WHAT IS SHIMINI ATZERET?
Apostle Jacquelyn F. Fedor
Shimini Atzeret is the feast celebrated on the 8th day, counting from the beginning of Sukkot or Tabernacles. It is a separate feast from Tabernacles however, and is in no way a part of it. It is its own convocation.
Lev
23:36
36 'For seven
days you shall offer an
offering made by fire to the LORD.
On the eighth day
you shall have a holy convocation,
and you shall offer an offering made
by fire to the LORD. It is a
sacred assembly,
and you shall do no customary work
on it.
Shimini
means 8th.
The number eight is symbolic of new beginnings and completion. For
instance, the covenant of circumcision is performed on the 8th
day to complete as it were, or "to instill the potential for
perfection" in the human being.
Atzeret means: "to hold back" or "that which is held back" for the purpose of bringing something to a state of perfection.
The last or seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the final day of harvest.
Rev
14:14-16
14 Then I looked, and
behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man,
having on His head a golden crown, and in
His hand a sharp sickle.
15 And
another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him
who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in
Your sickle and reap, for the
time has come for You to reap, for
the
harvest of the earth is ripe."
16
So He who sat on the cloud thrust in
His sickle on the earth, and the
earth
was reaped.
Part
of this latter crop will be put in the Lord's house for His use, as
they have been prepared as His government. These are ones that God
has poured truth on and that have accepted the word
or revelation released for this end time. This truth is called
"the latter rain". It has been released to nourish and give
life to the 7th day last planting that is the 8th day
special crop. A symbolic picture is portrayed during Tabernacles
foretelling this event. Seventy bulls were sacrificed to God
representing the seventy different nations of mankind: but during
Shimini Atzeret, only one bull was sacrificed, representing the one
nation, the special crop, the new Israel. This is the true seed of
Abraham that celebrate this 8th day feast.
The generation that is created for the 8th day is higher or greater than what was created during the 7 days. They would not be born of Adam, but born through God Himself!
John
3:6-7
6 "That
which is born of the flesh
is flesh,
and
that
which is born of the Spirit
is spirit.
7
"Do not marvel that I said to
you, 'You
must be born again.'
1
Pet 1:3-5
3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
abundant mercy has begotten us again
to a living hope
through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the
dead,
4 to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and
that does not fade away,
reserved in heaven
for you,
5
who are kept by the power of God
through faith for salvation
ready to be revealed in the last
time.
I
Jn 5:18
18 We know that whoever
is born of God does not sin; but
he who has been born of God
keeps himself, and the
wicked one does not touch him.
God
promised Abraham one level higher, a level "closer to God",
a special people, a special nation, a special priesthood. These are
ones that keep themselves clean and make their robes white. This was
a covenant entered into by circumcision on the 8th day, first in the
natural, and then in the supernatural. These are a people of
covenant, a people of circumcision, a people that are in no way Adam.
These are completely set apart,
cut off from the world and its people. They are their own
nation of people separate and yet open to all people that love God
and want to be a part of God's Kingdom.
The 8th day people will manifest God's victory over the enemy and through them as their society grows, the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God. This carnal realm will slowly fade from sight. Malachi says it this way:
Mal
4:1-3
1 "For behold,
the
day is coming, burning
like an oven, and all
the proud, yes, all
who do wickedly will be
stubble.
And the day
which is coming
shall burn them up,"
says the LORD of hosts,
"That will leave them neither
root nor branch.
2 But to you
who fear My name
the Sun of Righteousness shall arise
with healing in His wings;
and you shall go out and grow fat
like stall-fed calves.
3 You
shall trample the wicked,
for they shall be ashes under the
soles of your feet on the
day
that I do this,"
says the LORD of hosts.
His will is much more important to an 8th day child than their own, so their works are really His. Their agenda is actually His. Therefore disappointment is accepted as part of God's plan that we just don't understand as yet, and seeming failures are but instruments to shape and mold us into His image and show us direction. A closed door simply means we are on the wrong path and we appreciate the Lord interfering on our behalf and for the sake of the Kingdom.
Rev
3:7-8
7 "And to the angel of
the
church in Philadelphia write,
'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has
the key of David, He who opens
and no
one shuts, and shuts
and no
one opens":
8 "I
know your works. See, I
have set before you an open door,
and no
one can shut it; for you have
a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My
name.
