Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

For the first time in decades, Christmas and Chanukkah coincide in 2024. What is the spiritual meaning of this strange occurrence?

This year — 2024 — Christmas and Chanukkah coincide.

Christmas Day is the 25th of December, while Chanukkah commences at nightfall on the 25th of December 2024 and ends at nightfall on the 2nd of January, 2025.

These holidays do not align very often because the Jewish and Gregorian calendars are out of sync with one another. When an alignment between Christmas and Chanukkah takes place, it is random.

Since 1900, the first day of Chanukkah has fallen on Christmas only four times: in 1910, 1921, 1959 and 2005. And now, the fifth occurrence is in 2024.

Christmas is a Christian celebration of Jesus (Yeshua) — God the Son — coming to earth. His name Emmanuel means “God with us”. Christmas is a time of joy and celebration for Christians (even though I recognise some people experience emotional pain at this time). Many believers and others go to church to celebrate Christmas and usually there are family celebrations afterwards with gifts and food.

Yeshua came to earth as the light of the world. As it says in John 8:12 (HNV), “Again, therefore, Yeshua spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.'” And again in John 9:5 (HNV), “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

How Channukah Differs from Christmas

Chanukkah has a different focus from Christmas. It continues for eight days, during which the Jewish community commemorates the rededication of the temple in the second century BC when there was a miracle of oil. After the temple had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes, the Jews wanted to rededicate the temple by lighting the temple menorah. They only had enough consecrated oil for the lamp to burn for one day, but according to Jewish tradition, the lamp continued to burn for eight days so the temple rededication could be complete — a miraculous event.

When the Channukah miracle happened, the rabbis proclaimed that this miracle of the oil should be an annual festival. The lighting of the Chanukkah Menorah (Chanukkiah) has continued since then.

Today, many light a Chanukkiah candlestick which has eight lights, often with a “shamash” (servant) light in the middle. This is a nine-branched candlestick, whereas the seven branched candlestick is called a Menorah.

At Chanukkah, the Jewish people light a candle each night and say a blessing. Gifts are given, and fried or oily foods are eaten to commemorate the miracle of oil at the rededication of the temple. Foods like donuts and latkes (potato pancakes) are popular.

Some have called Chanukkah the “Jewish Christmas”. Though it is a festive celebration, its meaning is of course different to Christmas.

The Bible tells us that Yeshua was there at the temple for Channukah, also known as the Feast of Dedication. John 10:22-23 says, “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.”

The miracle of Chanukkah saw the temple purified and rededicated to the Lord. This feast of Chanukkah centres on the miracle of the oil. In Hebrew, the word is nes, meaning miracle. (Many of us are familiar with the name Jehovah Nissi as one of the Lord’s titles, which means “the Lord my banner”. In Hebrew however, Jehovah Nissi can also mean “the Lord my miracle”).

To summarise Chanukkah, when oil was needed for the rededication of the temple, Jewish tradition says that while there was only enough oil for one day, the Lord made it last. What I personally glean from this is that when we do not have enough and we lean on the Lord, He gives us a miracle of provision to bring us through. Moreover, we cannot do a new thing in an old way. Our old ways must come to an end and the Lord’s new ways — His fresh oil — equips us for what lies ahead.

The Jews kept the temple light burning because the Lord made the oil last. The Jewish people and the Christian people of the earth are the light of God in the world today.

If you wish to read more background on Chanukkah, I have previously authored articles on this festival here, here, here and here.

The Meaning of Christmas and Channukah Coinciding

Some are viewing this coming together of Christmas and Chanukkah as a double blessing — a blessing for the Christian world and a blessing for the Jewish world. At both the birth of Christ (Christmas) and the victory of the Maccabees (Chanukkah), there was a great cost but an even greater outcome.

I recently heard a man say he wondered if the overlapping of these celebrations was a sign of God’s judgement because the people of the earth were not honouring Yeshua, God the Son. Time will tell.

These are special days and are not to be despised or trivialised. The Lord works through events like this — in our hearts and in our families, as we focus on what He is saying and doing in this hour.

The Lord has been speaking to me about Chanukkah and I believe He is saying it is a time of breakthrough — that there will be a release from His heavenly sanctuary at Christmastime. It will not be what man can do but something that will come from heaven. Though it will come down upon Israel, I believe we will also see wider ramifications.

As I observe some of the events that have happened in the last few months, I wonder if these opened the way for the Lord to move.

What is present going on in Israel is not ordinary. The war in Israel is no ordinary war, and we are living in no ordinary time. It feels as though we have crossed over into a new day, a new season, and even a new era.

