Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Female): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: The study of Ephesians chapter 5. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as the Messiah is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, unto the Messiah, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."

Now, he began by speaking to the wives first of all. And you noticed to the wives we only have three verses allotted to the wives here, and to the husband, it's a bit longer because there's much more to say apparently to the husbands in the context in which we have here in Ephesians chapter 5. But it is very important, brothers and sisters, and I'm speaking now to those of us who are wives here, to realize that submissiveness to the husband according to verse 22 is really submissiveness to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

You see, sometimes we don't realize this and we think that if I'm going to submit myself unto my husband, because my husband is not always an easy person to submit because he's not always doing things in the right way and treating me in the right way, therefore I have the liberty not to submit because he's really not doing everything right the way I would like him to do. Nevertheless, the Bible is very clear when he says, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband," and he is adding this last clause where he says, "as unto the Lord."

Yeshua is Lord, and Yeshua is the one that is in charge, and he delegates to the body of Christ, to the believers, what he has in mind as a Lord Adon, as we say it in Hebrew, who is the one who is in charge. He is responsible over the affairs of the church. And therefore, the church is to be subjected to the lordship of Yeshua, and therefore the wife as a type of the church is to submit to the lordship of Yeshua the Messiah and to the lordship of her husband.

Now, you notice he used the word submit, and somebody asked me, "What if my husband asks me to do things that are not right?" Well, we know very well that he does not say submit unto your husband when he asks you to do bad or wrong things. No, but to recognize that the husband is still according to this verse, he is a picture of the lordship of Yeshua the Messiah. When I subject myself to the Lord or to my husband, I really subject myself to the person of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

You know, when we became believers in Yeshua, we confessed him to be Lord. The Hebrew word Lord means Adon, master. He is the one that is responsible. He is the one who is in charge. The husband is not doing always the right things, but the husband is nevertheless a being placed in a home setting as the one that is in headship, in leadership. And therefore, by submitting to the husband, we are submitting to Yeshua the Messiah in his lordship over the church of the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Now, again, I want to say submissiveness to the husband is not in everything because many times the husband is not doing the right things and therefore we have to be really sensitive here, but nevertheless, the wife according to verse 22 is to submit, to adjust themselves, to recognize who the husband is and to adjust their mind and their hearts in that setting will allow them to please the Lord in being submissive to the husband. He's continuing here in verse 23, and he's explaining the headship in a home.

Now again, he assuming here that he has talking to a believing husband and wife. He says for the husband is the head of the wife, even as the Messiah is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. The husband is the head of that home setting. And therefore, he is responsible in many ways. He's also not only have a privilege of headship but he has also the responsibility in headship. And therefore, the wife is to recognize the headship of the Lord.

Let me give you just a couple of verses in connection with the headship of the husband or the man. Notice in 1 Corinthians in connection with verse 23, the wife is to understand the headship of her husband. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, it says in verse 3, "But I would have you know that the head of every man is the Messiah, is Christ. And the head of the woman is the man." Here's again, Paul is saying, "The head of the woman is the man, the head of Christ is God."

And therefore, it's very clear that God positionally have placed the man in headship, in responsibility. Even all of us who are today have these bodies of ours, we have that head, and with the head is the thought pattern. From the head, we get direction for all the members of the body. Headship is natural. And therefore, when God had created Adam first, placed him to be the head over his wife, not in controlling and treating her in a wrong way, but the headship in giving direction and nourishment and help and so on. This is the responsibility that God had given to the headship.

And what we're really doing by submitting to our husbands, we are really submitting ourselves to the lordship of Yeshua the Messiah. "Wives, be subject to your own husbands even as it is unto the Lord because the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." Now imagine, brothers and sisters, if the church, this is the believers, will start to tell the Lord Jesus what to do. Imagine if we as the body of Messiah will give instruction and correction and not be subject to the lordship of Yeshua.

This is exactly the problem that happened with Israel, our people of old. And this is exactly what happened in the present-day church age where we have violated the clear instruction of the Lord and instead of submitting ourselves to Yeshua, we end up doing our own thing and end up at the end losing out with the enjoyment of the relationship with Christ, with the Messiah. Israel, you remember what God said we just read today in Hosea chapter 3 and in Jeremiah chapter 31. God had this relationship with the nation of Israel, but Israel as a nation needed to submit to their husband, to Jehovah.

Just the same like we, the church, ought to submit to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and the marriage union is merely a picture of Christ the Messiah and the church. So the husband is the head is not the dictator. He's not called to be a dictator. He's called to be the head that give direction and nourishment and assistant in the governing of the home and the family. And the wife is to recognize that and to allow him by submitting to his authority, to his headship.

