♫ ☼ The City of
From Arthur &
Rosalind Eedle
www.oxleigh.freeserve.co.uk
You have come to
Chapter 13. No more
curses (Part 1)
"And
there shall be no more curse." (Rev.22:3)
The literal
rendering of the Greek is as follows:- "And
every curse shall not be any longer." That's important, isn't
it? It tells us that all curses have been removed from the
environs of
Our
thoughts go back to the Garden of Eden, where the first curses were
pronounced. They are as follows:-
Paul adds
an additional word in Romans 8:20 -
And then we
are brought forward to the time of Noah's day and the Flood.
And at
And as a
result of the rejection of our Lord's ministry -
Finally, we
read that the Prophet Elijah is to be sent back to earth with a ministry,
"lest the Lord smite the earth with (another) curse." (Malachi 4:5-6)
My perusal of the Scriptures has produced evidence of these 12 curses. There
may be more. I have not included the curse on
And now for the examination of two of these curses, and how they relate
to the passage in Revelation 22. Because our studies focus on the Bride, we are
particularly interested in the position of Eve, and what happened at the
fall. There were two curses mentioned, and we must now have a look at
Genesis 3, to see what these mean, and (of greater importance) what will
transpire when these curses will be removed.
"And
God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let
them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over
cattle, and over all the earth, and over all creeping things that creep on the
earth.'
"And
God created the man in His image, in the image of God created He him, male and
female created He them, and God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish
of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all living things
creeping on the earth.'" (Gen.1:26-27)
I have
quoted this passage in full because it contains some very important
information. First we learn that it was "over all the earth"
that their dominion stretched, nothing excepted. In the second place, we see
that no distinction was made between Adam and Eve. They were both, equally, to
share this task of subduing the earth, and having dominion over it. And the
reason why this was possible was because God had made them in His image.
Whereas God Himself was ultimately in control of all things, He had made man to
have delegated responsibility over the earth.
The
expression "Let us make" bears some enquiry. If Adam
was said to be in the image of God, in whose image was Eve? This is why
there is a conference in the Godhead, as to the creation of both Adam and
Eve. Adam was created in the image of God, as male, but Eve was created
in the image of God, as female. How can this be? Only by recognising that
the Holy Spirit is the Mother figure in the Godhead, and Eve was created in Her image. Many have not yet realised this lovely truth, but
no doubt the Holy Spirit will gently confide this understanding to those who
are ready for the revelation. It is most important in considering what is to
follow. So that is why God said, "Let us make".
To put it
in simple words, both Adam and Eve were equally under the direction, influence,
and plans of God before they fell. Each could receive word as to what God
required of them. Eve was never dominated by Adam. She was as free as Adam to
receive, and put into practice all that God imparted
to her.
But after
they fell, two curses were placed on Eve, and Scripture shows that it was not
limited to Eve, but passed through to all womankind.
Let us consider the second of these curses. "Your desire shall be
towards your husband, and he shall rule over you." (Gen.3:16)
Whereas Eve used to express her desire directly towards God, she now has to go
through her husband, and he has the final say over everything connected with
their work.
Let's stop
there for a moment and investigate this word "desire." Because
of modern usage of the word, as between man and woman, the first thought that
comes to mind is likely to be in the context of affection, love, and even
sexual desire. But this is not the force of the Hebrew. An English
concordance will throw up the fact that "desire" occurs some 45 times
in the O.T., but a more critical concordance will show that the Hebrew word
used in Gen.3:16, T'SHUQAH, appears only three times in the O.T. This
may come as a surprise.
It appears
again in Gen.4:7, and is helpful. The Lord speaks to Cain, saying, "If
you do well, shall you not be accepted? But if you do not well, Sin is
crouching at the door, and its desire is towards you, but you should
rule over it." Satan is presented in terms of what he is,
and what he does, in other words, sin. He is
focusing on Cain, wanting him to fall for his evil thoughts and desires. Cain
sadly fell for it, and didn't overcome. One hears our Lord's words to Simon
Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has earnestly desired to have
you to sift as wheat." In each case, there is nothing
vaguely resembling any form of affection between a man and a woman.
The only
other occurrence of this word T'SHUQAH is in Song 7:11. The Shulamite
maiden speaks about her Shepherd lover, saying, "I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me." The
thought behind this clause is similar to that in Eph.5:25. "Christ
loved the Church and gave Himself up for her." The young
shepherd lad had only one thought, that of saving his beloved from the
blandishments of Solomon. He was the type of Christ, who is equally anxious to
obtain a pure Bride, and save her from the subtlety of Satan.
Having been
through this investigation, we are now in a position to review the verse in
Gen.3:16. "Your desire, that is, your focus of attention,
will henceforth be turned away from the Throne, and directed towards your
husband, who will check out everything you think you receive from God, and will
in this respect, rule over, that is, accept or veto, any plans you may
have."
I know that
many Christian women today would rise up in protest at this, saying that as we
have been made one in Christ, there is no longer "male or
female". But Paul asks his Christian women to be "subject to
their husbands." His words are, "As the Church is
subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their
husbands." (Eph.5:24) There is no let up, no release, from this Edenic
curse until we reach the state of resurrection, and receive our new bodies. But
then, when the Bride is complete, there will be
an enactment of the state of dominion that God spoke about in Genesis before
the fall. The corporate Bride will in all matters be able to have
dominion in the earth, because she will be able to take her commands directly
from the Lord Jesus, her Husband, in the same way that our Lord took all His
commands from His Father during the days of His earthly ministry. But until that day dawns, the Lord is continually "sanctifying
her, and cleansing her by the washing of the water of His word."
(Eph.5:26)
In
Rev.11:15 we read of our Lord, that "He shall reign
for ever and ever." But now we must ask an important
question - just how will Christ reign until He has put all things
under His feet? The answer is found in various places in the Bible, but
we can refer briefly to Rev.3:21. "He who overcomes I will grant to
sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am seated with my Father
on His throne." The Bride will become the instrument in our
Lord's hands to execute judgment in the earth. All the many souls who
constitute the Bride will have the power and the authority to "rule
all nations with an iron rod." (A better translation would
be, to "shepherd all nations with an iron staff.") These words
are used of the Manchild of Rev.12, who is born to the Bride, and is indeed
part of her, from her very womb (figuratively). It is doubtful that the nations
will see our Lord Himself during His reign, but all those of the Bride will
have the supreme privilege of being in His presence throughout that time.
And so, the
Bride will know nothing of this curse that has been the sad lot of womankind
throughout the ages. That which the Lord ordained in Genesis 1 will finally
come into effect as soon as the