When I was a boy, one of the only Jewish holidays my family celebrated was Chanukah (the other was Passover), but if you had told me that one day I would write an entire book about the Festival of Lights, I would have said you were a couple of candles short of a menorah! Now all these years later, I’m delighted about the newly released “Real Story of Chanukah,” because it truly puts the modern holiday in perspective by placing it against the backdrop of its factual history.

But what really excites me about the new book is that its message is so Messianic… not because it shows you Yeshua in the chanukiyyah, but because the real story of Chanukah is about being completely sold-out, zealous, crazy-on-fire—dedicated—to Adonai. I love this kind of message!

In The Real Story of Chanukah (which quotes at length from the apocryphal, yet historically reliable books of 1&2 Maccabees), we get to witness the struggles of a handful of average, everyday Jewish people during the intertestamental period. Against the overwhelming anti-Semitic and assimilating forces of their day, we see these valiant, devout few as they fight for the God and the Torah they love, in order to restore Israel to faithful fellowship with God. The story is just incredible—it’s vivid, moving, and, at times, almost beyond belief. And it’s within this context that I was able to unpack the Messianic message, illustrating how, according to the Scriptures, we too can and must be completely dedicated to the cause of Yeshua.

I believe that this is an important book, not just because it offers a unique perspective and insight regarding the holiday, but because the message of the story behind the holiday is an inspiring source of encouragement and exhortation… it’s Scripture put into action in peoples’ lives… it’s a commentary on the social issues of our day… it’s a warning for what we may be headed toward in the future.

If you already have a copy of the audio teaching upon which this book is based, I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of the book as well. The audio teaching covers the essential topics and story that is contained in the book, along with the emotion and dynamics that only come from a live presentation, but the book has considerably more material, and goes into detail that I wasn’t able to cover in the original teaching. In the book, I’m able to deal with other related topics that round out the entire discussion as it pertains to the issues raised by the holiday of Chanukah—and, believe me, there are quite a few.

I think my closing thoughts from The Real Story of Chanukah’s preface best sum up my reason for writing this book, and it reads as follows:

You may know next to nothing about the Feast of Dedication; you may love and cherish it as a meaningful time of year. My aim with this message is not to dash your view of Chanukah upon the rocks. Instead, my hope is that you will be stirred and inspired to abandon all that has doused your fire for God, and to be reignited with a burning passion for righteousness, holiness, and the zealous life for Adonai.

May the real story of Chanukah cause you to wholly commit yourself to God—to be restored to who He has made you to be—forsaking everything you hold dear, and even yourself… devoted and dedicated… to the death.

I think you’ll be challenged, exhorted, and inspired by The Real Story of Chanukah—the miraculous story you never knew…