(read to the end of this article to discover how the two are actually related)
I think it is a common mindset among christians that their christ-mass and the hanukkah celebration of the physical Jews are fairly equal in legitimacy—one being for Gentiles, and the other being for Jews, but both being acceptable to the Creator.
But, are they actually ordained by the Father, or acceptable celebrations to Him?
Well, we know the christ-mass is wholly pagan, and something the Father detests outright, as it is a counterfeit of the actual ordained day on which Messiah was born in the Fall. But, what about hanukkah? Is it a valid celebration of Yah’s true people?
There are many within the Hebrew Roots cult who think that acting like they are physical Jews makes them righteous and acceptable before the Father, so it is common with them, and with christians who dabble a little in their false teachings, to celebrate hanukkah, or at least go around wishing folks a “happy” one.
Hanukkah, like christ-mass and easter/ishtar, is not an ordained holyday of Yah, but a man-made celebration that is based on what is false. It is also called the “feast of dedication,” or the “festival of lights.”
But, why is it false?
The true dedication of the temple is done at one time of the year—on the Feast of Tabernacles (in the Fall). The menorah in the temple is mandated by Yah to be gold. As the menorah foreshadows the Holy Spirit, it must be made of gold, which represents divinity. And, the menorah itself MUST be comprised of seven sticks, which is the number of perfection—again, representing the Holy Spirit.
The false “feast of dedication” of the temple was done in December, which immediately disqualified it as something of Yah. But, Antiochus had stolen the gold menorah from the temple, so the Jews crafted a false one out of iron, and made it with nine sticks, which, again, made it a counterfeit menorah. So, every nine-stick menorah you see is a counterfeit of the true menorah, and we know that Satan is the author of all spiritual counterfeits (see: christianity).
But, aren’t we told in John 10 that Messiah Yahoshua celebrated the feast of dedication? Like so many false teachings of both christianity and the Hebrew Roots cult, the context of the passage is completely ignored, and an individual part of a passage, or just a phrase, is lifted out of its context, and a false meaning attributed to it.
We are told in John 10 that Messiah went to Jerusalem at the time of the feast of dedication, but it doesn’t say that He went there to celebrate anything. The scripture specifically states that He stayed on the porch outside the temple, and when the passage is read and understood in its entirety, we learn that He didn’t go there to celebrate, but to challenge and rebuke the Jewish leaders.
Now, if His intention was to celebrate, why would He have purposely caused strife among the Jews—to the point that they wanted to stone Him to death? That doesn’t sound very festive, now, does it?
No, Christ did not celebrate hanukkah, just as He never celebrated christ-mass or easter/ishtar. These are all false creations of man, devised at the behest of the father of lies.
Yah has SEVEN ANNUAL SABBATHS (feasts) and ONE WEEKLY SABBATH, which is on the seventh day of the week. Those are the days He has ordained. They are all of His Son, and they are a shadow of things that are TO COME (they reveal the Father’s prophetic calendar).
The celebrations in December, both of christianity and of the physical Jews, are false counterfeits of Yah’s Sabbaths, which are given to His children as a family sign—those who are the true Jews, which has nothing to do with anything physical, but are those whose hearts are circumcised (those who are sealed by His Holy Spirit, which is the new covenant), as we’re told in Romans 2:29.
Finally, here is the actual relation that exists between both of the false holydays of christ-mass and hanukkah. Messiah Yahoshua was born on the Feast of Tabernacles, which is also the true day of temple dedication. The christ-mass is a counterfeit of Messiah’s birth on that feast day, and hanukkah is a counterfeit of the temple’s dedication ON THAT SAME FEAST DAY.
They are both Satan’s counterfeits of the same feast day!
For more information: The Feasts After Passover