We should all read Ephesians 5:21-33 (Amplified), especially Verses31-32 which say, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the Church."
When the marriage covenant is made according to the Word, it is the closest covenant the earth has to describe Jesus and His Body, the Church. Ephesians 5:25 (Amplified) says, "Husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her." When a man takes a wife in the Christian marriage covenant, he is no longer working for or fulfilling his own desires and longings, but he is now earning, building, creating and striving for everything in his life to lavish upon his wife.
Everything Jesus did was for us. The sin He bore was to free us. The home He left was to prepare a place for us. The curse He bore was for us. The stripes He took was for our healing. Even the authority He delegated to the Church was only for us. The destruction or the destroying of the works of the devil was for us. Nothing Jesus did was actually for Himself. He was never under the curse or sickness or sin or the power of the devil, until He did it for us.
In the same token, the husband has now gives everything for his wife. Ephesians 5:24 (Amplified) says, "As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands." This scripture isn't one to be defined in any way we choose or according to what we believe, but according to our covenant with Jesus.
There are some who take this to mean that a woman would be "afraid" to do anything on her own, away from her husband, and to live in fear of him. The Church is to be subject to the Lord because of His great love for her. The Church doesn't stay and be subject to Christ because of their fear of retribution, but out of love for His goodness. My wife hasn't stayed with me for fifty-three years because she's afraid to leave, but because she desires to stay.
I don't have to threaten my wife with sickness or discipline if she wants to leave, she stays with me because she loves me. Many in today's Church believe that we have no free will or voice in where we go or what we do, but that isn't true. We have a will of our own that we choose to surrender (by choice) to His will. We have become "one" with Christ just like my wife has become one with me. We've obviously two separate persons. She's prettier than I am and she wears clothes that would look very strange on me, but we are one in every other respect.
She has taken my name and has forsaken her own. She has absolute authority to my bank account, my care, my home and my children. Everything I have is made subject unto her by the taking of my name. We're now called the same name. She has power of attorney to whatever is mine, by the use of my name. She isn't in me in the fact that we're in the same skin, but we are still one (although separate).
You and I are not Jesus as far as being the Lord, but the things that are His are now ours. We have become "Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus," according to Romans 8:17. Romans 6:5 (Amplified) says, "For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, We shall also be (one with Him in sharing) His resurrection (by a new life lived for God)."
Ephesians 5:23 (Amplified) says, "For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the Church, Himself the Savior of (His) Body." There are many who believe this scripture says that wives are to be under submission to their husbands, but this isn't what the scripture says if you look in the Concordance. 1Corinthians 11:3 (Amplified) says, "But I want you to know and realize that Christ is the head of every man, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God."
What Paul was saying in the above scripture is, "Pattern yourselves after me (follow my example) as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah)." Jesus said the same thing about the Father in John 12:45 (Amplified) saying, "And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me." The word "head" is best described as "reflection." The wife is the reflection of her husband and her husband is the reflection of Christ and Christ is the reflection of the Father.
This in no way denotes that the wife is inferior in any way to her husband or that Christ is in any way inferior to the Father. Christ and the Father are One in every respect. Jesus said, "When you see Me, you see the Father." Paul said that, "When you see me, you have seen the On Who sent me." The husband says, "When you see me, you see my wife." The wife is the reflection of her husband and brings glory to her husband, to those around them, by her modest and loving person.
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