Recently, Donald Trump was voted in as President-elect. Even in these initial stages, Trump is making statements that will greatly impact Israel, especially in regard to the hostages.

In Israel, leading up to Sukkot, there was a significant season of repentance amongst the Jewish community. The Lord communicated with me that because of Israel’s repentance, He has released forgiveness.

Then on the 12th of October — the day of Atonement or Yom Kippur — 250,000 to 350,000 people gathered for the One Million Women event in Washington, DC. Here again we saw a time of repentance, followed by communion which was shared globally. Many of us viewed the smashing of the altar of Ishtar, which was a prophetic act.

I wonder if Trump would have been voted in if these times of preparation did not happen. To me, there was a significant spiritual shift over the United States of America because of this repentance and what surrounded it.

Subsequently, the New York Times reported that Iran’s Khamenei is seriously ill, and that his son is likely to be his successor as supreme leader.

On the 29th of November, 1947, the United Nations Resolution 181 was passed, which made the way for Israel to become a nation again. It is now 77 years since that resolution. Let us watch and see what the Lord will do.

Because of the prayers of the saints, I believe we will see the Lord’s answers in the headlines of our newspapers.

Christmas miracles have happened before. During the First World Way, there was a breakthrough where soldiers on both sides stopped fighting, took part in a soccer match, and celebrated Christmas with each other. As documented at History:

German Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of the 134 Saxons Infantry, a schoolteacher who spoke both English and German, also described a pick-up soccer game in his diary, which was discovered in an attic near Leipzig in 1999, written in an archaic German form of shorthand. “Eventually the English brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued,” he wrote. “How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”

What the Lord is Doing in the World Today

I received a message recently from one intercessor who highlighted oil and its connection to the concept of victory. It is difficult to explain some of the things that come to us in prayer, but the Holy Spirit speaks through His people. In short, through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, represented in the oil, a shift and a breakthrough will come in this season.

Many of us would agree it has been a different and difficult year. On the 17th of December, Nate Johnson posted on Facebook what I think is a significant statement: “This year has been a test. If you are on your face as we end the year. you passed.”

For Israel, it has been the longest war they have experienced since the reestablishment of the nation in 1948. One of my friends who recently returned from a six-month trip in and out of Israel says the nation of Israel is in trauma. It is not post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because that implies the trauma is over. Rather, right now, Israel is still experiencing trauma.

What I am observing in Israel is that the good news of Yeshua the Messiah is going forth from Israelis to Israelis. The number of Messianic believers in the land and among the diaspora is increasing. Just as Joseph finally revealed himself to his family in Egypt, I believe in this season Yeshua is revealing Himself to His beloved chosen people as their Messiah. During this season of war, many Jewish people, young and old, are turning towards the Lord, and their Jewish identity is being restored.

The spiritual restoration of Israel has begun. They have been restored to their land, and now those who believe are being restored to the heart of the Father through the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua.

John 1:11-12 (NKJV) says that “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

The Chanukkah story was a time of conquering and overcoming, followed by a rededication to God’s purposes. We might borrow the phrase from Genesis 50:20 (ASV) to describe that time:  “What the enemy meant for evil, God has turned it for good.”

When we as individuals or nations are ready to rededicate ourselves to the Lord, He supplies the oil — He supplies what is lacking. First is the heart attitude, and then miracles follow.

In October last year, the Lord said to me, “Behold Me for I hold the victory in My hands.” This year in November, the Lord showed me this victory is being released at Christmas.

World events are moving swiftly in this season. The face of the Middle East is changing because of the Gaza War. God is on the move. He is the Defender of Israel, and I am sure we will see He is working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose. There is the possibility of Israel gaining more ground after this long war. Jihad thought it would have the upper hand, but the Lord is changing the face of the Middle East.

This scripture came to me the other day from Psalm 126:1-3 (NIV):

When the Lord brough back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

May it be so in this season. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NKJV).

Prayer

Father, we come to you today to lay at Your feet. Everything from this past year — the good things, the bad things and every sin, fault, and failure — we lay them all at the foot of the cross.

As Your children, we come to You for cleansing and forgiveness, and thank you that Yeshua’s sacrifice made it possible for us to draw near to You as children of God.

We join with the Psalmist in saying, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! (הֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי־ טוֹב)” (Psalm 106:1 NKJV). You are good and Your mercy endures forever. “God is gone up with a shout, The LORD with the sound of a trumpet.” (Psalm 47:5 KJV)

In this season, the Lord is shouting and sounding the trumpet. Let us stay in step with what He is doing.