The headline reported a miracle in the city of Jerusalem in the Jewish Temple, but let me hasten to say that headline is not for today, but on this same date on the Jewish calendar, Kislev 25, some 2169 years ago.
The day when on the third anniversary of the desecration of the Jewish temple by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC on Kislev 25, three years later the Jewish people celebrated the reconsecration of that Temple. As the Jewish warriors entered the Temple after defeating Antiochus Epiphanes, they found a flask of oil, enough to relight the seven branch candelabra or the Menorah for only one day, but according to Jewish tradition it stayed lit for eight days and thus the Jewish holy day of Chanukkah.
Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News
There is a prophetic significance to the Jewish holy days of Chanukkah according to the prophecies in the Bible concerning the desecration of the Jewish Temple. The miracle of Chanukkah and the observance of the eight day Jewish holy days is the record of God raising up the Jewish warriors, the Maccabees, to defeat Antiochus Epiphanes and then the reconsecration of the Temple on Kislev 25, 165 BC, exactly three years to the day after the Temple was desecrated.
These feast days are also referred to as the Feasts of Dedication and the Feasts of Lights. An interesting fact about Chanukkah and its date Kislev 25, the Jewish month of Kislev corresponding to the Christian calendar month of December which is the date that was chosen by an early church council for the birthdate for Jesus Christ, December 25, Christmas Day. Daniel, the ancient Jewish prophet in his prophecy, Daniel 11:30-32, foretold the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes and referred to it as the abomination of desolation, a prophecy given 360 years before the fact.
The events at the Temple in 168 BC on Kislev 25, the Temple's destruction, is a prototype or a prophecy of that to come during the coming seven year Tribulation Period when the Antichrist will enter the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as god desecrating the Temple, the abomination of desolation, Second Thessalonians 2:4.
As Jews celebrate Chanukkah, a celebration of victory in the past, all of us must stop to remember the future events at the Temple according to Bible prophecy, which by the way will indeed be fulfilled.
