Men and Women are the Bride of Christ

[Aaron56]

The text we’ll examine is Ephesians 5:21-23

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church - for we are members of His body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."


Now, the first clue to uncover the meaning of this passage comes at the end of the passage. Paul wrote “This is a profound mystery…” We should note that Paul first wrote about common things, husbands and wives. This writing would have been easily understood by the readers. But then he caps off the passage with, if I may paraphrase, “I am actually writing about a profound mystery”. Now, there are mysteries and then there are profound mysteries. Paul emphasizes THIS mystery because it speaks of something profound as it relates to Christ, specifically Christ and the church.

Just as an aside: This is the danger of trying to formulate a set of laws from the New Testament writings akin to the laws that were given at Sinai. You will focus on the black and white of the text and miss what is actually meant by the writing. Typically, those who treat the New Testament in such a way are actually stuck in a traditional mindset that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when man and woman had to answer for their sins. But that’s another topic altogether.

Anyway, to continue.

This scripture is normally preached to teach, as a foundation, the relationship of Christian husbands and Christian wives within the body of Christ. But that’s not what Paul wrote. What he's saying is, "This is a profound mystery this relationship between Christ and the church. That's a profound mystery. But I want to use something with which you are already familiar as a means of unlocking and revealing this mystery to you." That's why he says, "But I show you, I am displaying to you, I am presenting to you, this mystery of Christ and the church."

So, to unveil the mystery of Christ and the church, Paul uses a very familiar vehicle to carry the meaning of the passage. This is important: the vehicle, marriage between a man and a woman, is not the point. The point is the passenger of the vehicle: the mystery of Christ and the church. Now, that should be as plain as day. Then, he explains the mystery, specifically, who represents what in this mystery? In other words, he gives us a passage of Scripture that talks about husbands and wives. But he' really not talking about husbands and wives, he's talking about Christ and the church. Therefore, who is the husband? Obviously, Christ. Who is the wife? The church. That is why, throughout the passage, he's saying, "Wives, submit to your husbands as unto the Lord" But if we miss the point, he says, "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, His body." And then he goes on, in case we missed the point. I mean, he's belaboring the point of Christ in the story, or in the analogy. So he says, verse 24, after twice referring to Christ and the church, he says it another way! "Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their own husbands in everything." By now we are bludgeoned with the idea that the wife is the church. And he's telling the wife to submit to her Husband.

Why is he using the relationship between a husband and a wife to talk to the Bride, the church, that is the wife of Christ? Who is he primarily addressing, men or women? Men, of course. He’s saying to the church, "Men, you are the bride of Christ!" A woman knows how to be a bride. She would readily identify with all references to “the bride”. She would get it immediately. Not so with men. Men are not naturally brides of anyone.

But here, Paul is using the “wife” to talk about the whole church: both men and women. Furthermore, when he talks about the husband he’s not talking about the physical role of the husband he is talking about Christ Himself!

So here are the pertinent questions: Why is he doing this? And what is the purpose?

The reason is: men do not know, naturally, how to respond to a husband as a bride.

In case that didn’t offend you, let me write that again so you can be sure that’s what I meant:

Men do not know, naturally, how to respond to a husband as a bride.

The church is the bride of Christ. The church is the bride. Christ is the husband. Men and women make up the church. But men do not know how to submit to a husband, who is Christ.

The bride of Christ is comprised of both men and women. In spiritual relationship to Christ, however, you are a woman, a bride. You are the one who submits to the husband.

How then does a man learn to be a bride? (See? This is much more about who gets to rule over whom- we'll get to that). Christ gives him a wife to instruct him how to be a bride.

Our minds have been contorted and twisted by homosexuality and the teachings and the practice of all kinds of sexual perversion, openly and publicly in our nation today. And, so men have been cultured in our society to refuse and reject the role of being a woman in relationship to the Husband who is the Lord. Because we have rejected that, we have used this passage to teach how men are greater than women, and therefore women must submit to men unconditionally as a condition of being a Christian. That's nonsense. The role of the Christian woman is a vital role. When men reject the role of Christian women, they have no way of learning how to be a wife to Christ.

How do they learn it? Are we, in fact, as men of God, the bride of Christ? We had better be because the bride is the one for whom He is coming. And whoever is in the Bride, He will take with Him to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And if we're not going, we've got more trouble than wondering about pants or dresses. Let me be clear: Christ gave us the Christian woman who, by the Holy Spirit, is equipped to demonstrate submission to Christ without being a doormat. God gives to her, to woman, the spiritual understanding of one of the two principal players in the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let me say it another way: In the culmination of the age of man there will be the Bride and there will be Christ. The woman in Christ innately understands the role of the Bride.

Now, some will say “Well, aren’t men to be Christ to their wives?” Of course. Of course. In the role of husband we are to be Christ to the woman, we are to love her, care for her, wash her, etc. In this, the responsibility of care falls directly on the man. In fact, only the husband is instructed to “love the wife” and “give up his life for her”. Why is this so? Because the woman already knows how to do this in the natural. She does not need instruction or reminding. Nevertheless, in relation to Christ, BOTH the man and women are the Bride. They are Christ’s betrothed.

