INDEX TO VOLUME 3(4)
40. Eight steps in the Temple of God.
41. The apostacy has now come.
42. Let Me hear your voice .
43. It is finished.
44. The importance of man and woman.
45. The war between man and woman.
46. We need to look at what the man and woman looked like before the Fall.
47. The image of man after the Fall.
48. The growth to a “mature man”.
49. Man ,is the woman just as precious to you as she is to Yashuah?
40. Eight steps in the Temple of God.
In Ezekiel 40: 34-37 we read about the New Temple’s “Eight Steps”. In Chapter 7 we read in verse 26 about “Seven Steps”. It came as a living word to me personally regarding my spiritual growth and the path my Father is walking with me: a path not always that level, but that does go upwards step-by-step — ever closer to Yashuah, until my “life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3: 4). You will also experience how God’s Spirit leads you ever higher up the stairs — ever closer to Him. And the events in South Africa play a substantial role in this.
Senekal, oh, Senekal!
Today is the 16th of October 2020. Indeed, a significant date that we will probably never forget! From far and wide the Boers trekked up toward Senekal, the town in the Free State that has been in the news so much lately. Last week the farmers trekked up to the Magistrate’s Court there, where the suspected murderers of a young farmer would appear. A major conflict ensued. And following that, an even bigger reaction nationwide! The night before yesterday I went to bed exhausted, as from early on in the morning the “Whatsapps” flooded in, numerous advisers, angry farmers who now just want to go to war — some whose only experience of war comes from “Video games”. They subconsciously think that, after they have been shot dead by the enemy, they would still have 7 lives left as one does with Video games. Others pray and forward beautiful promises from the Father. Clearly there is confusion amongst the people! Many feel that something needs to be done right now. Solomon in his wisdom warns: “For conciliation prevents great offenses”. It may be that nothing emerges from what is happening in Senekal today, but neither shall this town ever be forgotten!
A second Blood River? There are many who feel this way. However, this cannot happen now because there is a big difference between Blood River and Senekal. The Boers then (spelt with a capital letter) were not farm farmers but the Boer people, the descendants of the Huguenots who migrated here from France, the Netherlands and other European countries because they had to flee for the sake of their faith. In the case of Blood River, when the Boers were leaderless, they wrote a letter to Andries Pretorius in Graaf Reinet with the request that he would lead them in a war against the enemy who threatened their lives daily with murders and farm attacks — as is the case today. Piet Retief (from my Family) had already been murdered by then and Manie Maritz was also already dead. Therefore, they were without a leader. Andries Pretorius then wrote a letter back with 3 conditions: Firstly, he said that there would have to be unity amongst the citizens. Remember that there were mainly 6 treks from the Cape colony when they moved inland with their oxen wagons. Why? Leadership has always been an issue among the stubborn!
Secondly, Andries Pretorius said that they would have to make a covenant with God. It is told that the citizens who did not join the covenant were not allowed to take part in the battle. They could perform other tasks but were not allowed to shoot.
“The enemy divides and conquers” is an old saying. And when a strong leader does not emerge, weak leaders fight very quickly. The explanation for this is that our God is a jealous God (Exod 34:14). He does not want a man / woman who does not know Him to lead the people He led through many persecutions from Europe to this area at the southern tip of Africa! Such a leader will need to know Him up close and also know His voice. Not just any good leader is good enough for our God and His Son, Yashuah — the King of kings. Though that leader, like Saul, can wage war and organize well, he is not good enough! He must be a man after God’s heart — like King David. Read what the Word says about him in Ps 89: 20-36. Notice, on the other hand, what God says about Saul — a man who, according to the people, was a good leader, but not a man after God’s heart: “And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1 Samuel 13: 13-14).
Will you, as a child of God led by the Spirit of God, be able to go to war knowing that your leader does not know the voice of God because he cannot listen to His word? First read the reason for this in John 8: 42-47. The characteristic of a child of God is that he is led by the Spirit of God. Romans 8:14 states this very clearly. Will you be able to march with such a leader while knowing that there are men with him whom he does not love — that he does not make a secret of the fact that in a battle situation he will shoot that fellow Boer dead first, lest that Boer would want to shoot him dead? Would God appoint such a leader over “the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name” (Acts 15: 14). In Saul’s case, Saul was anointed by God as king, but he was a king according to the people’s taste. Read about this in 1 Samuel 8: 2-7 and 1 Sam 9: 2. When I was also called up for military training years ago, our leaders were mostly wicked. And I had to accept it that way, submit to their authority (Rom 13: 1) and do my training like a good citizen.
You will say to me: “But now your fellow Afrikaner is calling upon you. Are you not going to listen when they, even though they are unrepentant, need your help? This is after all a second Blood River!” Is that really so? Are we now at a second Blood River? Maybe later but not now! In the words of Andries Pretorius: “there will first have to be unity among the divided citizens“. If you, who are asking me this, know the voice of God, you will know that He is now engaged in a much greater offensive in this land and on this earth, than most people realize! It is a greater work than protecting those people — descendants of the Huguenots who had to flee for their faith — and their property. Hebrews 10:34: “For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting”.