Now, what if the husband is not doing so? What if the husband is not always doing the right thing? Does that give justification for the wife not to submit because the husband is not always the way he should be? You never find this in a Bible that it says, "Wife, be subject to your husband only when he does everything right." You don't have this in the Bible. But what we do have in a Bible that the wife is to subject herself to the husband as subjecting unto the Lord, praying for him, assisting him, seeking to see him doing the right thing in leading her in a right way because the wife is a picture of the church who is to be submissive to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

Notice how he's saying in verse 24, the wife is a picture of the church in submissiveness. It says in verse 24, "Therefore as the church is to be subject to Christ, to the Messiah, so let the wives be to their own husband," and he add the word again, "in everything." Again, I mentioned there are certain things that one cannot subject to the husband when the husband said to do something wrong. But if the husband doesn't make always the best decision, it doesn't give a wife the right not to subject herself unto her own husband.

And submitting here it's simply adjusting the wife's heart and mind to the leadership of the husband. Now let me just read couple more verses in connection with this. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 18 is writing to the brethren there and he says, "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband," and then he continue and he says, "as it is fit in the Lord." It is fit, it is meet, it is suitable, it is the right thing to do in the Lord is when the wives have been submissive to her husband.

This is so beautiful to see because when the wife is submissive to her husband is a picture of the church being submissive to our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Here's one more verse, brothers and sisters. 1 Peter, just turn there to 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 1 as well. "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word," in other words, if your husband is not a believer and you obey not the word, "you or they also may without the word be won by the behavior, by the conversation of the wives while they behold your pure modesty coupled with fear."

Whose adorning let it be not of the outward, but the inward. You know and so on. Let it be the inner man. Verse 4. You might be able to win your husband to do the right thing. First of all, to accept the Messiah. Secondly, to do the right thing in following God and being obeying the Lord. So brothers and sisters, when the Lord is speaking, when Paul is speaking to the wife to be subject to their own husbands, he's saying it because it is fit in the Lord. It is the ways that God expect this from the wives.

And that's of course does not give the right of a husband to abuse his leadership, his headship. He is responsible to respond to his wife and to be a head that is leading the home, leading his wife in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. And so verses 22, 23, and 24, "Wives, submit yourself unto your own husband because it is in the Lord because it is the right thing, and you're able to win your husband that he will go in a way that it is pleasing to the Lord."

And what happen when there is no submissiveness on the part of the wife in that relationship? Oftentimes it produce a wedge in the relationship. Oftentimes it produce a broken-up relationship between husband and wife. And how sad to see that today, even today, in most marriages, Christian believers' marriages, they say that the amount of the divorces in marriages among believers it's almost equal to the amount of divorces among unbelievers today. And it is all because we just do not take our place before the Lord in a way that we ought to do so.

And therefore, there is an encouragement for the wives to be subject to their own husbands as unto our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Well, it is very easy to read this passage and leave it like that. And the Apostle Paul doesn't stop with this because immediately in the next verses, verses 25 to 33, he's now speaking to the husbands. So we cannot just speak to the wives and leave that without to also get this that which apply to those of us who are husbands just the same like he spoke to the Ephesians.

Well, look at what the Lord through Paul is saying now to the husbands. And now in verse 25 to verse 23, he is now commending the husbands to be responsible in what he called them to do. And so he began in verse 25, he says, "Husbands, love your wives even as the Messiah also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle."

And then he said, "or any such thing but that it should be a holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wife as their own body. He that loveth his wife loveth himself." Now, you see now he just finished to speak to the wives. And if we are not careful, we can say, "Well, here's Paul is so much against the wife. Be subject, be subject, be subject, be subject to your own husband." Well, if we stop right here and we don't see the responsibility of the husband, we can get hardened and not realize that is not only speaking to the wives and the women the responsibility, but now he's speaking to the husbands because the husband also have a responsibility in the relationship, in a marriage union.

And so he says, "Husband, love your wives." The Greek word for love is the word agapao, and the word agapao in Greek simply mean unconditional love towards the wife. And as I mentioned before, the wife is to submit to her husband even though he is not always doing the right thing. The husband is to love their wives even though they are not always submissive to the husband. In other words, it doesn't say to us as men and to the brothers in the local assembly at Ephesus, he says, "Listen, brothers, listen, husbands, you love your wives only when they are submissive."

Otherwise, you don't love them. No, he's saying to them, "Husband, love your wives unconditionally in a same way that the Messiah have loved the assembly, the church." And how did he love the assembly, the church? It was a sacrificial love by giving himself for the church, for the assembly. In other words, the husband is responsible to love his wife to the extent that he will do everything in order to elevate his wife, to build his wife up, to be a blessing to his wife because if they are going to have this spiritual need met, the husband is responsible to love his wife unconditionally.

This is very precious to realize, and make the comparison again. You remember in the previous verses, he says the church is to be submissive to the lordship of Yeshua. Now he says vice versa, the Lord loved his assembly so much that he gave himself for it. Think about this, brothers and sisters, how the Lord Yeshua the Messiah have done so much in order to purchase an assembly, a bride for himself. He was willing to come down from heaven to become a man of sorrows which have been acquainted with grief in order that he will lift up this precious the pearl that he love so much, the church, the ecclesia, to get a bride, a wife for himself.