More to follow…

 

[GRACE_ambassador]

op: men and women 'bride' of the Lamb?:

Not the Body Of Christ, who is the "one New man" (Eph 2:15):

Is The Body Of Christ The Lamb's Wife?

Amen.

 

[tourist]

The church is the bride. I'm a guy and ain't nobody's bride.

 

[posthuman]

we have the same Husband

 

[Pilgrimshope]

The church is the bride. I'm a guy and ain't nobody's bride.

Yes it’s just an image of union between a believer and God just like a man and woman Mary and become one we also baptized into Christ are joined with him . Not a real marriage just the image of a union ordained of God like a marriage

Christs bride is actually the new heavenly Jerusalem

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:9-

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

he’s got a coming union with all creation

 

[MsMediator]

Yes, we will all be married to Jesus but it will be a spiritual marriage. It is easy for women to imagine this (as the marriage will simply transition from earthly marriage to Jesus) but I can see why guys may have a hard time with this concept. Basically, Jesus will take care of us as a husband would. Right now, I do not think Jesus has taken the role of bridegroom/husband because the marriage has not occured.

 

[Aaron56]

As we understand the role of the Christian woman, we see it not as a confining, degrading, demeaning thing, but we actually see it as what God requires of each one of us as the bride of Christ. And there is no possibility of a man in Christ learning how to be an appropriately submissive bride unless he accepts fully and unconditionally the role of his wife to him. There's no way. When I think of how this Scripture has been used by churches and by men to abuse women, to demean and degrade them, to exclude them from the legitimate ministries to which they're called, I can't help but think how far we have missed the revelation of the mystery.

There is another main point. Because the believing woman is a type of the church, she is able to do, the woman in Christ, is able to do everything that the church is able to do. Now, it’s important to explain by what I mean by: because the believing woman is a type of the church, she is permitted to do everything that the church is permitted to do.

I need to add a caveat. What is the church able to do by itself? Apart from Christ, what can the church do? Nothing.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing."

So the church is under the covering of Christ, the Head. That's from 1 Corinthians, it says, "Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God."

In that description of headship, it is talking about not a physical covering on the head, but a covering of authority. So the church does everything because the covering on the head of the church is Christ. It's a sign that the church is properly under the authority of Christ.

You see, the Kingdom of God is established pursuant to an original grant of authority from the Father to the Son. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." So, there is no authority left over for anyone else if He says "all." He means all. Not some, not a lot, not most: all means all. So, all authority in heaven and on earth is fully vested in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that, any other type of authority must be delegated authority. That is, authority derived from that source: Christ. And Christ accomplishes this, through the Holy Spirit, by giving the members of the church His authority. This is why Jesus said, concerning the Holy Spirit, "When He comes, He will take of what is Mine and He will make known unto you, He will make it known unto you, and He will bring glory to Me by taking of what is Mine and making it known unto you. All that the Father has," He said, "is Mine. That is why I say He will make it known unto you. This is John 16:13-15

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you."

So, Jesus gave an exclusive delegation of authority to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit distributes, into the church, the authority of Christ in the form of gifts to men, according to Ephesians 4, “It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.” So, in that way, there is authority in the church, properly coming through a line of delegated authority, originating with the original grant of authority from the Father to the Son. Whenever the church does anything, it does it as part of the delegated authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that sense, you see, the Head of the church is Christ. He is the covering that legitimizes the use of His authority. Apart from this covering of Christ, there is nothing the church can legitimately do. Because there is no other authority. But once it is under the covering of Christ, it is capable of doing anything He wants to do by His Spirit.

Now, for a woman, a believing woman in Christ, Paul writes, "Now, wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church." That's the principle I was just explaining. As Christ is the Head of the church, the church is able, under His Headship, to do everything that He's doing. In the same way, under the proper covering, that is, under the proper authority of Christ, a woman is capable of doing anything and everything in the church. The issue is not what she can do, the issue is the authority by which she does it. This is not about what the church can do. The issue is whether or not Christ is permitting it to be done. If Christ is doing it, the whole church can do it. If there's a legitimate delegation of authority, under the covering, the woman is able to do anything that the church is able to do, because she's a representation of the church.

In this context, we have to deal with some other verses. If you know the scriptures they’ve already come to your mind.

Because men have refused to open up opportunities for women to minister, then they have excluded the women from participation when God would not have excluded her in the first place. So, whenever the Scriptures say, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent" the issue is not whether or not she can teach. The issue is whether in doing so, she is usurping the authority that God has put to cover her. If she is not usurping authority, then she is not in violation of this principle because if the church is not usurping the authority of Christ, it is not violating the principle of His total authority.

What we have done, you see, is we have moved the church into a building, and then we have moved a pulpit into the church, and then we've called the ground on which the pulpit stands, "holy ground." You see? And because we have done that, we see the role of a woman within the context of this aberration that we've created. And that's what has oppressed women. It's the doctrines of men that have oppressed women. For there is no freedom or legitimacy for anyone man or woman within the doctrines of men. Three hundred years passed, after the church had existed, before it owned a building. An even longer period of time passed before they brought in a pulpit and pews. I'm not saying your church can't meet in a building. But everybody who knows the scriptures knows that the church is not a building. And yet we call the church, we say, "There's a sanctuary." But I thought God didn't dwell in temples made with hands. I thought that His Spirit fellowships with the human spirit. And that's holy ground! If it is really true that the church is comprised of people, how is it that we could call any room constructed by a human hand, a "sanctuary"? What is the basis of it? How is it suddenly that yellow carpet and a wooden pulpit is suddenly transforming of the area into "holy ground"?