We are the church triumphant. Nothing really can
overcome us because our Father has all in control and we are etched
in His hand. We were predestined for this time: a different
generation, a different race of people who were born in the city of
Sion.
The 8th day children are not afraid to be different either, because the Bible talks of an age to come and we must be different to enter that age. No other generation has entered. Does the Bible actually speak about the age to come? Here are just a few examples.
Matt
12:32
32 "Anyone who speaks
a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever
speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either
in this age
or in the age to come.
Mark
10:30
30 "who shall not
receive a hundredfold now in this time-- houses and brothers and
sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions-- and
in the age to come,
eternal life (eternal life
is in the age to come).
Eph 1:21
21
far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only
in this age
but also in that which
is to come.
The
age to come is very real and as we saw from scripture, those that
enter into it will be made eternal. First Corinthians 15:51 will be
fulfilled in them. They will not only be willing to walk out God's
plans, but will obediently obey the laws in their hearts until they
actually become the law over sin and evil. In fact, one day they will
not even look for or at the wrong thing, but will see only good. Like
Adam and Eve before the fall, they will eat only of the tree of Life,
and will not taste of the world's fruit and its tree of good and
evil. They will see only the Kingdom of God. This realm will dissolve
or disappear from their eyes, and they will have no remembrance of
it. All is good in God's world: no sickness, no pain, no defeat -
only good and life eternal. What a beautiful promise for the children
of the 8th day!
Rev
21:3-4
3 And I heard a loud voice
from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people.
God
Himself will be with them
and be their God.
4 "And God
will wipe
away every tear
from their eyes;
there shall be no
more death,
nor sorrow,
nor crying.
There shall be no
more pain,
for the former
things have passed away."
The
eternal ones will rule with God a thousand years, which to God is but
one day, to train the nations. They will be the living law
to them. They are the full stature of the body of Jesus. Jesus is the
law, the Torah and His Spirit manifests through the 8th day children
to train the world. Those that choose to follow at the end of the
thousand years will rejoice in the Torah
and will also celebrate the last and final feast: Simchat
Torah. What does the number 9 stand for? The gifts of the Holy
Spirit. In the 9th day the final battle will have been
fought. Satan, who has been locked up for the thousand years will be
released to test those trained during the thousand years, and at last
the greatest gift the Holy Spirit has ever given man will be released
for all mankind that have become the Torah: the gift of eternal life
and dominion once more over this planet. Satan's rule will finally be
destroyed, along with his world and its dress, music, arts etc. Let
us read of this victory in Daniel 7:26 - 27.
Dan
7:26-27
26 'But the
court shall be seated, and they
shall take away his dominion,
to consume
and
destroy it forever
(we are speaking here of Antichrist - the body of Satan).
27
Then the kingdom and dominion,
and the greatness of the kingdoms
under the whole heaven, shall be
given to the people, the saints
of the Most High. His
kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and all
dominions shall serve
and obey Him.'
Hanukkah of old was in the natural a type and shadow of Shimini Atzeret: a time like now when the people of God were tired of the system they were forced to live in and the force behind it. For the Maccabees it was a physical Antiochus with his armies, his lifestyle and culture that was in opposition to God and His people that they fought, but for the people that will make the 8th day it is a battle against the evil powers and principalities that operated through them. Ours is a worse fight as our opponents are supernatural and so powerful that only Michael is strong enough to subdue and finally defeat them. The Menorah is symbolic of the feasts we must experience in our lives to carry us through this terrible battle. It is symbolic of the church, the people of God with the Holy Spirit of Christ dwelling in them to sustain them to the 8th day. The spiritual menorah (the church), although broken and powerless, does have the strength of Christ the anointed one (the holy oil) to make it through to victory, Shimini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Satan is convinced he has us so entrenched in his world that we can't fight our way out. There's not enough of us, or is there? There were only Mattathias and his family in the physical Hanukkah, but with the help of God they won. Could it be if we take the same hard stand against all that offends and opposes the family of God that we too could make the spiritual 8th day? We have the prophecies of old as promises that we can, as well as the song of God today that says we can. We must be separate from this evil system to be aware of the prophecies or the song.
Rev
14:1-3
1 Then I looked,
and behold,
a
Lamb standing
on Mount Zion, and with
Him one hundred and forty-four thousand,
having His Father's name written on
their foreheads.
