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What Is Shmini Atzeret

By Apostle/Prophetess Jacquelyn Fedor
2016 - 10 - 17






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Sh'mini 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 its own meeting, its own convocation.
Leviticus 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.
Not all of God's people will experience Sh'mini Atzeret. Man must develop a love and hunger for Truth. Without God's knowledge and an intimate involvement in His plan of restoration they cannot enter God's rest as they will ignorantly pursue their own agendas and refuse change. They will therefore remain children of the 7th day.
Sh'mini means 8th. The number eight is symbolic of new beginnings, a new cycle, a new era. For instance, the covenant of circumcision was performed on the 8th day as a sign that God's people were in a covenant relationship with Him and that they believed God for the promises He made to Abraham concerning the future of his descendants.
Atzeret means: "to hold back" or "that which is held back" for the purpose of bringing something to a state of perfection. A sign of God's covenant people today is circumcision of the heart and mind from the world and its systems, a separating from the world's knowledge to the mind of Christ, God's knowledge, and a laying down of their works to do His. God being a spirit sees the heart and mind of man and only the circumcised ones that enter His rest can really enter into the blood covenant with Him to become a new species, new creatures to inhabit the new earth.
The harvest began at Rosh Hashanah.
Revelation 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.
This latter crop is judged, marked and if chosen set aside at Rosh Hashanah to be put in the Lord's house for His use. They will not only be selected but prepared as His Body. They are ones that God has poured truth on that have readily accepted the word or revelation released for this end time. It is these that are ushered into the 8th day. This truth is called "the latter rain". It has been released to nourish and bring life to the 7th day last planting that matured in the 8th day as the Lord's special crop. A symbolic picture was portrayed by old Israel during celebration of Tabernacles foretelling this event. Seventy bulls were sacrificed to God representing the seventy different nations of mankind where His people were scattered, but during Sh'mini Atzeret, only one bull was sacrificed, representing the one nation, the special crop, the new Israel, the new species, God's covenant children. This is the true seed of Abraham that celebrates this 8th day feast. Children of the 8th day are a new and different kind of seed. The generation created for the 8th day is much different than the 7th day creature. They are no longer of Adam, but born through God Himself!
1 Peter 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 (written in God's book of remembrance) for you,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (or in the end of time).
I John 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.
David prophesied of the emergence of this generation of people in Psalm 102:18.
18 This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created (different from Adam's descendants) may praise the Lord.
God promised Abraham one level higher, a level "closer to God", a special people, a special nation, as well as a special priesthood. These are enlightened ones chosen from the four corners of the earth that keep themselves clean and make their robes white. Again, this is a covenant entered into by circumcision on the 8th day, first in the natural, and now in the supernatural through circumcision of the heart and mind. These people are the fulfillment of the covenant promises made to Abraham. They are a set aside, sanctified people that are in no way Adam. They are their own nation of people, separate and yet open to all people that will be born again and endure circumcision from all that is of this world. These are ones that cultivated an intimate relationship with God, and entered His rest to fulfill His plan of restoration, because they chose to be a part of His Kingdom.
The 8th day people, or those who experience Sh'mini Atzeret, will manifest God's victory over the enemy. Through them, as their society grows, the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God. This carnal realm we live in today will fade from sight. Malachi says it this way:
Malachi 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 (the latter times) shall burn them up," says the LORD of hosts, "That will leave them neither root nor branch. (All that has been performed outside God's original plan for humanity will be destroyed.)
2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings (restoration and renewal); 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.
God's will is much more important to an 8th day child than their own, so their works are really His. Their agenda actually becomes His. Therefore, personal disappointment is meekly accepted as part of God's plan to restore them, to change their old natures, to cleanse their hearts and minds. Seeming failures are but instruments to shape and mold them into His image and show them direction. A closed door of opportunity simply means they are on the wrong path. They appreciate the Lord for closing the door and intervening on their behalf as well as for the sake of the Kingdom. These will not be deterred by adversity.
Revelation 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 (this is done at His discretion)":
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.
The 8th day people, those who experience Sh'mini Atzeret are the church glorious, the triumphant church. Nothing really can overcome them because their Father has all control and is tucking them safely back in His plan, into His own rest. Their names are etched on His hand, their minds and hearts are in tune, in harmony with Him. They are returning to His nature, His image, predestined for this time, a new generation, a different race of people born through truth.
The 8th day children are not afraid to be different either. Scripture speaks of an age to come and they realized as 7th day people they had to change to enter that age. No other generation had fully entered into God's promises as yet! Does the Bible actually speak about an age to come? Here are just a few examples.
Matthew 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).
Ephesians 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.
As we can see from scripture, the age to come is very real and as we also saw from scripture, those that enter into this age will be made eternal. First Corinthians 15:51 will be fulfilled in them.
I Corinthians 15:51-54
51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
The eighth day child will not only be willing to walk in God's plans, but will obediently obey the laws He wrote on their minds and hearts until they actually become the law over sin and evil.
Hebrews 8:10
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
In fact, as they enter God's rest, restoring them to the perfect plan for mankind, they will not even look for or at the wrong thing, but will see only good. Unlike Adam and Eve, they will eat only of the tree of Life, and will not desire the taste of the world's fruit or seek knowledge from the Tree of Good and Evil. They have personally experienced the misery and failure there. These will look only to the Kingdom of God. Soon this realm, this world that has evolved through the direction of the adversary, 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! How exciting for those invited to remain in the King's presence after the feast of Tabernacles!!
These eternal ones will rule with God a thousand years, which to God is but one day, to train the nations. They are living stones that make up God's house, living stones with the law written on the fleshly tablets of their hearts, David's tabernacle. They will be the living law to the nations because they are the full stature of the body of Christ. Jesus is the law, the Torah and His Spirit dwells and manifests through the 8th day children to train the world. Those that choose to follow at the end of the thousand years will step into the 9th day, rejoicing in the Torah and will 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 the rest of 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 society, its culture and pleasure, in fact its whole existence. Christ's body, along with the nations that love Him, will experience the victory and rejoice in His law! Let us close with Daniel's vision of this final victory.
Daniel 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 – Satan himself through his body).
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.'
For further information on the 8th day children, the new species, the new earth, ones invited to remain for the feast of Sh'mini Atzeret, we encourage you to read Enforcing Christ's Victory to Earth.