And we don't think we have idols, right? The only thing that makes void the law of God is the traditions of men. We're constantly trying to fit a holy thing into the permissible conveniences that God allows us. So, God permits us a convenience at times of having a building and then we transform the building into the thing itself, the holy thing. And in the process, we walk away and turn our backs upon the truth. So, we see the church then within the context of these trappings and we use the trappings to entrap the freedom of the bride of Christ including the women.

More to come…

 

[Mem]

This is, to me, as the balm of Gilead.

 

[Nehemiah6]

The reason is: men do not know, naturally, how to respond to a husband as a bride.

Sorry, but that is not even applicable in this case. The Marriage of the Lamb is a SPIRITUAL reality which includes all the saints (men and women) as the Bride, and Christ as the divine Bridegroom. So it means spiritual union and communion which cannot really be comprehended at this time, and transcends human marriage.

 

[tourist]

Yes it’s just an image of union between a believer and God just like a man and woman Mary and become one we also baptized into Christ are joined with him . Not a real marriage just the image of a union ordained of God like a marriage

Christs bride is actually the new heavenly Jerusalem

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:9-

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

he’s got a coming union with all creation

I concur with your estimation.

 

[posthuman]

The reason is: men do not know, naturally, how to respond to a husband as a bride.

it occurs to me, we don't generally know how to respond to a wife either, as an husband

 

[Mem]

it occurs to me, we don't generally know how to respond to a wife either, as an husband

 

[Aaron56]

When we put the church into the framework of a Sunday meeting in a building, when we do that, we not only impinge upon the lawful freedom of the children of God who happen to be female, we also limit our own freedoms as the children of God who happen to be males. Because we do not allow ourselves to experience the fullness of the freedom of the bride of Christ under the Lordship of the Head who is Christ. If my view is correct, that the believing woman is a type of the church, how is it then that we are not limiting and restricting ourselves as men to the same strictures that we place upon women? How? If we are the bride, and in the eyes of the Lord, we are a bride, how is that we do not accept for ourselves, as men, the same restrictions that we demand of the woman? Or is that we think that it's a male thing?

I want to tell you something about God. As we relate to the Father, there is neither male nor female. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The only purpose that I can find in the Scriptures, the purposes of God for which the woman was created as a woman, in the New Testament, is that she models for us what we should be in relationship to our Husband who is Christ. Otherwise, as she stands before the Father, she is neither male nor female. It's only as she stands in relationship to male, to humans, that it's an appropriate designation of male and female. So, I am not advocating, like the deranged, to ignore the differences of our physical bodies. No. But, we should understand the significance the gift a believing woman is to the Body of Christ. She is a living allegory of the church. Then, whatever the woman, the church, is able to do under the covering of the Head, the woman, the physical woman is able to do under the lawful covering, principally of her husband.

See, we don't, really get it. We are living today in a great type. The fullness of the type will be realized at the time the Bride is caught up to be with the Bridegroom. So, how are we to keep that in front of us, day by day? The relationship of the husband and the wife has been given to us who believe. Just as grain and the planting, harvesting, and the nutrition of grain keeps the principle of resurrection before us day-by-day, so, too, the woman in Christ, as the church, is a constant reminder of our destiny in Him.

Just a small segue and then I'll come back: The importance of understanding the marriage relationship between Christ and the church is directly at the heart of understanding how it is that we have a relationship with the Father. So, this is no small matter. I know that there's a great deal of teaching on covenant in the body of Christ today. And men are always wanting to cut covenants with other men so that (humans wanting to cut covenants with other humans) so that we could have a very special relationship within the relationship of Christ and the church. I want you to understand something about covenant. God entered into the covenant of promise in which nothing was required of Abraham. God entered into a covenant with Himself because God's interest was in having children. He qualified Abraham for something called a "third-party beneficiary" as the one through whom He would keep His covenant with Himself. Abraham just had to show up. Just like when a man and woman enter into a covenant of marriage and a home with peace and good order, the children just show up and benefit from that covenant.

What was the purpose and point of God's covenant? He said, God said, "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Why?

Because in the end of it all, God wanted sons. That's why He raised up the first of His sons, Adam. The Bible says, "And Adam was the son of God." From the dust of the planet that God had recently made, He formed and fashioned with His own hands a being that He called Adam.

"Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over al l the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Why? (Just as an aside: To the curmudgeons, it’s okay to ask our Father any question. We should be so bold to ask Him anything. “God works in mysterious ways” is an answer for a child. A person with a royal lineage will plumb the depths of a question in search of the whole story.)

So, why did God create Adam?

