(Day 800) Swords of Iron – “🕎 Hanukkah: Light Vs Darkness”

Chaim starts out by telling his viewers that he’s recording this video on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, which is mentioned often in the Bible. The entire Land of Israel is very prophetic and he says that it has a destiny that the People of Israel are moving towards together.

He also says he wants to talk about Hanukkah, the light vs. the darkness, and in this context, he harkens back to October 7th when Israelis were celebrating the holiday of Simchat Torah, but that was interrupted by a Hamas massacre. This was a celebration of light, interrupted by an attack by deep darkness.

Chaim compares this to the acts of spiritual warfare carried out by Antiochus Epiphanes in the time of the Macabbees, how he outlawed the practice of Judaism and burned the Bible. But the light triumphed over that darkness, and this same pattern was repeated over and over again all throughout human history. Darkness tried to snuff out the light that the Jewish people brought into the world, and the God of the Bible intervened again and again to prevent that from happening, to preserve the light and to help it grow.

Chaim says this is continuing into the present time, into the present war. He and his comrades in the IDF have defended Israel against threats coming from several different directions and kept the light shining.

There is also an 8th front, which is the media battle, but in all these kinetic and media battles, the struggle is between darkness and light.

Israel’s leaders understand that this is a spiritual war as well as a kinetic war, and they’ve spoken out forcefully about Israel’s inevitable victory.

Just like in the time of the Macabbees, Israel’s very identity has been attacked, and God’s faithfulness has been questioned.

But God has answered this by performing miracles. He has performed many miracles in the course of this war, and the Israeli people have also shown amazing resilience and resourcefulness, refusing to let their light be extinguished.

Chaim then pivots slightly to talking about the Galilee, where he lives, where his the organizations he gives leadership to including the Aliyah Return Center and the Faithful Galileeans, operate.

In this context, he quotes Isaiah 9:1-2; Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

And afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.

Chaim says this prophecy is being fulfilled, present tense continuous, and the Church needs to spend more time studying prophecy and teaching on it because we’re living in prophetic times.

The return of the Jewish People to their ancestral homeland is a prophetic event that is ongoing in our times, happening right in front of us, and God has given us an opportunity to participate in what He’s doing in these days. In the Galilee, there’s not as much money or stuff to do as there is in the bigger cities on the coastal plain, but the work being done in the Galilee is very important. It’s also important for the shepherds of Israel to defend, protect and provide for the sheep. Chaim says that’s how he sees his role as a soldier in the IDF.

In this context, Chaim quotes several prophetic passages of Scripture about the ingathering of teh exiles, including Isaiah 49:6; Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

Next he talks about how the Enemy doesn’t want to see that happen, and so he sent the Iranians to attack Israel with all their might, but they failed utterly and Chaim says that’s what always happens when the darkness comes full force against the light.

But this battle between darkness and light is not just in Israel, it’s global. It’s happening all over the world, where the darkness is rising up to try and snuff out the light. The barbarians are trying to destroy civilization, the tyrants are trying to destroy freedom, and intimidation is trying to snuff out identity. Chaim compares this last battle to the clash between David and Goliath.

All over the world, people are choosing sides and revealing their true intentions. It’s scary, but it’s also enlightening. Anti-Semitism is also becoming a very serious issue and it’s manifesting in ways that are really strange. This includes local municipalities being asked by their constituents to take some kind of stand on Israel, essentially to have their own foreign policy independent from the national government.

Chaim says that sometimes, Israel feels like it’s alone against the whole world, but that’s exactly what the Macabbees did, and they won.

Chaim asks his viewers to take inspiration from this example and be a modern day Macabbee, taking a stand for truth, righteousness and light and pushing back against the darkness.

Chaim says that people have different talents and everyone can do something.

In this season of Chanukkah, the light came back in the end, and that happened in modern day Israel following October 7th as well.

Even when Israel is severely wounded, we refuse to back down and surrender.

Chaim says history is watching, and God is watching, to see what people do, how they rise (or not) to this occasion.

In this context, Chaim concludes by reading Isaiah chapter 60:1-17; Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. 

Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; They shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory.

“Who are these who fly like a cloud, and like doves to their roosts? Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; And the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar,
Their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you.

“The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you;
For in My wrath I struck you, but in My favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession. For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined.

“The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious. Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

“Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one went through you, I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of kings; You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.