As we come to this awesome city of God, we must keep in mind an understanding of who we are , as Gentiles, in God’s plan and purpose. We are the wild branch that was grafted into the tree, not the original olive branch (Rom. 11:17). We were placed there solely by the means of God’s precious grace and must remain humbly aware of that, remembering how much easier it would be for us to be removed and for the natural branch to be put back in it’s place.

As Gentiles we were a people with no God; an idolatrous people given over to our lusts, pride and earthly wisdom. Yet God made a way for us. We are those that have come from all parts of the earth to this wonderful city of God. We’ve looked unto the city to realize that it has been created for God’s people and that we being foreigners, not citizens by birth must find a different way in. Our way has nothing to do with inheritance through birthright but rather by a decree of God.

This brings us to the Gate of Ephraim. The word Ephraim literally means a double assed sheep or I shall be doubly fruitful. Biblically, Ephraim was the son of Joseph. Joseph had two sons, Manasseh, and Ephraim. Joseph gave his second son the name of Ephraim because he knew God wanted to bless this child with a double portion. This child was not to receive a common inheritance, but one given by the plan and provision of God.

The tribe of Ephraim became known as the tribe of "NO PEOPLE". It received this name because after this tribe entered the Promised Land they intermarried with other peoples, becoming mixed and no longer a pure line of God’s people. However, because they were originally from God and therefore connected to Him, this " NO PEOPLE" still had a double blessing as it was promised Ephraim at birth.

Genesis 41:52 "And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction".

Joseph gave his child this name because after having suffered so many things in his lifetime then finally being exalted and established in power he desired to glorify the Lord. He placed this child Ephraim as a monument to the Lord for the blessing he’d received. I believe he was saying, "I have been fruitful in this land and so this child will be part of that blessing. After enduring and overcoming so many trials and such tribulation this blessing shall now be given to those that belong to me."

Genesis 48: 14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. 17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. 18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. 19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. {multitude: Heb. fulness} 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

Gen. 49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

Ephron and Ephraim come from the same root word, essentially meaning the same thing. There is a connection here that we will explain later.

What Jacob said as he pronounced this blessing upon the children was that he was choosing the younger over the older. This is a pattern seen repeatedly in the word of God. For instance, in the case of Isaac and his sons, Jacob and Esau, Jacob came into Isaac’s tent and received the blessing first although he was the second born. The type is simple. In the manifestation of the full measure of God’s promises regarding inheritance, He has always purposed that the second would be greater than the first. He has always decreed that the latter inheritance would be greater than the former one.

In that same expression, we see that Ephraim is the pattern representing the Gentiles. Though we are second (the engrafted branch and not the original) God has promised to us a blessing greater than all the earth has ever known. Within us is a more fruitful life than in any others God has ever worked through. God has preferred the second to the first but this does not mean that he hates the first. God does not hate Israel, nor the Jewish tradition, but what He is saying is that He raises the humility of the double-assed sheep to a double blessing.

As Jacob placed his right hand upon Ephraim to give the blessing, he preferred him to Manasseh when Joseph tried to switch his hands around, Jacob then spoke with his mouth, saying, "but Ephraim and Manasseh." This meant that Ephraim would receive the former blessing and Manasseh would receive his too. As the Gentile Christian will receive his reward so will the Jew.

In this blessing is seen the entire age of the earth. The people of Israel were the first born. The church then came and received the double blessing, yet Manasseh is not excluded by the church’s blessing, for he, or Israel, shall yet be. This speaks of three dispensations. First, the law where Israel carried the word of God, next, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit where the double portion of blessing is poured out on the gentile church, and last of all, the blessing comes back upon Israel at the appointed time to reveal again the Jewish age finally then enters the Jewish Kingdom dispensation.

The sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were unlike the sons of Jacob in that in this case the single blessing was given to two people. They never share the blessing at the same time but rather each receives it and carries it for a specified period of time. At no time is either of the sons’ blessings diminished or halved. In fact when the Jewish people entered the Promised Land, Moses insisted their blessings would not be halved but would be equal to the Promise. The promise of God fulfilled in Manasseh established in Ephraim and then fulfilled again in Manasseh is a full blessing with a double portion and a full blessing.

Following sheer logic then, you cannot have a full blessing if you’re sharing it with someone. Therefore, there must be dispensations of this blessing. The only way this blessing can be executed without ever being diminished it, is by sharing it separately at a specific time.

We see God working effectually to establish this purpose because, who placed this blessing in Jacob’s heart? Jacob really didn’t know what he was doing, he simply followed the unction of God and spoke. He was moved by the Spirit to put his hands on Ephraim and Manasseh but also speak with his mouth, "Ephraim and Manasseh." In this the blessing was fulfilled including both sons.

