November
23
Genesis 3: 16: Unto
the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17: And unto Adam he said, Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which
I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
The
church must be in subjection to Christ in everything because Christ is the Head
and Savior of the body. (Eph 4: 23-24) Why is this so important? We see it in
the fall. The bride of Christ is the
weaker vessel, even as the woman. (1 Pet 3: 7) Therefore, Satan’s method in the
garden was to turn this order upside down by tricking the weaker vessel. Satan
came to Eve first, not to Adam. He beguiled, Eve. Eve’s transgression was when
she gave the fruit to her husband she usurped authority over her husband. (1
Tim 2: 14) It was the first thing God said to Adam, “Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I
commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground
for thy sake…” (Ge 3:17) The bride is
supposed to be in submission to her own husband, Christ. But when Adam obeyed
Eve’s voice, that order was turned upside down. Thus through Adam’s
disobedience, sin and death entered bringing all Adam’s children under the
curse of God.
When we find a church claiming to be the bride of Christ who preaches
that “jesus has done all he can do, now it is up to the sinner” it is not the
true bride of the true Christ. That bride attempts to usurp authority over
Christ. She arranges the whole house around the children, preaching what the people
want to hear, rather than arranging the house around Christ the Husband, teaching
her children salvation is only through submission to their Father. The harlot
bride has great confidence and security in herself. She is the head of her
house.
Yet,
with Satan attempting to prevent her children from being born, the true bride
is in great travail. (Gen 3: 16; Ex 1: 22; Es 3: 6; Mt 2: 16; Rev 12: 1-5) Therefore, the true bride’s desire is to her
Husband, who is the Desire of his children in all nations. (Gen 3: 17; Hag 2:
7) The true bride learns in silence from,
and in subjection to her Husband because she knows her eternal Head and Representative
is first; because she knows her Husband is the glory of God the Father and she the
glory of her Husband; because she knows her Husband is not of her but she of
him; because she knows she was created for him, not he for her; because she
knows it would be great transgression to attempt to usurp his authority. (1 Tim
2: 11-13; 1 Cor 11: 7-9) The true bride places her care under the rule of her
Husband who redeemed her. And as she continues in faith, love, and chastity to
her Beloved, she is saved in childbearing, bringing forth children by his incorruptible
Seed. (Gen 3: 16; 1 Tim 2: 15; Rom 7: 4) This is why every elect, redeemed, regenerated believer must
be in subjection to Christ our Husband.