What Then Say You

From Hanukkah To John 3:16: Choosing Light Over Darkness| Day 5

• Keith & Tunisha Barnes • Season 3 • Episode 9

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What Then Say You?

A lamp can light a room, but only truth can light a life. We take the story of Hanukkah’s rededication and hold it up to the lens of John 3:16—plus the often-missed verses that follow—to ask a harder question: do we really want the light, or just the comfort of a familiar glow? 

If you’ve ever wondered how to reconcile tradition with transformation, or why some sins feel small while others feel beyond forgiveness, this conversation offers a clear, compassionate framework. We emphasize renewing the mind, trading comparison for conviction, and choosing trust over performance. Rituals like Hanukkah, Shabbat, and Passover become meaningful signs only when they echo a heart that yields to the Savior who came not to condemn, but to save!

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Keith:

Hey, good morning, good evening, good afternoon, whatever time it is that you are tuning into the podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. Today we are on day five, and boy, eight days is a long time. But no, we we are studying and just kind of diving in again. If you if you don't know where this is coming from, go check the first video. It's in the in the card or at the end of this video. But we're just diving in in Hanukkah, experiencing and connecting into what we've been grafted into as Christians, as believers in Jesus Christ. We were grafted into a branch, right? And and his chosen people. This is a holiday that is celebrated by every Orthodox Jew out there, right? And Messianic Jews alike. Jesus Himself, who is even, you know, celebrating the Feast of Dedication, otherwise known as Hanukkah. And so to not, you know, cover the story of Hanukkah again, I'm just going to kind of get into the word and share in this reading that everybody else around the world is reading. And they probably read it depending upon what time you are at nightfall yesterday, because that starts the day, but you know, here we are either way. Let's get it. So we are in Numbers chapter 7, verses 36 through 47. On the fifth day, Shamel, the son of Zershadi, the chief of the people of Simeon, Simeon, his offering was silver plate, whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, one golden dish of ten shekels, full of incense, one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering, one male goat for a sin offering, and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Shamil, the son of Zerashadi. On the sixth day, Elisap, the son of Duel, the chief of the people of Gad, his offering was one silver plate whose weight was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour with oil for a grain offering, one golden dish of ten shekels, full of incense, one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old for a burnt offering, one male goat for a sin offering, and for the sacrifice of peace offering, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elisaph, the son of Dual. Again, um we see this consistency, right? And so just to kind of put some framework around what I'm going to talk about today and what I want us to kind of think on, focus in on, and just kind of take to God and take to his word, um, is that again we see all these different offerings. Again, the offerings were from each of the twelve tribes. They were dedicating this, you know, this is Numbers is not Hanukkah, so separate that. This reading was how they dedicated, you know, the altar again before the pillar of smoke and fire, before they started their journey in the wilderness, right? This is how they dedicated God's holy place. And so later on, um, you know, when Maccabees was around and they had to take over the temple and they kicked out the the Greek uh king during that time, um, they used this, the same thought process, right, to rededicate the temple of God back to God. Now, we know as believers in modern day, and there's nothing wrong with celebrating a history of a thing, right? It's it's like we have Independence Day in America, you know, this rededication of the temple and remembering a time when the Jewish people stood up against, you know, idolatry and stood up against somebody who claimed to be God and claimed to be Zeus of all things, you know, it's it's it's good to reflect and remember because it causes present-day conviction and change, right? And so when we think about where we came from in America from Independence Day, and we think about you know Juneteenth, if you will, and when when when slaves were or were really notified of their freedom, um, we reflect on these things, not necessarily to take us back, but to remember and then see how we can keep moving forward. Have we really come that far, right? And so as we're thinking about this whole this whole concept of rededication and light and the light of the world, we have to come to Jesus. Now, this is probably the most popular verse ever, right? John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. We all know that one. We've heard it, it's been mocked. I I remember the 90s being in high school and middle school and and and in Stone Cold Steve Offin's version of 316. Um but most people have heard that. And it's and it's often used out of context. But uh I want to read it one more time, but this time kind of go front to back and then talk about what we're where we really are now, right? So John 316 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life instead of being utterly destroyed. