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Appreciating the rich symbolism of Old Covenant metaphors and their fulfilment in Jesus – and in us.

At Christmas time especially, we all have an enhanced appreciation of light and its capacity to decorate and illuminate, brightening up the gloom. As our Editor-in-Chief expands on elsewhere in this final 2018 issue of Prophecy Today UK, the scriptures emphasise that God is light, and in that light we find life (1 John 1:5; John 1:4).

That we might learn this lesson, the Lord has written it into the DNA of Creation. Life on this planet is completely dependent upon light: for energy, warmth and food. It is from light that Earth gets its vibrant colours, its daily and seasonal rhythms and its water cycle. Since the dawn of civilisation, light has been central to human culture and communication, giving comfort, guidance and security – whether warming fires or the gentle glow of evening lamps.

Put simply, in light is our life: and this physical and social lesson points us towards a greater spiritual reality.

The Bible reminds us that the world’s physical light originated in the spoken, creative word of God. The immortal words of Genesis 1: “Let there be light!” spoke light into darkness and life into a lifeless void. Revelation reminds us that at the end of history, physical light sources will be replaced by God himself (Rev 21:23, 22:5). Intentionally, the Bible is book-ended with references to God as the eternal and true source of Light.

In light is our life: and this physical and social lesson points us towards a greater spiritual reality.

But not just the Light – God is our light, personally as well as universally. We see this most clearly in Exodus, where God’s presence leads the Children of Israel through the wilderness towards the Promised Land, appearing as a pillar of fire by night “to give them light on the way they were to take” (Neh 9:12).

It is here that we learn that God desires to lead his children in the way they should go, illuminating their path. This idea was built into the communal life and worship of Israel through the rich symbolism of the menorah. Though this is celebrated most prominently at Hanukkah, it is worth meditating on again as we approach Christmas and celebrate the coming of Messiah, the True Light, into the world.

The emblem of the State of Israel.God with Us

The distinctive seven-branched candleholder is apparently the oldest continuously used religious symbol in the Western world (perhaps the entire world) and serves as the main symbol on the official emblem of the State of Israel, referencing the miraculous endurance of the Jewish people. Scripturally, it first appears in Exodus 25, where God instructs Moses on how to make this elaborate lamp to light the Tabernacle, the community’s place of worship and meeting with God.

Shining continuously in the centre of the Israelite encampment, the menorah signified the presence of God dwelling in the midst of his people. It was David who later sang: “You are my lamp, O Lord, the Lord shall enlighten my darkness” (2 Sam 22:29).

Known in rabbinic culture as the ‘light of the world’, the menorah was a constant reminder to Israel of their God-given mandate to display his glory, truth and faithfulness to the nations. And it was close to the menorah in the Temple courts in Jerusalem that the Son of God later dared to declare “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Beautiful Detail

But there is more meaning within God’s instructions for the menorah that often gets missed. Made of pure gold and all of one piece despite its ornate details, the menorah speaks of God’s majesty, purity and his all-sufficiency. We have no need to attach anything to the Lord; he is more than enough.

Beaten and hammered into shape, the menorah speaks of God the Son: sinless and pure, but afflicted and stricken – made perfect through suffering (Heb 2:10). Similarly, the menorah’s light was fuelled by pure olive oil, the crushed fruit of the ‘eternal’ olive tree, just as Jesus was “crushed for our iniquities” (Isa 53:5). The oil also speaks of his anointing as our King and Great High Priest.

Shining continuously in the centre of the Israelite encampment, the menorah signified the presence of God dwelling in the midst of his people.

The unique, distinctive shape of the menorah - three branches on one side, three on the other and one in the middle – is also full of meaning. The six branches, biblically the number of fallenness, symbolise imperfect humanity while the seventh represents Yeshua, dwelling in our midst, making us perfect. The six branches are traditionally dependent on the central candle, the shamash or ‘servant’, from which the others are lit, just as Yeshua, the Servant of Isaiah 42, humbled himself to become “a light to the Gentiles”.

So, hidden in the branches of the menorah is a picture of our Servant King, and a picture of us, his people, together living in the pattern of our Master: children of the light (Eph 5:8). This new community of faith shines forth light in the darkness, as God always intended. Indeed, some see in the menorah a picture of the olive tree of Romans 11, in which Jew and Gentile are joined together in Yeshua, or the vine of John 15, symbolising Yeshua as the source of life and love for all believers.