Adam was a prototype, the first one, like a seed, if you will. The earth itself is like a seed in the inky blackness of space. From the dust of the seed, He raises up a seed within a seed to produce for God what He's after when it's all finished. When it's done, there won't be churches and covenants with people and all of that. When it's done, when the earth has come, when the world has come to an end, what God will have is His family, His children, His house. The Bible tells us that at the end of the millennium, when Christ has ruled and put all rule subject to Him, then He will hand up the kingdom to the Father and God will be all, in all.

"Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He has put everything under His feet.' Now when it says that everything' has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all."

That's the purpose. You know what someone is after in the beginning when you look at what the result is. When it's gone through all of its processes, where it ends up is where He intended that it should end up . So, it tells us clearly what His intention was as He started it all. God's purpose in the whole thing was to have children. Do you suppose that for one moment God would rely upon the integrity of Abraham to have this result? Do you think that He would leave the outcome of His grand design to a creature? Which man is capable of faithfully producing and keeping a covenant with God? God swore on an oath to Himself because there was none greater than Himself and He confirmed the oath.

"When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.'

He confirmed His covenant by the integrity of His own person: God the Father and God the Son. That's the only basis upon which He could form a covenant and so He qualified Abraham to see whether or not Abraham was worthy to be the beneficiary of the agreement that God made with Himself concerning having His own children. That’s why He called Abraham to sacrifice his own future. Because at his age, that was all Abraham had in reserve, so to speak; his plan B. Isaac was the son of the promise and He asked him to give that son to Him. So, in a sense, Abraham was cut off from his own lineage because in his heart he was willing to kill his own son. Because of that, God elected that this would be the seed through whom God would fulfill His promise to God. That's why Abraham had the benefit of God's covenant with God.

More cooking…

 

[Cameron143]

When we put the church into the framework of a Sunday meeting in a building, when we do that, we not only impinge upon the lawful freedom of the children of God who happen to be female, we also limit our own freedoms as the children of God who happen to be males. Because we do not allow ourselves to experience the fullness of the freedom of the bride of Christ under the Lordship of the Head who is Christ. If my view is correct, that the believing woman is a type of the church, how is it then that we are not limiting and restricting ourselves as men to the same strictures that we place upon women? How? If we are the bride, and in the eyes of the Lord, we are a bride, how is that we do not accept for ourselves, as men, the same restrictions that we demand of the woman? Or is that we think that it's a male thing?

I want to tell you something about God. As we relate to the Father, there is neither male nor female. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The only purpose that I can find in the Scriptures, the purposes of God for which the woman was created as a woman, in the New Testament, is that she models for us what we should be in relationship to our Husband who is Christ. Otherwise, as she stands before the Father, she is neither male nor female. It's only as she stands in relationship to male, to humans, that it's an appropriate designation of male and female. So, I am not advocating, like the deranged, to ignore the differences of our physical bodies. No. But, we should understand the significance the gift a believing woman is to the Body of Christ. She is a living allegory of the church. Then, whatever the woman, the church, is able to do under the covering of the Head, the woman, the physical woman is able to do under the lawful covering, principally of her husband.

See, we don't, really get it. We are living today in a great type. The fullness of the type will be realized at the time the Bride is caught up to be with the Bridegroom. So, how are we to keep that in front of us, day by day? The relationship of the husband and the wife has been given to us who believe. Just as grain and the planting, harvesting, and the nutrition of grain keeps the principle of resurrection before us day-by-day, so, too, the woman in Christ, as the church, is a constant reminder of our destiny in Him.

Just a small segue and then I'll come back: The importance of understanding the marriage relationship between Christ and the church is directly at the heart of understanding how it is that we have a relationship with the Father. So, this is no small matter. I know that there's a great deal of teaching on covenant in the body of Christ today. And men are always wanting to cut covenants with other men so that (humans wanting to cut covenants with other humans) so that we could have a very special relationship within the relationship of Christ and the church. I want you to understand something about covenant. God entered into the covenant of promise in which nothing was required of Abraham. God entered into a covenant with Himself because God's interest was in having children. He qualified Abraham for something called a "third-party beneficiary" as the one through whom He would keep His covenant with Himself. Abraham just had to show up. Just like when a man and woman enter into a covenant of marriage and a home with peace and good order, the children just show up and benefit from that covenant.

What was the purpose and point of God's covenant? He said, God said, "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Why?

Because in the end of it all, God wanted sons. That's why He raised up the first of His sons, Adam. The Bible says, "And Adam was the son of God." From the dust of the planet that God had recently made, He formed and fashioned with His own hands a being that He called Adam.

"Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over al l the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Why? (Just as an aside: To the curmudgeons, it’s okay to ask our Father any question. We should be so bold to ask Him anything. “God works in mysterious ways” is an answer for a child. A person with a royal lineage will plumb the depths of a question in search of the whole story.)

So, why did God create Adam?

Adam was a prototype, the first one, like a seed, if you will. The earth itself is like a seed in the inky blackness of space. From the dust of the seed, He raises up a seed within a seed to produce for God what He's after when it's all finished. When it's done, there won't be churches and covenants with people and all of that. When it's done, when the earth has come, when the world has come to an end, what God will have is His family, His children, His house. The Bible tells us that at the end of the millennium, when Christ has ruled and put all rule subject to Him, then He will hand up the kingdom to the Father and God will be all, in all.

"Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For He has put everything under His feet.' Now when it says that everything' has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put everything under Christ. When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all."

That's the purpose. You know what someone is after in the beginning when you look at what the result is. When it's gone through all of its processes, where it ends up is where He intended that it should end up . So, it tells us clearly what His intention was as He started it all. God's purpose in the whole thing was to have children. Do you suppose that for one moment God would rely upon the integrity of Abraham to have this result? Do you think that He would leave the outcome of His grand design to a creature? Which man is capable of faithfully producing and keeping a covenant with God? God swore on an oath to Himself because there was none greater than Himself and He confirmed the oath.

"When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.'

He confirmed His covenant by the integrity of His own person: God the Father and God the Son. That's the only basis upon which He could form a covenant and so He qualified Abraham to see whether or not Abraham was worthy to be the beneficiary of the agreement that God made with Himself concerning having His own children. That’s why He called Abraham to sacrifice his own future. Because at his age, that was all Abraham had in reserve, so to speak; his plan B. Isaac was the son of the promise and He asked him to give that son to Him. So, in a sense, Abraham was cut off from his own lineage because in his heart he was willing to kill his own son. Because of that, God elected that this would be the seed through whom God would fulfill His promise to God. That's why Abraham had the benefit of God's covenant with God.

More cooking…

I can't wait for dessert.

 

[Aaron56]

In the New Covenant, that truth (that we benefit from the covenant between God and God) is all the more apparent because the book of Hebrews, the 9th chapter tells us, "That God entered once into the holy place to offer Himself as a sacrifice to God."

"He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

That's the New Covenant. God and God. And out of this covenant, out of this covenant, there comes the third-party beneficiaries: those who benefit from the covenant without being either the party of the first part or the party of the second part. Children are the third-party beneficiaries of something they had no say in. They benefit by virtue of the covenant between the two.

Let me explain to you how this works between the Father and the Son. The covenant exists between the Father and the Son and because the Son was obedient even to death on a cross, the Father highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name.

"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

That is His inheritance. It is not that the Son has the large bulk of the estate and the rest of the sons of God have small apportionments of that estate. In other words, it is not that the Father decided to give to the Son most of the authority. The Father gave to the Son all authority. If He gave to the Son all authority, how can we share in His inheritance? Now there's a covenant. And this one is called the covenant of marriage: between the Son and the Bride. Because of the covenant of marriage between the Son and the Bride, the Father has chosen to accept the Bride because she is in the one He loves. Two Scriptures come to mind.

First, "No man comes to the Father but by Me!"

Because we do not have a lawful right of entry into the presence of the Most High apart from the One through whose flesh we come by this new and living way

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

Do you recall the responsibility of the husband to the wife?

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word…”

There it is: the one to one connection. Husbands wash their wives with the word and Lord washes His Bride.

The second thing that is true is He is the Beloved and you are accepted in the Beloved

"...to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved."

Why do you think He told the story about how a certain king was making a wedding feast for his son? And the one story about how he issued these wedding garments because, He had first issued an invitation to his best friends, His invited guests, and they had all sorts of things they were doing. One had bought some land he had never seen. Another had bought some oxen that he had never tried. And so on. Of course, they were just making convenient excuses. So, he sent out into the highways and the hedges to find as many as might be found and they were told, "Come in, come in. Those who were invited were not worthy - so bring in the street people, bring in the ones under the bridges." And, as they came in, he gave them a wedding garment and they were invited to sit at the table of the feast prepared for the Lamb.

(I had to split this into 2 sections. Continued below)

 

[Aaron56]

6 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the [a]maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’”

Then, in Revelation 19 the wedding of the Lamb has come and the Bride has made herself ready. Bright garments, white and clean were given to her to wear and we're told, as an aside, these garments stand for the righteous acts of the saints.

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.' (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Then the angel said to me, Write: "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!"' And he added, These are the true words of God.'"

So, the Father prepares the feast for the Son because the Son is the One whom He loves. And because this is the One whom the Son loves, if you kiss the Son, you will live.

"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him."

Yes, men! Kiss the Son! And there's nothing homosexual about that because you are a Bride when you do.

Hallelujah! Right?!

You understand now the significance of the role of women? In short, we have no access to the Father apart from the relationship of a Bride: the Bride of the Lamb. The Father will not recognize a relationship between you and Him apart from the Son He loves. He will not. "No man comes to the Father but by Me" because He is the way, the truth and the life.

The life of God is in Christ. That is why He gives us His Spirit to transform us from street people into residents of the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit transforms us because the Holy Spirit operates in and He brings us to Bridegroom. The Spirit of the Bridegroom has been put in our hearts to cause us to love our Husband, the Lord. The women understand this!

You see, we do not have a covenant between the Father and ourselves. The would negate the validity and the place of the Son. What would be the role of the Son if you could have a covenant with the Father apart from Him? And then what is all of this about about being "in Christ"? Why not accept the fact that He just died as a Savior, move Him out of the way and it's the Father and us? Why is the Scriptures about "if any man be in Christ he is a new creation," that the Father has been reconciling the world to Himself in Christ.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

What's this "in Christ"? It means that there is a relationship that the Father recognizes with His Son, and whomever the Son loves they are accepted into the house of the Father. And the Father says, "I will spread out a banquet the likes of which has never been seen when the day that My Son's bride is joined with Him forever in the courts of heaven. "Because," He says, "The Son has met with My approval. I can trust Him to bring home a bride that is acceptable to Me.”