Well, can you imagine how terrible it is for us if we don't love our wives and don't treat them in some small measure that the Lord Jesus have loved us? Some small measure to picture the love of the Messiah for his body, for the church. Imagine how terrible it looks like when we do not act in such a way. Now, of course, we know we fail oftentimes in this, but nevertheless, the exhortation is husband, love your wives and sacrificially even as the Messiah loved the church, the assembly, and he was willing to give his life for her.

It was a sacrificial love that Yeshua have done in order to bring us to become part of the family of God. You know some verses came to my mind from biblical history. You remember the story of Jacob. You know Jacob have left his father's house, went to Mesopotamia, and there he arrived to the family of Laban. And you remember there when he arrived to the family of Laban in Genesis chapter 29, just turn there for a second. We can see a real love for a wife that he wanted so much to be his own.

Jacob in Genesis chapter 29 in verse 18. "Jacob loved Rachel. Yaakov ahav et Rachel. He loved Rachel. And he said, 'I will serve thee,'" he was speaking to Laban, to her father, "'for seven year for Rachel, your younger daughter.'" So Laban said, "You know, it is better for me that I will give her to you, to thee, than that I should give her to another man. Abide with me." So Jacob, listen, sacrificially, "Jacob served for seven years," verse 20, "for Rachel."

Now, how many years you have worked to gain your wife? Can you imagine seven years to labor and labor and labor just to get this wife that he love so much? Well, you know what happened. It says, "Jacob served for seven years and they seem," look at this, brothers and sisters, "they seem unto him as a few days for the love that he had for her." You remember when we first met our future wives to be, we loved them so much and the days pass so quickly and we wanted so much to be with them and to serve them and to minister to them, whatever the Lord would give us because we love them so much.

Jacob, seven years of working so hard to gain Rachel, seem to be to him according to verse 20, they seem to be to him as only a few days. Well, you know what happened in the story there, that when the time came for the marriage union to consummate, well, he get up in the morning and lo and behold, he found out that it was not Rachel with him. It was Leah. So you might say, "I'm just giving up. I'm tired. I'm not going to carry on." You know, but Jacob loved Rachel so much that again, look at the text in Genesis 29 now verse 26.

Laban said unto him, "It must not be so in our country to give the younger before the firstborn." And then he says, "Fulfill her week, her seven years, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou will serve with me," and he says, "serve me seven other years." So Jacob did so, and he fulfilled her week, in other words her seven years, and he gave to him Rachel his daughter to be as wife. No, now we find out that Jacob end up to work for 14 years just to get this wife by the name of Rachel.

Now, what is the lesson? Brothers and sisters, the lesson is true love is sacrificial. It cost. And if we are to be that picture of the love of Yeshua the Messiah for us, for the body of Christ, we are to in a small measure, and I'm using the word small measure because we fail as men often to appropriately love our wives sacrificially, but nevertheless it does say, "husbands," verse 25, "love your wives even as the Messiah love the church, the assembly, and gave himself for the church, for the assembly."

And this is very important for us as men to realize, as husbands to realize the importance of loving our wives unconditionally even at time it's not easy when there is not necessarily submissiveness and not necessarily the perfection that we expect from those that belong to us. Nevertheless, there is a command by the Lord for the husband is to love their own wife even as the Lord Yeshua love his bride, his church. In the same matter, I just want to say that when we read Hosea chapter 3 and God said to Hosea, "Go love a wife," and he was speaking about the unfaithful wife of Hosea that had gone astray from him.

And God said to Hosea, "You go and love her just the same like I love the people of Israel." The love of God towards the people of Israel unconditional. A love that is not limited by anything. That is the kind of love that God love us, that God love Israel, and the Lord love the church and he was willing to give himself for the assembly. By the way, in the Bible we have four times that we have about the love of God. For example, John 3:16, "God so loved the world that he gave himself for the world."

Jeremiah chapter 31, God says that "I have loved you, namely Israel, with an unconditional, unlimited love," you know "with an everlasting love," Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 2 and 3. Here we see the love of the Messiah for the assembly. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And in Galatians 2 and verse 20, Paul said, "The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." So we have God love for the world, God love for Israel, Messiah love for the church, Messiah love for individuals like you and I.

It is found in scripture, the sacrificial love that God have proven in loving his own people. So verse 25, he gave himself in the past. Verse 26, look at verse 26 now, he's dealing with the presence, how do Christ, the Messiah love now his wife presently, his bride, and you and I as husbands are to do so towards our wives, "that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the word." You see what happened, the purpose of the husband in loving his wife is to wash her and cleanse her, you might say to set her apart, to have her in such a way that she's so refreshed and so encouraged. You know, it is terrible when we don't treat our wives in a right way, when we put them down and we treat them in a way that is not pleasing to the Lord. How can she be refreshed and encouraged? How can she feel the sense of fulfillment spiritually when there is that treatment that is not correct?

Guest (Female): You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.

Gideon Levytam: (Singing)