2 And I
heard a voice from heaven, like the
voice of many waters,
and like the voice of loud thunder.
And I heard the sound of harpists
playing their harps.
3 They sang
as it were a new song before the throne,
before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no
one could learn that song except
the hundred
and forty-four
thousand who were redeemed
from the earth.
There's
the song of God for direction today.
Ezek
37:10-14
10 So
I prophesied as He commanded
me, and breath
came into them,
and they
lived,
and stood
upon their feet,
an exceedingly
great army.
11
Then He said to me, "Son of man, these
bones are the whole house of Israel.
They indeed say, 'Our
bones are dry,
our hope is lost,
and we ourselves are cut off!'
12
"Therefore prophesy
and say to them,
'Thus says the Lord GOD:
"Behold,
O My people,
I
will open your graves
and cause you to come up from your
graves, and bring
you into the land of Israel.
13
"Then you shall know
that I am the LORD,
when I
have opened your graves,
O My people, and brought you up from
your graves.
14 "I
will put My Spirit in you, and you
shall live, and I
will place you in your own
land. Then
you shall know that I,
the LORD,
have spoken it and
performed it,"
says the LORD.'"
This is prophecy, the breath of
life that God promises.
Dan
8:21-26
21 "And the
male goat
is the kingdom of Greece.
The large horn
that is between its eyes is the first
king.
22 "As for the
broken horn and the four
that stood up in its place, four
kingdoms shall arise
out of that nation,
but not with its power.
23
"And in the latter time of their
kingdom, when the
transgressors have reached their fullness,
a king shall arise
(the
body of Satan, Antichrist),
having fierce features,
who understands sinister schemes.
24
His power
shall be mighty,
but
not by his own power
(Satan's); he shall destroy
fearfully,
and shall prosper and thrive;
he shall destroy the mighty
(stop
God's angels), and also
the holy people.
25
"Through his cunning
he shall cause deceit to prosper
under his rule; and he
shall exalt himself in his
heart. He shall destroy
many in their prosperity
(his
economy will hurt the people). He
shall even rise against the Prince of
princes
(Jesus);
but
he shall be broken without human
means (God will do
it).
26 "And the
vision of the evenings
and mornings which was told
is true;
therefore seal up the vision,
for
it refers to many
days in the future."
Spiritual
Hanukkah is real, and victory promised. Let me read Revelation 11:
7-15, as it tells the whole story better than us.
Rev
11:7-15
7 Now when they
finish their testimony (the
great men and women of the old church) ,
the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war
against them, overcome
them, and kill
them (make them idols and denominations).
8
And their dead bodies
(the spiritually dead)
will
lie in the street of the great city
(Babylon)
which spiritually
is called Sodom (because
of the sexual permissiveness)
and Egypt (the
world),
where also our Lord was crucified
(Jesus was killed by the religious system of His day and the
government of man).
9 Then
those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their
dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to
be put into graves.
10 And
those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them,
make merry,
and send gifts to one another,
because these two prophets tormented
those who dwell on the earth.
(There were people in the old church that spoke truth that the church
world as a whole did not want to hear. To be obedient to that truth,
they would have had to change, which was not what they wanted to do.
So they ruined the validity of those speaking truth and killed them
spiritually in doing so. The same tactics are used today.)
11
Now after the three-and-a-half days
the breath of life
from God
entered them
(God
prophesied life into them), and
they stood on their feet,
and great fear fell on those who saw them.
12 And they heard a
loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And
they ascended to heaven in a cloud
(there are no boundaries on these eternal ones),
and their enemies saw them.
13 In
the same hour there was
a great earthquake,
and a tenth of the city fell.
In the earthquake seven thousand men
were killed, and the rest
were afraid and gave glory to the
God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is
coming quickly.
15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were
loud voices in heaven, saying, "The
kingdoms of this world
have become the
kingdoms of our Lord
and of His Christ, and He
shall reign forever and ever!"
WE SEE IT - WHEN CAN WE BE IT?
God has been calling up His army for quite some time now. We can only proceed when we are fully prepared (it takes 7 feast days to become the Bride). We as individuals cannot skip any of the truth that has been released, or ignore it and not mature, or we as a church will be found lacking as the eighth day manifests. And above all, we must be a holy people so the angels of God will march with us and fight for us. Remember, the battle is won without human hands.