Going Home

So why the title "Going Home"? Simple. That's where I'm headed. Yeah, I know. That seems kind of boring, but it is what it is. But the question of where home is, is still left out there. How to get there is the easy part.

When God moves you, it's best to hang on tight. And that's what I thought I was doing in the summer of 2007 through the summer of 2008. I was studying and learning. God was teaching me things that were completely blowing my mind. It seemed as if every time I sat down to read, God showed up in a HUGE way. And the more I learned, the more I wanted to teach. The more I taught, the more I wanted to learn. It was in 2007 that I stumbled upon a great teacher named Joseph Good. He was teaching at an online site called Universal Torah Network. His topic of study was The Return Of Israel. I was extremely fortunate to get in on this teaching at the first episode. It rocked my world!

During the study, Joseph Good had a guest teacher come in for a couple of weeks. His lessons were going to center around God returning the exiled "Lost Tribes of Israel" back to the land of Israel. Well, I had never really thought about what had happened to the lost 10 tribes who were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. In my Christianized mind, anyone who was a Jew had to be part of the 12 tribes of Israel. Anyway, the guest speaker wanted to touch on one specific area of the return and that is what God says He will do in those days.

Ross Nichols. A man from St. Francisville, LA with a small congregation of former Christians, current Messianic Jews, former Messianic Jews, and a group of people who call themselves followers of the "Abrahamic Faith." His lessons on the Return of Israel have forever shaped how I read Scripture. It is an inspiring look into the God's Heart and Mind.

Basically the theory goes like this. When the 12 tribes of Israel were split into the Northern and Southern tribes, 10 went into the north and 2 into the south. Neither group remained faithful to God. The northern 10 tribes (a.k.a. Israel/Ephraim) were captured by Assyria and taken into exile. They have never returned to the land. They were immediately assimilated into Assyrian culture through forced marriage. With them went their Hebraic religion and traditions. In the southern 2 tribes (a.k.a. Judah, from where we get the word Jew), we see that eventually their sins caught up with them as well and they were taken over by Babylon. For more on their exile, read the book of Daniel. Although they were exiled, God promised them they would only be in Babylon for 70 years. And true enough, after 70 years God returned them to Israel (Ezra, Nehemiah, etc.). Amazingly enough, God chose to use a gentile pagan named Cyrus to set the Israelite captives free. In fact, in Isaiah 45:1 we see that God called Cyrus His Messiah (Hebrew word מָשִׁיחַ). But, this discussion is for another time.

So here we have the Jews (Judah) returning to the land just as God had promised. But where are the 10 tribes from the north? We know that they are promised a return as well. But to this day, it has never happened. As we track the history of that area of the world we see many kingdoms come and take over the assimilated northern tribes. Persia, Greece, and eventually Rome. The theory then goes like this: the Hebrew people who were captured and taken to Assyria eventually became Romans. Romans eventually became Christians. One day Christians will once again return to their Hebraic roots.

Now, none of this can be proven from Scripture so take it for what it's worth. But what does come from Scripture is this. 10 times is the phrase "with my whole heart, soul, and strength" (or a close variation) used in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures). 9 of the 10 are how we are to respond to God. But, God says He Himself will do something with His whole heart and soul and strength. Return the exiled children of Israel to the land. All of them. Even though many of them will not know who their ancestors were, God does. Even though they have been in pagan religions, cults, and other forms of idolatry, God will return them to Himself. When they repent, He will hear them and return them from the four corners of the world and reunite them with their brothers (the Jews) in Israel. Amazing!

Where is this found? Start reading in Genesis. When you find the verses, write them down! ;)