My beautiful wife posted this in the ladies only section and I wanted to comment on it and give the men a chance to chime in. I may be biased but I think it’s a profound and incredibly powerful truth. I’ve been greatly impacted by it as I’ve heard her develop the idea.
The part I want to point out is that what she is describing is not the result of great sex, while I am a fantastic lover I am not quite that good.
What she describes was a conscious choice of her free will. The claim that the mind is the most powerful sex organ isn’t completely wrong. I don’t have the mechanism worked out but I believe that it was a series of decisions to submit herself to God (and by extension me) with her body and will; and to do so without bitterness or reserve. So many times we act like submission is a punishment and we do it with bitterness and anger. That is better than straight up rebellion maybe but you’re really missing out on the benefits of your sacrifice (sacrifice as in an offering).
This post of your's is also very good. Thank you.
This of course applies to men in our relationship with God as well. It’s not just a burden laid on women. In fact the only reason it’s been given to women is so they can demonstrate it to their husbands, so we can have a living testament of what God wants from us.
It’s a powerful metaphor that we might not ever be able to peel all the layers of but we should definitely have the conversation.
More specifically it applies to men in our relationship with Christ, the Son of God.
We should seek to be utterly, completely, and joyfully submitted to this Man, the Man who is presently seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. Our complete joy and our complete submission to Him are inseparably one.
(I know you understand this, but in case anyone else might not, I'll share it.)
God "The Father" is "our Father in Heaven".
The Son is our Head, our Lord, our Master!
We belong to the Father, through belonging to His Son. The Son is the Way, the only Way to the Father.
"
But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." (1 Cor. 11:3 ESV).
What the man is to the woman (her head), Christ is to the man, and the Father is to the Son.
We really do see that language of marriage being used to describe the relationship between Christ and the individual believer (and not merely between Christ and the Church).
"
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God." (Romans 7:4 ESV)
We personally belong to Christ Himself.
That's marriage language, and it is talking about the individual saint being personally united to Christ, and bearing fruit for God.
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." (Colossians 1:15-20 ESV)
This Man is, must be, and will be utterly preeminent!
Maybe I'm getting off track, but I'm starting to think that it's always been the Second Person, the Logos or Word of God that we (humanity) have been primarily directly interacting with.
I think the Logos sealed Noah and his family into the ark, and sent a flood that destroyed the world of the ungodly.
When YHWH met with Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18), I think it was the Logos, not the Father.
When Jacob wrestled with God, I think it was the Logos, not the Father.
When Moses met YHWH at the burning bush, and later received the Law at Sinai, I think he was interacting with the Son, not the Father.
I think the Son was present in Pillar of Smoke, and Fire that led Israel in the wilderness.
In Jude verse 5 we are told that "
Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe."(ESV)
Some translations render this verse "the Lord" rather than "Jesus", but the best Greek textual evidence actually seems to support "Jesus".
Think about that!
. The Son brought Israel out of Egypt! The Son afterward destroyed those who did not believe!
I think the Husband of Israel and Judah (in the prophetic books) was the Son, rather than the Father.
The Son is the "
Radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power". (Hebrews 1:3)
He is the "
Heir of all things! (Hebrews 1:2)
One more place where we seem to see the Son is in Genesis 19:24 where YHWH destroys Sodom and Gomorrah.
"
and YHWH has rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from YHWH, from the heavens" (LSV)
There seem to be two distinct YHWH here. One is destroying Sodom and Gomorrah with brimstone and fire that came from the Other.
I think the first YHWH is the Logos, the Son, the Radiance, the Imprint, the Representation, of the Other. I think the Second YHWH is the Father.
Both are involved in the burning of Sodom. Jesus saved Lot. Jesus also burned Sodom.
That Baby born in a manger in Bethlehem two thousand years ago fills me with both unimaginable terror and also joy beyond my wildest dreams.
I am my Beloved's and He is mine!
He is so glorious that I want Him to have everyone else as well, and for them to have Him!
