LIGHT OF MENORAH

Chanukah: Return of the King Candle Three

And so the connection between Jesus' return and Chanukah continues.  We must again return to ancient Israel in and about 170 B.C.  What was happening to the devout and faithful Jews under the cruel, vicious, and pagan Greek king Antiochus IV?  And how does Jesus relate this to the days before His  return - the days of tribulation where many have the mark of the evil one, the anti-Christ the one who is anti-Bible and anti-God?  Come.  Return to those days with us.  Let us seek His truth as Yeshua teaches them THEN so we can more fully understand NOW.

Here's a link that reviews the revolt of the Maccabees and the 1st celebration of the feast of Dedication or Chanukah חֲנֻכָּה - https://www.ancient.eu/article/827/the-maccabean-revolt/

Here are links to very readable versions of the 1st and 2nd book of the Maccabees.

1 Maccabees - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1maccabees/0

2 Maccabees - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/1

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0

 

Chanukah: Return of the King Candle Two

Christians and Jews believe in ONE God, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Israel).  Just like Paul said in 1 Cor. 8:6, Eph. 4:6, and 1 Tim 2:5.  And as we learn about the revolt of the Maccabees we see what God did for His chosen ones, Israel.  One old Levite priest and his five sons, Judas, Simon, John, Eleazer, and Jonathan and a bunch of Jews from the village of Modi'in (pronounced Moe Deen) flee to the hills and begin a revolution against the powerful Greek Seleucid kingdom of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  It is as if Puerto Rico invaded the USA landing their forces at Miami Beach and conquering us in four years.  Impossible.  But, God has already told us time and time again, 

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" (Jer 32:27)

Lord said to Sarah in Abraham's tent, "Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son." (Gen 18:14)

The Egyptians had enslaved all the Hebrews and were murdering the baby boys of the Hebrews; God delivered these powerless slaves from the most powerful nation on earth at the time.  And God does it again in the time of the Maccabees. 

We as Christians should not be surprised.  Chanukah is not about a rabbinic story of some so called miracle of the oil jar.  No way!  It is a celebration of God, the only God, who is the all powerful one and is King of kings and God of gods and the Lord of lords.  

But now.  This awesome celebration remembering what God did for Israel, is used by God Himself to teach His disciples 2000 years ago of His return.  Once again we will see another connection Jesus makes between the events of the Maccabean revolt, the remembrance of Chanukah, and His return.  

Here's a link that reviews the revolt of the Maccabees and the 1st celebration of the feast of Dedication or Chanukah חֲנֻכָּה - https://www.ancient.eu/article/827/the-maccabean-revolt/

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0

 

 

Chanukah: Return of the King Candle One

In this video we return again to the Mt. of Olives.  Jesus is answering His disciples.  They asked Him what would be the sign of His return and the end of the age.  Jesus answers and seems to use events of the revolt of the Maccabees as a "picture" to teach them about the times of His return.  We as Christians have no connection to Chanukah except it is in December like Christmas.  But it has nothing to do with Christmas and we now learn the "miracle of the oil" that supposedly explains the meaning of Chanukah, never happened.  It was only a story a rabbi made up in the 3rd century A.D. to try and come up with why Chanukah lasts for 8 days.  If you haven't listened to the 1st video, I strongly urge you to watch the video, "Chanukah: Return of the King - Introduction."  

So, let us jump in again.  Let us return to the Mt. of Olives.  Let's study the events of the revolt or the Maccabees and see how Jesus continues to use those days and times to teach His disciples and, therefore, teach us as we reconnect to those days 2000 years ago and hear Jesus they way they did THEN so we can enhance our understanding of the return of the King NOW.

Here are some links that may enhance your study ...

