All right, good evening. It's great to be back with you again this week as we're going to be discussing once again Hanukkah and its relevance for us as Christians and its relevance for our time. You remember me saying last week, Hanukkah is a subject for today. It's a subject for this time because Hanukkah means in Hebrew, dedication. And the message of Hanukkah is, are you one of the dedicated? And we'll be thinking about that this evening, thinking about Hanukkah, light in the darkness. Last week we surveyed the two main passages in the Old Testament that predict for us, by inspired prophecy, the details behind the institution of Hanukkah. And those are Daniel chapter 8 and Daniel chapter 11. We were just surveying those verses without the ability to go into exhaustive study of each line, but I encourage you to go home, and maybe you still need to do this, especially if you're a student. but you'll get home after the semester's over and you can maybe take some time with your study Bible, with a commentary, with a Bible encyclopedia, and go line by line through Daniel chapter 11, Daniel chapter 8, beginning in verse 9, as Daniel is talking about one of the offshoots of the great kingdom of Alexander the Great, as it's divided after his death, That is the little horn the king of the north the Seleucid or Syrian Greek King Antiochus Antiochus the fourth he comes to power in 175 BC and Begins to oppress the people of Israel and you can look at these verses as Daniel is giving a vision that's interpreted then in chapter 8 by Gabriel the first time by the way in all of scripture that a angel is named and And then likewise in chapter 11 where we'll resume tonight as we officially begin here once the slides are up. And that is in Daniel chapter 11, really verses 21 through 35. And you may remember that Daniel here in describing these events behind the institution of Hanukkah, he is so precise. There we go. We'll pick up right there. Thank you guys. And we'll pick up right there where we left off. But let me just finish my summary here and say Daniel is so precise. describing these events. It's so complete, it's so accurate, that of course liberal critical scholars say Daniel couldn't have possibly written these things. It has to be a pious forgery or a fraud of the second century BC or later. Well of course that raises all kinds of other problems. It proves far too much, we believe, the inspired testimony, the book of Daniel, that he is writing by inspiration of of God and by predictive prophecy giving us these details several centuries before they occur. So that's in Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 and we'll pick up in Daniel 11 around verse 31 here in just a moment and resume there. And we'll have to go quickly through Daniel again tonight because we're going to go all the way tonight to the end of the subject of Hanukkah. Let me remind you of some overarching themes that Daniel presents as he's prophesying of these events that will occur in the 160s BC, in the 2nd century BC, before Christ, in that time we call the intertestamental period or the 400 silent years, a time of which we sadly, as Christians, often know almost nothing, and yet it is so vitally important. And notice the theme that Daniel presents as he describes this. Over and over again he emphasizes, as in chapter 8 verse 19, he talks about the fact that at the appointed time the end shall be. And verse 23 of chapter 8, it's in the latter time of their kingdom when the transgressors have reached their fullness. We talked about that last week. God has this whole situation under control. He's going to break Antiochus, this great oppressor of the Jewish people, without human hands. Chapter 8, verse 25. He has the exact number of days set in place, and he is in complete control over all these sordid affairs. He has it all under his sovereign superintendence. What is he doing during these 400 silent years? Well, our text tonight that we're gonna look at here, first of all, Daniel 11, verse 35, it ends again with these words. It's for the appointed time. He's working all things after the counsel of his will. He's working all things for the good of those who love him. He is working all things to bring history to that exact point where he will send forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, as we've sung about tonight, redeem those who are under the law to be our Savior. He's bringing history to that specific place in Luke 3 15 where all people will be in expectation as the 70 weeks of Daniel, chronology, prophecy of Daniel 9 is fulfilled and Christ comes into the world at that exact moment. God is working that way in history. He is working that way in history in our time As we are seeing God setting the stage, I believe, in our day for the second coming of Christ and the future fulfillment of prophetic events. He was working that way in the intertestamental period as the stage was being set for the first coming of Christ. Now with that reminder and introduction, I'll go real quickly tonight through our opening slides here, and we'll get right back into the text in Daniel 11-31. We are Paul and Lynette Scharff, privileged to be back with you and so honored to be with Rock Lake Baptist Church once again. And my wife Lynette is here tonight. And we have the great privilege of representing the great and historic ministry of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. You