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Dear,
Greetings
to the Hebrew Nation Community! We are coming towards the end of
the Feast of Dedication, the Festival of Lights, remembering back to the
time when the Maccabees overthrew the Syrian/Greek occupiers of
Jerusalem. In the height of arrogance, Antiochus Epiphanes, (a
shadow picture of the coming anti-messiah), defiled the Holy Temple by
slaying a pig on the altar in the temple and setting up a statue of Zeus.
It was a time of great persecution against the Jews; more than 100,000
were slaughtered between 168-165 b.c.
Then a rag-tag group of Jews, known as the Maccabees, fought back and
reclaimed the Holy Temple. They rededicated and cleansed the
temple which had been defiled. Josephus tells the story that the one-day
supply of olive oil for the menorah miraculously lasted for 8 days. And
hence, the Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah, was born.
Rededicating the temple: rededicating our lives
Do you not know that you are a Temple (Dwelling place) of Elohim and
that the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you? If anyone destroys the
Temple of Elohim, Elohim shall destroy him. For the Temple of Elohim is
holy, which you are. 1Cor 3:16-17
So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens of the set-apart ones, and members of the household of Elohim,
having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Yeshuah Messiah Himself being chief cornerstone, in whom all the
building, being joined together, grows into a holy Temple in Yahweh, in
whom you also are bring built together into a dwelling of Elohim in the
Spirit.
Ephesians 2: 19-22
Our body is a house, a dwelling place, a temple for the spirit of Yahweh.
May we each take time to rededicate our bodies, our mind, our soul, our
whole being back to Yahweh. May we be a set-apart people, walking before
Him with clean hands and a pure heart. May we not become defiled in the
polluted waters of the world swirling all around us, but may we walk in
purity and in the fervent love of Messiah Yeshua.
The riches of the treasure of Yeshua is hidden in our bodily
"tent"; may His bright light, His joy, His love, and His peace
shine through us during this season of the year! May we walk in
simplicity, uncluttered, unfettered, and utterly focused on shining His
love and light out towards others.
In Yeshua's blessed name,
Amein and amein!
Laura Densmore
HN News editor
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