(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hello everybody, it's MrTahl23 back with another video. In this video I want to explain what a Menorah is, what its purpose is, and what it symbolizes. You may have seen a Menorah on my channel banner before in the past. I've since removed it, but on my homepage there used to be a blue Menorah next to the name of Yehovah on my channel banner right under MrTahl23. And I've used such as a symbol for other online accounts of the past before as well. And doing so has made or led many people to accuse me of being a Jew, because Jews use symbols like the Menorah, specifically the nine branch Menorah during Hanukkah. So that must mean that a Menorah is primarily a Jewish symbol, right? No, wrong, that's incorrect, okay? It's a biblical object explained in Exodus 25, it was used in the Tabernacle and in the Temple of Solomon and even in the Second Temple. And although Jews use Menorahs today to often represent the religion, such as in Israel their coat of arms is a Menorah, just because they use that, the original candlestick within the Temple had nothing to do with the modern day religion of Judaism. Here's what a lot of people don't understand. The religion of Judaism is not the same as the religion of the Old Testament. Judaism claims to believe in the Torah, they claim to believe in the Tanakh, the Old Testament, but it doesn't. Instead it adheres to the Pharisaic traditions of the Talmud and the Midrash. Jesus said to the Jews in his day in John chapter 5 verse 46 to 47, for had he believed Moses, he would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words? And this is true, most Jews reject the six day creation count, the flood story, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis and even Exodus, the story of Exodus. They call them allegories, and they also directly disobey and twist many laws given in the Bible, most importantly the law that says don't add or subtract from the law. And they do that by adding thousands of new commandments in the Talmud. The Bible says in Acts chapter 10 verse 43, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins, of course talking about Jesus Christ. And I demonstrated in a video that I uploaded about three to four months ago, and I showed from the Old Testament that salvation has always been by grace through faith. It's never been by keeping the law as Judaism teaches. The only difference between the Old Covenant in the time of the ancient prophets and now is the name and the information. Those of that day were promised or required to call upon the name of Yehovah, and they looked forward with faith that the promises of God contained within the prophecies would be fulfilled. Now with the New Covenant, the New Testament, we call upon the name of Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Yehovah, and have much more information because we live in a time where the prophecies concerning Jesus have already been fulfilled. But it's the same religion. The Old Testament and New Testament is the same religion, and it's not Judaism at all. Judaism is of the devil. Jesus said in John chapter 8 verse 44 to 45, year of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. So a menorah as a biblical symbol has nothing to do with Judaism. God commands it to be built along with the other vessels in Exodus, well, okay, not all the other vessels in this particular verse, but in the book of Exodus he explains how to build the menorah, and the Ark of the Covenant, and the Table of Shobra, and so on. But in Exodus chapter 25 verse 31-38 he explains the menorah. It says, And thou shalt take a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, his shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knobs, and his flower, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side. Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knob and a flower in one branch. And three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knob and a flower. So in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls, made like unto almonds, with their knobs and their flower. And there shall be another two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their knobs and their branches shall be the same. All shall be one beaten work of pure gold. and thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. So this is the commandment to build a candlestick with six branches, okay, seven total lamps with the base, the middle being the other one. Okay, so you have the one lamp and then you have the six branches with the six other lamps. Okay, that's a menorah, that's what it is. It's not nine branch. Nine branch is just a Judaic tradition for Hanukkah. But it's in the Old Testament, is my point. It's biblical. If I put a menorah in my profile pics, that doesn't make me a Jew, okay? It's representative, it's something in the Bible, and I'll explain exactly what it means, okay? So what is the purpose of the menorah and what does it symbolize? Well, like many symbols and objects in the Old Testament, it's a picture of Jesus Christ himself in the future. The menorah is mentioned in 1 Samuel 3, verse two to three. It says, and it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down to his place and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was and Samuel was laid down to sleep. So it calls the lamp within the temple the lamp of God. This is significant because of what Jesus constantly called in the Bible. He's referred to as the light of God, the light of the world, the lamp of God, et cetera. It says in John chapter one, verse 49, in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended him not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of the light that was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And then John chapter eight, verse 12 says, then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. And then Revelation 21, 23, it says, and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the lamp, the lamb, okay, that's the lamb of God, Jesus, is the light thereof. And there's so many other verses which refer to Jesus as a lamp or as a light or which refer to God's word specifically which was made flesh in Jesus as a lamp such as in Proverbs chapter six, verse 23. Also the seven branches of the menorah, the specific number seven may also represent Jesus and the fact that Jesus fulfills the seven appointed times of God given in Leviticus chapter 23. It says in Colossians chapter two, verse 16 to 17, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the bodies of Christ. The holy days are all pictures of things to come. They're shadows of the future. Now I'm not going to go into too much detail because I've talked about this many times, plenty of times on my channel in the past. Maybe I'll make another video about it in the future just explaining in more detail specifically the seven feasts. But there are seven holy days that are given in the law, Passover, unleavened bread, first fruits, Pentecost, day of trumpets, day of atonement, essekote. All of these picture Christ, the first three representing the first coming of Christ, the middle, the base, the branch, right, the not, well it's not the branch, the actual candlestick which is Pentecost representing the time of the churches and the last three being the return of Christ and the final judgment of the world. The menorah is also representative of the spirits of God. In the book of Revelation, a set of seven lamps are mentioned several times. The first is in Revelation chapter one where the seven candlesticks are said to represent the seven churches of Asia. In Revelation chapter one verse 20 it says, the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the several candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. Then in Revelation chapter four verse five it says, and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God. This is actually demonstrated earlier in the Bible in the book of Zechariah which says in chapter four verse two to six, and said unto me, what seest thou? And I said, I have looked and behold a candlestick all of gold with a bowl upon the top of it and the seven lamps thereon and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me saying, what are these my Lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, knowest thou not what these be? And I said, no my Lord. Then he answered and spake unto me saying, this is the word of Yehovah unto Zerobabel saying, not by might nor by power but by my spirit sayeth the Lord of hosts. So Zechariah sees a vision of the candlestick of the menorah, the seven branch menorah with the two olive trees standing by it. And he doesn't understand what he's seeing. So the next thing that God replies with is that it's not by might nor by power but by his spirit. Thus he is acknowledging that the menorah is actually representative of the spirit of God. The book of Isaiah mentions some of these different spirits you know, that says the seven spirits of God in Revelation 4 five. The book of Isaiah in chapter 11 verse two says, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. The Bible says concerning us as Christians also in Matthew chapter five verse 14, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hit. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So what is a menorah for? It's a very Christian symbol. It's not a Jewish symbol, it's a Christian symbol. It represents the light of God which shines through us as Christians in the seven churches you know, the seven churches of God who are represented by seven candlesticks, seven menorahs. It represents the spirit of God which we are to show to the world because we are the light of the world and the life of Christ itself whose mind we have if we are born again. We are the laborers of God so we should show the spirits of God because the Holy Spirit is inside of us, okay? If we walk in the spirit, we will produce the fruits of the spirit which include love, peace, joy, things like that and we will be led by the different spirits which are shown in Isaiah chapter 11 verse two as well. So that's the meaning of a menorah. It has nothing to do with just, oh, it's just a symbol of Hanukkah and that's it. No, it's something that's actually in the Bible and which has actual meaning. It's very representative of the light that's constantly mentioned throughout the New Testament. So thank you everybody for watching and goodbye.