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We have four blasts in the archives featuring the feast of Hanukkah coming from a historical background explaining how it applies to today's people of God for our readers interested from that perspective. But this Hanukkah I would like to look at the feast differently through the eyes of God's Bride. To begin with, while she is making herself ready for the wedding day when the marriage to the Lord is consummated, the bride of Satan makes herself ready also. Each wish to be evenly yoked with their prospective husband and each are diligently putting effort into perfecting their image to reflect the glory of her betrothed. On the other hand, both God and Satan are looking at things spiritually from an even different view. They each see their bride as their land and house they will one day permanently dwell in.

Satan's bride to be is Babylon, God's is New Jerusalem. Both are spiritual cities with physical profiles manifested by people chosen to be the living stones these cities are built from.

There is a special portion of New Jerusalem the King will rule and reign from called Zion or Sion. It is where His house or temple, David's Tabernacle is located.

The rest of New Jerusalem forms the Body. You see on the outside in the natural you see the two brides, on the inside dwells the grooms. Each one guides their kingdom through their bride. Now, picture both brides standing there in their royal apparel! Beautifully dressed in robes supplied by the kingdom they represent! New Jerusalem is wearing beautiful spiritual clothing befitting her King and husband who is the Creator of the universe!

Her spirit's clothing is designed by God and presented to her at the completion of each feast as she eats from the knowledge of God and personally begins to manifest the truth served she becomes evidence of a mature gem, a new species. Her robes presented by the Lord must be way beyond description, more beautiful than we have words to describe! Babylon however is dressed in visible robes made in this realm as authorized by the god of this physical world! Unfortunately Satan has blinded the eyes of the Adamic race so they cannot see God's bride, only his and are absolutely mesmerized by her.

So again, Satan's bride can be recognized by carnal eyes while New Jerusalem is seen only by the eyes of our spirits. In other words, Babylon although dressed in the world's finest is still naked to the spiritual eye. Therefore New Jerusalem can plainly see through her royal facade into the abominable nature that lies within her.

New Jerusalem on the other hand is beautifully described by Apostle John.

How she begins to emerge as God's queen is very much a spiritual battle that was foreshadowed first in the natural through that part of history experienced by God's people in the year 167 BCE known as the era of the Maccabees. The Maccabees were a family of priests that had enough of the empire of their time pulling God's people into their society and destroying the pure worship of God. They decided to fight for Jerusalem, the temple, true knowledge and the law of God which was for them the light of Israel. God intervened and although they were a very small group of people against a huge Grecian army, gave them the victory! Well guess what people of God, it is a time once again for God's priests to stand up for the Kingdom! The time is now for all the living stones registered in heaven with the Father and to be harvested, gathered, circumcised from the world, and set apart for the Lord. Predestined, personally designed before God rested, they are now being manifested in this age to fulfill their part in God's plan for the restoration of creation. Unfortunately the harvesting of God's stones is not an easy task! Just as in the Maccabean era God's people are assimilated, absorbed, captivated by Satan's society and therefore tarnished by the world he is god of. As the tyrant Antiochus the IV, leader of the Grecian armies said he was God in the flesh so Satan has also made that claim.

The shofars have been blowing at the beginning of each and every feast for years warning mankind against the enemy and calling God's people to the Lord's table where revelation knowledge is being served! A mental food is served that will enable them to comprehend this supernatural battle, grow, change, mature and prepare them for God's Kingdom. Sadly there are few it seems that really hunger for and love truth enough to change compared to the number of those that feast with the sons of Belial, the children of Satan at his holidays. Once again, small in number it is God's Bride, New Jerusalem against the world's many churches the empire of Babylon. It is His government Sion against the heads of the world's systems labeled by Scripture as the beast. These, perhaps unknowingly, allow Satan to rule as God through them like the king of Tyre and Hitler for instance. But you see, it is a supernatural battle fueled by God's knowledge through His Bride and Satan's knowledge through his, both supporting a strategy to carry out their plans. Plans of destruction to conquer all of creation, kill those that will not bow to him and see him as God through Babylon and God's plans for restoration through New Jerusalem. In other words, just as in the garden of Eden the battle still rages today, the knowledge of God against the knowledge of Satan. The mind of God has been challenged by the mind of His enemy! Eve initiated this war by choosing the wisdom and counsel of Satan! Here is the irony of the situation, in the supernatural this battle has already been fought and God determined the victor, but that victory remains to be manifested to earth!

