I know I have been silent for several days. The truth is that the conference in St. Louis was NOT a conference; it was an encounter with the Living God! It left me speechless, and searching for words to share. I will try now, but it will be hard to adequately describe what we experienced.
In Genesis 48:19 Jacob blesses and prophesies over his grandson Ephraim, saying, "...his descendants will become a group of nations." And so the tribe of Joseph, through his son Ephraim, becomes symbolic, if you will, for the thousands and thousands of descendants of the northern tribes who eventually become scattered throughout all the nations of the world (following the exile). But the Father is even now, in this hour, about a work of restoration, re-gathering all His people, and making them to be one in His hand - grafted together into the one Root of the olive tree (who is Yeshua, the Messiah).
In Ezekiel 37:15-17, 24-25, the LORD speaks to the prophet Ezekiel and says, "Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, 'Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him. Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, 'Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.' Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. My servant David will be King over them, and they will all have one Shepherd. They will follow my Torah and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land where your fathers lived. They and their children's children will be there forever and David my servant will be their prince forever." This reference to David, of course, speaks of Yeshua (Jesus) as the King and Shepherd over ALL the people of the Restored Israel -- TWO sticks in the Father's hand, both Judah (the Jewish people who are blood-descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and Ephraim (believers grafted into the tree through the Messiah). In other words, this passage is describing the same thing we see Paul explaining to us in Ephesians 2:14: "For He Himself (Yeshua) is our peace, who has MADE THE TWO ONE, AND HAS DESTROYED THE BARRIER... HIS PURPOSE WAS TO CREATE IN HIMSELF ONE NEW MAN OUT OF THE TWO, THUS MAKING PEACE, AND IN THIS ONE BODY TO RECONCILE BOTH OF THEM TO GOD THROUGH THE CROSS, BY WHICH HE PUT TO DEATH THEIR HOSTILITY."
And so together we marched...from the West to the East...from our hotel through the gateway of the Arch. Both Jews and believers in Yeshua marched side by side, to prophetically show Yahweh, our God, that we want to put aside all past hostilities, join together as brothers of the same Tree, and get ready to return to Israel, the land of our inheritance! One thousand of us formed a line so long that it was not possible to see the end from the beginning! Old men with staffs, young daddies with children on their shoulders, women with small children, grandmothers, men blowing ram's horns and women bearing beautiful banners honoring Yahweh and blessing Israel walked across several downtown St. Louis blocks stopping traffic and eliciting the astonished gazes of those who drove by! It looked as close to the first Exodus as anything I have ever imagined. The only thing missing was the cattle and sheep!
Once we got up to the Arch, the group massed together, and in one accord we moved through that enormous gateway, blowing our shofars, praising God, and singing "Hine Ma Tov" ("Oh how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity" - Psalm 133). I was weeping throughout this journey, and looking up at the clear, sunny sky I was praying and asking Father, "If this is pleasing to you, Lord, I pray that you would cause a cloud to come over us and shower us with your blessing of rain." (My time in Israel taught me that the foremost sign of the Father's blessing is rain). Within a few moments, a dark cloud began to appear, and amazingly it came and settled right over our group. But what was even more astonishing was the raindrops that fell! It was not a sheet of rain; it was not a fine mist of rain. It was very large drops, that plopped one at a time on each person's shoulder. The drops were so large we could literally see them fall one at a time on individual shoulders, and none of us got actually wet - but most all of us were weeping, because we perceived these drops as tears of joy from the Lord's eyes, as He saw us beginning to fulfill the prophecies of His people Israel being restored back together as one!
I don't know her name - this tiny, defenseless one. She is probably only 3 or 4 weeks old, abandoned, and for some reason choosing my back porch to hide and hope for a meal. She's a tiny grey tabby kitten, obviously lost and terribly frightened. After 48 hours of hearing her pathetic cry, my heart finally broke and I put food and water on my back porch for her. I watched through the back door window as she gobbled the food, slurped the water, and then curled up contentedly in the sun, occasionally glancing up at the window with her huge green eyes offering gratitude.