Our ancestors literally left everything to come here! But they had a vision of the heaven that they were on their way to. You must read through the entire Heb 11 at some point. Are we better children of God now than our Huguenot ancestors, so that we can now live happily without persecution and tribulation? Waiting for the “Rapture” —if you believe in it?
If there will be no Rapture, we need the endurance of Christ as Heb 10:36 says: “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Read the following Scriptures on ENDURANCE: Rom 5: 3; James 1: 2-4. I mention again that it is the endurance of Christ that we need. Rev 3:10: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Without it, no one will make it. It is exactly the same perseverance that Christ received from His Father in order to go through His bitter suffering, that works within you through the Holy Spirit and thereby gives you the ability to suffer for Him — as He suffered for you. And we will have to be declared as tried in this, otherwise we will perish with many who are going to die on the earth. Our faith and perseverance are already entering a test phase here in South Africa. As I sit here writing Ansie comes in from time to time with more news about Senekal — about everything that is happening there today. No one knows what is going to happen, only God. What the results of God’s trial will be, remains to be seen. Eventually there will be a remnant. It sounds tragic — and so it is! But the Scripture must be fulfilled that a distinction will be made between those who serve God and those who do not serve Him (Mal 3:18). What will be the determining factor? The spirit that is in man and rules! Whether only the influence comes from a good spirit or the evil influence comes from an unclean spirit.
Note: I have already written in previous chapters about the falling away to come. Read 2 Thessalonians 2: 3 again.
41. The apostasy has now come.
The apostasy has now come (2 Thess 2: 3) —the distinction between those who serve Him and those who do not serve Him (Mal 3:18). Also between those who believe Him and those who do not believe Him (Luke 18: 8). The events now in our country: The looming civil war and the accompanying collapse of the economy will play a major role in the falling away. Those who believe God and have a loving relationship with Him and His Son will now be clearly distinguished from those who do not. The Amplified Bible calls it: “The predicted great falling away of those who professed to be Christians”. To succeed in these times with victory, your faith will have to be put to the test. I have written before about “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 1: 7). I do not want to repeat everything, only to refresh your memory: Your faith will have to be tested, as well as your ability to suffer — that is, to go through hardships. Yashuah indicated that He was wondering if He would find faith on earth when He returned here (Luke 18: 8). There are masses of Christians of whom Yashuah says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7: 6). If you now walk and act according to the thoughts of men, you will perish (Isa. 65: 2). You will need to be able to find out what God’s thoughts are for you and certainly not run after people! In order to obtain the key to all victory, redemption, protection and provision, I must first share with you the following:
42. Let Me hear your voice.
Why do you think Jashuah said that the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and all your strength. People call me in their distress and ask me to pray for them that they are going to get a job. But they did not even begin to search for Yashuah at all, saying, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). This statement of Yashuah easily is the most revolutionary word in the Bible! While a man does not have a job — and therefore cannot buy food and clothing for himself and his loved ones — he must seek Yashuah first! Yes! For Yahweh said, “Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry” (Isa. 65: 13). If 2/3 of the world dies of “…the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence…” (Ezek. 14:21), what will protect you from it? God saved you for a different purpose than you think, namely to love Him. And that is His main purpose! Not to save you from distress, nor to protect your property or to provide you with bread and water. Yes, He promised to do these things for you, but, I hope you have not forgotten that all of God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ. Read again 2 Cor 1:20. Also Deut 30:16 says: “in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess”. —This means all the blessings promised in Deut 28. But there are conditions to all of God’s promises!
Every day I begin to understand more and more how important it is to God, our Father, to have fellowship with us, to hear our voice when we tell Him how much we love Him and when we sing to the glory of His Name. Many times He made me open on the Scriptures in Song 2:14 “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely”. It took me years to find out what He really wants to say to me: As He walked with Adam and Eve in the evening breeze and lovingly united with them, so He also wants to do with us. But, something caused Him to no longer be able to do this with Adam and Eve: They fell into sin by eating from the “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” As a result, they could no longer have fellowship with God. And they could also no longer eat from the “Tree of Life” (Gen 2: 9). It was always there for them to eat freely from, but they did not. But when Satan came and made them an offer to eat of the fruit of the “Forbidden Tree”, they ate.
You just get mad at them! How could they ignore the tree of life the entire time, but then snap up the eating of the forbidden fruit? How could they? Wait, let’s be slow with our judgment! Romans 2: 1 says that “…for you who judge practice the same things.” Therefore we do the same things as Adam and Eve: We fail to take life out of Yashuah’s hand, (Joh 5: 40) while we never fail to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil! The worst revelation is that, as long as you continue to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you cannot reach the Tree of Life! (Gen 3: 22-24). You eat from one or the other, but certainly not from both at the same time.
