Submission of Deborah

Deborah was raised up by God as a Judge of Israel who, as recorded in Judges 4 and 5, was an extraordinary woman. She was so capable yet knew to keep a principle that brought in blessing, and this principle is to keep God’s ordination. The description of Deborah in the recent training reads, "God raised up Deborah as a judge of Israel who practiced the female submission to the man in order to keep God’s ordination and bring all of Israel into a proper order under God’s kingship and headship—Judges 4 - 5."

Comparing what the New Testament has to say about females, the following verses open up new light to me, and a new underastnding.

There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot be slave nor free man, there cannot be male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 

In this verse, we can identify three contrasting pairs: Jew and Greek, slave and free man, and male and female. 

For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13

In 1 Corinthians 12:13 there are two contrasting pairs: Jews and Greeks and slaves and free. Galatians 3:28 says that in Christ there cannot be Jew nor Greek, slave nor free man, male and female, whereas 1 Corinthians 12:13 says that in the church, in the Body, there is no distinction between Jews and Greeks and between slaves and free. This verse does not mention males and females.

Based on these two verses we can see that in Christ, who is the Head of the Body, there is no difference between male and female, but in the Body there is a difference between male and female, that is, between the brothers and the sisters. First Corinthians 11 speaks definitely concerning the difference between man and woman, especially in the matter of headship. This indicates that in the church the difference between the brothers and the sisters still exists. In Christ, this difference does not exist, but in the church, in the Body, the difference between male and female remains.

In the Body, in the church, male and female distinction still exists, because the church is a spectacle. The church is being viewed by men and by angels. 

For, I think, God has set forth us the apostles last of all as doomed to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. 1 Corinthians 4:9

But I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:3 

Christ is the head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. Even Christ has a Head. Even Christ was submissive to the Father. And in this relationship: God to Christ, Christ to the man, the man to the woman. Therefore, the woman ought to have a sign of submission to authority on her head for the sake of the angels. 

The angels are watching, observing if the proper order is being kept according to God’s ordination. 

In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5

In 1 Peter 5:5, we should all gird ourselves with humility toward one another. Yet do you realize the same verse tells the younger men to be subject to the older? In God’s ordination, age still exists in God’s creation. In Christ there’s no distinction between male and female; yet humanly, according to God’s ordination, there is male and female, there is the husband and the wife, and there should be the matter of submission and subjection. 

In reality, every brother is a sister, every brother is a female, and should take Christ as their head. We all must take Christ as our head. 

In the Bible a proper female indicates one who is in submission to God, one who keeps God’s ordination; this is the position that Israel should have taken before God as her King, her Lord, her Head, and her Husband, but Israel violated God’s ordination, leaving her position as God’s wife and forsaking Him for hundreds of idols; this brought Israel into a miserable situation and condition. Deborah realized that she needed a man to be her covering; as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:3: “Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ.” When this excellent, extraordinary woman took the lead to practice the female submission to the man, the entire country came into an excellent and proper order; all the leaders took the lead, all the people followed, and the army was formed; everyone returned to his or her proper position before Jehovah.

The first and greatest function of the sisters in the church is to be submissive; if the sisters can learn this lesson, the church will be strong, enriched, and renewed. To be submissive requires the supply of life, the enjoyment of grace, the working of the cross, a nd the denial of the self.  Those who are filled with Christ are filled with submission; the Lord, who was submissive throughout His life, has given us His life of submission and obedience—Phil. 2:5-11; Heb. 5:7-9.

Though I am a brother myself, as a member of the church whose husband is Christ, I am a "female." Therefore, I must learn the lesson of submission to Christ, and also to my fellow brothers and serving ones. This message on submission is a great breakthrough in the fallen concept of modern-day "feminism" theory and rebellious attitude in the world today. 

What a mercy to learn this lesson of submission! What a blessing indeed to escape God's wrath from insubordination! May the Lord grace me and all the saints to be always under the covering of our Head Christ, and also to submit to one another in the fear of God. And may the Lord bless us in His church. Amen.