By contrast, there was the case of Jacob and Esau. Jacob went in to get the blessing from Isaac then later, when Esau went in, though he sought a blessing with tears, there was none left to give. There is only one blessing and since Jacob, took it first there was nothing left for Esau. Esau had to receive his blessing through Jacob.

However, with Ephraim and Manasseh he shared the blessing without diminishing it, creating the need for it to be dispensationalized. It was imparted to one for awhile then the other for awhile then back to the first for awhile. From this we understand that the time of the church is the time of double blessing, nothing diminished. We do not have a lesser blessing nor are we, the church, the lesser of God’s people. In fact, we have the double portion. Yet in our turn we must give back our reign and rule to those that were before us. There will be a time when we, the church, will turn our authority back to the Jew. There will then be a Jewish dispensation, exactly as Israel spoke the blessing out of his mouth, upon "Ephraim and Manasseh," he dispensationalized the blessing.

The reason I’m explaining this so thoroughly is to help gain an understanding of what is and what shall be as it relates to the Tribulation. If our blessing as the church cannot be diminished but yet must be exchanged into the hands of another, then there must be a point of exchange. At what point or moment in history do we give our authority over to Manasseh?

We can clearly see that moment as it is stated in Daniel. It speaks of the dispensation of time and of a certain number of years which must be fulfilled, about giving of the Holy Spirit and of when that time is cut off, leaving seven years remaining.

This dispensational period we live in is the period of double blessing, for we have the Holy Spirit of God. We have the authority, power and rule and also the spirit of God indwelling us. This means we’ve raised from the humility of our own ugliness, a "NO People" to receive the fruitfulness of God during this Holy Spirit age.

However, we know there is a obvious day when we turn that reign back over to the first child for the blessing to finish and satisfy itself.

At the Rapture we, the church, are snatched away and the Jewish dispensation begins again. No "Born Again" Christian can go through the tribulation; it’s not possible because to do so would break our covenant promise revealed throughout the Word of God. It is absolutely unscriptural. 

Genesis 47:29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: 30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

Israel said he wanted his bones buried on the hill of Ephron. Israel, which translates as "the Savior", said, "I want my death to be in the midst of the hill of Ephron, the city of God." God, through His word, is revealing that there is a dispensational period where the death of Jesus Christ our Savior would occur and this new period would begin. His death established a period of time and a people who would identify with Him. We were buried in the likeness of His death, raised again in the likeness of His resurrection. We know this period of time is when the death of Jesus Christ is borne in our bodies, where we as His inheritors live in Him. Thus the Spirit of Life given us is not fulfilled until the finalized Resurrection at the Rapture. It is then that the entire promise is fulfilled when we are raised in the likeness of the resurrection of He who first rose from the dead. Once this pattern is finished we realize that the time of the church is also finished. Therefore there must be the death which we live in today until the Resurrection is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, based on Israel, based on the Savior.

It’s so wonderful to know God’s given us a doorway where a ‘no people’, a gentile, a heathen, was, through no effort or searching of their own, given a double-portion. This came about because God foreordained there should be a people who would rise up in this power. It was not for the Jews, as they turned away from the death of Jesus. The gentiles, however, turned to the cross of Christ and realized that the midst of the hill of Ephron was where the Savior had buried Himself.

We are a people with a promise. We are established and come to God not by any Jewish tradition but by the cross. We worship before God because He has placed the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in the center of this hill. We are those that hold that most sacred. God is our Father. The cross we carry, the life we proclaim, the gospel we share with the whole world is more sacred to us than any other thing. The very essence of His life on this earth is borne in us. Though our flesh is dead, in us dwells the sanctity of the Living God. In the midst of the hill of Ephron we are united with the death of Christ while we wait for the great resurrection of our lives and of our bodies. Yet despite our dead flesh we have this double portion of the promised blessing. 

This is where this gate is first mentioned in God’s word. He mentions it in reference to the people coming together during the feast of booths. During that period of time the people all gathered at the east side of the city and set up booths. They were doing this as waiting for the return of the promised Messiah, the Lord. They knew the promised redeemer would come form the east so they went to the tops of the houses and built little temporary dwelling places. They inhabited these dwelling places while waiting for the Messiah to come.