1 Maccabees - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1maccabees/0

2 Maccabees - https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2maccabees/1

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0

CHIASM OF THE LIGHT - GENESIS TO REVELATION

Chanukah: Return of the King - CHRISTMAS & CHANUKAH - NO ACCIDENT

It is the "season of light."  For religious Jewish people it is the feast of Chanukah (Hanukkah is the modern way of spelling the feast) and is a celebration of light - the lights of the Chanukah Menorah.  For Christians who celebrate Christmas it is the time to remember the coming of the "light of world" in Jesus.  It is interesting that Chanukah and Christmas are connected in that they represent a celebration of the light.  But, that is about the only connection they have.  Simply put, Chanukah and Christmas have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other.  There as different as ice cream and apple pie.  I am always amazed at those Christians who say we need to celebrate Chanukah just like the Jewish people.  That's like asking Muslims in India to celebrate July 4th Independence Day of the USA. Why would they?  It makes no sense.  

Jesus however, does something to Chanukah that is very surprising.  He uses it and the history of the start of Chanukah as a way to teach His disciples 2000 years ago.  He uses it to teach of His return as King and Lord.  He uses the events of the revolt of the Maccabees, the July 4th of the Jewish people around 164 B.C., to help His disciples learn about what it might be like before He returns.  This is the focus on this vidcast series.  I do hope the video series is a blessing and it adds to your celebration of this season of the LIGHT.  For myself, I actually add the celebration of Chanukah to this time.  Why?  Not for the awesome things God did for His people then but for how Jesus teaches me today about the Return of the King.

In the video I talked about some links I would provide.  See them below.  These are scholarly Jewish resources that teach us that there never was the miracle of the oil at Chanukah.  It isn't me teaching this but non-Christian Jewish scholars.   So, if there is no miracle of the oil then what is Chanukah all about?  You will learn it as part of this vidcast series.

Link 1 to "My Jewish Learning" - https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/transforming-hanukkah/

Link 2 to Torah.com - https://www.thetorah.com/article/uncovering-the-truth-about-chanukah

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0

Truth Nugget 18 - The Chiasm of the Light

There is so much of Christmas that can hide the real significance of this season. It is not a HOLIDAY but it is a HOLY DAY. I wonder if הַשָּׂטָן Ha Satan - the adversary or the devil - is the one who did this and thus leading so many away from the chance of knowing the Savior. We almost need to take Christ and take Him OUT of Christmas and restore that which we lost. This video suggests the awesomeness of this event, the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. This video gives a picture of the Light of Messiah that came as John writes of it in John 1:9. It presents a picture that the birth of Jesus takes us from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. This picture shows us this time of remembrance is a HOLY day and not a holiday. Let's study the Chiasm of the Light.

I mentioned in the video that I would provide scholarly links to study the events and the archaeology of Jesus’ birth from the Associates for Biblical Research. These are a must if you want to come to grips with the reality of His birth and to expand your understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Link 1 to an article by Dr. Ken Bailey entitled, “The Manger and the Inn.” - https://biblearchaeology.org/new-testament-era-list/2803-the-manger-and-the-inn?highlight=WyJtYW5nZXIiLCJtYW5nZXInIl0=

Link 2 to a video by Gary Byers entitled, “Away in a Manger but Not a Barn.” - Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YveeRv50lmg

Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRG6jIVGoY Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I-YhXcx0qU

Link 3 to an article by Gordon Melish, “There Wasn’t an Inn.” - https://biblearchaeology.org/research/devotionals/3643-there-wasnt-any-inn?highlight=WyJtYW5nZXIiLCJtYW5nZXInIl0=

Link 4 - Joel Kramer's video on the archaeology of Bethlehem - https://sourceflix.com/our-video/born-in-bethlehem/

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy? What's his background? Why should I listen to him? Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0

Truth Nuggets - 8 - He Was Laid in A Manger

TRUTH NUGGETS #8

Mary gave birth to her son, Jesus, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and He was laid in a manger.  This is so familiar to any and all Christians from and early age and throughout our lives.  It is part of the “Christmas” story so much a part of our lives every year. 

But, is there more that we can’t see?  Is the manger and Jesus in the manger, does this relate to something more; something so common to our Christian experience? 

