Series: Ephesians
Title: Wives Submit Unto Your Husbands
Text: Ephesians 5: 22-24
Date: November 23, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Today, we begin hearing about the true order
of things. This is not the order of popular opinion. This is the true order God
ordained. We begin this week with the wife.
Ephesians 5: 22: Wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as
Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24: Therefore
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands in every thing.
Scripture says, “thy Maker is thine husband.” Christ
and his bride came first in eternity. Therefore, in the garden, when Christ
made husband and wife he made them after the pattern of Christ and his bride,
the church. (Is 54: 5) Note: We learn everything godly and true by looking to
Christ. So a wife only has to look to Christ and how he brings his bride into
submission, to learn how to submit to her own husband. So this will not only be
for those who are wives but for members of Christ’s bride as well.
AS UNTO THE LORD
First, a few words about the general
exhortation, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the
Lord.” (Eph 5:22) The wife may have an unbelieving husband or even the
believing husband may at times act like an unbeliever, but this is what helps
the wife--“as unto the Lord.” This is not simply a matter of human love; it is
not merely for your husband; it is not mere morality. As believers, we are to
do all things as unto the Lord Jesus. Constrained by Christ’s love, trusting
Christ’s care, submitting to Christ’s government, knowing the Lord is ruling
all things
Faith
finds strength, not in our strength, but in the Lord’s strength. Wisdom is
found, not in our own, but in the Lord’s wisdom. The more submissive we are to
Christ the more we find him to be a faithful, loving, wise Husband at all
times. Christ reminds the believing
wife, to behold him first, before your earthly husband. Christ says, “Submit
unto your earthly husband as unto your heavenly husband.”
YOUR OWN HUSBANDS
Notice,
he says “submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Christ continually reminds his people that
we are his own, chosen, particular, everlastingly loved bride. We are Christ’s
own bride and Christ is our own husband. As Hosea said of Gomer, “Thou shalt
abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be
for another man: so will I also be for thee.” (Hos 3: 3) Imagine
your husband saying, “Honey, you are my bride but I love all other women in the
world, too.” That kind of love means nothing. God’s love is true, particular,
distinguishing love, to his people alone. So he says “submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as you do unto your own husband, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
THE HUSBAND’S PATTERN
Here is
the reason why the wife is to submit to her own husband. The earthly husband is patterned after the
church’s heavenly husband, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ
is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.” (Eph 5: 23)
God made man first because Christ was first
before his bride. Our Husband is eternal God, the Son of God. Then secondly,
our Maker, our Husband, created a bride for Adam because Christ’s bride was
chosen after Christ, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man
should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” (Gen 2: 18) This was patterned
after Christ and his bride. In eternity,
God chose Christ. Then in eternity God
chose each of his elect, his people, his church and God espoused his church to
Christ to be Christ’s bride.
Therefore, scripture says man, “is the image
and glory of God: and the woman is the glory of the man.” (1 Cor 11: 7) The
GodMan, Christ Jesus is the express image and glory of God. The woman, the
church, each believer in particular, is the glory of the GodMan, Christ our
Husband.
Therefore, scriptures says, “For the man is
not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the
woman; but the woman for the man.” (1 Cor 11: 8-9) Christ was before the church.
He came into this earth through the church. But the church is of Christ. Neither
was Christ ordained for the church but the church was created for Christ.
Everything God does in the salvation of his
people is to glorify his Son. So God’s order of man and woman in this earth is
patterned after Christ our Husband and his bride, the church. God’s order of
the husband and wife gives all preeminence to Christ with his church in subjection
to him. Whether the unregenerate world knows it or not, that is the chief
reason the carnal mind hates God’s order for the husband to be head over the
wife, for the wife to be in subjection to her husband.
Nevertheless, “he is the head of the body,
the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all
things he might have the preeminence.” (Col 1: 18) “And hath put all things
under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which
is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” (Eph 1: 22-23)
THE IMPORTANCE FOR SUBMISSION
Why is it so important that the church be in
subjection to Christ our Husband? The
bride of Christ is the weaker vessel even as the woman. Therefore, Satan’s method in the garden was to
turn this order upside down by tricking the weaker vessel. Satan came to Eve
first, not to Adam, because Eve was the weaker vessel. He beguiled, tricked
Eve. Eve ate the fruit and gave to her husband, Adam, who was our first
representative.
Now, we know Adam was not deceived. There is a beautiful
picture in the fact that Adam, seeing his bride defiled, was willing to lay
down his life to die for his bride. That
is what Christ did in obedience to God to justify his people from all our sins.
