Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. (Psalms 85:10 RSVA)
So God created humans in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female. (Genesis 1:27 GW)
Many of us have grown up in a misogynistic culture that was promulgated by the churches we attended where only men could do the “God stuff” at the altar and gave out, under certain conditions, the sacraments that made the difference in one’s life between heaven and hell as our final destination. Women need not apply!
The problem with a culture dominated by men is that half of the image of God is missing! He made mankind in His image, both male and female. As a youth when I thought of warriors, judges, law makers, law enforcers and even pastors and priests, I thought of men clad in special uniforms that set them apart from and above the crowd. These men were aloof, stern faced and cold, so that was the image of God I grew up with.
Thank God that in the last fifty years things have changed and women have made inroads in all these areas. But if that same hard male-like image prevails in these professions where women exist, have we really gained anything toward seeing who God really is? He is still the law maker, the law enforcer, the judge, the warrior that avenges, and can even be the distant and set aloof priest who is supposed to be touched by all our afflictions, but he doesn’t have the time to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice because the very size of the church he has built is too much for him.
“God so loved the world…” wrote John as he described the gospel (good news) in his gospel narrative. He did not write, “God so judged the world.” Christ was given to us that we might have Life and that more abundantly. The Old covenant was more about judgment and death than it was about life. In other words, you might say that the Old Covenant was primarily about the male side of God, and the New Covenant takes us deeper into the female aspect of God’s nature.
What I am trying to say is that there is in the nature of women (if it has not been distorted by the harsh world of men in which they exist) a tenderness, kindness and nurturing love that is rarely seen in men. This nature is the “feminine side” of God because He is also the God of forgiveness, kindness, love and mercy. God created Adam in His image and His likeness. But He then said it was not good that man should be alone since Adam didn’t find a helper fit for his human companionship among the animals. So, God put Adam to sleep and took a rib out of him and formed Eve. You might say that God removed the female part of Himself from Adam, formed a separate being from it, and called her Woman. For Adam to become one once again, he had to cling to the woman and she to him in the love and unity of God. Intimacy between a man and a woman was born that day and God saw that it was good! We read later this same verse in Genesis about a man and a woman clinging to one another in unity in the New Testament when Paul wrote:
We are parts of his [Christ’s] body. That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with [joined to] his wife, and the two will be one. This is a great mystery. (I’m talking about Christ’s relationship to the church.) (Ephesians 5:30-32 GW)
You see, we must have the unity of both the man and the woman and all that they are meant to be IN Christ if we are to truly be that city set on a hill that God desires the world to see.
You do not have to teach little boys to play with tools, toy trucks and toy guns. It is natural to them. Likewise you do not have to train little girls to play with dolls or play house or “Nancy Nurse.” Their whole makeup is to love and nurture. God made us to be complementary to one another in His image.
King David grew up in a culture that was all about obeying the laws of God or else. He served in the courts of a harsh and spiteful king named Saul. Yet David was chosen to be king in place of Saul because he was a man after God’s own heart (See 1 Sam. 13:14). This same David handed out judgment as the King of Israel, yet he also handed out mercy, even to his enemies! David understood the love and mercy of God where his predecessor only understood law and punishment and showed no mercy. The law demanded sacrifices to be offered up for sin, but Hosea was quoted by Jesus when He said to those who judged His disciples, “But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7 KJ2000)
When David was caught in his sin, plotting the death of Uriah so that he could have Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, He cried out to God for mercy as the God of all mercy and wrote Psalm 51 as his prayer.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalms 51:1-10 ESV)
Here we see even in the Old Testament the good news of the gospel. David appealed to God’s love, mercy and tender washing as a mother does with her child. He cried out to God for a new clean heart and for Him to blot out all his sins and to put a new right spirit in him. Jesus was called “The Son of David” because this is what Father sent Him to do in each one of us (Read Hebrews Ch. 8). All these attributes are what the New Covenant is about.
In the same way that Saul judged, he was judged. He lived by the sword and died by the sword. It is interesting that David lived by love and mercy and died in the arms of love and mercy with a young woman named Abishag, who kept him warm in his old age.
Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm. So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not. (1 Kings 1:1-4 ESV)
I believe that in these last days, our culture has disdained the feminine nature, even among those who have advocated women’s lib. Women have left their homes for a career in the world so they can compete with men in harsh environment of dog eat dog business or even choose combat in the military. They have left the raising and nurturing of their children to institutions, just as the church today has become a cold institution and a business run primarily by men. The tenderness of God in the image of “male and female made He them” has, for the most part, been lost in a world gone mad. Without this we do not have a demonstration of the Good News and mercy of the love of God.
The older I become, the more God has tenderized my heart. Like David, the more I see “my [own] sin that is ever before me,” the more I want God’s mercy and the more I want to show His love and mercy to others. Jesus said, “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again.” (Matthew 7:2 KJ2000). I don’t know about you, but these words are enough to scare the judgment of hell out of me (See Revelation 12:10)!
In closing, I encourage the brothers in the body of Christ to yield to the gift that God has put in the sisters in their loving and nurturing natures and open your eyes to see how Christ Himself so often showed His love and mercy to those who needed healing in not only their bodies, but also their broken hearts. And I would encourage the sisters to see that there is also a need at times for firmness and discipline as when Jesus told the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Together both the male and female natures of God are needed if we are to see Him as He is.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2 RSVA)
A Wilderness Voice 
Ahh, that was so lovely and well said! Thank you. That is exactly how I perceive things, God created men and women to compliment each other, to provide spiritual balance and harmony. Ha! Then He added in biological attraction so we would be compelled to come together and work it out whether we wanted to or not. I call it a Divine comedy. 😉
I’ve always found it interesting that honor your mother and father is such an important commandment, but if you think about it, our parents represent the male and female within us. When we have fractures there, such as the father fracture that currently permeates our culture, the damage is profound. Women have few positive male role models, which creates rebellion, an aversion to authority, and a negative perception of God Himself. Young men grow up having no idea what it truly means to be men and so they reinforce this. Rather than a symbiosis between the genders, we wind up with a war against what is supposed to be one flesh, a war against ourselves. It is no accident that marriage rates have declined and that the spiritual aspects of marriage are being redefined.
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Gabrielle, thank you so much for your comment. I shared it with my dear wife, Dorothy, with whom I have striven for years with God’s help to find that balance and harmony you just wrote about. She liked what you shared. She laughed where you wrote, “Then He added in biological attraction so we would be compelled to come together and work it out whether we wanted to or not. I call it a Divine comedy.” Sorry she didn’t give you a “like” in person on here but she prefers to keep a low profile on the net.
About that “divine comedy”… I have often said that this male and female thing is a Divine Setup! God put in the heart of every woman a desire to be loved as only Jesus can love. Then because of the fall, there is a vacuum in the nature of every man and he is unable to love like that! If our marriages are to succeed, we men must surrender our wills over to Christ and let Him put a new heart in us that loves the way HE loves. Once this is in place the woman follows and loves because He first loved them. This concept gives scope to what God meant when He said, “It is not good that man should be alone.”
Thanks so much for your wise comment, dear sister! ⭐
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Yes insanitybytes22 comment backs up your article Mike very well.
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Thanks, Ken. Yes, Gabrielle really blessed me with her comment. BTW, my dear brother, I was sharing Susanne’s latest blog and comment from you and other with somebody we both know in my own living room today, Bill Wood from Wichita. We had a great time sharing the love of the Lord and Jesus showed up in a powerful way and Bill and I ended up hugging and crying with each other. It was good to see him light up when I read your name and comment to him. Don’t you just love it when God puts us together even though we live thousands of miles apart?
Love you, my friend! ❤
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Yes Mike he was the one who turned me on to your blogsite and then I think it was you who turned me on to Sues blog–God knows what He is doing!
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Yes He does, Ken. Small world, isn’t it? All we need to do is rest in Him and cease from our own labors and He does the rest. Lord willing you and I will connect in person some day. ⭐
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A beautifully written blog article, Michael, full of truth and wise insights of yours. ⭐
Also, I loved reading Gabrielle’s comments on this issue.
