QUESTION #2: What is the connection between the name given Hanukkah-“Festival of Lights” or “Feast of Dedication” as it relates to the name of Jesus as the Light of the World?

Answer:

Dr. Jimmy DeYoung:

“There is a very rich connection. The fact is that the Jews today start at sundown, this evening with the lighting of eight candles over the eight days that follow Hanukkah. Remember, sundown was the beginning, the actual beginning of Hanukkah in the Jewish world. What they will do, they will get their Hanukkah menorah, which is like a menorah, but it only has seven candles. Hanukkah menorah has nine candles, four on either side, and then right in the middle, the ninth candle is a larger candle. It’s called the servant candle. That’s the one they light on the first night of Hanukkah. They leave that lighted the entire eight days, and then each day they will take light from that servant candle. They take light from that center candle, and they light one candle a day for the eight-day period, till all of the menorah is lighted.

…The word “light” is key in the Gospel of John. It’s used twenty-four times in the Gospel of John. In the first chapter, it’s used six times. Jesus claims that he, in chapters 8, 9, and 11, is the Light of the World. Chapter one talks about John the Baptist. He said, “I’m not the light. But I came to be the forerunner of the light.” And indeed, Jesus Christ is the light that is given to all who will come unto him and want to receive him as Lord and Savior. The real reason for lights on your Christmas tree is because we’re celebrating the Feast of Lights, and Jesus Christ did that as well. John chapter 10 and verse 22, he went in the winter time to the Temple to remember Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, the Feast of Lights. Jerusalem and Israel would be the light to the world. Jesus Christ is the light to all generations and all of mankind who will come unto him to receive him as Lord and Savior.”

To listen to the entire program, please click HERE.