It is worthwhile to now go and find out where the eating of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil comes from and how we can be set free from it. And let’s do it right now:
The first and most important thing we need to do is to believe Him. He sent a large army against our land — already centuries ago, the vanguard of “the locust” moved here, and our ancestors took careful note of the impossible task that would be ours — us whom He sent here to serve Him. to be a people here — to sustain ourselves here. Perhaps our ancestors did not realize that the Locust is God’s army (Joel 2:11, 25). Nor did they realize that we, and also our descendants, would have to live very close to God so that “the Locust” would not engulf us.
What would be God’s purpose with “the Locust” here? To free us from this worldly, Babylonian system. “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (Rev. 18: 4). If only we could remember that God sent His army – “the swarm of Locusts” – with the aim of bringing us closer to Him (Joel 2: 11-17, verse 25). If we could also not forget that He sends the “Non-people” to punish those who tease Him through a “Non-god” (Idols). Don’t forget it! (Deut 32:21)
Now these people want to do something because they feel that we can not continue to have our people killed on the farms, and also in the cities. Everywhere it is now being organized to set up Boer forces in order to protect ourselves. It’s all good provided God goes out with them. To do something from the flesh cannot bear the blessing of Yahweh. The flesh cannot please God no matter how good the purpose! When the people asked Yashuah, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28) His answer was, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Do you believe Him? Do you believe everything He has told you? Do you believe His word? Do you obey His Word? No? Then you are now at the heart of the problem of our people! And then you also now know why the Locust devours your crops. 2 Chron 7:13 “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ”
If you were to go to war, or in the smallest patrol, without God giving you such a command, then you would certainly not go out in faith in His word. “For whatever is not of faith is sin” (Rom 14:23). If you act according to your own thoughts you will perish: Read (Isa. 65: 2). Moses did not dare to move out if the Lord did not move out with Him.
43. It is finished.
First read this very precious moment in Jashuah’s redemptive work: In John 19: 28-30 “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
You must believe that Yashuah already justified you through His death on the cross, and because He paid for your sins in hell. So you are already a righteous one, but you have to believe it. The word He speaks to you has already sanctified you — you just have to believe it. You already have the fullness in Him — you just have to believe it. Because “IT IS FINISHED”
Because you have been cleansed, justified, and sanctified by the blood of Yashuah, you are not afraid to die — you are not afraid of death! Knowing that you have a better and lasting possession in the heavens (Heb 13: 34), you are not afraid of losing your possessions either — provided it is God’s will.
“The quiet ones in the lands” will now increasingly start to take shape. It will come through the Spirit of God. Yet He will use certain factors and events in this world to bring it about. A great writer said, “God silences man.” The more we are going to try to do something to ward off this army of locusts, the more we will realize that this calamity comes from God (Isa. 45: 7), and in truth is not a calamity but collaborates towards good for us as His sons and daughters— “The quiet ones in the land” (Rom 8: 28). Then we will become increasingly quiet and, as David says, “Truly my soul silently waits for God, from Him comes my salvation.” “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him” (Psalm 62: 1, 5). Has your soul become silent before God? You may have been silent before the people — and that’s good! But has your soul become silent before God? Do you have a quiet trust in Him? Pray that He will do it for you because you cannot do it yourself. Many people do not talk much, they are quiet types of people. But in their souls it is not that quiet at all — it is constantly stirring within them. In their hearts, they constantly criticize other people. And in their souls there are storms of many thoughts! Their “Own Self” is constantly being wronged — so they think!
44. The importance of the man and the woman.
“The quiet ones in the lands” are people who demonstrate a variety of divine revelations in a very quiet way. We’ll still get to each of them in this series of Chapters. But at this juncture we need to talk about the role of the man and woman in God’s kingdom and how the quiet ones in the land will live it out.
The image of God in us: Each of us has a picture in our mind of what a true man and an ideal woman should look like. But the question is how does God see man and woman? Definitely not what we look like today! If this is how God wanted us when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen 1:26), then I must ask in all humility: But is this what God looks like? When I look at the masses of people I see nothing of God in them! In the New Testament, after Christ’s death and resurrection, there is a working of the Holy Spirit to transform us into His Image, but are we there yet? Read Romans 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18. Then we read in 2 Cor 4: 4 that it is the god of the world who has blinded the minds of man “lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them”. If you read this you will understand better! The image of God will come to shine in us if we take the word in 2 Cor 3:18 seriously, and seek to be thus in the presence of our Father and His Son. We will then experience a transformation so that His image will shine in us.
Dominion over the creation: Adam ruled over the creation: “…let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1: 26-28). Adam was a MAN! He ruled over the whole earth, the whole creation — the birds, the animals, the fish, yes over everything. And he gave them their names. Just read Gen 2: 4-25 and you will understand everything better. In the Psalms we read that it is still God’s plan with us, but the time for it is not yet near — or is the time near already? Read Hebrews 2: 5-9 and let the Spirit reveal it to you.