can find all kinds of information about that at foi.org Find out about our history find out about our ministries all over the world I gave a little update of that last week and for sake of time I won't say a whole lot tonight, but we do have a just a little bit of Information resources out on the table in the foyer if we run out. We'll get you more And we especially have a sign-up sheet there where you can sign up and receive a full year free subscription To Israel my glory magazine which has gone on all over the world turns 80 years old this month and we praise the Lord for the outreach through the magazine and all kinds of other avenues and again you can find those in at foi.org. You can also find my resources online. Let me say I have the great privilege last weekend and this coming weekend both to be on the Prophecy Today radio program talking about Hanukkah with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung Jr. I enjoy that a lot when I get that chance and you can hear last weekend's program on my sermon audio page which I'll show in just a moment. You'll also find there a article I wrote last year at this time called the Hanukkah Hangup. Why do we not know more about Hanukkah than we do? We certainly need to know much more about these important events, as I've already tried to make a case for that this evening. You can find some of the details of Hanukkah written up there if you're having any trouble keeping track of them or if you want to go deeper into even some things we won't get into in this message tonight. The Hanukkah Hangup, those things, those resources are all there on my sermon audio page. for you. I invite you to find all of them. I have a brand new article for this week, a new series for Advent on some little-known prophecies of Christmas. I invite you to read that and sign up again on the sign-up sheet and you'll, if you provide your email and your consent, you'll be on our email list and we'd really like to have you there as well. That's also the same list that will get you the magazine subscription. Alright, so with those things being said, let's jump fully back into our subject now. Hanukkah this year is from December 18th to the 26th, so there's still plenty of time to think about Hanukkah. Plan, prepare, think about reaching out to a Jewish friend. Could spend the whole hour talking about that concept. But I hope that you'll give that some meditation. As I started to say before, too, let me finish the thought. Go home and search the scriptures. See if these things are so. Look through Daniel 8, Daniel 11, line by line. See how complete its prophecy is. And think of how you might share what you're learning about Hanukkah. and to say Happy Hanukkah to a Jewish friend with whom you could perhaps build a relationship. Hanukkah is the festival of lights. It's the feast of dedication. As I said, Hanukkah means dedication. We're already looking at Hanukkah in the Old Testament. We remember the kingdoms that God prophesied that will rule the world during the time that Jerusalem is trampled down by the Gentiles, as Jesus said in Luke 21. The rule of man on the earth. We talked about that a little bit last week. Fundamental foundational to everything we're considering here. Here are the references again to Hanukkah and Daniel one Potential reference in Zechariah Some conservatives believe that's an end time prophecy. It really doesn't add any information. It's not as clear as Daniel and But that's a potential reference to what happened at Hanukkah. Well, what did happen at Hanukkah? Well, that's what we're going to Consider next but we didn't quite finish the thought last week from Daniel 11 So let's go back there as I said verse 31 verse 30 Antiochus the fourth Antiochus Epiphanes who used the name Theos Epiphanes God manifest in the flesh he put that on Jewish coins and And if you remember, he's trying to obliterate Jewish culture and bring everyone under Greek Hellenistic culture as a means of subjugating them to his kingdom. And he's basically an insane tyrant. He believes himself to be an incarnation of the god Zeus, hangs a portrait of Zeus in the temple and sacrifices a pig on the altar in December 167 BC. Well, we're not quite there yet, but he had already halted sacrifice back in 170. BC he's not the only one though with designs on being the next world ruler like Alexander had been We've got Rome coming on the horizon, and they send the ships verse 30 that stop Antiochus in his tracks as he goes down to the king of the south Egypt for the third time trying to Overwhelm the king of the south and finish off the victory of over Egypt. He doesn't get that accomplished and so he turns all his rage into against Israel as he comes back north. And we talked last week about he killed the tens of thousands of Jewish people, took other tens of thousands off into slavery, did all these horrendous, abominable things in the temple, halts circumcision, tries to make everyone Greek in every aspect of their culture, brings a gymnasium into Jerusalem, installs his own high priest, Menelaus, in the temple. He's doing all these things and he's showing regard, the end of verse 30 says, for those who forsake the Holy Covenant as he comes back to Jerusalem. Hanukkah is about dedication. Are you dedicated or compromised? Are you dedicated or indifferent? Are you dedicated or undecided? Just like Jesus said one day, you're either