This vidcast from Light of Menorah takes us back to ancient Israel to understand what a manger is and what it is used for.  It takes us to Bethlehem to locate where mangers are found.  This video takes us back 3400 years to ancient Egypt and the words of Adonai given to Moses in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible just before they left Egypt.  And as we study the archaeology in Jesus’ day and the Torah, as we remember that Jesus said all scripture testifies of Him - He said this 2000 years ago when all they had was the Hebrew scriptures (a.k.a. the Old Testament) – this along with the picture of Jesus just born and lying in a manger explodes with meaning.  We missed it since the “church” has been disconnected from its Jewish roots for hundreds and hundreds of years.  

Are you ready for this?  Let’s go.

I mentioned in the video that I would provide scholarly links to study the events and the archaeology of Jesus’ birth from the Associates for Biblical Research.  These are a must if you want to come to grips with the reality of His birth and to expand your understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Link 1 to an article by Dr. Ken Bailey entitled, “The Manger and the Inn.”  -  https://biblearchaeology.org/new-testament-era-list/2803-the-manger-and-the-inn?highlight=WyJtYW5nZXIiLCJtYW5nZXInIl0=

Link 2 to a video by Gary Byers entitled, “Away in a Manger but Not a Barn.” -

Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YveeRv50lmg

Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRG6jIVGoY

Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I-YhXcx0qU

Link 3 to an article by Gordon Melish, “There Wasn’t an Inn.” - https://biblearchaeology.org/research/devotionals/3643-there-wasnt-any-inn?highlight=WyJtYW5nZXIiLCJtYW5nZXInIl0=

Link 4 - Joel Kramer's video on the archaeology of Bethlehem - https://sourceflix.com/our-video/born-in-bethlehem/

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0

CHANUKAH - RETURN OF THE KING

Genesis 25 - Gen. 12:1-3 - ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH WILL BE BLESSED (GRAFTED IN??)

Get ready for one explosive lesson.  It all focuses on Gen. 12:1-3 ...

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (NASB Gen 12:1-3)

If there is one place in the TORAH, if there is one instance in the Old Testament where God proclaims "good news" for all of us, it is right here. I normally do not rely on Orthodox Rabbinic commentary to help me understand the Bible. Too many times rabbis interpret the Bible in ways that are not based on the historical or cultural context or make up explanations that they need to deal with a scriptural difficulties or issues too tough to answer rationally.  It is like the miracle of the oil at Chanukah.  It never happened.  I am not stating my opinion.  I am just telling you what scholarly Jewish sources teach.  We Christians fall into the trap of assuming the Orthodox rabbis are THE resource for understanding the Bible from a Jewish point of view.  Far from it.  For example the Orthodox say the 1st temple was destroyed in 423 B.C. based upon their personal interpretation of some verses in Daniel. However, they are wrong.  Archaeology and history prove the temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.  So, we need to be very very careful when accessing Orthodox Rabbinic Bible commentary. Here's a link to one of those sources to help you understand that the miracle of the oil never happened on Hanukkah. 

Link - https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/transforming-hanukkah/

However, Rabbinic commentary is not always so off; that is not always the case.  I do access rabbinic commentary, not as my primary source, but I need to glean from their ideas and thoughts.  In the case of Genesis 12:1-3 their commentary blew me away as I think it will you.  Their contributions to understanding these three verses are truly amazing and show us that the foundation of the New Testament is the TORAH.  Here we will see, thanks to the rabbis, the gospel of the Kingdom, their view that this is a new start for all mankind, and that the Hebrew of these verses gave Paul insights into his picture of us Gentiles being "grafted in." 

We recall the verse ... 

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree ... (Rom 11:17)

Here's a picture of branches grafted into an olive tree ...

Here's an article you may find interesting that goes into the Hebrew of these verses that relate to the Gospel, the Good News, that God inspired Moses to write about.

