Feast of Dedication

November 29, 2015


Friends,

We are approaching another time of year to celebrate Yahweh’s (The Lord) Kingdom, The Feast of Dedication, December 6 – 14, 2015. I would like to share and explore with you some interesting facts that you may or may not be aware of. For me, each time I explore the Word and the history of events surrounding my faith, I gain insight, which for me is a blessing.

At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

— John 10:22-23

Did you ever wonder why Yeshua (Jesus) was participating in the Feast of Dedication? Why he was walking on the Temple Mount on that day?

The Feast of Dedication is not a moedim (an appointed time by Yahweh) like the Feast given to us in Leviticus 23, but it is a Remembrance Celebration. This celebration is a time to remember a group of men that stood up for Yahweh and claimed “No More”. Around 169-164 BCE before Yeshua came, there was a period of time that the world was very dark. The Word and Instructions of Yahweh had been suppressed and outlawed.

There were a small band of men that fought to reclaim The Land and The Temple. They were led by the Macabees, one father and five sons. When they won back Jerusalem they went up to Mount Zion and found the Sanctuary of the Temple desolated and the Alter profaned and defiled. They cleansed the sanctuary, removed the defiled stones and piled them up on the corner of the Temple Mound. …until there should be a prophet to show what should be done with them. – The 1st Book of the Maccabees 4:46. These stones were the stones that the men on the Temple Mount threatened to stone Yeshua with in John 10:24-30. The Prophet did come and he was the Messiah!

Once the Sanctuary had been cleansed and a new Alter was built a rededication of the Alter took place. This celebration took place over eight days. It was ordained by the Macabees and the whole congregation of Israel to keep the Celebration of Dedication, from year to year. That is why Yeshua was walking on the Temple Mount. Should we not want to walk as Yeshua and celebrate the events and occasions that he celebrated?

Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 reminds us that we are Yahweh’s sacred vessel. My prayer is that we all use this set apart time to examine our own hearts and use it to cleanse and purify our own temples. A time to rededicate our lives to Yahweh through his son Yeshua, the Messiah.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

— 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Blessings,
Helen