That's what it means when it says, "Although He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things that He suffered" and "being made humble even to death on a cross, God exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess to the glory of God that Jesus Christ is Lord." The Father cannot recognize anyone apart from the Son. He cannot, because He gave all authority to the Son.

The record of the woman being taken out of man was recorded a long time ago. Do you recall the story of Adam and woman? What happened? God made man from a lump of dirt. Then, God opened his side and took a piece of the man. From this God fashioned a helper that was suitable to the man. Why didn’t God just create another lump, breathe into that lump, and create woman? Because He was showing us Christ and the church. It was not only important that the woman was a suitable helper to man, but also that the woman was made from the same substance of that man: that they shared the same origin.

So, then, we see the woman taken out of the man. Do you realize that we are then put back into the man? And not just any man; we are put back into the man that received all authority in heaven and on earth: Christ! His side was opened as well, on the cross! That is what this scripture means:

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

So now, for men to be reconciled to God, they must enter into Christ. And this is why we cannot enter into Christ as sons of Adam. We must die to ourselves and be raised as a new creation: a creation that has as its core the same Holy Spirit of the godhead.

Adam > side opened and woman brought out.

Christ > side opened so that woman may enter in.

And it is only in Christ that we are received by the Father.

In practical terms my wife, being married to me, has total access to everything that I have and everything that I am because we're one. (She often reminds me of that, by the way.) If we're one, then whatever I am, she is. Whatever I have is hers. You see? We do not have a portion of the Lord's estate; we, the church, have access to all of it. In Him are all the riches of His grace. I think that's a pretty good deal for a woman, if you ask me.

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

That's not a bad inheritance for the Bride. She did alright… by His grace, by His grace.

When I see and understand how my wife defers to me, I now don't see it as her weakness. I learn something. Let me tell you about my wife a little bit. She and I have been married for 30+ years. We started out fairly young, I was 19 she was 20. She knows me. She knows how I think. She understands what moves me. Over the years, she and I have grown together, and the respect that she shows to me pays off abundantly in the harmony and peace that we enjoy.

She will come to me now and she will say, "Well, Aaron56, I've thought about this particular project or this particular thing," and she would say, "This is what I think but I recognize that the decision is yours. I'm leaving it with you. Do whatever you think." You know what I do? Most of the time, I do exactly what she tells me that she thought. Because when I weigh it sure, I might do it a different way but if it pleases her to do it her way, I have an opportunity to see her blessed. And I'm very glad to show her my affection. But if she came in and threw the things down and said, "This is the way we're going to do it," I would probably come up with ten other ways to do it and insist on nine of them and not hers.

Women know something about how to approach a man. Men don't. They want to arm wrestle you. They want to go head to head with you and hammer things out. It's even taught in the guise of “good business” or “being an alpha male.” That’s the language of competition. Competition kills intimate relationships. There's no joy to be had by either party. But a woman knows how to approach a man. A godly woman knows how to approach a godly husband. That's where we learn how to approach our Husband, the Lord, with all deference and respect that is due to Him. And if He chooses not to agree with us, if we come deferentially to Him, He will explain why He's doing it differently.

Do you know how I know that? Because, He says, "I will not despise a broken and a contrite heart." The Lord says, "I won't despise you when you come broken and contrite. I won't put you away." When my wife approaches me with an attitude of humility, I never reject her. I always see how I can bless her. If I can't see it, if I'm foolish enough to see her deference to me as weakness, then I missed the whole point. Now, because the Lord has shown the gift she is to me, when I see her approach me in deference, the Lord will quicken in my heart a readiness bless her.

More to come…

 

[Aaron56]

Let's round the final corner shall we? Perhaps two or three more posts. I know there are still "Well, what about...?" questions I have not yet answered. I will get to them.

Before I begin I must say that, in my experience, the truth of a matter usually offends both sides of a issue that has arisen between people. This is especially true when traditions of men or wisdom from below has crept into areas of doctrine. People will hold onto all kinds of practices simply because "That's the way we've always done it!" While it is true that we should not seek change simply to change and we certainly should not change to be somehow more "relevant today". For example, in the matter of the women's role in the Body, much change has been suggested and carried out based upon the tenets of "women's rights", a political movement. And men have resisted any change that echos those political ideas.

Unlike the United States, the kingdom of God is not about rights. The kingdom is about the One upon whom has has given plenary authority in all matters. If anything is given to man on behalf of the kingdom then the intent is to reveal or present the One who God has raised up as the standard for all people in the earth: the Lord Jesus Christ.

Marriage is like this. It was given to men and women primarily for what purpose? Now many things come to mind: having children, having order in society, the protection of a family, etc. A godly marriage would certainly carry all these benefits and more BUT the primary reason for marriage is to put on display Christ and the church. Marriage is primarily about showing to a blind and lost world the reconciliation of man through Christ.

