David & Josie Silver, Out of Zion Ministries, Mt Carmel, Israel
John 10:22-23 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Yeshua walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. (NKJ)
As the secular year rapidly approaches its end, Jewish people in Israel and around the world, are preparing to celebrate Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. This non-Levitical feastival commemorates the defeat of the Greco-Syrian dictator Anitochus Epiphanes 180 years before the birth of Yeshua. Antiochus was definately an anti-Christ and earned his place in the line of evil men who attempted to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. Antiochus banned circumsion and other Jewish practices. His ultimate affront was to sacrifice a pig on the altar of the Holy Temple. The Jews were frozen in fear of the tyrant and the great majority submitted to every ungodly command of Antiochus and his soldiers.
At the height of Greco-Syrian occupation a Jewish zealot, Judah Macabee and his brothers refused to bow down to the pagan occupiers and began a revolt that ended in the defeat and subsequent departure of their far stronger and better equipped oppressors. I am not too familiar with the details of the Jewish victory, but I am sure there were supernatural beings involved, and the hand of God must surely have been the primary reason behind the Jews regaining rule over their own nation. Just to leave His mark on the defeat if His enemies, the LORD performed an undeniable miracle when He supernaturally kept the Eternal Flame burning after the Temple had been cleansed and rededicated. There was only enough oil on hand for one day, but the flame burnt for the full 8 days that it took to produce a new stock of oil. Surely YHVH had His hand on the situation – the same hand that has been on the Jewish people since the time they became a people, continuing until this very day.
As we prepare to celebrate Chanukah 2007, the Annapolis Peace Summit is now behind us. The outcome will not really be known for some time. But the object of the calls for Israel to give away her legitimate hold on Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) including East Jerusalem is not very different from the object of Antiochus 2100 years ago – to abort the plans and purposes of God as spoken through the Hebrew prophets. The ultimate plan for the Jewish
people is to welcome back the Son of God with the words “BARUCH HA BAH B’SHEM ADONAI – Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”- to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. to sit upon the Throne of David in an undivided Jerusalem, capital of the Jewish state.
Israel and Judea and Samara are the heartlands of Israel. Almost every pro Israel commentator has described the calls for Israel to give away Judea and Samaria as a veiled attempt to bring about the end of the Jewish state , thus aborting the plans of God to re-establish Jis Kingdom on the Earth. The same outcome hoped for by Pharaoh, Haman, Antiochus, Herod, Hitler, Arafat and now Armedinejhad. We, the modern day people of God, need to learn a lesson from the Chanukah story. While the unbelievers bow down, consciously or sub-consciously, to the plans of the evil one, we need to be the modern day Macabees and resist the un-Biblical demands of the Annapolis summit.
We need to rise up in prayer and intercession to meet the threat against the Kingdom of God head on ! We also need to make our voices heard in our churches, in our government halls and in our news media.
As we partner with the LORD to defeat His enemies, we can look forward with renewed hope that at a Feast of Dedication not too far away we will see Yeshua walking the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel . Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.
Shabbat Shalom
David & Josie
