"Hanukkah - Part 2"
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".
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Compare the Theologies
This is the Hebrew feast of signs and wonders. Look at the theology of Jesus compared to the theology of the modern church.
It began with the late John Wimber. He co-wrote a book with Kevin Springer called “Power Evangelism”, and had an influence on others including Nicky Gumbel of Holy Trinity Brompton. The premise was if unsaved people see signs and wonders, they would believe. These are power encounters between the demonic and the divine, and if they see the signs and wonders they’ll believe. Signs and wonders were the key to belief.
Well, without even dealing with the issue that so many of the signs are bogus and so many of the miracles cannot be medically authenticated, is it true? Do signs and wonders cause people to commit their lives to Christ? If were true, then why did Jesus say, “For which of these signs do you stone Me”? (Jn. 10:32) He made a blind person see and their reaction? They wanted to kill Him anyway. If signs and wonders are the key to belief, how do you explain Hanukkah in John 10? Remember, “these signs follow” (Mark 16:20).
The only thing Jesus had to do was put on a show for Herod and He wouldn’t have been crucified. All He had to do was the “Kenny/Benny” stuff: Put on a show. “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign” (Matthew 12:39). When you see people flock to see Kenny and Benny and this stuff, and going to Holy Trinity Brompton or to Kensington Temple, that is a wicked and adulterous generation seeking a sign.
I’m not a Cessasionist. I believe in all the gifts of the Spirit, I believe in miracles. The view that the gifts of the Spirit ended with the Apostles is a doctrinal error. God does miracles now. God does heal people now. There is the real and there is the counterfeit. Just because much of what we see today is bogus that does not mean there isn’t the real. I’ve seen the real. Having said that, I would rather see nothing than see a counterfeit. “These signs follow.” They were never the focus.
I always say Jesus never had a “miracle crusade”. He had miracles, but never a miracle crusade. Jesus never had a “healing crusade”. He had healings, but never a healing crusade. He had repentance crusades.
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Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.