We must now first look at the time before the Fall and then the time thereafter. This is the time you and I are living in now. The people ask Yashuah if it is right for a man to divorce his wife for any reason. Read Matt 19: 1-11. And then they ask Him why Moses gave them a divorce certificate if God does not want them to divorce (Verses 6-7). And then he answered them, “He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” I ask you if the hearts of the people are still hardened today? Yes, definitely! Even harder than ever in the past! And that’s why they are divorcing now more than ever before! Almost 50% of all marriages in South Africa end in the divorce court. Many of the people were absolutely opposed to divorce — like myself! And yet they, or their children, finally divorced as well. But Yashuah says that was not the case in the beginning. “In the beginning” is the time before “the Fall” when there was no sin yet. This is the time when they have not yet eaten of the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” —the tree that God forbade them to eat from (Gen. 2: 16-17).
“The tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2: 9) can also be translated as “knowledge of acceptable and unacceptable”. The word “knowledge” can also be translated as “experience of”. That sentence could also have read “The Tree of experience of what is acceptable and unacceptable or what is good or evil”. If you read Gen 3 now, you will notice that Satan wanted to have Adam and Eve eat something or: to have them experience it. When Eve experienced this, she also wanted Adam to experience it: “…and he ate” (Verse 6). After this eating of the forbidden tree’s fruit, everything just went downhill. Sin spread to all mankind up to Noah. The depravity then was so great that God destroyed the world that then existed (2 Pet 3: 6; Gen 6 and 7). But it did not wipe out the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Directly after the Flood, the people simply continued to sin. Read what the apostle Paul said about this in Romans 5:12. All people still sin after the Flood. What, then, was the point of the Flood? Read Gen 8:21. But perhaps God just wanted man to understand how He hates sin, and that at some point, judgment will again come upon the sinful world (Matt. 24: 37-44). Also, He might have wanted to teach us that it would take something greater than the Flood to remove the tree of knowledge from man. What is this “something greater”? Only the blood of Yashuah will be able to do that!
The blood of His cross alone cleanses from sin! The tree on which the origin of sin was carried — and still is — can only be cleansed by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, of which His blood is the testimony before God. Read Hebrews 9:22; 10:29; 1 Pet 1: 18-19; 1 John 1: 7; Rev 12:11). I cannot write further about His blood right now, but you just need to know that there is no other way to get rid of the “Tree of knowledge of good and evil”.
The consequences of eating from this tree were far-reaching — beyond our comprehension. In this way the Evil One gained access to the spirit of man: a great variety of evil spirits filled mankind. Many of their names are in the Bible, some of which I mention here: a lying spirit (2 Chron. 18 :21), a spirit of jealousy (Num. 5:14), a spirit of the dead (Deut. 18:11), a spirit of divination (Deut 18:11; Acts 16:16), a spirit of bondage and a spirit of fear (2 Tim 1: 7), spirits of harlotry (Hos 4:12; 5: 4) etc. I can name many more — there are legion (Mark 5: 9). And at the beginning of the occupation and influence by evil spirits, it can be less severe than later on. Read Matt 12: 43-45. How many times do we have a struggle with people to read later in Ephesians 6: 10-20 that our struggle is not really against a person but against the spirit / spirits in him or her. You can preach and fight and admonish but it won’t help if those spirits do not go out. Can that person, if he realizes that there are such spirits working in and through him, get rid of them himself? Yes, certainly, but then he must come to Yashuah for salvation himself. You trying to drive them out won’t help if that person does not want to get rid of them. One day years ago I went to an old lady’s house, and when she opened the door and saw that it was me, she did not want to let me in. She said: “Go away, you want to drive this spirit out of me and I do not want it!”. She later died and I do not know whom those spirits then went into. Read Matt 8: 28-34. This is very important! And also Matt 12: 43-45.
To this day, the word in Ephesians 2: 1-2 holds that those who are not yet in Christ, but in the world, have the spirit of the world in them — it is “the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience”. Very soon you discern the Spirit of Christ in someone, or the strange spirit that comes from the “foreign gods” (Jer 5:19 and 8:19). Remember that behind every idol there is an evil spirit or a demonic spirit. Read 1 Cor 10:20. I have always said that I would rather be aware of Yashuah than of evil spirits. But I could not ignore them! Just the thought that all the spirits that were on earth in Yashuah’s time (Matt. 8:16; Mark 1:34) surely had to find a home somewhere again, in humans or in animals (Matt. 8: 30-31; Matt. 12: 43). It makes me think! Those spirits must be somewhere in people. It might be that they now simply have more learned names given to them by psychologists, but they are still spirits of demons or unclean spirits.