The menorah is quite obviously shaped like a tree – which in Scripture connotes both life and wisdom (e.g. Prov 3:18). The ornate almond blossoms are reminders of our authority as a priesthood of believers, just as Aaron’s staff budded with almond blossoms to symbolise God’s approval for the Levitical priesthood. Some see the buds and blossoms on the menorah as a symbol of believers being the ‘first fruits’ of a greater harvest to come, since almond trees blossom early, heralding the spring.

In the menorah we also see a tree that is continuously ablaze but not consumed: a vivid reminder of the burning bush where God met Moses so powerfully, as well as the Day of Pentecost when tongues of fire appeared over the heads of the disciples. We are reminded that as living sacrifices, God desires to indwell us with his glory - not consuming us but shining out through our lives to the rest of the world. We are also reminded of the need to be filled continuously with the oil of the Holy Spirit, that we might be prepared for his return (Matt 25).

Children of Light

The menorah is a beautiful Old Covenant picture of God dwelling with/in man and man dwelling in/with God: a picture fulfilled in Jesus’ first coming and also in us, “sons of light and sons of the day” (1 Thess 5:5). “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

As we receive the light and life of Yeshua within our souls and become part of his Living Menorah, so we ought naturally to shine in the midst of a dark world, radiating his light to the lost. Just like the nation of Israel was and is called to be a light to all other nations, so we are called to “let our light shine before men, so they will see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:14-16).

The menorah is a beautiful Old Covenant picture of God dwelling with/in man and man dwelling in/with God: a picture fulfilled in Jesus’ first coming and also in us.

Christmas affords us all opportunity in this respect, that through us others might be drawn to “the true Light which gives light to every man” (John 1:9).

What an incredible gift: that our God, who “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16), laid aside his garments of light (Ps 104:2) and took on human flesh, that we might become “children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as stars in the universe, holding fast the word of life” (Phil 2:15-16). Glory! This is what Christmas should celebrate – and it is what the world desperately needs.

Celebrating the good news of Christmas-tide.

For many years the prologue of John’s Gospel (John 1:1-18) has been a favourite passage of Scripture for me. As a student I could recite from memory the whole prologue in Greek, although today I can hardly get beyond the second verse. But I have grown to understand its message much more. “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

This is the central message of the Gospel and it expresses the tragedy of our human nature. God has sent his truth like the sun penetrating the darkness of the night: but it has not been understood by human beings, whom God created in his own image for intimate fellowship with him.

Through the Prophets of Israel, over a period of many centuries, God progressively revealed his nature and purposes to humanity. This prepared the way for the coming of Messiah, Jesus, who added to that revelation an understanding of God as our Father who loves us with an unconditional and un-ending love. That love was so great that it even took Jesus to the Cross in order to provide for our salvation.

The Incarnation: Blessing and Tragedy

The tragedy of the incarnation is emphasised in verse 10 which states “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.” Traditionally, theologians have understood the enlightenment brought by Jesus as the illumination of reason and conscience, thus bringing the Gospel into line with Stoic ideas about the logos as something that dwells in every human being, a seed within each one of us that enables us to develop full understanding of truth.

But the coming of the light actually brings judgment, because it reveals the fact that human beings love darkness rather than light; although it is not God’s purpose to bring judgment but to create faith leading to salvation. The amazing truth of the incarnation is that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” so that we can actually see the light shining in the darkness of the world around us.

Of course, human beings prefer the darkness because they cannot understand the light, which actually requires a change of mindset. Indeed, it requires accepting that we need the light in order to be able to understand anything at all in the created order of the universe. Only the true light of the world can give us real, genuine understanding. It changes everything, giving us a different position from which to perceive reality.

In order to accept the light, we have to be prepared to forsake the pursuit of our own self-interest. But in the process, we actually become children of God instead of being creatures of the world, which is an entirely new status. As Paul said, “Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17).

Opportunity to Respond

Of course all human beings, whether they believe or not, are surrounded by the light of Jesus, because he has made his dwelling among us. This was part of God’s intention from the time he created the universe and made human beings capable of being in relationship with himself, the Creator. He chose the people of Israel to be the means through whom he would bring light to the world and fulfil his purpose of enabling everyone to become children of God – part of the community of believers.

This was revealed to the Prophet Zechariah 500 years before the coming of Jesus. He shouted for joy when he received this revelation: “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you, declares the Lord. Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you” (Zec 2:10).

The prologue of John speaks about the true light of the world – the person and power and wisdom of God, who created the universe – coming to take a permanent place among human beings, so that they could perceive truth in a way that had been hidden from previous generations.

In order to accept the light, we have to be prepared to forsake the pursuit of our own self-interest; but in the process, we become children of God.

