Revolution DC 2016! Dec. 8-11, 2016. Thrones of Glory! With Rick Ridings, James Nesbit, Martin Frankena, Abby Abildness, Jamie Fitt, more. Whole Word-the Gate, Oakton VA. More information at http://jonandjolene.com
HANUKKAH & THE GLORY REVOLUTION
Dear Glory Revolutionaries,
Today is Pearl Harbor Day, the 75th anniversary of our entry into World War II. As the Japanese had aligned with Hitler, we immediately became engaged in a devastating conflict on two fronts. Lamplighter Ministries honors the Greatest Generation, whose bravery and sacrifice across the globe preserved our freedom—in the face of the greatest evil perhaps ever seen on the planet.
Please don’t think we are past the threat of global conflict, as though humanity has somehow matured beyond the evil they had to confront. I don’t need to mention ISIS, Syria, North Korea or Iran. Many prophets, including Jolene, have been warned that World War III could be much closer than we realize if wrong decisions are made. We must pray for the enemy’s desire to initiate premature war to be IMMEDIATELY restrained!
Every generation is faced with the dire cost of protecting and perpetuating the freedoms entrusted to us by God. We in our time have a resolve to hold. And it’s in this spirit that we offer our posting today.
Hanukkah and the Glory Revolution
We host Revolution gatherings every year in December because of our deep commitment to the revolutionary holiday called Hanukkah. Lamplighter family, thank you for keeping watch over the Revolution conference these next few days!
Most of you know that Jolene and I were married on the first day of Hanukkah, and God supernaturally lit our unity candle in the midst of our ceremony. In front of everybody!
This became an amazing on-ramp to understand the Jewish holiday called Hannukah. We discovered that, long before America fought a revolution for freedom, spiritual revolutionaries in Israel rose up against all odds to take back their freedom—and most importantly their covenant with God.
We together have been doing the same.
So lets explore, and gain new understanding that fuels our resolve. Hanukkah has everything to do with Revolution. Just as Cindy Jacobs prophesied to us earlier this year, and affirmed to us in Boston on the anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride, God is releasing again a freedom movement, A GLORY REVOLUTION!
2016: Christmas and Hanukkah Converge
This year marks an historic convergence between Christmas and the first day of Hanukkah. Christmas always occurs around this Festival of Lights. And it celebrates the night some 2,000 years ago when Christmas and Hanukkah first converged. When Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, came into the earth to secure our freedom.
So deck the halls and light your lamps! And lets take a brief look at the extraordinary drama of that sacred night.
But here’s a warning. Our expectations must be realigned to better receive His greatest gift. Because from our birth, expectations have been forged deep into our hearts for each holiday season. Some are life-giving, such as celebrating God’s generosity and the warmth of family traditions. But as we all know, some expectations actually defile our lives and defraud our hearts.
So it’s actually important to disengage from many of the religious and cultural presumptions in order to receive the full measure of the blessing of the season.
A Brief History of Christmas
Lets start with Christmas. Biblical studies by Messianic Jews especially have produced some surprising conclusions. Jesus most likely wasn’t born on December 25, He was instead most likely birthed into the world sometime during the Feast of Tabernacles. Which means that the actual date of Christ’s birth has probably never converged with either Hanukkah or the date we traditionally celebrate as Christmas.
Did your candle just go out? I hope not! But before we get to some good news, here’s another challenging fact. Historically, Christmas seems to have come from a feeble attempt at “replacement theology” by the Emperor Constantine and his followers. Many indulged in a mass celebration of their goddess Mithra on December 25, and gave gifts to each other as part of the celebration. Constantine and his followers decided to keep the date, and replaced the celebration of Mithra’s birth with the celebration of Jesus’ birth.
In other words, the cultural traditions remained, the deities being honored were simply replaced—not disempowered. Replacement theology never works.
Because of the Pagan roots of many of our Christmas traditions, some believers refuse to celebrate the holiday altogether. At least on Christmas.
The Christmas Conception
But believe it or not, there is still cause for great celebration. We just have to shift or paradigms a bit, and align with biblical truth. Was Jesus born on Christmas Day? YES! Whatever date He was born instantly became Christmas Day, and it’s right to celebrate. It’s just that for 2000 years, we’ve been three months off in our celebration.
Or maybe not. Because if the Light of the World was born during Tabernacles, the timing of His birth indicates that He was conceived sometime over Hanukkah. Ponder this a moment. Jesus’ entry into the earth, celebrated every December, actually came at His conception. And for 2000 years, Christmas has been celebrated at the time of Jesus’ conception, not His birth!
More on this in a moment. But that’s quite a statement to the world.
The Hanukkah Turnaround and December 25
Hanukkah marked a revolutionary turnaround during the darkest days of Israel’s history. Lets take a moment to understand the context. Their land had been conquered, with great ruthlessness by Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek-Syrian general so evil and murderous many New Testament scholars consider him a prototype of the Antichrist.
So in the spirit and in the natural, Israel was suffering from a magnitude of evil that few can even imagine.
In an ultimate act of defiance, Antiochus Epiphanies seized the Temple. He turned it into a house of idolatrous worship to Zeus, a Grecian form of the Syrian principality Baal. He even sacrificed a pig on the altar—the ultimate act of hatred towards the God of Israel, desecration of His Temple, and delegitimization of Jewish culture.
Interestingly, historical records attribute the date of this horrific act as December 25. The date when the pig was sacrificed to the devil.
But God in His justice brought a turnaround. A small group of spiritual revolutionaries, led by Judah Maccabee, persevered against all odds and recaptured the Temple. They relit the menorah in the inner chambers to reconsecrate the Temple, to re-establish covenant with the Lord.
These revolutionaries only had enough oil to last them a day—but miraculously the flame burned for eight days straight, until they could get fresh oil to sustain the flame.
Jesus—Conceived During Hanukkah
More than a hundred years later, Israel still suffered from subjugation. But the fire of the menorah continued to shine. Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, became a symbol of the covenant freedom God had promised His people.
And it was during Hanukkah that Jesus, the Light of the World, was literally conceived. A supernatural flame came into the earth. The glory of God hovered over a handmaiden of the Lord named Miriam, or Mary. The power of the Most High overshadowed her. The Son of God Himself CAME INTO THE EARTH.
And by this sacred Flame, our covenantal relationship with the Most High would be restored. All humanity would be redeemed from hell’s defilement!
Did this miracle of conception actually occur on December 25? There’s no real way to know. But I believe it was very intentional that the King of the Jews was conceived over this time. With a revolutionary governance of love that completely and comprehensively displaces the antichrist governance still seeking to rule mankind.
On the very date where a few brave spiritual revolutionaries risked it all to light a covenant flame that would never be quenched. A Glory Revolution.
Your Window of Visitation
What does this mean for you? Because of God’s immediate promise to restore His glory in this hour, I believe this December, and even the convergence of Christmas and Hanukkah, marks unique a time where once again where the heavens are opening, and a covenant flame of glory is available for you to receive.
This Glory will birth God’s heart in your life, and restore revolutionary purpose to your life. You will never be the same.
Hanukkah commemorates what Jesus came to fulfill. The Most High is seeking to conceive a Glory Revolution in the earth! And He is calling you to a revolutionary devotion to Jesus that receives and births His covenant purposes.
You already know this is costly. But by this your flame will burn brightly, and a window will open for your world to be transformed.
Covenant blessings! And pray for a Glory Revolution this week!
Well said!