with me or what? Against me. Well, Antiochus says the same thing from the opposite perspective But he's really interested in those who are in the middle because he's gonna try and win them over by the way It helps to win them over who are in the middle when you're carting people off by the tens of thousands Take him off to their death, right? so that kind of makes a lot of people undecided or less than dedicated and He's gonna pick though try to pick those people off manipulate them persuade them those who forsake the Holy Covenant Verse 31, And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress. Then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, that's in 170, and place there the abomination of desolation, that's in December of 167. By the way, this is the worst thing that's ever happened in the history of the people of Judah to this point. Sadly, it's not the worst thing that'll ever happen there. That's still future and we'll see that later before we close But notice verse 32 now those who do wickedly against the Covenant. He shall corrupt with flattery Now but we're coming to something different here The people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits How many want to be one of those? The people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits, and those of the people who understand shall instruct many. All right, let's stop there and talk about the events behind Hanukkah in history. And if you have like a wry study Bible, excellent material in between Malachi and Matthew, that's so important to fill in our gap of knowledge that we're missing there. We talk about the Maccabees. These are the people who are strong and do great exploits. Who are the Maccabees? Well, notice what it says. When the emissaries of Antiochus arrived at the small town of Modin, 15 miles west of Jerusalem, and they asked this aged priest, Mattathias, to be a good example. And, you know, they certainly think he's going to make the wise choice and actually set a standard for the rest by going along and presenting a pagan sacrifice, offering a pig on this altar that he is pressed to do. Well, Mattathias refused. He surprised a few folks that day. He didn't only refuse, but when another man came forward to take his place, he killed that man, along with the Syrian officer who was trying to oversee this whole charade. And, you know, I'm sure that Antiochus, if he even heard about this incident right away, I'm sure that he and his emissaries were kind of, you know, kind of annoyed with it all, and surely had hoped Mattathias would have made, in their mind, a wiser choice for all of this. But you see, Mattathias, this little old priest, he had five sons. And the middle son, if you remember from last time, his name was Judas. Everybody's going to want a son after this named Judas. And so Mattathias, they fled to the highlands and waged, as you saw in the last slide, guerrilla warfare. They're going to start developing guerrilla tactics to come in and out and just catch the Syrians off guard. And again, at first, this is going to be kind of an annoyance or kind of an unexpected obstacle. But Viktor Bukshpazin, excellent book on the feasts of Israel, great early leader of the Friends of Israel, he said that Judah became known as the Maccabee, the hammer in Hebrew, because of his hammer-like blows that he dealt to the enemy. And so there's a lot of historical detail and a lot of interesting things. Tremendous things happen as the people of Judah, you know, fighting here. It's sort of a David versus Goliath scenario. And they fight in this guerrilla style. And they win, finally, significant battles. And they ultimately overtake Jerusalem. And in the process, Antiochus dies, basically an insane madman who's just destroyed by an internal immediate affliction that is sent. Even as it is prophesied in Daniel chapter 8, at the end of verse 25, he will be broken without human hands. And that story is told in the book of First Maccabees, which we don't believe is inspired, but it's in the Catholic Apocrypha. Of course, it's one of the few books in that Apocrypha that the First and Second Maccabees have a lot of helpful historical background. And we could take the whole rest of the evening talking about those events and those incidents that lead up, but we're going to jump to the conclusion here. Oh, there it is on the screen, Judas Maccabeus. goes in now with Antiochus' dad, December 164, cleanses and reconstructs the temple. Now Bruce Scott, in his great book for the Friends of Israel, The Feasts of Israel, says they constructed a new temple lampstand, a new table of showbread, a new altar of incense, new curtains, new doors. They also tore down the old altar of burnt offering and replaced it with a new one fashioned of uncut stones. Now here's where the idea of Hanukkah, of the lampstand, the issue of the oil, the issue of the light comes in now. I'll say more about this. Let's just start by reading the quote. The oil was sufficient for only one night. But lo and behold, the little cruise lasted for eight days until a new supply of oil could be prepared and consecrated. In memory both of the wonderful redemption from the hands of the wicked enemy and the rededication of the temple, it was decreed that for eight days, eight candles should be lit in every Jewish household. So there is, therefore, a special Hanukkah menorah, Hanukkiah. I actually have two of