Although people of the world often show incomprehension to it and are reluctant to understand it, the Jews are set apart people.
Jewish people are the chosen ones to whom Hashem was revealed at first.
Hashem also gave the Jews precise rules and Commands they should obey to.
Assimilation is viewed as dangerous by many Jewish people, because it means disobedience to Hashem and death of the Jewish nation.
Over the centuries, Israel has been confronted with many invaders.
There have been violent attempts either to convert Jews by force or to plainly and simply annihilate them. The Shoah has, of course, been the most horrible example of murdering Jewish people, but pogroms have existed long before. Israel has overcome many battles that were merely about the survival of the whole community.
The courage of the Maccabee brothers against Hellenization
Although they are absent from the Tanach and most official Bibles ( with an exception for the Catholic Bible) because they are considered as exaggerated, the Books of the Maccabees are an interesting source of information about the historical background that opposed the Maccabees to the Seleucides during the 2nd Century. This exerpt of the Second Book of Maccabees (KJ version) will also allow you to understand how the Temple was being profaned and the tremendous persecution of Jewish, Torah-observant people.
King Antiochus Epiphanes' blasphemous actions went that far to sacrifice pigs to Syrian pagan gods. The Temple was profaned. Some Jews were happy to comply and adopted the pagan customs. The ones who resisted faced tremendous persecution.
Refusing to worship greek gods, Mattathias the Hasmonean ignites a war against the Seleucid Empire. Matthathias was a rural priest who served at the Temple of Jerusalem. His and his sons' zeal for Hashem allowed Jewish people to regain their independance.
For more details, please check the following resource.
A tyrant named Antiochus Ephinanes, Greek emperor of the Seleucides was determined to eradicate Judaism from the landscape by forcing Jews into Hellenization. People were forced to abandon specific customs such as circumcision, Shabbat-keeping and kosher food laws. If they persisted, they were killed in a very cruel and horrific way.
On a side note and very interestingly in our times while Unesco is making tremendous devilish moves to deny Jerusalem its Jewish history and roots, a bronze coin dating to the era of the Maccabees revolt resurfaced.
Assimilation proceeds from the spirit of the antechrist
If you have been taught that, when a Jewish person accepts Yeshua our Messiah, this person stops being Jewish, then you have been fooled into an erroneous teaching.
Also do not waste your time trying to justify it by bringing some elements of Pauline doctrine forward. Yeshua is the highest authority in spiritual matters. He's the Messiah, remember?
Yeshua our Messiah clearly stated:
" Do not think that I have come to revoke the Written Law ( Torah) or the Prophets. I have not come to revoke but to fulfill." Matthew 5:17
Our Lord insists that the one who cancels Hashem's Command and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
"So anyone who breaks one of the least of these Commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven."
Yeshua's words have AUTHORITY over anybody else's. Yeshua clearly pointed out " not even a kotz of a yod" would fall away from the Torah! What else do you want to be convinced of the validity of the Torah? Our Messiah is pro-Torah, please read my full study. on this precise topic.
Anybody attempting to rob a Jewish person from her Jewishness is committing a BIG sin in the eyes of Hashem. One main reason why our Messiah walked the earth is to show Isralites how to apply Torah correctly-with their hearts. Yeshua never intended to start a "new religion called Christianity". He always taught Torah.
Significance of Hannukah: the victory of light against darkness
The spirit of the antechrist in the Temple
The first Book of Maccabees reports about a " desolating sacrilege" on the altar of burnt offering on the fifteenth of kislev (December):
"Now on the fifteenth day of kislev, in the one hunded forty fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the alter of burnt offering." 1 Maccabees 1:54
The sad episodes of Temple profanation foreshadow the venue of the antechrist. A spirit of dirt and destruction is already there.
In our age, we are facing it in the form of the New World Order promoters who are pushing individuals for unity in a false, one world religion. We have to watch the current events on the political and religious scale very carefully.
One should always be rooted in Hashem and heed corporate religious assemblies. Assimilation is on its way and many will be trapped by people inducing wars, who, ironically will speak of peace.
The prayer Al haNissim recalls Hashem's powerful intervention during the time of the Maccabees. Hannukah is a time of rejoicing, thanksgiving and praise to Hashem.
The miracle of the oil at the Temple
After winning victory over the Seleucides, the Temple that had been profaned needed to be rededicated. In order to be able to do so, oil was needed for the menorah to burn throughout the night during eight days. In fact, the quantity left was only sufficient for one single day, yet Hashem allowed it to burn during 8 whole days.
This miracle reminds us that Hashem will grant us victory over our enemies, regardless of their number and evil intents.
"Not by force, not by might, but by my Spirit", says the Lord Almighty ( Zechariah 4:6)
Yeshua our Messiah honored the Feast of Hannukah
'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Maschiach, say it now so we can hear it with our own ears!"
" It was Chanukkah in Yerushalayim, and it was winter time. Yeshua was walking in the Temple in the Stoa ( Porch) of Schlomoh. The Yehudim ( here: Judeans in opposition to Galileans) surrounded Him and said to Him: 'How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Maschiach, say it now so we can hear it with our own ears!"
Yeshua answered them:
"Yes, I have told you, but you didn't believe me. The works that I do in the Name of my Father testify of me."
John 10:22-25 Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels
Hannukah is considered as a minor feast, yet it is still of significance for Jewish people.
The Gospel of John reports that Yeshua went to the Temple.
Interestingly, it is precisely during that episode that people are asking: " are you the Maschiach?".
Yeshua, by operating miracles in the Name of our Father, brought light into the world.
Hannukah carries a Messianic significance, because it celebrates the victory of Light against the forces of darkness.
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