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him the world might be saved. Those who trust in him are not judged. Those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God's only and unique Son. Now this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won't be exposed. But everyone who do who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God. Now, this is interesting. My wife and I were talking earlier, and and she had brought up John and just talking about you know our former lives, my former ways, and and what it looks like when the light comes into the world. And she said something very powerful and did not realize that. I was like, I'm gonna talk about that tonight because that just hit on a lot of different levels. But when we think about lighting the candles of the menorah, right? And we're thinking about how you know that you have the one candle in the middle, it represents the helper, it represents the Holy Spirit in this aspect. And it and when we think about the story, there was a cup of oil that lasted for eight whole days and it was only supposed to burn out in that one night, right? And so when we think about this light and we think about the symbolism therein, we have to then subsequently think about Christ. We think about our Lord and Savior and His light coming into the world, the whole world, right? Now we have to address the elephant in the room, because we can't stop at John 3.16 and said, For God so loved the whole world, the end. Therefore I'm saved. Because again, if you think about it, verse 18 it says, Those who trust in him are not judged. Those who do not trust in him have judged been judged already, and that they have not trusted in the one who is God's only and unique Son. This is the judgment. The light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light. Because they don't want their stuff exposed. So there's this call to vulnerability in Christ that's apparent when the light of Christ is upon you. When the light of this word illuminates the sin nature in you, right? Paul would say that you wouldn't know sin if I didn't bring it up to you. You know, God could say back in the Old Testament, like, hey, you wouldn't know that you were doing evil things unless I gave you a framework to operate in. Sin was already in the world, but I need to let you know that the law is a valuable thing so that you can know what you're being saved from. You have no purpose and hope to like look towards Jesus if it's just like, but I'm living a good life right now. You don't realize the ratchetness of your own life, you know. But the other alternative answer could be because you love the darkness rather than the light. Because their actions are wicked. And when you're evil, you don't want to be exposed. You don't want the actions to be exposed. And I can think of several things in my life that and how I used to live, that I just didn't want stuff to come out about me. I didn't want to feel judged, I didn't want to have, you know, this title upon me. But the reality is, and she says something very powerful, she said, there's like this this form of extremism that has to take place in a believer's life when they come to know who Yeshua the Messiah truly is, right? When they accept that and that they have that must-receed level of faith, when that actually comes upon a person, this this transition happens. You go from being completely, completely ratchet to completely different. You know, let's let's go back to the story of the man who had Legion, right? And they make movies about that too, right, to kind of over-emphasize it and make it all scary. But this man who had many demons, right? When Jesus cast out Legion from this man and then went off into the pigs, and the pigs took off and went into the ocean or jumped off the cliff into the ocean, the man was just chilling, right? He was of right mind, he was a sound mind, sound speech. Everything about him was like a complete 180 to the point that it scared people, to the point that that whole scenario was scary to the people around Jesus, around the the dude that they had previously been chained up. It was it was scary because it's just like, whoa, that's not the same person. Now I use that extreme because I mean you can get the visual, right? You can see somebody who's like slobbing at the mouth and scratching at themselves and chained up and looking all crazy, and then all of a sudden they're just a normal person, like nothing had ever happened before. Like, that's the change that that should happen in the body when we accept Christ, when we reflect on that light, when his light illuminates every area of our lives, all the dark got to go. And a lot of us take baby steps to get there. A lot of us are like, uh, but and you don't want to own it. You don't want to own that you like that wicked thing that you do, you don't want to own that you enjoy that wicked aspect of your life because you got to understand this outside of the man who was possessed by Legion, you gotta understand every wicked thing to God does not seem wicked to us. I'm saying it one more time. Everything that's wicked to God, that's evil in his height, it doesn't always align with our sense of morality that's been issued to us by society. For example, a white lie. What's the harm? Murdering children. Obviously, that's bad. Um, I don't know. Being selfish, it's often praised in some communities, you know. Um, I don't know. Uh murdering animals for