So how is God's victory made manifest to the earth? For the answer let us continue to dine on the fresh manna served from the Lord's table at the Feast of Hanukkah. Let us first look at some scripture though as a foundation for what I am about to share.

So as prophesied years ago, heaven and hell meet face to face through humanity. Christ through His new species contends with the god of the Adamic race. I have hinted at how this relates to Hanukkah, but let's plunge in a little deeper now. As stated before, because of the absorption of God's people into the world's society and Grecian culture of that time the temple was in ruins after the war. Its people were tainted by foreign religions and the majority of even the priesthood made unclean. God's city Jerusalem was confiscated and overrun with God's enemy. A statue of the god Zeus was forcibly erected on the altar and the light of Israel, the candelabra or menorah representing the knowledge of God, His feasts ignored even scoffed at and law broken. The light went out! Using the eye of discernment do you see the comparison today? Remember, God's people according to scripture are His lights, His temple, His city, His Bride! Let us begin with the similarity of old Jerusalem to God's people, the living stones that form His city today. To begin with, Jerusalem means city of peace, it was and is anything but! Back then Antiochus without compassion abused God's people and prohibited the true worship of God. In time they became accustomed to the enemy's ways and comfortable with the religions and society of the world. Likewise today many of God's people have adopted pagan ways evidenced by their holidays thereby creating false doctrines and traditions contrary to God's Word and law. In fact, Satan's feasts are widely celebrated and God's forgotten by much of the church! Unbeknown to them the enemy has also erected himself on the altar of their hearts, blinding them, making them dull and complacent to the fact God's light no longer shines in their midst! The spiritual menorah was devastated by moldy religion! The manna they are served is not fresh so the oil of His approval, His anointing is sparse. In fact as His Bride looks upon them, it appears they have become a part of Satan's city, his bride! They are now immodestly dressing just like the world, and following indecent lawless trends. Unclean spirits dwell unchallenged in their bodies or temples, encouraging and supporting gross sin and debauchery. Yes, truly many of God's people are assimilated, absorbed, drawn into Babylon! Their light today, just like the temple of old has gone out as well! Satan therefore rules them harshly through man's systems. The true priesthood has been dethroned in the world. Satan's decree to be like God and rule His people has come to pass through the old church and man's systems they support! The fruit of God's nature, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness has been replaced by lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, pride of life creating cruel, barbaric, vicious world systems. Over time the works of the flesh have been accepted by the church! As all Godliness would have been lost had the miraculous not happened in the year 167 BCE the same holds true today! There was thankfully in both instances divine intervention by the Lord! Just as a very small group of people were given the victory over the armies of the Grecian Empire so He has intervened again today! Let me show you His intervention, His miracle. In spite of all the erroneous teachings, false doctrines, inaccurate translations, deceptive scams to make money, unsound counsel, etc. He miraculously saw to it a little of His light remained and oil preserved through a few of His loyal chosen human vessels. Satan could not stop God's knowledge completely!

Now here is another miracle. The new creatures, born for this end time that feasted on this salvaged truth and soaked up the remaining miracle oil changed in its light, grew into an anointed new species of mankind! These would metamorphose into a kind of a new humanity that reflects the image of the Word, ones that could survive the difficult circumstances surrounding the transition from Christianity, the 7^th day church, to the church glorious, the eighth day children of God! What caused this change? New wine! Fresh manna was served at each of God's feasts. All were invited, but sadly the old wineskins, the spiritual pharisees would not budge or change. There was little or no interest in God's meals. They appear to be comfortably satisfied where they were and still are in the 7^th day church and oblivious of the fact God had moved on into a new day. Unfortunately the seventh day church and all her divided religions and beliefs has been the center stage of mankind's failure and the world's unsolvable problems. Our God was never to blame! In fact another miracle appeared! While Satan's bride Babylon is passe, New Jerusalem has become a city shining brightly in God's knowledge and law, her temple a festival of lights! Babylon ruled by black mountain called Seir or Edom, lives in darkness alongside the Esau's of the world. These spiritual Esau's are those that were born again, but returned to the world's society, its pleasures and its knowledge thereby giving up their birthright!