It was at the Ephraim Gate everyone prepared for the Rapture of the church. This feast of tabernacles or booths is fulfilled in us as we in this life dwell in temporary dwelling places, our mortal bodies, waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The feast of booths is symbolically talking about the Rapture; about when it will happen, about the times, the dates and the dispensations we’ve been looking at. As we study this, we see that the Rapture must occur to receive the church and usher in the next age. It comes during the period of time of praise when we are waiting for the coming of the Lord. Those who will first see Him are those who are taken off the ground to the tops of their houses and shall meet him in the air.

The Jewish tradition states there is no one who sits on the ground and does not build a booth who will be recognized by the Savoir. For us this means if you do not meet Him in the air, you do not meet Him at all. It’s saying those who have prepared, who are ready and have entered in through this Ephraim Gate shall be the ones waiting for the return of the Lord. We don’t find Manasseh waiting for it but Ephraim. The Jews really don’t care, but we, the church, stand and prepare ourselves that we might meet Him in the air. We are continually mindful of it, continually waiting for it and it is an integral part of our worship. We know it could happen at any moment and are prepared for it. This is our time and we realize we’re in but a temporary dwelling place here and these houses we live in are built with old, dead, dry, bones. We also know they shall be resurrected, born to Life Eternal, and we will know Him. We shall see Him face to face.

He speaks of the gate of Ephraim of a people who were condemned in death, who were burnt in the ashes of their own lives, a people who were humbled before the Word as God hated their sin. God hated their customs, their pride, their stubbornness, and their rebellion. Yet even in all of that hatred, they received their chastisement and when God called them, the people began to come as one, in repentance and sorrow.

As for myself, when I heard the cross of Christ preached tears began to flow from my eyes. It was probably the same for you. Those tears were my response to the Spirit of God, and as He leads us we truly find the meaning of repentance. We have nothing to boast of in ourselves and stand in the ashes of our ruined lives. We are those who look to God for reason to be alive, as there must be something to gain. Standing in the rubble of our lives, we turn to God, saying we’ve been chastised and you’ve taught us to turn to you. We were used to doing it our own way, and unfamiliar with Your yoke. Yet, you’ve told us to turn and we will turn. He is speaking to us of the new birth experience where we in sorrow and repentance allow God to put His yoke upon us and to have full control, allowing Him to turn and direct us.

First there was Manasseh and he was fulfilled in his blessing. Yet there was Ephraim but he was thrown away, a cast off. He had not received the blessing of the Jews and had, in fact, been absorbed by the Assyrians, Hittites, Babylonians, and Philistines. He was lost yet

God said, "I did not forget you. There was a time that had to be fulfilled and then I called, and you came."

Jeremiah 31:20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

When the wrath of God falls upon the world and its nations, when the pain and great trials happen God is saying, "I will remember you, and I will have mercy on you."

The promises of God are clear. The purpose of God is fulfilled in this double blessing we have received of God. This is seen in the fact that we were received by God when we were no people and could come to God just as we were because He loved us, not because of any of our own merit. It was because He had said, "You are a pleasant child." We are the apple of His eye. We are pleasant to Him and He desires us to be in His presence. Whether we feel pleasant or honorable or not we must come before God because we know in Him is the only promise we have. So we come to God because we must.

Hosea 14:8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

Ephraim is saying that in him are the ones who responded to the teaching of the gospel when it came in the name of the Lord and thus put away their idols. He is the one who chooses to come out from the filth and perversions of the world, and to be a part of God. It is Ephraim who fulfills this promise.

When Israel placed his right hand upon Ephraim’s head he said, "In you the land shall be fruitful."

Galatians 3: 8 "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."

Abraham was Isaac’s father. Isaac was Israel’s father and Israel was the one who blessed Ephraim and Manasseh. Israel said, "this blessing will be fulfilled in you and in my death shall be manifest in your midst." It was this gospel preached into Abraham that went and blessed all nations. It was this gospel preached through Abraham that was established even before Israel received the fullness of its blessing in Christ.

Zechariah 10:7 "And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD."

This is the prophecy that was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when it was said; "We are not drunk with wine as it would seem, as it is only the ninth hour of the day." This is the prophecy being fulfilled in Ephraim, in the Holy Spirit dispensation. Though they seem to be rejoicing as one with wine, they are strong and valiant in nature and mighty as a nation above every other people or power. These are those for whom a way has been made: a way to come before God in worship.

The promise of God to Ephraim is the ability to come before the Lord in worship, in Spirit, with a double portion. The promise extends itself to our children in that as they see us rejoicing in our inheritance it makes them glad. The promise is fulfilled in them as their hearts also rejoice. It’s contagious.

This gift of praise we have makes the Jew jealous. It is the manifested presence of the Spirit of God, not anything of our own creation. It is that which sets free the captive, that sets at liberty those who were dirty and ashamed, and places them into the household of the Lord rejoicing.