them sitting up here. If you'd like to look at them afterward, I'd love to have you just come up and see them. These are a special menorah used at Hanukkah that have nine candlesticks total. Edersheim said in memory of the Sibs ordered the following year that the temple be illuminated for eight days on the anniversary of its dedication But the lights in honor of the feast were lit not only in the temple but in every home so every home would have a Hanukkiah and there you see a picture of one and Begin on the first night of Hanukkah by lighting one candle, using the center candle to light the others, and then you cumulatively light them all until all eight are showing. And the middle candle is the shamash, or the servant candle, that's used to light the others. Of course, it reminds us what Jesus said. He came not to be served, but to serve. The servant candle. Let's just think about that for a second here Well actually I'll insert my thought as we go. Let me go on with these slides first of all let's actually look back at Daniel 11 Verse 32 remember they were gonna be strong and carry out great exploits those are the Maccabees and those are the people who understand shall instruct many and Yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help, but many shall join them by intrigue or hypocrisy. And some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them, purify them, and make them white until the time of the end." Again, we have a reminder of the sovereign oversight of God here over this whole arrangement. It's still for the appointed time. But what's going to happen during the meantime? There's going to be others who come in by hypocrisy, who come in by intrigue. And again, even after the dedicated, the strong, have done these great exploits, the Maccabees have reclaimed the temple, have reclaimed the independence of the Jewish state, as Dr. McLean wrote here in The Greatness of the Kingdom. It's sort of like our 1776 moment times a hundred because they've saved the Jewish culture, language, religion, people. They've reclaimed temple worship. Okay. And he says they made one of the most desperate and heroic attempts in all recorded history to reestablish the independency of the Jewish state and failed in the end. How did they fail? Well, we've read it here in Daniel 11 in these verses. You say, whatever happened to these Maccabees? I mean, these guys are great. These guys are strong. These guys are godly. What could go wrong? Well, Dr. Whitcomb, the Maccabean Revolt, oh no, look at this. It quickly sank into carnality and cruelty. They lacked the supernatural presence of the Messiah or even a divinely commissioned prophet. even a divinely commissioned prophet to provide the direction and discipline apart from which even a Judean government could not long survive in Satan's world. You say, what in the world ever happened to these Maccabees? They are such incredible, intriguing people. Well, I'll tell you what happened to them. It's very important again that we understand this time period when we open our Bibles to Matthew chapter 1 and see Jesus coming on to the scene. Notice MacArthur's study Bible has excellent articles here in the middle of your Bible as well. It says the descendants of Mattathias founded the Hasmonean dynasty, a name derived from Hashmon, an ancestor of the Maccabees. Dr. Wickham, thus the Maccabean Revolt notices, spectacular in its early years, for dedication to the God of Israel, even unto death, even unto death, soon lost those essential qualities, and Israel fell into the hands of the Romans by 65 BC. You see, God had a plan. He revealed it through Daniel all along, didn't he? Rome's gonna follow Greece. The times of the Gentiles will continue until they're fulfilled, until Jesus, we know, returns in his second coming. And the Hasmonean dynasty ended in 63 BC. The land is back under Roman control. Remember, in a passage we'll refer to here in a moment, in John chapter 8, the people were arguing with Jesus. They said, we've never been in bondage to any man. I guess they forgot about Egypt and Assyria and Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. the time not quite the truth we said well what happened to these Maccabees I mean these guys were so wonderful where did they go Oh continuing unrest led the Romans to make Herod the great king of Judea in Idumean a Jewish proselyte his name when Jesus is born is what king of the Jews ruling from 37 to 4 And while he is doing his thing there over Jerusalem, we have another group coming forth. They came from the Maccabees. We're going to see them in Jesus' time as the Roman world is in full bloom by Jesus' day. But Greek influence continues because these kingdoms, their dominion continues on after one is Extinguishes its dominion continues as we saw last week in Daniel 7 revelation 13 Well the Maccabees, oh they have Spiritual descendants, they're called the Pharisees The Pharisees are the Maccabees The Pharisees are the spiritual descendants of the pious Jews who had fought the Hellenizers in the days of the Maccabees So you open your Bible to Matthew and see Jesus come to earth, and you encounter this group called the Pharisees. And the Pharisees come from, ultimately, the Maccabees. By the way, who are the Pharisees? Are they just people we don't like, that we can call them a Pharisee, or someone we think has too many rules? No, we would actually love these