The strange man and woman
The unclean spirits make someone strange to people who have the Spirit of Christ. They are also strange in God’s kingdom. “Strangers from the covenants” (Ephesians 2:12). If you have the Holy Spirit, you will soon discern the strangeness of someone with an unclean spirit. The strange spirits work in all the descendants of Eve and Adam. After the fall, 4,000 years passed until the birth and crucifixion of Yashuah. Volumes can be written about the purpose for which God sent His Son into this world. Scripture calls Him the “Second Adam” who bears the image of the heavenly, just as the “First Adam” bore the image of the earthly. Read 1 Corinthians 15: 44-50. This earthly image that the unbelieving man not born again carries was inherited from Eve and thereafter to Adam. Here you must read in Job 15:14; Job 14; 4; Job 25: 4; Ps 51: 5; Gen 6: 5; Rom 5:12. There is therefore a sinful nature in all people, throughout their entire lives. It can only be changed into a divine nature through being born again (2 Pet 1: 4). The sinful nature is strange to the reborn, and the divine nature is strange to those not born again. Therefore, when Scripture speaks of the strange woman, it refers to the woman not born again — a woman who is strange in the circle of the saints. Even a woman who acts in the flesh is strange. The same goes for a strange man. Although Scripture does not use the term “strange man”, the strangeness of a man with a “different spirit than the Spirit of Christ” (2 Cor 11: 4) is certainly clearly described. This strange man or woman may have one or many spirits in them, such as Mary Magdalene from whom Yashuah cast out seven demons. (Read Mark 16: 9). Or Legion (Luke 8:30). How many were there in you? Is everyone out now? How many are there in your children, husband, wife? It is against those spirits that your struggle is (Ephesians 6: 10-20). They are the ones who make your child act so strangely — unless you yourself are not yet born again. Then their actions are normal and even cute for you!
45. The war between man and woman.
There has been a war between men and women right from birth, and the war is now escalating in the last days. If the man is not going to become MAN as God initially made him and intended for him to be, he is going to lose the battle against the woman even more. My wife often prays: Lord let my woman be as You want woman to be. Then I pray: Lord let my Man be as You want man to be — as You intended the man to be.
The Afrikaans poet, Jan F E Cilliers wrote a poem, loosely translated: “I like a man who can stand his man, I like an arm that can strike a blow; An eye that does not turn away, with a piercing look; and a will that stands as firm as a stone”. It is an old poem and certainly arguable and debatable in the light of God’s word. King David was not as large and imposing a man as Saul was, and certainly not as grandiose a king (1 Sam 16: 11-12), but he was a “Man” after God’s heart — and although he also fell deeply into sin (2 Sam 11: 1-27) —he was so very remorseful (Ps 51: 4). He was very much aware of the consequences of the Fall which he also had to suffer.
If you want to do your spirit a favor this morning, read 1 Sam 17, the whole chapter. I just did it and I bowed down in tears before my Father and said: “Father, David was truly a man after Your heart, as Acts 13: 22 also says. Make me a man, not as men see man, but as You originally planned, even before the Fall.”
We must realize that our men over the centuries have become so accustomed to the otherness of the woman, and so the women have also become accustomed to the otherness of the man, that we do not realize that it is a strange spirit that causes it. Surely there is a God-created difference between a man and a woman. That difference is beautiful and part of the Creator’s unique plan. But there is a difference that He does not want between man and woman — a difference that results from the Fall. It is a hostile difference. It is the wrong strangeness that is caused by a strange spirit. The day we are made into one body by one Spirit — the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12: 12-27), we will realize how different we were. If we are made to drink into ONE Spirit and we are ONE of mind as Philippians 1:27 and 2: 2 say, we will realize in that day how different we really were: “ONLY let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” “…fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind”. Also 1 Cor 1:10 has a strong word of admonition regarding this unity. Ephesians 2: 13-22 speaks of the unity between the Jew and the Gentiles, but it is the same “recipe” for the unity between man and woman. I’ll talk about this again later.
46. We need to look at what the man and the woman looked like before the Fall.
In Matt 19: 7-11, they ask Yashuah, after He said that “what God has joined together, let not man separate”: “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” His answer was, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” (Matt. 19: 8). The people’s hearts are still hardened and therefore they separate. And according to the Law, divorce is not wrong, for even the apostle Paul says: “But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases.” (1 Cor 7:15).
What was it like from the beginning? What did the man look like before the Fall, and what did his wife look like before the Fall? The consequences of the Fall still resonated throughout the New Testament — and to this day, though many do not want to acknowledge it. The people’s hearts are still hardened and therefore they separate. Even though Scripture says in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. This is not what Paul means here because to this day, the Greeks and the Jews are clearly still two nations, each with their own identity. The Spirit says through Paul that the Jew and the Greek have the same right to salvation in Christ (Rom 2: 9-10; Rom 3: 1-31). But in 1 Timothy 2: 9-14 we read that the fact that the woman fell before Satan first still needs to be taken into account. There is still an impediment to the woman — not a curse as some would like to believe, but an impediment— “in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” The authority relationship between man and woman is also clearly depicted in 1 Cor 11: 1-12: “Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. 6For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. 7For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. 12For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God.” We must be wary to not misunderstand, namely that the man — in his sinful state — is now the image of Christ. No, he is supposed to be changed by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3: 16-18) to the extent that he is the image of Christ. And the woman is also supposed to be changed to the extent that she is the glory of the man — the man who himself is also the image and glory of Christ (Verse 7). The woman is the “TV screen” of the man: The image and glory of God that he reflects is again reflected by the woman. Therefore, we can quickly see how it goes in a marriage when no glory shines through the woman: The relationship between the man and Christ is not right, or the relationship between the man and his wife is not as God wants it. We can debate this for hours. But where God’s glory is, there is unity (John 17:22).
