"Hanukkah - Part 1"
How does the celebration of Hanukkah, a festival NOT found in the Old Testament, provide greater insight into biblical themes such as the Messiah? How is Hanukkah handled in the New Testament?
Go to "Hanukkah - Part 2".
Download or email Part 1 (~238k)
Download or email Part 2 (~222k)
The Defiling of the Temple
In the first chapter of 1 Maccabees it is reported that the temple gets defiled. The stones of the altar underwent something horrific: A swine was sacrificed on them by Antiochus. And he built a statue of Zeus, giving Zeus his own features. Now Zeus was a corruption of “Theos” in Greek. Almost the same spelling, Zeus was the corruption of “Theos” in Greek meaning “god.” But he gave it his features – a man trying to identify himself as the great god. It was Mt. Olympus as opposed to Mt. Zion.
The Maccabees liberated Jerusalem but they had a quandary: “What can we do with the stones of the temple? Well, we can’t throw them away because they’re ‘mei qodesh’, they’re sanctified, but we can no longer sacrifice on them because a pig was sacrificed on them.” So they disassembled the altar (and that’s called a “mizbeach”) into stones, and we’re told in the Mishnah that they were stockpiled outside in Solomon’s Portico. And they believed that at Hanukkah, at the time of dedication, that either the Messiah or possibly Elijah the prophet (Eliyahu ha-Navi) was going to come and tell them what to do with the stones. “When the Messiah comes, He will know what to do with them. We can’t throw them away.” So they built another altar.
Antiochus was empowered by spiritual seduction and by Hellenizing God’s people – that is, using the popular culture. Riding on the back of the popular culture was a compromised morality. So it got to the point that things would have been abhorrent to any observant Jew in God’s own house, and the reading of His Word was outlawed.
The New Testament calls the church “the temple” no fewer than seven times. There are different Greek words for temple: “naos”, “heikal ioudaios”, and “heiron.”
I do not deny that there are those afoot who want to rebuild a temple in Jerusalem. I’m not saying that won’t happen. I’m not saying an image won’t be set up in it. What I’ve always said is this: The physical reflects the spiritual. When Jesus died on the cross, the “velon”– the veil – was torn from the ceiling to the ground. An actual, literal, physical event happened in a literal, physical temple – a supernatural event happened. But that’s not what was most important; what was most important is what it meant. Sinful man was no longer separated from holy God; we now have access to the Father though the blood of the High Priest. If the temple is rebuilt – and I’m not saying that it won’t be – and an image is set up – I’m not saying that won’t happen – it will only be a reflection of Antichrist being worshiped in Christendom. And it will come about the way it’s coming about now – Hellenization: God’s people being swallowed up by popular culture. Just look at it.
This is Page 8 of 10
Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.