Now, some will say "But what about having children?" what about "Be fruitful and multiply"? If you are familiar with the scriptures you will note that even unmarried men may have children in Christ. Paul, an unmarried man, wrote that Timothy was his son. He also wrote that he gave birth to a full grown man will imprisoned:

"I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains..."

Paul understood that God was not after the proliferation of natural DNA children when he said "Be fruitful and multiply". God's intent was so that children of promise would multiply. These children would bear the image and likeness of Christ in their spirits and, as an extension of their culture, the rule of the Lord would be seen in the earth.

Now, that was free. I don't have time to go into that. I want to continue to build upon the primary themes I have presented.

 

[Aaron56]

I believe firmly that the women of the body of Christ are to play a pivotal role in the revelation of the true nature of the church. And when we have, when we oppress and exclude women from the body of Christ, we rob ourselves as men from a deeper understanding of the glory of the bride of Christ.

Just to note: it is not accurate to say I'm pro-women and against men. In the kingdom of God, you don't have to be that way. But I do believe in speaking the truth about the role of women in the church, not in any sense to cause an uprising of women against men, but to set in order, a heavenly order, within the body of Christ. And I think when we're all free in Christ, male and female, bond and free, rich and poor, to be who we are in the Lord, then we all come to experience the maximum freedom that was meant for all of us. We are not free, as the church, so long as any part of the body of Christ is in bondage. And if we could only grasp that then perhaps our hearts will be open to receive the word of the Lord concerning the role of women in the church.

Now, on both men and women there are the restraints of God: both men and women. But I believe that most of the restraints placed upon women come from the traditions of men and not from God.

To round out this teaching, let us look at the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, the same passage I quoted in the opening post. I'd just like to emphasize verse 22 through 33. But let’s first look at verse 32.

Paul writes, "This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church." So, everything that came before is a profound mystery relating to Christ and the church. Paul is revealing a mystery. If you're going to reveal something, and you use an analogy, the obvious presumption is the analogy that you are using is meant to be a vehicle for the revelation of the thing that is hidden. Right? The thing that is hidden is the mystery of Christ and the church. The analogy that is used to talk about Christ and the church is something we should commonly know about. And that analogy is the relationship between a husband and a wife.

Now, let's go back to 22 and come forward. So Paul writes,

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church - for we are members of His body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.'" And then he says, "This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

"Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church." So, in that analogy, Paul assumes that the husband knows how to love his wife and explains that as the husband loves his wife, this is the way Christ loves the church.

Now, Paul also wrote, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord." Now, it was presumed that any man would know how a wife ought to submit to her husband. But it is not to be presumed that every man knows how to submit to a husband as a wife. Right? But yet, a man is part of the bride of Christ and so in that sense, he is part of that which has to submit to Christ. But he does not ordinarily know how to submit to anybody as a bride. So, God has given him a bride so that when he sees how she submits to him, he gets an understanding of what is expected of him as the bride.

That's the mystery revealed.

Now the other side of this coin is equally important. And in speaking about the role of women in the church, it’s important to emphasize the role of Christ. The freedom and liberty that women have to operate within the body of Christ is because of who Christ is not because of the rules and regulations governing conduct, but because of who the Son of God is.

This is a set-up to make the point: the reason that there is so much animosity between men and women in the church today is simply, historically, men have given women many reasons not to trust men. No, if you think about it, historically, in the history of the human race, the woman has constantly been the subject of the aggression of men, whether it's as recent as the war in the Ukraine, where rape is considered a normal act of war, to the incredible economic suppression of women historically and even in this country (USA).

We’ve all heard the horror stories of how men would place women in sanitariums, which is a fancy way of saying in hospitals for the mentally ill, because they brought charges against them that they were “mental cases”, so that they could, by the use of law, keep the property of the women for themselves. And that's been just part of our economic history in this country as well.

Some examples of this in the Scripture is the story, for example, of the woman who had ten coins and she lost one of them. She swept the house and when she found the coin she took it to her friends and she rejoiced. In those days, a woman was given a bride-price or a dowry, which was really her inheritance from her father. She was not ordinarily entitled to an inheritance from him. And so, when she was given this bride-price, it was usually given in coinage, gold or silver. That was considered her money. So, what she would do is she would drill holes in these coins and string them on her clothing because her husband could at any time give her a writ of divorce for any reason; mostly because of his hardness of heart but for any reason. And when he did, the only recourse that she had against him was to take her clothes and leave. Now, being not stupid, she figured out that if her assets were liquid and portable, they're on her clothing, then she could take them when she was taken out or when she was kicked out. So when she lost, when her net worth was ten coins and she lost one of them, she experienced a net depreciation of 10% of her total asset. And when she found it, she recovered10% of her fortune.

But I mean even in the Bible there are examples, if we understand what's going on behind the scenes, there are examples of how men have mistreated women historically. I understand that not all men have mistreated all women. And I understand that some women have mistreated some men. I understand that. But I'm saying as a general rule, historically, men have abused women in a whole variety of cases. And it is the norm! And in fact, today, even in our country, it's a common norm.