Was the man in a position of authority over the woman before the Fall? If we read that God said, “It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him”. Note: Not the man as help for the woman who is comparable to her. In verse 21 we read: “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man”.
God apparently came to walk in their midst before the Fall and visited with them, but when they fell into sin, they suddenly had a sense of guilt which then caused them to hide from Him: “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (Gen 3: 8). First read Gen 3: 9-24. Note that, because the woman listened to Satan and got into transgression, as 1 Timothy 2:14 also says, a punishment was imposed on her: “To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (Gen 3: 9-24).
This is probably one of the most unpopular statements of God in the Bible! And then I must be the one who brings this word to you! The women are going to hate me, and in many cases the men too. By the way: When I now bowed down before my Father and asked Him if I should write on this subject, then I opened the Scripture to 2 Chronicles 18: 12-13. You must also read it, read it quickly, so if perhaps you, or your wife, or your child become angry with me over this word, then you will not have an apology before God on the day of judgment! If only I could escape, I would have done it. Today the women are on their way to a huge victory over the men. I do not have to say anything about this. You know very well that the empowerment of women is one of the top priorities in the world! Thus the Scripture in Isaiah 3:12 is fulfilled: “As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.” Soon, what the men feared in Esther 1: 17-22 will also become a world trend — if it is not the case already!
Now I want to tell you something that happened to me in Israel in 1980: For several weeks the Father prepared me to know His voice in my heart so that I could follow His guidance without opening the Scriptures. One morning early, He woke me up and led me to get ready and catch the first bus to town. The bus drove with me through the suburbs of Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit led me to ring the bell and get off. From here He led me, to the left here and to the right there, until I stepped into the grounds of an unknown building. Here a man came down the stairs and asked if he could help me. I said that I do not know what I am there for. He asked me to walk with him to the bus stop, where he had to catch his bus, because the bus was already coming. As we walked, he asked me if I had ever been to the “Mount Zion Sisters’ ” services. To this I answered “Yes”. As he got on the bus, he said to me: “Everything that could go wrong where a woman rules, went wrong there!”. And with that he gets on the bus and drives away! For a moment I stopped and looked at the departing bus in amazement… and then said: “Father, is this the first thing You wanted to let me hear since You said You were going to lead me by Your Spirit?” That Word has always stayed with me! And women already rule in this world. Even though she is not the State President, she is behind him: “Behind every man…” As a woman in a previous congregation said: “My husband is the head of the house but I am the neck, and I turn him just as I wish”.
As I consider the state of the man today, I pray: Father, show me what the MAN You originally planned for looks like. If only I could first see what Adam looked like before the fall, and then afterwards what he would have looked like later, if he had not listened to his wife and eaten some of the forbidden fruit.
The darkness is the legal occupant of the space where the light does not shine. The “Strange Woman” is the legal inhabitant of the woman who is not filled with the Spirit of the Bride — that is, the Holy Spirit. And if God once cleansed her of the “Strange Woman”, and she then welcomed the Strange Woman again, it is a case of “a sow, having washed, returning to her wallowing in the mire” as expressed in 2 Pet 2: 20-22. That spirit of the strange woman goes to fetch seven others worse than herself and says, “I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation” (Matt. 12: 43-45).
This “strange woman” despises all of God’s statements regarding her relationship with the man. In other respects she can serve God very devotedly, but there is one aspect in which she cannot bend, because she still WANTS to eat from the “Tree of knowledge of good and evil”. Is it that she does not want to stop always knowing better than the man? Right from creation God has given man free choice: Read Gen 2: 16-17. Thus, the woman can either continue to eat from the tree of knowledge, or seize God’s salvation through the blood of Yashuah to be free from it. First, her eyes must be opened to it and she must allow the Holy Spirit to convict her of sin (John 16: 8-10). But this spirit that is in the world is strong and refuses to let her go. Yet her Savior is stronger, as Jeremiah 50: 33-34 says — if only she WANTS to seize and believe her salvation.
But the man is just as much under the power of the “Strange Woman”. I know they would not like to hear it, but it does not change the reality that has prevailed on this earth through all the centuries after the Fall! How many men have fallen before the woman? I mention a few: Adam — as you already know! And then Abram. Read what Gen 15: 1-5; 16: 1-16 and Gal 4: 20-31 says. Samson (Judges 14: 15-20. Ahab (1 Kings 21: 7-29). David (1 Sam. 11: 1-4), Solomon (Neh. 13:26). There are many others. If we realize that Babylon – “the great harlot” in Revelation 17: 1-7 – is a principality, and that she has seduced the whole world with all her fornication through her commerce. She is a Lady of Kingdoms (Isa. 47: 1-7) who has dictated the whole earth for thousands of years! Here you will have to read in Revelation 14: 8; Revelation 17: 1-7 Also read, if you have time, chapters 18 and 19. If you have now read in chapter 18 about all that comprised Babylon’s empire, it may not surprise you that she has had such a significant influence on man — and especially women — through the ages. It has become a slogan among men: “Such is life to please your wife” and also “Happy wife, happy life.” God wants men to honor their wives (1 Pet 3: 7) and to love them, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it (Ephesians 5: 7). But God does not want the woman to rule over the man (1 Tim 2: 12-1 5).