The nativity that we celebrate at Christmas has very flimsy historical links with the date of Jesus’ birth and even less to do with the tinsel and wrappings and commercial Christmas of today. But the fact that lights are switched on in our towns and villages and decorate our homes is an acknowledgement of the central truth of the incarnation – that the true Light has come into the world of humanity.

As we are each a creation of God, there is built into each one of us the ability to respond to (or the freedom to reject) the true light. For those who do respond, there is the wonderful experience of becoming a child of God which changes our perception of everything: in the same way as the light of a new day dispels the darkness of night and enables us to see things that were only dimly perceived in the darkness.

Witnessing to the Light

The Fourth Gospel prologue tells us that John the Baptist was sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way and to be a witness to the light. He was not the true light – he was a reflection of the light, but when Jesus came, the true light which was there in the beginning, and through whom the universe was made, was now available to human beings in a new way.

God actually humbled himself and took human form as his final great act of salvation, to enable sinful men and women to see the truth and to give them the power to overcome the forces of darkness that drive us all towards self-destruction. This is the good news of Christmas-tide - the coming of truth and light into our world of sin and darkness.

Surely there has never been a greater need for such a message than there is today! As children of the light we need to take a break from all the works of darkness around us (including our Parliamentary Pantomime) and take every opportunity of sharing the good news with others during this Christmas season. Let’s make it truly a season of light and truth!

The Lord be with you and bless you as you bless others.

That would be a strange greeting at this time of the year, wouldn't it! But if we are not careful, as Christians this could be the impression we give. There are a couple of possible reasons for a Christian to be against celebrating Christmas.

One reason is the way that worldliness has taken over. The airwaves, whilst being filled with carols that convey wonderful truths about the birth of the Saviour of the world, have become (to many people) like the masterpiece that has blended with the wallpaper on the wall where it is hung: no more than a pleasant backdrop - background music to the shopping spree.

A second reason is that many Christians have retraced their theological steps to the Jewish roots of the faith and have found that Christmas never was a biblical feast, but a remodelling of a pagan festival of winter solstice worship of the sun (not the Son!). A natural consequence of this would seem to be, as in our day, an eventual reversion to these pagan roots – something Christians understandably want to avoid.

Bygone Blessings

I have been among the foremost of those who have highlighted the importance of returning to our Jewish roots, focussing our celebrations on the biblical timetable in step with the Jewish world and thereby not partaking in an unscriptural religion.

Yet I also come from the generation who were children in the post-war years, brought up in a nation where Christmas did centralise the birth of Jesus. Children today would not easily understand how our families and communities those years ago focussed their thoughts more on the Nativity than on the TV, the food and the presents.

There are a couple of possible reasons for a Christian to be against celebrating Christmas.

Yes, we had presents and yes, we had a celebratory festive meal (the one and only time in the year when our family had a chicken lunch!) and some treats to follow - but just a few presents and many of us made our own decorations. When we broke up from school for the holidays, it was with the Bible passages describing the birth of Jesus in our mind, strengthened by the words of the carols we sang. We had the clear sense that the blessings of our family times were a consequence of our celebration of Jesus' birth – we weren’t thinking about the winter solstice and pagan worship. Our national culture had grown to have a different emphasis.

One cannot ignore such rich blessings from the Lord. But neither can one deny that Jesus was not born on 25 December, that the wise men did not visit him on the same day as the shepherds, and all the other myriad mistakes that are made with the ‘Christmas story’. So how do we approach Christmas this year, whilst working (in God's timing, which may be different from ours) to take the worldliness out of our celebrations and relocate them rightly on the biblical calendar?

Positive Changes

My personal answer is to ensure that any adjustments made to our celebrations are made in a positive way, in recognition of what Jesus has done. We do no good in our Christian witness to give a negative message to the world. There is still plenty of opportunity for our Christian witness at Christmas to have a positive effect on many people around us.

My own approach is - in moderation, and remembering past blessings - to still enjoy many of the carols, to wish my friends a happy (not necessarily merry!) Christmas, and to remember that although the Lord told us to remember his death until he comes, he was born as a human being - something to celebrate on any day of the year.

My personal answer is to ensure that any changes to our celebrations are made in a positive way.

Meanwhile, I believe that the Lord is reminding us of his design of the yearly cycle of the Feasts (the three main ones being Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot) so that in time we will re-calibrate our years in step with these rhythms. But in his time. I believe we will have readjusted to this before Jesus returns, but to force the pace would be wrong and may even take away from the beauty and significance of these Feasts.

Remember what Paul taught in Romans 14:5, Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. Some will get there quicker than others, but let us be patient and persuasive rather than judgmental. And in these days of transition, let us still seek to bless our friends by saying, ‘Have a happy Christmas’ - and really mean it.