THE TWO STICKS - Ephraim and Judah
THE TWO STICKS – Ephraim and Judah
Ez. 37: 16-17; Zech. 11:14
Sunday, August 23, 2020, The year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
“I have noticed this is revival, when God’s Spirit is poured out, that the people start coming together. Back in the days of the Latter Rain Revival some very strange things happened. In 1949 and 1950, God was pouring out His Spirit in a glorious way in the Latter Rain. Suddenly there were Oneness or Jesus Only preachers…and Trinity preachers coming together and sitting on the same platform. Now that was a miracle! You never heard of anything in Pentecost like that! They never flowed together. But when revival came, they began to come together. They began to lay down their differences and find something greater in Jesus Christ” (Bill Britton).
We the church have grown past many of our differences. But there is still much arguing and debating of the Word of God, the present dealings of God, and the future works of God. To my amazement, there are still denominations who though they believe in God, do not believe in Christ’s supernatural daily action on earth, and in each one of our personal lives.
When this present shaking of nations (correction/judgment) has come into God’s fullness of time, I believe the “Glory Cloud” will again be moving on people who are seeking the LORD with their whole heart and will have been chosen to “carry the glory” of “Harvest.”
Tuesday while preaching from Psalm 78, the Lord gave me a revelation or should I say a “light bulb” went off in my head of the Lord’s progression of His Kingdom glory and grace. The Lord used many imperfect vessels to carry His Glory from one generation to the other. When one people group, failed/sinned, His glory moved to those who had the faith to carry His glory.
In Psalm 78: 9-11, the psalmist gives an illustration of Ephraim’s disobedience and the grim consequences of their fall. For a long time, Ephraim was Israel’s leading tribe, but they “turned tail when the time came to fight” fine archers though they were. Why did God not bless them with victory? Because they had deliberately disregarded God’s grace made so plain long ago, and they failed to live in harmony with his will as revealed in the Law. So, theirs was the covenant curse of military defeat.
Psa. 78: 9-11: The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgot his works, and his wonders that he had showed them.
Judah was given the blessing of the southern kingdom and Ephraim was the leading tribe in the northern kingdom which was called “Israel.” Judah together with Ephraim and Manasseh (the house of Joseph) were considered the leaders of the tribes. They had separate kings until David was chosen to unify Judah and Israel as one nation with one king.
This was prophesied by Ezekiel in chapter 37 in the vision of the valley of dry bones and reveals the resurrection of the nation from their fall into sin and idolatry. This is prophetic not only of the resurrection of the natural Jew, but is prophetic of the restoration of the church and the raising up of the Army of the Lord! Nothing can be restored to life without the breathe of the Holy Spirit and the Blood of Jesus Christ.
I believe the Lord is raising up that mighty Army of the Lord and we the church are called to war alongside the Angel Armies of the Captain of the Lord of Hosts.
Ezekiel 37: 1-11: The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O’ Lord GOD, you know. Again, he said to me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O’ you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD. So, I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus, says the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So, I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
In this time of warfare against the forces of evil manifesting in the spirit of antichrist, we must stand on our feet as the Lord’s army. We the church are being positioned to be part of that exceeding great army. If we are not found fighting the good fight of faith, we can be set aside just as Ephraim (the northern kingdom) lost the glory, blessing and favor of God.
This operation was not done by Ezekiel’s faith. This requires Christ’s faith (Galatians 2:20). However, the prophet had to be obedient to prophesy to those dead bones. It is my belief the bones represent the whole church, the whole house of Israel. In the larger sense, this includes the O.T. saints. This is the principle of the bones of Joseph (Gen. 50; Heb. 11:39-12:2).
“Breathe upon these slain, that they may live. This is the condition of the church in the last days (the whole house of Israel). The whole house of Israel encompasses all people who have received Jesus Christ as their LORD and SAVIOR. It cannot be the whole house of Israel separate from Jesus Christ. The Lord is brining forth an exceeding great end-time army. There are different realms in God’s army; but let us all be found fighting the good fight of faith in the midst of the battle. Let us release our spiritual weapons of warfare through the Word of God which is delivered by His Holy Angels. Let there be none among us, like Ephraim who will refuse to fight along side the Captain of the Angel Armies. Let us not be among those who do not even recognize that a spiritual battle is going on in the first and second heavens.
Ezekiel 37: 16-17: Son of man, take one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companion And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand.
Under King David, the two kingdoms became one. Under King Jesus, the whole house of Israel, the Kingdom of God, inclusive of the Church will become one. This is also the coming together of the two offices of the King and the Priest. Judah was the tribe that provided the kings of the land. Ephraim reveals the fruitfulness of priestly ministry or the failure of the priesthood to drive-out the Canaanites and fight.
The term Israel means one who prevails or overcomes. These bones are raised up and formed as one nation. They were raised up together. That the Lord called forth the four winds to breathe his breathe. This will be a universal, world-wide move of the Spirit to touch the whole creation. This COVID 19 plague has been world-wide.
Satan through the one world government has purposed to create a one-world ruler with a one-world false prophet. Through Ezekiel, the Lord has declared there will be a one world revival by the Ruach (breathe of God) in the dead church as well as Israel.
There is yet another prophet who must prophesy to Judah and Ephraim of the breaking of the stick.
Zech. 11:14 I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. (Ephraim).
After the rejection of the Messiah, the abolishment of the Old Covenant, and its fulfillment, the LORD cut asunder the staff called Bands (union). The meaning of this was that the united nation of Judah and Ephraim would be dispersed again. It came to pass in A.D. 70 when the 12 tribes were again scattered among the nations.
Deut. 28:64Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone.
The fact that Judah and Israel (Ephraim) were together again as one nation after the captivities to Babylon and Assyria; and that this brotherhood was to be broken again in the second dispersion, reveals the 12 tribes have not been lost. God fully recognized the entire nation as being in the land in one brotherhood after the captivity, and prophesied He would scatter them again for the sin of selling and crucifying His son. We know there is even now a regathering of the Jews back to the nation of Israel.
Paul prophesied to us the day when the number of the Gentiles would come in
Ezekiel 37:21-28: Say too them, Thus, says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, where they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. I will make a covenant of peace (the New Covenant) with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant. I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary (Holy of Holies) in the midst of them forevermore. They will all have one shepherd (Jesus Christ). My tabernacle shall also with them: yes, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. The heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore.
Psalm 78: 70-72: God also chose his beloved one, David. He promoted him from caring for sheep and made him his prophetic servant. God prepared David and took this gentle shepherd-king and presented him before the people as the one who would love and care for them with integrity, a pure heart, and the anointing to lead Israel, his holy inheritance.
The Davidic Messiah is forevermore the catalyst of human destiny. Continue in his kindness, otherwise we too will be cut off is Paul’s word of caution to presumptuous Gentile Christians. At the time of the "fullness of the Gentiles" the glory will return to Israel.
I believe after this “shaking of nations,” a great glory, a great restoration and hopefully a great harvest will be released on the earth in the face of the one world order. Those who carry this great glory, will not be those Christians who have been unfaithful and disobedient in the glorious gospel of our great salvation. Christ will again choose a people who He has prepared to “carry His glory.” Let us be found with our weapons of warfare ready for battle and willing to fight the good fight of faith that we will not be like Ephraim and be set aside from carrying the glory.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. and TP.T. I quoted Bill Britton as indicated by quotations. Comments and conclusions are my own.