47. The Image of Man after the Fall.
It is described in 1 Cor 15: 45-58: They bear the image of the earthly — that is, the image of the first Adam. That is why we are called Adamians in Hebrew. Yashuah Messiah is the second Adam who destroyed the works of the first Adam (1 John 3: 8). And as we carried the image of the earthly, so we are now supposed to carry the image of the heavenly. Read again 1 Corinthians 15: 46-49. But the whole non-reborn world bears the image of the earthly — like the fallen Adam. That is because of the spirit of this world that is in them. Satan is “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30).
Ephesians 2: 2-3 calls him “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Only when you turn to God and believe the word of the cross, and the death with Christ works in you so that you also experience the burial with Him, then a working begins in you — a working through which you are able to partake in the image of the heavenly, the image of Christ. You then receive a new nature — the divine nature. But it only happens once you have escaped the depravity of this world. Now you must first read 2 Pet 1: 3-4 and I now wait until you have read it. As I wait, I pray for you that God will open your eyes today to know the truth — provided, of course, that you are sincere with God! If you do not WANT to do His will wholeheartedly, He will not be able to do anything for you. Then you will live on with the old Adam-nature — the sinful nature! You will end up carrying the image of the earthly to the end. You will continue to live with the sinful nature. Then you are one of the people of whom Scripture speaks in 2 Cor 3:14: “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.”.
Now read again 2 Cor 3:15 “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” You will not be able to partake of the salvation of the old Adamic man without a powerful working of the cross. The veil of which Scripture speaks here is the Law. He says, “When Moses is read, there is a veil that is taken away in Christ” (Verse 14). I want to repeat what I have said so many times, namely: The Law referred to here is not only the law of Moses, but it is your own laws by which you live — any principles by which you live, other than the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8: 1-2). It is this law, and this law alone, that sets you free from “the law of sin and death” as well as all other laws — especially your own law (Job 23:12). You probably still remember that the Dictionary says that a law is “the rules by which a force works”. The only rules by which the power of God can work in you is “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8: 1-2). No other rules you can live by are acceptable to God. Only the life of His Son in you can please Him. “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3: 4). And, His life is revealed in you only after you have died with Him (2 Tim 2:11).
The image of man in the second Adam (Christ)
The second Adam is Christ. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Col. 1:15). As He begins to appear in and through you, you begin to bear the Image of the second Adam. The old sinful nature must make way for the Divine nature: “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24). Before that happens, however, you must “… put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Have you ever done that? Have you ever experienced how you become a new creature in Christ? (2 Cor 5:17). Was there a day when you, in all seriousness and in desperation, because you realized that you could not deliver yourself of the old sinful nature, turned to God to repent? A day when you realized that you could not make yourself a new creature in Christ. You can only put off the old man by speaking and believing it. You can also only clothe yourself with the new person by speaking and believing it. This is what Romans 10: 8-10 says. Read it again. It will strengthen your faith!
48. The growth to a “mature man” (Ephesians 4:13).
What is the standard by which we can measure the man, as God planned for him to be? How can we compare the man to determine if he meets the standard of the ideal man? If the wife wants to determine how much her husband has already grown, with whom will she be able to compare him? Who is the example of the ideal man? Like the way an actor behaves in a movie? Or as a women’s magazine describes him? No, we cannot measure by a carnal measure. We now discuss the stature of the “man in Christ”, as God wanted the first Adam to be: “to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Or was Adam perhaps already like this before the Fall? We do not know. We can only ponder and wonder about it. But whatever the case may be, I have a conviction by the Spirit that God wanted Adam to be “to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” as I have already quoted from Scripture above. When Yashuah comes we will be equal to Him: “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ”. (1 John 3: 2) This does not mean that we will be on the same level of authority with Christ. Although He says that He and His Father are one, He always is subject to His Father. 1 Cor 15: 24-28: “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
If the man desires the Son of Man to be glorified in him (John 12:23), he will have to stop his concerns over the woman who is currently in a fallen state — just like Eve. He will have to become aware that he is in the same fallen state as Adam — so he cannot criticize or judge her! Constantly accusing Eve will do nothing to save him from his fallen state. First read Matt 7: 3-5 and note that you cannot remove the splinter from your wife’s / husband’s eye while you have the beam in yours. The beam is the response to the other one’s sin. The splinter is small compared to the beam. For example: Your wife constantly asks you about all sorts of things, and it makes you angry. Her splinter has now become a beam with you! You will have to realize that God wants to bring about the woman’s salvation with the help of the man. He will have to become an intercessor — a priest — for her. Christ has already won the victory over Satan, but that word of victory has yet to take shape in man. For that, Paul is in labour pain: “My little children, in whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). The seed, which is the Word, must first fall into the ground like the grain of wheat and die, otherwise nothing of that Word will come into being: John 12: 20-24: “Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. 21Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. 23But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Yashuah says, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters ” (Luke 11:23). Are you a minister of the mysteries of God? (1 Pet 4: 1-2). Have you ever received a gift from God? Then you must serve others with it, starting with your wife! 1 Peter 4:10: “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Do not start preaching to her, it does not help anything. But if Christ is portrayed before her eyes in your life, His life will radiate to you through you — like a TV. This is my prayer for myself and also for every believing man! If Christ is formed to such an extent in our husbands, even the religious women will have to acknowledge that Yashuah lives in us as He who rose from the dead.