Earthly marriage where two become one flesh (body and soul) indeed is a shadow of the spiritual reality which can be ours IN Christ’s today. Becoming spiritually one with one another is a gift from God that overshadows mere “fleshly bonds”, so to speak, as you so rightly pointed out referring to Ephesians 5:32, dear brother. Jesus also said,
“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:48-50 ESV)
Loving Jesus and God more than our family is something only God can bring forth in us through giving us a completely new heart, a heart that loves like God loves, and thus even includes the male and female part in itself. I am thinking here especially of the apostle Paul who had not been married, however, he was the one who could describe perfect agape love in 1 Corinthians 13. I believe Paul knew from his own experience how God loves… unconditionally and including the male and female particularities of His love in even only one person. Jesus’ example on earth made it manifest that our Lord has been the first of many brothers and sisters who should walk like He walked, even, He enables them to do “greater works” than He did (cf. Jn 14:12). Unbelievable, isn’t it? 🙄
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Wow, what a wonderful reply, Susanne… so full of insight of what it means to be made WHOLE in Christ. And, yes, I love Gabrielle’s insightful comment as well.
I love the KJV version in the story of Jesus dealing with the man lying by the pool who was invalid for 37 years. Jesus did not just ask him, “Do you want to walk again?” NO, it was “Would you be made WHOLE?” He could have been made only to walk again and still remained a spiritual cripple. Jesus asked me that question in 1979 and I knew what He was asking. “Would you be made completely whole aa my Father intended you to be, whole in body, soul and spirit?” At that time, like the lame man, I had more faith in my situation, “I have no man!” for I was still looking to men for what only our Father could do, make me totally ONE with the Father and the Son. Like you said we need both the male and female attributes of Christ in us. It has taken me all these years since then to finally get it and answer with all my heart, “YES, Jesus, make me WHOLE!” Susanne, I KNOW that this is what HE is doing in you as well. What a privilege it is to watch Him work in you as He also makes YOU whole in His Son. Unbelievable? Nooooo, not at all! ⭐ 🐻
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Thank you for the wonderful post, and for comments of the commenters. I thank the Father for His wisdom, and pray for His wholeness.
Love to all,
Pat Orr
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Dear Pat, Thanks for your comment. You are welcome, dear sister. Yes, pray for Father’s wholeness not only for yourself, but for Susanne and I as well. The more we write what our Daddy wants us to write, the worse the attacks are against us.
God bless you, dear sister,
Michael
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Mike I love the way you put that–All we need to do is REST into Him and CEASE from our own labors and He does the rest–and yes I would love to meet up with you,Sue,and your commentators someday here on earth–and by the way Sue I got that picture of that sheep as my computer background now and every time I fire up this computer there is that sheep reminding me to listen to Father.
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Ken, I love your comment. Our God is not only the “I Am,” but He is the “I Will” of the New Covenant.
Nope, not a single “Thou shalt” or “thou shalt not.” It is HIS heart changing grace that empowers us to live IN Christ to the Father’s good pleasure, not our works.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of us on the two blogs could meet here in this physical dimension? That is so wonderful that you put Susanne’s pic on your desktop for your wallpaper on your computer. What a great idea. That sheep is so intent on listening to her voice in that picture! You know she must have a wonderful voice filled with the love of God. 🙂
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Thank you very much, Michael! ⭐ 🐱
Indeed, I am looking forward to the day when we all can finally meet, see one another face to face, and hear one another’s voices for real.
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Susanne, me, too! 🙂 ⭐ 🐻
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Oh, that was lovely to hear, Ken, that you can look at that simple picture even on your computer’s desktop now! I feel so honored, my brother! Thanks so much for sharing this on here. 🙂
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What a beautiful picture of God you’ve presented, Michael!
Funny thing. You reminded, too, of the ’80s movie “Moonstruck”. A woman who’s husband has been unfaithful asks her intended son-in-law why men chase women. He replies, “Well, there’s a Bible story. God took a rib from Adam and made Eve. Now maybe men chase women to get the rib back. When God took the rib, He left a big hole there, where there used to be something. And the women have that. Now maybe, just maybe, a man isn’t complete as a man without a woman.” Not so far wrong.
Your friend,
A. 🙂
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Anna, Yes, you are right, For years I saw myself as complete and that a woman was nothing more than a kind of “accessory” like a neck chain to be worn and removed at will. This is the attitude I saw in the misogynistic world around me which I grew up in. But thank God that He has been showing me over these last few years just how incomplete we men are without a complete relationship — body, soul and spirit (it takes all three) with the woman that God has for us in His grand design for this life.