New Jerusalem on the other hand is guided by Mount Sion, the holy mountain of God. It is from here God's knowledge and law goes forth across the earth, and through His new species the fivefold offices of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers are formed to help, guide and protect His people. Did you know the temple of Satan on the contrary denies the supernatural altogether? They claim to not worship Satan as an entity saying they consider him more of an attitude of eternal rebellion than a being. They contribute to the world's rebellion through their teachings and back the saying, “I”ll do it my way!!” They are ardently promoting the wisdom of the world through agnostic eyes and minds as well as recommending rejection of all authority and so-called social norms. Their beliefs are based solely on the scientific understanding of the world, and they brag about never distorting scientific facts to fit their beliefs. It is frightening to think justice and compassion is determined by a mind fed from this database! Hummm …. There it is, God's knowledge against the world's! There is by the way a religion referred to as Theistic Satanism that does believe in the supernatural being. They consider him as one worthy of praise and supplication, a god they make contact and actually commune with! Can you see the contrast? Christ in His people, Satan in his? The battle rages through man.

So it is Babylon against New Jerusalem, the bride of Satan against the Bride of Christ. A worldwide Hanukkah is going on right now! It is the kingdom of darkness against the Kingdom of Light all around us! God against Satan. Which side are we actually on? Through our lifestyle and daily choices we become evidence of the spiritual food we eat, which feasts we attend and who our intended spouse is. To those with spiritual eyesight do we stand pitifully naked? Are our sins exposed openly to God and all creation and our lives filled with unsolvable problems and little hope of restorationf? Are our temples, our bodies, our tents in ruin, our minds dull, at best lukewarm with no light or oil to show the way to Sion? Thankfully our miracle working God for the moment is keeping the gates of Revelation 18:4 open.

Our God is not only a miracle working God, but a loving God as well. He does not expect or want His people to physically fight in the eighth day. The carnal or physical was for the seventh day, as carnality, flesh and blood was chosen by Adam and Eve. This is why Jesus had to come in a human body to totally restore man. But, God's plan of restoration has moved forward to the spiritual now. Its a new day, the dawning of the manifestation of Christ's victory through the perfected spirits of His people. Victory over the world, the enemy and all that has been evil since Noah and his family left the ark is appearing. The eighth day is a day of reckoning, a day of judgment, as well as a day of new beginnings! Out with the old with its miseries accumulated by the Adamic race because they chose to live as flesh and blood beings and in with the new making our bodies a festival of lights, making His people children full of the eighth day miracle oil. Ones filled with His knowledge and in His image once again! Just as the temple in old Jerusalem was restored as God gave victory to the Maccabees of old, today His temple, His Bride is being restored, readied to become dedicated to Him alone. As stated before, God has already intervened. He has prevented Satan from assimilating at least a remnant of humanity and creation into his evil world. Those that are spiritually connected to God, that commune with him, and have entered into His covenants as living stones, precious gems will rebuild a new earth, and stand as evidence of Christ's victory, the first of His new creation.

So let's ask ourselves in closing, am I one that rebels against everything, including the things of God like a stone that would be used in Satan's temple? Or are we perhaps actively, deliberately worshiping Satan, communing with him, contributing to making his world more and more evil and violent like him? Or are we miracle children of the eighth day, the fulfillment of the feast of Hanukkah? Temples of Messiah, coming together into one big palace for God as His Bride, creating a Festival of lights! Are we the illuminated, bearing His knowledge in our spirits, minds and hearts, sweet aromas perfumed by the miracle 8^th day oil. Beautiful living stones, polished, perfected, prepared as His Bride, ones that stand praising Him as King, their prospective husband at the Feast of Dedication!

Happy Hanukkah!