I want to emphasize this morning: You will not succeed in any way in delivering your wife from the “strange woman” if you’re thinking about doing it through preaching. There is only one solution: Our men will first have to be delivered from the spirit of this world (Ephesians 2: 2) that is the human nature. Then we will have to be filled with the divine nature (2 Pet 1: 4). This is the life of Christ flowing through us! Then the woman will begin to desire to be the Bride of Christ, when she sees Christ as the Bridegroom in us!
There is a very important prophecy in Zech 12: 10-14. The word says that “the Spirit of grace and supplication” will be poured out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. As they look up unto Him whom they pierced, they will mourn. That is, when they realize that it is their sins that have crucified Him. And then they will mourn: The house of David separately, and their wives separately (Verse 12). The work of salvation that must take place in men is different from that of women. Therefore let the women begin to pray separately from the men, and the men separately from the women. I do not know how great the need is among the women to get rid of the strange woman. I also do not know to what extent the men realize that they are just as great in need of salvation from the first Adam as the woman is in need of salvation from the strange woman. But if you do realize this, let’s pray for it!
The Scripture says that in the church there are various ministries “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4: 11-13). Let us also pray that these ministries by the Holy Spirit will function in every congregation on earth — however small — so that every saint will come to a mature man, to the stature of the fullness of Christ. It is the appearance of Christ, through His body, in the church. This is what needs to happen now first. And we will have to pray for it! Pray incessantly and persistently. Amen!
49. Man, is the woman just as precious to you as she is to Yashuah?
In Acts 20: 28, the apostle Paul greets the elders of the church in Ephesus with the words: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Whether you like it or not, but here comes God’s Word to you as a man — whether you are married or not: The Holy Spirit has appointed you as an overseer over the woman, yes, as a shepherd, to care for her as part of the flock of God — the flock that He obtained through His own blood. No matter how independent she is, how self-assured and cheeky, know-it-all and … whatever … you are a debtor to her. Hear what Paul says: “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.” (Rom 1:14). This is what He means by the word in Ephesians 5:23: “For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body ”. And “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4: 17). We are part of His body (1 Cor 12: 12-27): “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” (Ephesians 5: 28-30).
But what if the woman does not want to come? Read Gen 24: 1-8. The wife — just like the husband — has a free WILL, and if she is not WILLING to partake with the husband in the death, burial, and resurrection of Yashuah, she will never be able to get rid of the strange spirit. She will also never stop worshiping the strange gods (idols). You probably remember that the greatest idol is stubbornness — it means you want your own way! 1 Sam 15: 22-23: “So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
But you, man — married or unmarried — must surely be filled with God’s love for all people. This means that you must also love the woman in her decayed state, even if the spirit of the strange woman works through her. Even if she’s not your wife. Yet you must pray for her salvation from God, because you are an intercessor! You must not forget that you also fell into the sin of Eve. As you pray for your own salvation, you must do the same for her. You owe it to her (Rom 1:14). It should not just be a casual prayer, NO! It should become a serious, fervent prayer! (James 5:16) Just as God seeks people “who worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4: 23-24).
You will have to pray, and pray very earnestly, that the “recipe or formula” that God has given us in Ephesians 2: 1-22, which brings about unity between the Jew and the Gentiles, will also bring unity between the man and the woman. The enmity will not cease without the blood of Yashuah and without His crucifixion. You should read this and pay special attention to verses 13-16. If you have now paid close attention to it, and are convinced by the Spirit that it is the solution — the only solution — then you can pray that the Father will fill you with the same Spirit of prayer that was in Jashuah (Heb. 5: 7), and still is (Heb 7:25).
I must now share with you the wonderful word about the entry and stepping into the new and living way that Christ consecrated for us when the veil in the temple was torn on the day He was crucified (Luke 23:45). However, if God allows it, I will do so in the next chapter. Also, I must share with you what God has planned for the woman who truly WANTS salvation from this strange woman’s spirit: “The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it” (Ps 68:12). In the meantime, please pray that Father will give me the word. Amen!