I’m using the Gregorian calendar which uses the birth of Christ as that point but the year is about 167 BC and in Israel there were the natural enemy of the Greeks.

The Greeks controlled everything North of Israel and well for simplicity sake, and for relevance sake historically today, the Greeks controlled Lebanon and Syria but they had a problem with these pesky Jews in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel so they had to teach the Jews a lesson. So they sent warriors down to defeat the Jews particularly in Jerusalem and take over the Holy Temple to desecrate it. To show who’s in charge and then put the Jews in their place and the Greeks did that led by Antiochus who was a maniac basically the king of this Grecian Empire.

He went into the temple and destroyed everything. He he took pigs and slaughtered pigs on the altar, which is a Torah offense. He took a statue of Zeus the king of the the Greeks sitting on Mount Olympus put a statue of Zeus in the Holy Temple. You can’t desecrate the temple more than that.

Well because of the might of the Greek army he was able to pull this stuff off but for one family of Mattathias who had five sons and one of those sons was Judah and for a variety of reasons their name became known as the Maccabees, the hammer. Particularly Judah and this small family decided to fight back against the mighty Greek Empire but not in a head-to-head confrontation but more intelligently. A Guerilla Warfare, beeper Jew Warfare, outsmarting your enemy. And they launched Guerilla attacks and you can read the history they prevailed they pushed the Greeks out of Israel and one of the immediate tasks they initiated was the cleansing and the Consecration and the re-dedication of the temple. Those Hebrew words consecration dedication the Hebrew word is Hanukkah.

And we know the story we know that in order to work in the temple they had to light the candles for light they had one day of the special holy oil it’s all they had one day supply and they they lit a a candle to last for one day but it lasted for eight days days so this Supernatural Miracle of a little portion of oil lasting for eight days is the impression that we get from the holiday now called Hanukkah. But more importantly we need to look at this Maccabee family who saw that the the offense the violation of Torah was beyond their willingness to stand for they had to fight against it and they did. History shows that four of the Maccabee brothers plus Mattathias the father all were killed in defending Israel. The one brother Simeon lived and and became a ruler of Judea but the point is these Torah believing men stood firmly on the truth on the importance of  the temple and gave their lives for it.

Now jump forward for 200 years and we have a Jew, a Torah believing Jew, it’s all he knew he didn’t know anything about the New Testament. His name is Jesus. He was a Jew he wasn’t a Christian there was no such thing as a Christian then. He traveled to Jerusalem to go to the Passover feast when he got there he saw, as the Maccabees saw, the desecration of his father’s house with the money changers and the the evil people abusing poor people with the exchange for the animals that needed to be purchased for sacrifice.

And he saw the House of Prayer he saw the temple God’s holy place being desecrated similarly, as the Maccabees did. And what did Jesus do? Jesus preached a message of love and peace he was not what many people thought a messiah would be like a political or military leader his message was look we’re alienated from God by sin. I’m here to provide a bridge from individuals to God to complete the scriptures and that’s my message my kingdom is not of this world my kingdom is of the next world but when he saw the temple being desecrated he made a Scourge, a  whip, and he went in.

Jesus, the little peaceful Jesus went in the temple and whipped people in there and knocked tables over told them to get out of here you don’t desecrate the house of God like this and ultimately um Jesus died for what he believed was the truth of standing on the scriptures and I believe that too as a Christian.

So here we have two guys both of whom Torah believing Jews gave their lives for their beliefs and uniquely, rarely in history does this occur today December 25th, 2024.

On Christmas day the birth of Christ and Hanukah come together on the same day. Sundown today on the East Coast. I’m talking about the East Coast now of the United States the sun goes down Hanukkah begins and Christmas has another six hours or so and I see this symbolic.

All drawing back upon the Hanukkah Miracle not just of the oil but of the warriors willing to fight for that which is true and 200 years later Jesus willing to fight for that which is true peacefully but applying Force when necessary.

I think it’s a beautiful message for Jews and Christians to understand today on December 25th, 2024 where we can see the unity we’ve had a rough past Jews and Christians but the unity we’ve experienced over the past 20 to 30 years the support Christians have given for Israel in this battle an amazing.

Unification is occurring even though there’s significant disagreements over the Messiah and some other issues we have to recognized but we are brothers and sisters supporting the Judeo-Christian worldview looking to fight against stand against the attacks of Islamic Jihad and Marxist revolutionaries and other ideological and real life physical enemies so standing on this beautiful day of December 25th joining Hanukkah with Christmas let’s look at 2025 as a year of Judeo-Christianity.

Jews and Christians unified ideologically in in a a brotherly manner willing to take a stand and fight, to the death if necessary, but wanting to preach a message of love and consideration, forgiveness and reconciliation bringing those two Torah elements together creates a whole purpose and a whole person and when you understand the truth of the scriptures and stand on it confidently you cannot be stopped by the enemy whether it’s ideological or whether it’s physical so my admonition for for all of us let’s look at 2025 as a year of advancing the Judeo-Christian truth to all people but standing firm and fighting when necessary.

Thank you all. Have an absolutely wonderful Hanukkah Christmas.

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