But Adam’s wife must have usurped authority over Adam, telling her husband to
eat, because after Adam ate, listen to what God said, “And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the
tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is
the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life;” (Ge 3:17) Adam’s head was
Christ. The bride is supposed to be in submission to her own husband. Instead,
when Eve usurped authority over Adam, she usurped authority over Christ. When Adam obeyed her, the whole order turned
upside down. Sin entered. Death entered. The whole world became dead in sin
under the curse of God.
But even in God’s sentence to Eve he showed the pattern
of how Christ’s bride would be saved by Christ her Husband. Remember, our text
says, Christ is the Savior of the body. So God said to the devil, “And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; [Christ]
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen 3: 15) The “Seed
of woman” is Christ our Husband.
Remember, Christ was before the woman, the church, but he
would be born through the woman, through the church. So God said to the woman, to
the church, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” (Gen 3: 16) The
spiritual lesson is this, Satan would cause the woman, the church, much sorrow in
child birth, as Satan attempted to prevent Christ from coming into this world. Throughout the ages we see it. Pharaoh ordered all the
male Israelite children to be killed. Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (Es 3:
6.) Herod “slew all the children that were in
Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under…” (Mt 2:
16)
Revelation
12: 1: And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the
sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2:
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be
delivered.
The woman is the church, travailing to bring forth the
Seed of woman.
Revelation
12: 3: And…behold a great red dragon,…and the dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was
born. 5: And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a
rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Satan is the red dragon.
The child which Satan tried to prevent being born, but which was born and
ascended to the throne of God is Christ the GodMan, the Seed of Woman. It is because of that enmity between Satan
and Christ, that Satan tried to destroy every elect child of God, born of the
church, to prevent Christ coming into this earth.
So in
the garden, what was the gospel that God preached to the woman, telling the woman
how she would be saved? God told the wife, “and thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Gen 3: 16) From Eve on down the line of
all God’s elect, all the way to Mary, the only way the church has ever been
saved is by her desire being toward Christ her Husband, who is, “the desire of all nations.” (Hag 2: 7)
So Christ came into the world—the Seed of woman—and saved
his bride. And it is only by our subjection to Christ our Husband that we
continue to be saved to bring forth his elect children. Let’s hear the Holy
Spirit give us the commentary on Gen 3: 16. God told Eve, “Let the woman learn
in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp
authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (1 Tim 2: 11-12) That is what
God told Eve. Here is why? “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was
not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Tim 2:
12-14) Eve’s transgression was that she usurped authority over Adam telling her
husband to eat. Now, here is Genesis 3: 16 which the Lord told Eve, “Notwithstanding
she shall be saved in childbearing.” God told Eve that throughout the ages the
church shall be saved in bearing Christ, the Seed of woman. (1 Tim 2: 15) Here
is how, “if they”, the church from Eve to Mary, “if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety.” (1Ti 2:11-15) Or as Genesis 3: 16 put it,
if her desire continue to be toward Christ her Husband, being in subjection,
learning from and trusting Christ to rule over her and protect her. That is
what God told Eve and that is why Satan was not able to prevent Christ coming
into the earth. Only by Christ ruling over her and by her being in subjection
to his rule, through faith, was she saved. So this is why Christ the Husband is the Head
of the bride. This is why, we, as the bride of Christ, must be in subjection to
Christ our Husband. Submission to Christ is the only way we shall continue to
bear God’s elect through the gospel.
CHRIST IS THE
SAVIOR OF THE BODY
So Christ is the Savior of the body. He came
forth and bruised Satan’s head on the cross and Christ saved his bride, his
church, every elect child of God, by the work he finished in the earth. The
work is done. The church is, “the church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood.” (Acts 20: 28) Now, we, “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to
come.” (1 Thess 1: 10) God’s elect,
Christ’s redeemed, called out of every nation are the bride of Christ. We sing,
“a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” (Rev 5: 9)
When Christ regenerates and calls us to faith, we enter a
marriage covenant with Christ. That is why a husband and bride enter a marriage
covenant. But toward Christ, all we are to do is submit to his rule over us.
Christ makes an everlasting covenant that he has saved us and shall continue to
save us, bringing us to him.
