The wife glorifies her husband in her way of living. The husband glorifies Jesus in his way of living. Jesus glorifies the Father by His way of living in and through us. Now, we can better understand what Jesus said in John 17:21-22 (Amplified) saying, "That they all may be one, (just) as You, Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me." Verse 22 says, "I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as We are One."
The marriage covenant is the reflection of our Heavenly Father in every aspect of our lives. And, the marriage covenant is to be even more so in the home and family. A great injustice has been done in Christian marriages because of wrong teachings in the churches. For many years, women were viewed as inferior in some way to men and because of this, prayer and power have been hindered in Christian homes and marriages.
Matthew 18:19 (Amplified) says,"Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever (anything and everything) that they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven." There should be no two people on the planet, who are more in agreement than a husband and wife, who have become one.
Satan injected the "Wives submit" as a block to try and tear down the power of prayer in the marriage covenant. He made it look like the wife was somehow less than her husband. Matthew 18:19 says that we are to agree in prayer, but if you believe your wife is less than you or beneath you, then you can only agree to that degree. If you think you represent 100% authority in prayer and your wife is only 50%, then you can only agree to her place and authority. Your power of prayer is cut in half because of lack of knowledge in the Word.
1Peter 3:17 (Amplified) says, "In the same way you married men should love considerately with (your wives), with an intelligent recognition (of the marriage relation) honoring the woman as (physically) the weaker, but (realizing that you) are joint heirs of the grace (God's unmerited favor) of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off (otherwise, you cannot pray effectively)."
Wives stay with their husbands because of the love and protection and provision that he portrays for his wife. She responds to his love, in love and her life is held together with him as one person. She shares the same name, the same authority and the same privileges as her husband by the use and power of his name. The husband delights in giving things to his wife in order to reveal his love for her. Everything he does is now for her.
I'm a country boy and it doesn't take a lot to make me happy. I could probably live in my truck on a river bank and never care about much of anything else. My wife, however, would not be happy with that. If it weren't for women, then society probably wouldn't be as advanced as it is today. The house I built was for her and the furnishings in it are for her. Almost all the comforts we enjoy were for her (except for the Western channel).
Everything Jesus did was for His Bride, the Church. He left all of the comforts and riches of heaven to bring them to His Bride, the Church. There are still cultures today that view women as being less than the man. Even in the Church, we've adopted this mentality. Some of the women of the world resisted Christianity for this very reason.
Jesus provided liberty for all women that raised them up, not to the level of a good man, but as one with the Father and Himself. Because of a lack of understanding, we've ushered in the equal rights movement and equal pay movement along with other things women think restores them to what Jesus had already given them.
I've always thought it was shameful to bring women to the same level as men. When I was a boy being raised down home, we were always taught that women held a higher place than we were. We were raised to respect and honor women, but this somehow got lost in making them equal to men. Our good ole boy mentality believed that to "make them equal," meant bringing them down from where we had always placed them...in a higher place of respect and dignity.
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