Link – https://moedtorah.blogspot.com/2012/10/torah-portion-lech-lecha-blessed-and.html

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8qth6w4e56oub9js1w1gu/BackgrndTeacher-mar-25-2020.pdf?rlkey=f14fr2wmde5fezjmnrny8cycl&st=8kag3nil&dl=0

Exodus 3 - part 2 - Ex. 2:1-10 I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR

In part 2 of lesson 3 we will deal with a very important topic.  Today there are well meaning pseudo scholars teaching Bible lessons on the radio, podcasts, videos on You Tube, etc. and are 1) incorrectly giving meaning to words or verses since they ignore the Hebrew textual context and the Hebrew conceptual meaning of words, and 2) using improper means to force the Bible to say something it does not say so as to agree with the point they are making, and 3) thus resulting in misleading literally thousands of normal everyday believers around the world. 

In lesson 1 we talked about an issue highlighted in the verses below from the King James Version …

Make thee an ark (Borrowed from the ancient Egyptian - H8392 têvâh תֵּבָה) of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. (Gen 6:14)

And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark (H8392 têvâh תֵּבָה) of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. (Exo 2:3)

And they shall make an ark (H727 ârôn אָרֹן ) of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.  (Exo 25:10)

We can obviously see in the verses above the two distinct words in the King James in Hebrew that are translated as ARK.  In the first two verses the word ark us used for the ark Noah built and the “basket” or ark Moses was put in by his mother to keep him alive.  Moreover the Hebrew word TEVAH is an Egyptian word brought into the Hebrew.  Like the name Moses.  His name is not Hebrew but Egyptian.  The 3^rd verse is the ark of the covenant. 

Clearly we have two separate words in Hebrew with two distinct conceptual meanings and in the textual context are not related to each other.  And yet there are well meaning Bible teachers who do not have the expertise to work in the Hebrew textual context and not the English textual context.  If they ignore the Hebrew textual context and teach the three arks are related; their lesson might prove to be cool and interesting but a lesson promoting misinterpretation and error. 

In this lesson we will show how a current so called Pre-Trib Rapture scholar ignores the Hebrew textual context and stays in the English ignoring the conceptual meaning of the Hebrew and how it is used in other verses, and to teach that Enoch was RAPTURED.  This teacher goes on to say that even Elijah was raptured.  This probably is a way this teacher wants to show that the Pre-Trip rapture is something even in the Torah and the Prophets. His point is that the Pre-Trib rapture was not something made up by a Scottish charismatic pastor in the late 19th century.  So, he must force the Bible to support his point.  The problem is this “well meaning” teacher is mistakenly leading us into error and does not even know they are misleading many into believing what the Bible does not say.   The issue is not the Pre-Trib rapture, but how this well known so called scholar misuses the Hebrew to force the Bible to say something is does not to support his view of the veracity of the rapture. 

Also, in this lesson we will put the Torah into its historical context in the 15^th century B.C. We will see how those Hebrews coming out of Egypt were hearing explosive ideas as per their culture from God Himself through the pen of Moses.  We will see that the Bible is an ancient source for true Women’s Liberation.  In our culture today there are those women, who may even be Christian, who criticize the word of God as being anti-women or misogynistic.  Once again this shows the major lack in how the church teaches the Bible; the church ignores the historical context of the Bible.  If the church had people properly trained in seminaries and Bible institutions, we’d have a proper understanding that the Bible was written to the Hebrews 3400 years ago and was way ahead of its time then. It is as if the Bible, God’s Torah, was the first document that promoted Women’s Liberation in a Godly sense.  In chapter 1 and 2 of Exodus the theme song for the key characters in these two chapters is the song sung by Helen Reddy, “I Am Woman.” Yes!!  Shiphra, Puah, Yocheved, Miriam, and Pharaoh's daughter - they stand as those made in the image of God and not in the shadow of men and God shows that woman is one the same level as men.  If you recall, man was made out of mud.  But, in the Hebrew, woman was built and constructed almost as if there was a special design.  As soon as SHE was created God looked and finally said that it was VERY GOOD and stopped creating.  Way to go girls!!

Rev. Ferret - who is this guy?  What's his background?  Why should I listen to him?  Check his background at this link - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0