fun, that's obviously a sin, right? So we have this, we have what the law says, like what American law and what culture says are bad things, things that would typically get you sent to jail or prison or give you a fine. We'll say that those things are bad, and then everything else, yeah, it's up for debate. It becomes a moral issue, not necessarily a legal issue, right? And so we we we view God in the same manner while taking away what his word actually says. Because he's very black and white. And so if we can move beyond how we view our legal system and our moral code, and then pick up God's code and see like all the things that they did, Moses and them did in Numbers, right? To dedicate this temple and how it was very specific instructions, you know. You see the people then turn back to their flesh later on down that journey, even after the Maccabees, you see Israel, modern-day Israel, turn back to their flesh. Even take any Christian you know that's been baptized, you see them turn back to their flesh. There's this divide that must happen, and God will not relent and give up on any of us to continue to pursue us and continue to perfect us in his name and his image and his glory because we're witness bearers to him. And so I say all of that to say we gotta we gotta cut through this this clear, murky little, and I know that's a contradiction, right? But this like murky waters that we live in when we say like, I'm good and I'm saved, but I'm on my way to being righteous, right? I.e. I'm still justifying some of the wicked things that I do in my life. How do we get from justification of evil, justification of wickedness, right? It's it's all about renewing our mind. That's the only way to get there. Because you're right. Like I can have a normal conversation with any person out there, and we can argue over, you know, if I stole a penny, is that bad, right? Will God smite me? Will lightning strike me? All the anecdotal things, right? Versus murder. You know, I have family members, and that's some that's one of the big reasons they don't believe is because they can't understand how somebody who committed murder or or or a pedophile or, you know, think of the most heinous crime, somebody who committed a mass murder, right? Like the Vegas shooter, how can they just simply ask for forgiveness and still have the opportunity to go to heaven when I've never committed murder? Right? And so we have to renew our mind because our morality, right, our legal system is based off of society, and that changes, right? And I've said this before, it was it was okay at one point to have slaves. Like the moral fabric of America said, yes, Keith, because you have are melanin rich, you're not even a whole person. And they and they wrote that down, three-fourths of a law, right? Like three-fourths of a person, because that was a societal norm. So obviously, our morality can never compare with God's morality, because he's perfect and good, right? And so as we transition and as we as we face the light of Christ in our lives, and it shines on every shadowy area in our heart and in our mind, we have to be willing to be exposed to that so that we can be purified, that we can produce the fruit, and that we can be ambassadors and truly do his work. And so I hope, though this was kind of intense, and we're talking about sin and righteousness and holiness and legalism and all these other things, hopefully you were encouraged to know that his grace, he doesn't show favoritism. He's not here to judge those that are trusting in him because we're trusting in him for a product, right? We're trusting in him to produce the fruit in our lives to actually be changed, right? But but those that are continually doing wicked, those that are continually saying, I want my cake and I want to be able to eat it too, I want to be able to have Jesus, but I want to be able to have my sin at the same time, and I don't want it to go. The difference is not wanting it to go. That's what we need to pray on, that's what we need to repent from, that's what we need to focus up in with the Lord in our prayer lives, right? And ask for the Holy Spirit in this moment to literally say, God, help me to remove my fleshly desires from my past. The darkness that I want to keep, I submit that to you in the name of Yeshua the Messiah. In your name, I submit all areas of my darkness that I've been trying to hide from you. I've been trying to lie like Ananias and Sophia, right? I've been trying to keep these hidden and thinking that I can outwit you. I want to die to those. And we make that personal choice to decide to die to these things and give it away to him, then it can be accomplished. But only then can it be accomplished. So, yes, John 3.16 does say, for God so loved the world. But if we have to also remember that that's just not a free pass to keep living a horrible life. And horrible is not the American definition or the Jewish definition. It's God's definition, right? It's not about following laws for law's sake, it's not about celebrating Hanukkah for Hanukkah's sake. Celebrating Hanukkah doesn't get you into heaven, celebrating uh Shabbat doesn't get you into heaven, Pasak doesn't get you to heaven. It's faith and it's trust, right? That's what gets you there. It's putting your faith in the one that came to be the ultimate sacrifice. But this is about growing. This is about learning, this is about challenging yourselves and identifying these areas that do need to be impacted by God's light. So, until tomorrow, love y'all. Be blessed.