One of the great reconciliations that I'm looking forward to in these last days is the reconciliation between men and women in the church. As excited as I am about the reconciliation that's going on between the races and between cultures, I am also hoping that there will be a total reconciliation in the body of Christ and it needs to include men and women.

Herbs and spices are next...

 

[oyster67]

Men and Women are the Bride of Christ



Yes, and the Church is made up of born-again men and women, and the New Jerusalem come down out of Heaven is to be populated by born again men and women.

Revelation 21
9And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

 

[Cameron143]

I believe firmly that the women of the body of Christ are to play a pivotal role in the revelation of the true nature of the church. And when we have, when we oppress and exclude women from the body of Christ, we rob ourselves as men from a deeper understanding of the glory of the bride of Christ.

Just to note: it is not accurate to say I'm pro-women and against men. In the kingdom of God, you don't have to be that way. But I do believe in speaking the truth about the role of women in the church, not in any sense to cause an uprising of women against men, but to set in order, a heavenly order, within the body of Christ. And I think when we're all free in Christ, male and female, bond and free, rich and poor, to be who we are in the Lord, then we all come to experience the maximum freedom that was meant for all of us. We are not free, as the church, so long as any part of the body of Christ is in bondage. And if we could only grasp that then perhaps our hearts will be open to receive the word of the Lord concerning the role of women in the church.

Now, on both men and women there are the restraints of God: both men and women. But I believe that most of the restraints placed upon women come from the traditions of men and not from God.

To round out this teaching, let us look at the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, the same passage I quoted in the opening post. I'd just like to emphasize verse 22 through 33. But let’s first look at verse 32.

Paul writes, "This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church." So, everything that came before is a profound mystery relating to Christ and the church. Paul is revealing a mystery. If you're going to reveal something, and you use an analogy, the obvious presumption is the analogy that you are using is meant to be a vehicle for the revelation of the thing that is hidden. Right? The thing that is hidden is the mystery of Christ and the church. The analogy that is used to talk about Christ and the church is something we should commonly know about. And that analogy is the relationship between a husband and a wife.

Now, let's go back to 22 and come forward. So Paul writes,

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. As the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church - for we are members of His body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.'" And then he says, "This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."

"Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church." So, in that analogy, Paul assumes that the husband knows how to love his wife and explains that as the husband loves his wife, this is the way Christ loves the church.

Now, Paul also wrote, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord." Now, it was presumed that any man would know how a wife ought to submit to her husband. But it is not to be presumed that every man knows how to submit to a husband as a wife. Right? But yet, a man is part of the bride of Christ and so in that sense, he is part of that which has to submit to Christ. But he does not ordinarily know how to submit to anybody as a bride. So, God has given him a bride so that when he sees how she submits to him, he gets an understanding of what is expected of him as the bride.

That's the mystery revealed.

Now the other side of this coin is equally important. And in speaking about the role of women in the church, it’s important to emphasize the role of Christ. The freedom and liberty that women have to operate within the body of Christ is because of who Christ is not because of the rules and regulations governing conduct, but because of who the Son of God is.

This is a set-up to make the point: the reason that there is so much animosity between men and women in the church today is simply, historically, men have given women many reasons not to trust men. No, if you think about it, historically, in the history of the human race, the woman has constantly been the subject of the aggression of men, whether it's as recent as the war in the Ukraine, where rape is considered a normal act of war, to the incredible economic suppression of women historically and even in this country (USA).

We’ve all heard the horror stories of how men would place women in sanitariums, which is a fancy way of saying in hospitals for the mentally ill, because they brought charges against them that they were “mental cases”, so that they could, by the use of law, keep the property of the women for themselves. And that's been just part of our economic history in this country as well.

Some examples of this in the Scripture is the story, for example, of the woman who had ten coins and she lost one of them. She swept the house and when she found the coin she took it to her friends and she rejoiced. In those days, a woman was given a bride-price or a dowry, which was really her inheritance from her father. She was not ordinarily entitled to an inheritance from him. And so, when she was given this bride-price, it was usually given in coinage, gold or silver. That was considered her money. So, what she would do is she would drill holes in these coins and string them on her clothing because her husband could at any time give her a writ of divorce for any reason; mostly because of his hardness of heart but for any reason. And when he did, the only recourse that she had against him was to take her clothes and leave. Now, being not stupid, she figured out that if her assets were liquid and portable, they're on her clothing, then she could take them when she was taken out or when she was kicked out. So when she lost, when her net worth was ten coins and she lost one of them, she experienced a net depreciation of 10% of her total asset. And when she found it, she recovered10% of her fortune.

But I mean even in the Bible there are examples, if we understand what's going on behind the scenes, there are examples of how men have mistreated women historically. I understand that not all men have mistreated all women. And I understand that some women have mistreated some men. I understand that. But I'm saying as a general rule, historically, men have abused women in a whole variety of cases. And it is the norm! And in fact, today, even in our country, it's a common norm.

One of the great reconciliations that I'm looking forward to in these last days is the reconciliation between men and women in the church. As excited as I am about the reconciliation that's going on between the races and between cultures, I am also hoping that there will be a total reconciliation in the body of Christ and it needs to include men and women.

Herbs and spices are next...

When is dessert?