guys. They were the conservatives. They were the small business class. They loved their country. They loved God. They were zealous for the law. They didn't want to break the law. They didn't even want to broach the fence around the law. And they loved Israel. And the best description I've ever heard of the Pharisees, they were like the Rotary Club on steroids. I don't know if we have any Rotarians here. The Rotary Club on steroids. I mean, we would love these guys, except They'd also accepted some heresy, because in Second Temple Judaism, you see, they began to lose sight of the idea that salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone. And they started to depend on their adherence to the law, even for their own salvation and for their sanctification. And that's why Jesus came and clashed with these Pharisees, a very important group, of course, in his time. Well, that's the story of Hanukkah. Let me add one footnote I've been alluding to. The idea of the oil lasting for eight days. One day's supply of oil lasting for eight days. I believe that's in the realm of legend or lore or myth or tradition. It probably did not happen. You say, why wouldn't it have happened? Well, because remember we saw Dr. Whitcomb's quote. There was no prophet of God. There's no promise in Scripture that there's going to be biblical sign miracles during this intertestamental period. And it seems very unlikely to me that that happened that way. It's been pointed out it probably wasn't necessary. The oil is so abundant in Israel, they probably didn't need that kind of a miracle. It's just kind of a nice story that explains it in a way that becomes a tradition, like we have some of those around Christmas. I mean, obvious ones about Santa Claus and his reindeer and so forth. I'm not talking about biblical truths. But there's no mention in biblical truth either about the idea of the oil being sustained for eight days. It's not even written in Maccabees. It's not written until later in the Talmud, the Jewish commentary on the scriptures, which includes, you know, other traditions. So I don't think that actually happened that way. I think it's a nice little story that it sort of illustrates what happened. It doesn't downplay the historicity of these events or their importance that we're talking about. Doesn't even downplay the importance of the light and that Hanukkah is the festival of light But I don't think that that actually occurred as a miracle well that being said Let's we've still got Some major issues to conclude this evening, and we're not going to again be able to go in complete depth or look at them in any comprehensive way, but let's first think about Hanukkah and the New Testament someone said I you know I don't know if we should be talking about Hanukkah I mean should we really be bringing Hanukkah into the church and we as Christians really say to our Jewish friends happy Hanukkah should we be thinking about these things at all well you might be surprised to know Jesus celebrated Hanukkah in John chapter 10 it was the feast of dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter John chapter 10 verses 22 through 39 and is Jesus Hanukkah sermon. And again, I'm going to commend you to take that and go. And again, for you students, probably after your finals and after you get home, and maybe you'll have an afternoon to sit by the fireplace again with your study Bible and look at this text and look at the notes and consider what I say and think about the importance of Hanukkah. Well, It was the feast of dedication and Jesus was in Solomon's porch in the temple which is important all the way through the book of Acts now We're not going to be able to go through line by line word by word through these things But I want to I do want to leave you with a very helpful. Hopefully broad picture of this and the third book that I've yet to mention from the friends of Israel on the feast the outpouring by Elwood McQuaid is It's all about the Gospel of John and the feasts in the Gospel of John. And he has a very powerful insight here that I think helps us understand the whole Gospel of John. He says, there can be little doubt that the original observance of Hanukkah was closely allied with the Feast of Tabernacles. Now the Feast of Tabernacles, Hanukkah, you remember, is obviously not a biblically ordained feast. It's not in the law. It's not in Leviticus 23. It's not anywhere other than in prophecy in the Old Testament. the events that bring it about are at the end of the Old Testament, you know, during the intertestamental period. Like Purim, which comes about because of events in the book of Esther, it's not prescribed or ordained for the Jewish people to celebrate, yet it's become, along with Passover, one of the two most popular Jewish celebrations that Jewish people relish all around the world today. But that being said, Hanukkah is not in Leviticus 23, the Feast of Tabernacles is, the seventh and final annual feast, which occurs in October. Hanukkah in November, December. But in the Jewish mind, these flow together much like our Thanksgiving and Christmas. So it's sort of one concept of this holiday season. And why is that important? Well, because in the Gospel of John, John chapter 7 and 8 are all about Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus is, chapter 7 verse 2, it was the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And that runs the whole context here through chapter 7 and 8. And when Jesus goes up to the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7, He, first of all, he talks about rivers of living water. That relates to a tradition that had come in by Jesus' day into the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, in which they would pour water to signify the blessing of God and their dedication to God. And you can read much more about this in any of these resources on the feasts. and on the Feast of Tabernacles. So that's, it's not a, that's not an ordinance that was part of the law that they were to do that with water, but it had come into the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus, when he talks about these things, he's hitting a nerve immediately when he talks about John 7, 37 through 39. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. So we've got to keep in mind he's just said that at the Feast of Tabernacles. He said other things there. He has said something that relates directly to the issue of the Feast of Tabernacles, where they would also use light at the temple and illuminate the temple. Again, a tradition that had developed in their celebration of tabernacles. And Jesus stands up against that and says, I am the light of the world. And now he's coming to the Festival of Lights, the Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, and this is still fresh on their minds. It's it's absolutely intersects with everything happening here at Hanukkah Jesus had talked about freedom at the end of John chapter 8 still at the Feast of Tabernacles Well, what is Hanukkah celebrate? It's all about freedom. It's their Independence Day and so all these things are on people's minds as Jesus comes now about a month or six weeks later to Hanukkah and And that's why when he, as soon as he begins talking, they're ready to pick up stones and stone him. Because they've remembered these things. And they're also, their minds are absolutely on guard. Their antennae are up at Hanukkah because they're celebrating independence from someone who claimed, falsely in that case, to be what? God in the flesh, God manifest. Jesus is claiming to be God manifest. The Jeremiah Study Bible has a very helpful note here. It says, the Feast of Dedication commemorates the reestablishment of temple worship, as we've seen. Here's the key. It was a time like Passover when nationalistic sentiments would be high. And again, they're very on guard against what Jesus has to say. And McQuaid said, on this occasion, though not relating to the symbolism of Old Covenant Feasts, in other words, it wasn't prescribed in the law, but he was interacting with Israel's historical past and prophetic destiny. And what message did Jesus give at Hanukkah? Well, his sort of pre-Hanukkah sermon is John 10, 1 through 21, and it's about being the good shepherd. the true and good shepherd. Why is he talking about being the true and good shepherd before Hanukkah? Because again, people thinking back to the days of Antiochus, this is another tradition that had developed in their celebration of Hanukkah by this time, they turned to Ezekiel 34. Much like we might have a Christmas service and we have a reading from Luke 2 during the service. Why? Does the Bible tell us we have to do that? No, it's a tradition. It's the place we turn for that's appropriate text for that. Well, the Jewish people turn to Ezekiel 34, which is all about true and false shepherds. And again, you can read that chapter on your own. Search the scriptures, see if these things are so. But Jesus had talked about being the true and good shepherd who feeds the sheep, not feeding himself. He gives abundant life, and he says to the people at Hanukkah how he will protect and no one can pluck his disciples out of his hand. Now one last, really the only point we'll have time to make here out of his Hanukkah sermon, and then we'll conclude. Jesus gives this Hanukkah sermon again, John 10, 22 through 39 twice in this passage as a result of all these factors. They're ready to kill him okay Isn't ironic the very descendants of the Maccabees and for this with some of the same motivations are ready to kill now their Messiah instead of recognizing he is the ultimate fulfillment of all these things that they should be honoring and And he says to them, he's using sort of an elaborate argument based on Psalm 82, beginning in verse 34. And his point is, Psalm 82 uses the Hebrew word elohim sometimes to refer to people. He says, if he called them gods to whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken. Now here's the real interesting relevant point for us we don't want to miss. Verse 36, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified? Remember Hanukkah is all about what? Dedication. He said, and he's using here the word sanctified, it's the word that 1st Maccabees 4.48 in the Greek uses to talk about the temple court being rededicated or consecrated. Jesus is saying in essence, you, people here are celebrating Hanukkah, he's saying in essence, I am Hanukkah. I am the one from whom the Father has dedicated and sent into the world. He's claiming to be the man of Hanukkah, the dedicated one, the greatest strong man who does exploits for God. And their response is they sought again to seize him and to kill him. Well, obviously, so much more that we could say about all this, and we need to close. And I've just given you an overview. I