We of all people, who are the ones who enter in through the Ephraim Gate, enter by praise. It is the praise of a people that were no people, and of those who come before God as mighty warriors though in themselves they were weak and powerless. It is the praise of a people who have put away the things of this earth to receive the fruit of God, and of those who come before God to receive the goodness of the glory of the Lord, knowing His promise is fulfilled within them today.

We have had such a tremedous response to this series that we want to let you know it is a 12 part series and will take some time to get it all into print. However, it is available on audio cassette tape for $70.00. Call us today!

By Barbara Karcz

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

I first attended a service at Amazing Grace Community Church on a Thursday night in March 1995. They called their worship format for that evening service ‘The Power Hour’, and indeed it was. There would be praise and worship and then the Word would be preached and then we would pray as a body. The next step would be to allow the body to share anything the Lord might have given, a word, a scripture, a vision, etc. If God had impressed some particular revelation on our hearts during that week we were to share that too. After each person had shared and any prayer intentions were placed on the board we would pray again. They discontinued this format about a year after I came to that first service to focus more on the study of the Word. In September of this year we resumed the format, our Thursday service is now a Bible Study and Prayer Service. On October 7, 1999 one of our body, Ruth, was given a vision of a banquet table. It was all prepared for a feast but there were only a couple of people there. A voice asked ‘why don’t they come?’ This vision brought to remembrance a dream that I had in the summer of 1995.

First let me give a little background explaining the worship pattern I had begun back in 1986 which, I believe, led up to the dream. The 12-Step program I attended then recommended a conscious contact with God, one of the suggestions was to go to church services of your choice. I went back to the religion of my parents, the one I had grown up in, and the only one I knew. My husband was of the same religion but he didn’t attend services. In that year, l986, I had two children, I now have four. I would take them with me until they would become too loud and active, about 2 years old. So, for one reason and another I eventually worshipped alone. I was ‘on a mission from God’ and was very active in my religion church.

As I mentioned before I started attending services at Amazing Grace Community Church in March of l995 (many things led up to this, one of them being that I was born again in December of 1994, but that’s a whole other story which I won’t go into right now). By summertime of that year I was consistently attending all three of their weekly services, which began the withdrawal from religion. I still worshipped alone because no one wanted to go and it was too much trouble to get them up. I also had this defeated thinking that they would just hate it so why bother. It was one summer night before Sunday morning service that I had the dream. It was so vivid that I felt it had a definite significance to my life.

My husband Wally and I frequently were invited to extremely sumptuous dinners and Christmas celebrations at his friend’s, Terry and Sue, home. In the dream I was going up the stairs to their house for a Christmas feast. Alone. As I was going up the stairs I kept asking myself why I didn’t wake up my family to go to this wonderful dinner, I wanted them to share this with me. I went inside the lavishly decorated house, many tables were set up for the elegant feast. There was a family who was trying to get settled at a table. They had a few children, one of them a baby. I started to help them and then the guilt and shame of not being able to share this with my family became too great. I left to go get my family, praying that we would not miss the feast.

The Lord gave me the interpretation while I was on my way to the 6:00P.M. Sunday service. The Lord prepares a lavish feast of His Word for us, each one of us, whether we come to church or not, but we must come to church to partake of the feast. If we partake we will always be satisfied; it is here that the Lord gives us all that we need. "That He might make thee know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live." Deuteronomy 8:3. By not waking my family up for Sunday services I was denying them the nourishment and gifts that the Lord had prepared for them.

So, what did I do with this most incredible revelation? On the very next Sunday I began to try and wake them up. This was not going to be easy. At first I was met with great resistance. The funny thing about this is that all of my children, except for the baby, were born again. By fall of that year everyone was going to Sunday morning services except my husband. My daughter Sarah, then 6, and my son Vince, then 18 months old, went every Sunday and Thursday with me. Many blessings have followed. Sarah, now 10, has led almost all of her friends to the Lord, and some of them still attend services with us. Vince was born again when he was 5; he usually attends all services with me.

One of the things that I noticed as I was gathering my thoughts for this article was the timing of the dream. I didn’t have the dream when I was in religion where the word is served as an after dinner mint to tradition and ritual but when I obediently became committed to the church God called me to. (For me the first part of the verse from Deuteronomy 8:3 explains those years in religion; "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew not, neither did thy fathers know.") Here at Amazing Grace Community Church the Word is a feast and a banquet beyond anything you could ever think or imagine because it is taught under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The souls, hearts, and minds of my children and myself are now being developed and formed by the Word of God and the results in our lives is awesome.