For the smooth running of things, order

The day the earth hives out of its orbit, it’s lost for ever. When man stepped out of the counsel of God, the order was broken. And God has been fixing the bad outcome since. When someone dared to think it was his prerogative to be equal with God, flouting the set order, the cosmos entered into spasmodic convulsions. In spite of the reordering work of the Creator, “who alone hath immortality”, the convulsions persist

God has orders in His universe. And all things created have their orders that enable things run smoothly. Apostle Paul speaks of the order of the body organs for the body to function well. On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and parts we think are less honourable, we treat with special honour (1 Corinthians 12:22-23). This is done for the purpose of perfect functioning of the body.

God is God; Christ is Christ, and the Holy Spirit is Who He is! All coeternal! In their intertwine activities, there exists no concept of subordination in them! For this, the Godhead runs perfectly. The Holy Spirit is speaking or honouring Christ, and the Christ is honouring His Father. Jesus said, I honour my Father… (John 8:49). It’s a great thing to remain in the roles one is placed by God. A group of angels defying their order, set up an upheaval in the cosmos, and were arrested and put in chains. They preferred to leave their place of honour to what they supposed was a higher honour. And the angels which kept not their first estate but left their habitation, he (God) re-served in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Jude:6).

When carnal self processes what belongs to the spiritual, it’s like the disorder witnessed in a tissue of the body disobeying the order of life, and its cells beginning to multiply excessively: that’s cancer. When the mind of man tries to wrap itself around God-set-up order for life, the result is distortion; but when the spirit man handles the same issue, it acceletates the flow of seamless grace. It’s a great thing to have the spirit’s bifocals on when reading the Word of God. It’s the wisdom of the spiritual man to find and fit into the Word a spiritual meaning

For centuries, the church has been looking at the issue of the instruction to woman to cover her head on the surface, failing to consider its spiritual  component. The issue is about different heads and the honour to be duely accorded. We shall pause here to read the pertinent scriptures.

I would have you know that, the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God….A man indeed aught not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man (1 Corinthians 11: 3-7).

God, the Father, Who is the head of Christ honours the Son. “Father,” Jesus, about going to the cross, prayed, “..…glory thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John 17:1). He was about to crown the work of obeying and honouring His Father. The honour of Christ to the Father was to offer Himself as an acceptable sacrifice before the Father for man. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volumes of the book, it is written of me) to do thy will, O God (Hebrews 10:7). Somewhere else, the Lord sat, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me,  and finish his work (John 4:34). This is the heartbeat of the Christ: to honour and glorify God, to do His will. For this, He became a man, though He is coeternal with God. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father (Philippians 2:9-11). So,  God is the head of Christ, and the honour due to God from Christ is to do the will of God.

And man glorifies and honours Christ, the head, growing unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4:15). This is what it means for the head of the man being uncovered. Worship is about being yielded to and sold out to Him. It’s not about stripping oneself naked, though kneeling or lifting up holy hands or gesticulating are part of it. Worship, in reality, is more than singing and calling Him awesome names and cognomen. Then also, worship is not “clap for Jesus.” Clapping for Jesus is bringing Him to the level of man and his world. Several years ago, the Lord Jesus appeared to Pa Kenneth Hagin, and told him that “clapping for Christ” is not worship. Yes, a minister of the gospel can be clapped for, and so is a president or any important personality in the society – in appreciation of their quality, talent and office. But Christ is not in that category.

Verse 5 of our passage reads: Every woman that prayeth or prophesyeth with the head uncovered dishonour eth her head. Verse 7:..,. but the woman is the glory of the man. The woman is the glory of man just as the man is the image and glory of Christ. The man is with head uncovered and the woman is with head uncovered! The latter’s attitude, says the scripture, dishonours the former because the woman makes self appear in the same mode of grooming – contrary to the order laid by God. This is a case of not assuming the right order of fellowship, relationship and existence – being outside of one’s specifics. Thus it’s advisable for a woman not to be in a marriage relationship with a man she is finding difficult to acknowledge as a head she can honour. Many factors are involved here. For example, it may be that the man is not financially stable, or not intellectually as sound, or what the woman thinks is of inferior social standing, or may be the man is not as charismatic and gifted – anything that can cause the woman to make it easy for her to look down on the man, or dishonour him is a red flag to not proceed with such relationship.  The honour bestows on the man by the woman is seeing and honouring Christ in him through humility and submisiveness. These easily facilitate flow of love and reciprocated humility.

The head of Christ: God

The head of the man:Christ

The head of the woman: the man(husband).

The image and glory of God:man

The glory of the woman: man

In every thing concerning relationship or in the household of Christ, honour, which is by acknowledgement of order

….joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ (Colossians 2:5)