hope that it gives you a foundation that you can build on and learn more and go on and grow in your understanding of why Hanukkah is important to the, not just to the Jewish people, why it should be important to us as Christians, why it's fundamental to understanding so much of what is happening in Jesus' life and even beyond. in the New Testament and why I think we can say without any restriction in our conscience to a Jewish friend or anyone else, Happy Hanukkah. And then maybe we'll have an opportunity to explain what we mean by that. And I hope maybe you can do that this holiday season. We're going to close by thinking of Hanukkah and prophecy, which could again be an extended study. But we're just going to summarize it very briefly. Bruce Scott in his book on the feast talks about the fact that we as we've talked about Antiochus is a type of the coming Antichrist even though Antiochus is Greek the future Antichrist is Roman, but the influence of these kingdoms lives on, sort of like pulling out a telescope, and so both in the future there'll be a future King of the North who has aspects like Antiochus, but there'll also be the Roman Antichrist who has similarities to Antiochus. In fact, Antiochus and the Antichrist are so similar that some of our pre-trib interpreters disagree on which verses talk about the Antiochus, which talk about the Antichrist. And in Daniel 11, the end of the chapter is about the Antichrist and the King of the North. And so these things sort of blend together in the book of Daniel in such a way that they can be difficult to sort out. And we could talk about this chart for a long time, and we don't have that time, but The main point is to say again, sadly, and this need not be the case for any individual Jewish person or anyone else. No one needs to be here for this time that's pictured on the screen. The wonderful news, of course, is that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the man of Hanukkah. He is the light of the world. He is the one who can provide living water. He is the one who can be strong and do great exploits and be our Savior. And we can trust in Him by faith alone, be saved by grace alone, when we trust in what He has done, being our sacrifice for sin on the cross, dying in our place and rising again. We can have forgiveness of sin and eternal life. We know that not every Jewish person is going to accept that, though. We know that from Scripture. And as I said, sadly, there will be another abomination of desolation. as Daniel warned, as Jesus warned, and the type of Antiochus sadly will be fulfilled in the Antichrist. And the most horrible thing in the history of Judah and Israel has not happened yet. It's still going to happen. But praise God, there will also be another deliverance even at that future time. We're going to close with this quote from Dr. Buchsbassen in his book on the Gospel in the Feasts of Israel. And I love this quotation. He said that Christ, the Son of Righteousness, has dimmed the lights of Hanukkah. You know, we can talk about all these wonderful things the Maccabees did. We can We can talk about how the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah. We can talk about Jesus interacting with the Jewish people on Hanukkah. But we realize we're not just looking back at historical events, even at events in the life of Christ that are passed. which of course have powerful things to say to us in our life today, but we're also looking ahead. He says, we thank God for these small lights, these lights of Hanukkah during the darkness of the past night. Talking about what happened back in 164 BC. Praise God for the light of Hanukkah back then that saved the Jewish people. But notice what he said. We go on to live in the daylight from on high. Is a light that's coming that will put Hanukkah into the shadows forever. It'll put Mattathias and Judah Literally completely out of sight forever when that those events that John described in Revelation 21 seeing New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God and God making all things new and There will be that day when the Bible tells us verse 23 of Revelation 21 the city had no need of the Sun or of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it and the Lamb is its light and Nobody will be talking about Mattathias in Hanukkah when they see that What a wonderful day that will be But in the meantime, we remember and we share the message of what it means to know what really happened in the events that led to Hanukkah. I hope this study has been helpful to you. It's been a blessing to be with you. We hope to remain connected to you here at Rock Lake Baptist Church. Please pray for our ministry with the Friends of Israel and let us know how we can be of service to you. May God bless you. and thank you for this time together. Father, we pray that you will indeed help us at this season to reach out with the light of Christ, the light of the world, to reach out to those who claim to know Christ or know who he is or those who don't claim to know him, to reach out to Jewish friends, to reach out to all those around us and explain The meaning of Hanukkah, yes, but even more, the light of Jesus Christ to Jew first and also to Gentile, as Paul said in Romans 1.16. We thank you for this wonderful opportunity that you've given us in this wonderful season of the year. And we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.