God said to Adam, “It is not good for man to be alone…” I can just see the twinkle in His eye when He said this! 🙂 It is so sad that so few people find each other and become ONE on this level. Sure, we become one flesh in body, that is seen everywhere in our society, and some of us have become one soul… true soul mates. But then there is becoming ONE SPIRIT! Now THAT is rare indeed. When a man and a woman can communicate in the Holy Spirit on a spiritual level as ONE spirit IN Christ, thinking the same things, and having the same revelations at the same time from God, experiencing His heavenly love together. This is so rare that few Christians even know it exists.
Yes, Anna, we men are no where near as complete in ourselves as we would like to think. Paul makes it clear that this unity should exist between a man and his wife in Ephesians chapter five as a living example of what Jesus Christ desires with His bride (the church) and we are to so love her that we will gladly lay down our lives (and our selfish goals) for her sake.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, dear heart. ⭐
Michael
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Yea that picture of the sheep is the greatest sermon I have ever seen.
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Wow! That was poetic, Ken!
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Good to see you touching this important theme again, bro. Reminds me on our exchange we had 2 1/2 years ago.
For everyone who wants to dig deeper into this so important issue here a link to a PDF:
Click to access TheMysteryofLove.pdf
We will never become Jesus’ beautiful, ravishing bride when we as body of Christ dissect the body… and ban the part that is meant to be ‘man’s completion’, his beautification into fruitless, barren desolation by foolish male self-exaltation.
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Thank you for your comment and the link to the book you and Frances wrote together, Markus. God has been patiently showing me the same truths that you have written about as you can probably see by what I write. Thanks for your kind words about me in your last chapter. Don’t you love it when the May Bugs fly into heavenly places together? I guess I am a slow learner, but I can only write on here as God teaches me and I feel He directs me to do so. I hope all is well there in Germany with you and your family. And Tell Frances “Hi” for me when you see her again.
Love in Christ,
Michael
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Thanks, my bro. Wrote you an e-mail I hope you will respond to.
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I wrote you back. 👍🏻
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Excellent insights, Markus! ⭐ (even seven 😉 ) Just read parts of your and Frances’s book and I liked particularly the last part about “Maikäfer”. 🙂 Beautiful…and so true!!
Every blessing,
Susanne
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around us, we are experiencing a (cleverly arranged) cultural paradox, where simply lifting the role of the feminine is filtered through a social value to be understood as a call for functional equality. This action becoming a vicious circle in our times, where women are identified as disadvantaged or unappreciated, evoking calls to see women to a higher standing, at which they increasingly become the targets (and victims) of serpent sniping (“it’s your choice… eat the fruit; a new husband for the old; you don’t need a baby right now; children don’t have to have a father around; men like Jesus aren’t leading the church, but you can lead Her…).
“…the sacraments that made the difference in one’s life between heaven and hell as our final destination” would itself be the trouble by these religious systems, and not for who (man or woman) is bringing these.
“The problem with a culture dominated by men is that half of the image of God is missing!” Yet, such an observation may suggest the Biblical accounts look bleak indeed! We either are proposing God as dominate in all, or that men and/or women ought. More significantly, the problem with culture is that God is not personified in culture! Rather, His Spirit dwells in people.
The more we (sincerely) move to brace-up the virtues or status of women or men, the more Christ suffers subjugation among us. Becoming a servant of servants has ever been contrary to further recognition or higher place.
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Thanks, Marshall. Making men or women as a roll model of all that Christ is was not my intent. I was just using these basic God given traits to show us more of a view of who the one who made us in HIS image is and that we need one another. The fact of the matter is that Christ is the expressed image of the Father (Col. 1:15 & Heb. 1:3) and He demonstrated both loving kindness and nurturing mercy as well as truth and righteousness just like Psalm 85:10 professed He would. One thing I should have pointed out was the importance of the equality we have as we abide IN Him where there is no lording over or posturing above one another, but rather abiding in His love together.
The question is, have we PUT ON CHRIST or are we still wearing our old fig leaves and eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil while we cast blame on one another?
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I read this yesterday but am replying today. The timing for me to see this was very good. I do see it was written some time back but it was still helpful to me.
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I am glad you found this article helpful, Fred.
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