Eight Days of Hanukkah

Hanukkah, or Chanukah as it is sometimes transliterated, falls between 16 – 23 December this year and thus is a beautiful prelude to Christmas. I hope you enjoy these reflections as we open our hearts to the Giver of all good gifts!

The world was created in seven days and, thus, in Hebraic thinking, the number 7 represents the completion of a cycle, and the natural world, which we can experience with our physical senses. The next number, 8, as well as indicating a new beginning, goes one beyond the limits of our senses and represents the transcendent. The unseen realm, which we are aware of and can be touched and stirred by, although we cannot physically touch it. This is the realm of the eternal, which can only be ‘seen’ with the eye of faith.

The eight days of Hanukkah are special days during which we are given the opportunity to "see the light" – both physically and spiritually. We are encouraged to look both within and beyond ourselves and to deepen our understanding that there is so much more to our existence than what the physical realm around us offers.

Each day as we light the separate little lights, and watch as their combined light grows in radiance and beauty, we are called to unite the transcendent with the worldly, the holy with the mundane, the spiritual with the physical.
"The Lord is good, and He has given us light …" (Psalm 118:27).

On every hanukkiah (nine-branched menorah) there is one candle that is distinguished from the others. It is often raised in the center, or somehow set apart from the other eight. This is called the shammash, the "helper" or "servant" candle. This one is lit first every night, and then its flame is used to light the others. It is a beautiful picture of our Messiah and Lord, Yeshua, Who divested Himself of His heavenly glory and became a "servant" of all. Quietly, yet with the radiance of a single candle flame, He became the promised, anointed bearer of light, in whom the Word of life and truth would spread to illuminate the darkness of the world.

Today, by His Spirit given freely to us, the Spirit of the One true living God, we can be transformed and reflect the image of God, in which we were created. As we become more and more like Him, His glory can shine all the more into the world bringing hope in the darkness, holiness to the mundane, and the eternal to the passing and the temporary.

It seems a daunting responsibility, on the one hand, to be the bearers of His glory, His light, but it is a challenge the people of God must face.
"When every holy symbol is fading out of sight,
The children of the morning must stand against the night."
(from Clay McLean’s CD, ‘Against the Night’)

The ideals of this present, polluted age lead to meaninglessness, passivity, and despair. Sin and death reign in the world, and produce a "bent-ness" as opposed to a standing and walking upright with God. The assurance we have, just as the Maccabees of old, is that we are not alone! We do not rely on our own might or power, but on the Spirit of God. Irenaeus, an early Church Father and theologian, wrote:
"The glory of God is the human being fully alive, and the life of the human consists in beholding God."

It is in seeing the glory of God, which shines in the face of Yeshua (2 Corinthians 3:18), and in the resulting fellowship with Him, that we grow into the fullness of being who the Father created us to be as His children. Thus, increasingly, we can reflect His image and glory in the world.
Leanne Payne, founder of Pastoral Care Ministries, captures these concepts beautifully:
"There is the Absolute – ultimate truth and reality. To know and be in fellowship with God is not only to know the Real, but it is to gain the capacity to bring our lives into alignment with it. Our lives then take on the characteristics of that which is beautiful, true, noble, and just … and we become Lights!"

This season of Hanukkah, and the birthing of Yeshua, the Light of the world, prompts us make the constant decision to turn aside to "see" the glory of God. In the Book of Exodus, Moses said to himself, "I will turn aside and I will see this incredible sight – why is this bush not being burned up?" When he did, God spoke to him from the midst of the burning bush.

Let us trust that, by His Spirit, we will be enabled to discern God’s presence, and see His glory in all things and even in the most mundane of places. And, in communion with Him, allow His glory to shine wherever He may take us. For His Name’s sake and the extension of His kingdom in the earth! Amen.