Sid: Well this Friday evening begins the first night of Chanukah, or as Jesus referred to it in John 10:22 the Feast of Dedication. On Chanukah the devil had a bold move. He wanted to get rid of Jesus. See it occurred in the year 168 BC when a Syrian king by the name of King Antiochus Epiphanes, the word Epiphanes means God manifest in the flesh. Obviously a counterfeit of the real God manifesting in the flesh, Jesus who later on Chanukah, the Feast of Dedication, Jesus said He was God manifest in the flesh. His exact words are in John chapter 10 verse 30 “I and My Father are one,” and they understood what He was saying because in John chapter 10 verse 33 they said “You being a man make Yourself God?”
Well here’s what the devil was trying to do on the original Chanukah. He knew if he could stop anything Jewish, especially cutting out the scriptures, cutting out the Jewish scriptures, the Biblical festivals he could destroy the Jewish people. God commanded Jewish people to be circumcised and this Antiochus Epiphanes said “Jews cannot be circumcised.” God gave us the Torah, the scriptures, and Jewish people were forbidden to read the scriptures.
You see if the Jewish people could have assimilated, the devil could have proven God a liar. Why? Because the Jewish prophet Jeremiah says “As long as there’s a sun and moon and stars, there will be a physical Jew on the face of this earth.” Besides that the devil knows way back in Genesis that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.
So this has been his strategy to destroy Jewish people. So why, and this is a very important question to ask, why after Jesus came does the devil still try to destroy Jewish people? Well I can tell you the end… the best reason is Jesus said “I’m not going to return until the Jewish people says ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” You destroy the Jewish people, or you stop Jewish people from coming to know Jesus, that means that Jesus can’t return.
But I can tell you the major reason the devil is trying to destroy Jewish people. He knows the scriptures better than a lot of Christians. In the book of Amos the 9th chapter the 11th verse this is what the prophet says, “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen down and repair its damages. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild as in the days of old that they may possess the remnant of mankind, and all the Gentiles are called by My name.” Now here’s the thing that’s so exciting about this verse. First of all the word tabernacle can just as easily be translated “the house” or “the family” of David. Who’s the house of David that will be raised up in the latter days? Who’s the family of David that will be raised in the latter days? The Jewish people.
Now James at the Jerusalem council meeting quoted this scripture to prove something because Peter had said “Guess what? The Holy Spirit has fallen on the Gentiles just like it did on us Jewish people at Shavuot, at Pentecost.” Of course the apostles and the elders they couldn’t believe that the Gentiles could be saved and the Gentiles could have the same Holy Spirit, the Gentiles could also speak in unknown tongues and people would know what they were saying even though they didn’t know the words that they were saying. So there was great confusion at this Jerusalem council meeting.
The statement that Amos makes was quoted “When you see the family of David restored, the tabernacle of David, the house of David restored then the rest of the Gentiles will come in, and that’s what you just saw. First you saw the Spirit of God descend on us Jewish people, and right after we got restored, right after the tabernacle of David, right after the family of David, right after the house of David, right after the Jewish people got restored and obtained intimacy with God and literally got immersed with the Holy Spirit, the Gentiles then got immersed with the Holy Spirit.”
Do you see God’s pattern? God had a pattern He went to a Gentile by the name of Abram and said “I’ll make you the first Jew so that the whole world will believe in Me.” Jesus followed that same pattern. What did Jesus do? “I go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Why? Because when He would go to the Jew, and when the Jew is restored to God the rest of the Gentiles comes in because there is such an amazing outpouring of God’s Spirit.
Paul understood that also, Paul said in Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel is power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first.” Get it? God explained it to us, Jesus explained it to us, Paul explained it to us, Amos explained it to us, James explained it to us, “When you see the Spirit of God descend upon the Jewish people. When Jewish people become red hot for Jesus there’ll be an explosion among Gentiles but it’ll be better than that.” Paul explained even a deeper revelation in the 2nd chapter of Ephesians. He said “Jesus came to break down the middle wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles.”
When that’s broken down it’s not Jews and Gentiles, it’s not even Messianic Jews and Gentile Christians it’s One New Man. Who is His name? What is His name? Who is this One New Man? Is He a Jew? Is He a Gentile? Is He a Christian? Oi Vey! Who is He? He’s the King of the Jews. Jesus the Messiah the One New Man, the Champion, the 2 parts become greater than even the 2 individually by themselves. The devil is fighting as hard as he can to destroy the Jew to stop the great outpouring, the greatest outpouring in history on Gentiles. It’s about ready to happen. I tell you there’s a shift in the heavenlies right now and we’re becoming…
When I became a believer in the Messiah I became a believer in the Messiah 30 years ago when it was the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, what was known as the Charismatic Revival. God astounded the Christians of their day. They didn’t think that Catholics could have the same Holy Spirit that protestants have. So what did God do? He poured His Holy Spirit out on Catholics and the great Catholic Charismatic Renewal started.
Well God’s going to do something new and I tell you it’ll follow the same pattern that God’s always followed and the pattern will be to the Jew first which will cause… I mean this what Paul was talking about. Paul said in Romans the 11th chapter “It was a blessing the Jewish people rejected their Messiah.” Boy! Because when the Jewish people rejected their Messiah they went to the 4 corners of the earth, and when they went to the 4 corners of the earth they carried with them the blessings of Genesis 12:3. God said “I’ll bless who bless the Jewish people, I’ll curse those who curse them,” and those that bless the Jewish people it was a blessing were blessed by God and we went to the 4 corners of the earth. Well if it was a blessing in our unbelief that we rejected our Messiah how much greater blessing when we receive our Messiah. It’ll literally cause life to come to the dead 21st century American church but don’t look for it to be the same as it is because it’s so far removed from the Biblical pattern that if Jesus came He’d say the same phrase I said earlier. If He came to the average church of America He’d say “Oi vey! How did what I started turn out to be this…” but it’s going to be… I’ll tell you what it’s going to be, it’s going to be filled with the glory of God, I know that from the Bible. The Bible calls it the glorious church, and the word church isn’t a building, the word church is us! It’s flesh and blood filled with the Spirit of the living God, filled with Yeshua the King of the Jews worshipping God because the tabernacle of David, the family of David. I see it all over, I’m getting reports in the United States and Israel, throughout the world and Russia, Jews are starting to come to the Lord. Something new is going on, and this new thing is the restoration of the… Oh boy I could get really carried away on this.
This Friday night begins Chanukah it’s the Feast of Dedication, time to dedicate yourself to God.