When he calls us to faith, Christ gives his bride, a new
name—his name. Notice, Adam and Eve were not given two names, but one name, “Male
and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in
the day when they were created.” (Gen 5: 2) Our name is “the Lord our
Righteousness” because Christ’s name is “the LORD our Righteousness.” (Jer 23:
6; 33: 16) Each of God’s elect are “joined to the Lord”; “married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God.” (Zec 2: 11; Rom 7: 4); our Maker is our Husband. (Is 54: 5)
THE FALSE BRIDE
The true church is in subjection to Christ, “Therefore…the
church is subject unto Christ.” (Eph 5: 24) But there is a false bride, a false
church in our day, an imitation bride, with whom this order is upside down. Her husband can only save her if she gives him
permission; her husband can only exercise his will if she lets him have his
way. They say things like, “Christ wants to save you, if you will let him. He
has done all he can do, now it is up to you. He has a wonderful plan for your
life, if you will let him have his way.”
That bride usurps authority over her husband. Likewise, the women in
that church usurp authority over the men, preaching and teaching and running
their churches; and the men do what the women say. Their heavenly husband and
their earthly husbands are henpecked—only doing what they allow. Furthermore, that
bride is not a keeper of her husbands house because they arrange their house
around the children; catering to the people’s every whim and wish; preaching
what they want to hear—rather than arranging the house around their husband.
THE TRUE BRIDE
Yet, it is not so with the true church. Wives
read this closely. Here is how you learn how to submit to your earthly
husbands. It is by looking at the church’s submission to our heavenly husband. “Therefore
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
in every thing.” (Eph 5: 24)
The
true bride, the true church, submits to Christ our Husband, depending upon him
in every thing. But for sake of time, we
will divide this into a few headings.
One, we
submit to him to save us by redemption. Christ has already redeemed us from the
curse of the law. And in the end, Christ shall also redeem us into final glory
completely, in body, as well as spirit, “ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Rom 8: 23) So wives submit to your husband to take all
your debts and pay them all. Husbands, that is our responsibility, even as
Christ did the church.
Two, we
submit to Christ our Husband to save us by protecting us in this world. Christ
hedges us about and keeps us; we are kept by the Power of God and Christ is
that Power of God. (1 Pet 1: 5; 1 Cor 1: 24) We are kept through faith which is
submission to Christ our Husband and Savior.
So, ladies, submit to your own husbands to protect you, even as you
submit to the Lord to protect you.
Three,
the church submits to Christ to save us by providing for us. Christ provides us
all spiritual blessings, as well as all temporal blessings. He is the Vine; we
are the branches, without Christ our Head and Savior we can do nothing. (Jn 15:
5) So, wives submit yourselves to your husbands to provide.
Four, the
church submits to Christ to save us by giving us direction. Christ guides us
through the Holy Spirit through the gospel through his all wise-providence. In
the gospel Christ exhorts, reproves, rebukes, and comforts us. So, wives,
submit to your own husbands to direct you with exhortation, reproof, rebuke and
comfort. Obey and reverence him as unto the Lord. The Lord will rule
everything. Remember, Christ strength is made perfect in our weakness. A domineering, self-willed woman never learns
the strength of her husband and his direction, even as a self-willed sinner
misses out on Christ’s saving strength.
Lastly, five, this is so important, the
church submits to our Husband by being keepers of his house. We build our lives
and the house of the Lord around our heavenly Husband, Christ Jesus. The true bride of Christ does not arrange the
house around the children; but around the Lord. We teach Christ’s children the
gospel of Christ, we teach them to bow to him. Christ our Husband is the focus;
His is the glory and honor. Likewise, wives, do the same unto your husbands as
unto the Lord. One day the children will be gone and it will be just you and
your husband. Build your house around your husbands and do so to build your
house around your heavenly husband, Christ Jesus. “Therefore as the church is
subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in
every thing.” (Eph 5:24)
A WORD TO WIVES
WITH UNBELIEVING HUSBANDS
What if you were unbelievers but after marriage the Lord
saves the wife but not the husband? Or what if a believing wife makes the
mistake of marrying a man who turns out to be an unbeliever? So long as he does
not attempt to separate her from Christ or the gospel, she is to submit to her
husband.
1 Peter
3: 1: Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that,
if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the
conversation of the wives; 2: While they behold your chaste conversation coupled
with fear. 3: Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of
plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4: But let
it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even
the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of
great price.
In your submission show him your reverence
and obedience to Christ your Husband. The Lord may use your actions to win him.
Not to save him without the word, but so that your husband comes to listen to
the gospel, that the Lord may save him through the word.
You unbelieving husbands and you husbands who love the
message of law and works, will you let me tell you what your believing wife
wants more than anything: for you to come hear the preaching of the gospel that
glorifies Christ alone, for you to search the scriptures with her, for you to
have the comfort of knowing the warfare is accomplished, for your marriage to
be made sweeter by you both having an interest in Christ.
Next time, Lord willing, we will see Christ
the Husband and hear a word to us husbands.
Amen!