The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, is an eight day Jewish holy day period that marks the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem in 165BC after three years of desecration of the temple at the hands of the Grecian leader Antiochus Epiphanes, who slaughtered an unkosher animal, a pig, on the alter of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. It was the miracle of the temple menorah, the seven branched candelabra burning for eight days on enough virgin olive oil for one day that is what the Jewish people are celebrating during the eight days of Hanukkah.
Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News
The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah is a reminder of fulfilled prophecy as well as a prophetic scenario yet to be fulfilled.
As Jewish people worldwide celebrate the eight day feast of Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, they do so to remember the desecration of the Jewish temple by the Grecian mad man Antiochus Epiphanes in 168BC and then the reconsecration of that same temple three years later in 165BC. As these Jews light their candles, one for each of the eight days, they recall the abomination of desolation which the prophet Daniel foretold in his prophecy found in Daniel 11:20-35 and this was a prophecy given 360 years before the actual event.
This prophecy in Daniel has a double fulfillment in that there will be another time when the Jewish temple will be desecrated, another abomination of desolation as spoken of by Jesus Christ when he referred to in Daniel's prophecy in His Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24:15. In order for the prophecies of Jesus Christ and the ancient Jewish prophet Daniel to be fulfilled there must be a temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. All preparations have been made for the next temple to be built in Jerusalem. There are Jewish men who have been in a training program to serve as the priests of the temple. The implements for the operation of the temple are made waiting in storage to be used in the next temple. The Sanhedrin, 70 wise Jewish scholars, are in place now so that they can manage the operation of the temple. Even the priestly garments are actually hanging in the closets of many of the priests ready to be warn in their service in the temple.
The Jewish holy day of Hanukkah means that we look back to the past but also to the future. It indicates that indeed Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.
