits.” This pattern will be repeated when the bride will also resurrected “at the last day” of the 6,000 years within creation week. At the end of the 7th millennium, it will take us to the 8th millennium and then the bride will be changed into the New Jerusalem. Thus we can see that the number “8” brings our entire cosmos to salvation and resurrection.


We can also see in the scriptures below that the number eight represents “salvation,” because on Noah’s ark, only eight people were saved:


1st Keefa (Peter) 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of Elohiym waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.


2nd Keefa (Peter) 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.


Why did Keefa (Peter) call Noah the “eighth person?” It is because Noah went into the ark last, as he allowed his family to go in first, and then he being the “eighth person” symbolically means that The Most High was putting an end to the defiled population of the earth and he was “re-dedicating” the earth with water baptism and cleansing it!


We also find in the Torah that whenever the altar became defiled, in order to “rededicate” the Temple altar, it must remain unclean for seven days before it could be cleansed and rededicated. Thus we can see the same pattern with the earth as it will be cleansed at the end of the 7th millennium and rededicated to The Most High by the 8th millennium.


The Cleansing of the Altar takes Seven Days and on the
8th Day it is Dedicated


Shemoth (Exodus) 29:
35 And thus shall you do unto Aharown (Aaron), and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded you: seven days shall you consecrate them.
36 And you shall offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and you shall cleanse the altar, when you have made an atonement for it, and you shall anoint it, to sanctify it.
37 Seven days you shall make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever touches the altar shall be holy.


Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 43:
25 Seven days shalt you prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.

26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.
27 And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says The Most High Elohiym.


2nd Dibre ha’Yamiym (Chronicles) 7:9
And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days.


Nine Branches or Seven Branches?
In the Torah, in Numbers 8:2, we see the instructions given to Mosheh for the Temple menorah and it was to be fashioned with only seven branches and not nine branches. The reason why a nine-branch menorah is used is because the Torah commands us not to replicate any articles from the Temple to be used away from the Temple.


But there is much controversy among the rabbis as to what this commandment exactly means.


There are three views in the early commentaries in regard to the extent of the prohibition. Some hold that only an exact replica is prohibited. Any slight change from the original in the Mishkan is permitted. Others hold that any menowrah which would have been considered kosher b’dieve, is prohibited. Other poskim are even more stringent. They hold that any seven-branched menorah, made out of any metal, regardless of its shape or form, is prohibited.


The Shulchan Aruch rules [in the opinion of the Shach] in accordance with the second view, i.e., that even a menorah that is not made exactly like the one in the Mishkan but would be kosher b’dieved is prohibited. He rules, therefore, that if the menorah is not made from gold but from other types of metals; if the replica is made without the décorative cups, knobs, or flowers that were part of the original menorah; if the menorah is shorter than the 18 tefachim (4.5-6 feet) that the original menorah measured, it is still prohibited to replicate.


Despite these man-made traditions, I personally believe in using the seven-branch Temple menorah for Hanukkah, because it represents our Messiah who is called “THE BRANCH” in prophecy (Isaiah 4:2, Jeremiah 33:15, Zechariah 3:8, 6:12, John 15:4). In Revelation 1:20 our Messiah taught us the “mystery of the seven golden candlesticks in his right hand.” He told us that these represent the “seven assemblies.”


It is fitting that the seven-branch menorah represents our Messiah since he created mankind on the 6th day of creation and on the 7th day he rested. He will also return for his bride at the beginning of the 7th millennium, and so this will be the wedding day, the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7).


Therefore, six of the branches represent his bride, but the seventh branch (the vine) represents the bridegroom. The seven-branch menorah also represents the seven Feasts of The Most High that we are commanded to keep as part of our covenant with him. It also represents the “Seven Spirits” of The Most High seen in Isaiah 11:1-2, Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5 & 5:6. The seven-branch Temple menorah is meant to resemble an almond tree as the scriptures teach us:


Shemoth (Exodus) 25:31-34 “You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lamp-stand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower-- and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. On the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower.”


Patterns for the Number Nine
While I am convicted that we should use a seven-branch menorah, versus a nine-branch Chanukiah for Hanukkah, I can certainly see prophetic shadow pictures with the number “nine.”


In Leviticus 23, we are commanded to observe seven annual feasts of The Most High. However, Hanukkah and Puwriym (Purim) are two more additional festivals celebrated by the Yahuwdiym (Hebrew) people to commemorate when they were almost annihilated, yet, miraculously, The Most High saved them. Any time that Yah moves on behalf of his people to save their lives, is a good time to celebrate, and there is certainly nothing unbiblical or pagan about that!


We may be able to count the seven-branch menorah as the people of covenant (Yisra’el), and if we liken the additional two branches to the overcoming assemblies of Smyrna & Philadelphia, this may be a way of seeing the nine-branch Chanukiah in a fresh new way. If the two overcoming assemblies are gentiles who have been grafted into the olive tree (Yisra’el), the nine-branch menorah, may have some legitimate merits to it after all!


Thus, the nine-branch Chanukiah may be a prophetic picture of the House of Yisra’el, (with their seven feasts), and the two additional gentile assemblies being grafted into the seven by the two additional Hebrew feast day.


Additionally, our Messiah was conceived in the ninth month on the Hebrew calendar called Kislev, and he was born on Yom Teruw’ah in the seventh Hebrew month of Tishri. There are also nine gifts of the Holy Spirit described in 1st Corinthians 12:8-11, and nine fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. There were also nine months of pregnancy for the body of Messiah to be completely formed in the womb.


Hanukkah Seen in End-Time Prophecy
Did you ever wonder why the period called “The great tribulation” is 1,260 days in Revelation 11:3 but then in Daniel 12:11 it says that the tribulation is 1,290 days? Daniel 12:11 reads: “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”


Why is there a 30-day discrepancy? Well, the tribulation period of 1,260 days ends on Yom Kippur in Revelation 19, when our Messiah returns with his army to overthrow the Anti-Messiah. However, there will be another 30 days after that to destroy the Abomination of Desolation.