In many of our previous issues we have written about redemption, the buying back or restoration of all things.  Paul wrote in Acts 3:20-21 that Jesus will remain in heaven until all things are restored unto Him. The Greek word for "restore" in this passage is apokatastaseoos, which means, "to restore a thing to its former situation."  As we consider redemption and restoration, we must consider the former state, i.e., how did God create things before sin entered in?  In this issue we are going to focus on the redemption of women, which will lead us into several other areas.  What was God’s original intent for women?  How and why are men, nations, and even God personified as women in travail throughout scripture?  What does travail mean to the Church today?

As the Church continues to shift into all that God has intended her to be, the loosing of women into their destiny is an important factor.  With the current events of September 11, 2001 and the focus of much of the world being on Afghanistan, we have seen some distressing reports related to the treatment of women.  Many of us cannot fathom the repression they suffer.  However, this repression and bondage has followed women since the days of Adam and Eve.  In Leviticus 19:20 we find an example of women in much the same type of bondage.  The punishment for their unfaithfulness was death.  Regardless of one’s religious affiliation, when one is in bondage to the law, he or she is bound with death.  As Paul wrote in Romans 8:2, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."  Jesus came to pay the price to redeem everything back to the Father and to release the cords of sin and death so that we can enjoy freedom as He designed it.

The Creation of Women

In Genesis 1:26-27 we find God’s thoughts about the creation of man.

"And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.""

God created the human race, male and female, in His image to have dominion over all of His other creation. He fashioned man to make moral choices, to decline or accept spiritual growth.  God formed man and woman as equals (in Gen. 5:2-3, God named them both "Adam").  He blessed them and gave them their assignment to be fruitful and multiply, to fill and subdue the earth, to rule over the fish, the birds, and every living thing that moves on the earth (Gen. 1:28).

When God created woman, she was fashioned to be a "help-meet" ['ezer (H5828) neged (H5048)]. Many biblical commentaries list the Hebrew as 'ezer kenegdo.  In both cases, the literal translation is "help opposite."  If man is worthy, his wife will be an ezer, a helper.  If man is unworthy, his wife will be kenegdo, against him, an opposing force.  The idea of "help opposite" implies that there must be a willingness to limit oneself and allow the other person to stand, feel, and think opposite.  A life partner must be able to say "no" if necessary, the kenegdo part.  God created the couple so that one can correct, complement, cheer, comfort, help, or be helped by the other.  Only then is the one NOT alone.

As we know, things took an unfortunate turn.  Although man and woman remained together as a couple, the woman was brought under the dominion of her husband, rather than being his co-equal. This, along with an increase in her sorrow, pain, labor, worry, toil, and birth pangs, was part of woman’s punishment for her disobedience.  God also spoke these words to Satan concerning women: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Gen. 3:15 NKJV)  In other words, God proclaimed that the seed of woman and the seed of Satan would be enemies.  They would have hatred and hostility toward one another.

At the time of the fall, God’s relationship with man changed dramatically.  The man and woman had acquired an understanding of good and evil and had responded in shame to their nakedness as they hid from God.  Although God drove them from the garden, His mercy and desire for relationship with man prevailed when He established the priesthood and the practice of atonement through Moses. The sacrificial blood offerings made by the priest provided a way for man to be temporarily reconciled to God.  In Leviticus 12 we find specific instructions concerning the atonement required when a woman has born a child to redeem her from the flow of blood.  Atonement for the woman is again described in Leviticus 27.  This practice continued until the precious blood of Jesus redeemed all things that had previously required blood atonement!

As we look at the lives of various women in the Old Testament we will see that God used many women to bring about His purposes.  The stories of these women represent a foreshadowing of God’s intent as He was looking down through the ages to the time when His Son Jesus would pay the price of redemption and set the woman free.

Rahab was a gentile woman who covenanted with the nation of Israel when she hid the spies sent by Joshua (Jos. 2).  As the spies left her house, they instructed her to tie a scarlet cord in her window, representing the blood covenant between the two and the ensuing salvation of her household. Because of her actions, God admitted her into His family and honored her as David’s great-great -grandmother (Ruth 4:21- 22).  This relationship between Rahab, a gentile, and the nation of Israel provides a picture of how God would adopt the gentiles into His family.

While Hannah was barren she pleaded with God and made the Nazarite vow that if God would give her a son, she would give that son to the Lord.  God honored her with Samuel and after he was weaned she gave him to the Lord under the care of Eli, the prophet of that day.  The word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no open vision, revelation, oracles, or prophecy, and Eli was the last of the prophets.  Before the lamp (progeny, next generation) in the temple of the Lord went out, God called Samuel (1 Sam. 3:3).  Thus through Hannah’s commitment, the next generation of prophets was birthed.

Elisha interacted with two women, the prophet’s widow and the Shunammite woman.  Elisha sent both of these women to the nations.  The prophet’s widow was sent to gather vessels to fill (2 Kings 4:3) and the Shunammite woman was directed to leave her country for a famine was to come upon her land (2 Kings 8:1).  The sending of women to other nations is seen again with the meeting of Jesus and the woman at the well and with Mary Magdalene and others.  With no geographical boundaries imposed, Jesus sent forth women to testify of Him.

Esther, through the providence of God, was positioned to prevent the annihilation of an entire nation. The evil, rebellious Queen Vashti was removed and God positioned Esther to birth His purposes. Esther’s response resulted in the decree of death spoken by Haman being overridden (Esther 9:32).

God used the prophetess Deborah to bring deliverance to Israel and Jael to drive a tent peg through the head of Sisera (Judges 4 & 5).  It is interesting to note that Deborah acted as a helper (ezer) to Barak, while Jael acted in opposition to her husband (kenegdo).  The enmity God prophesied to the woman in the garden rose up in Jael, whose name means "to be valuable, useful, profitable - a wild goat."  God will use a multitude of "wild goats" and turn them into tent peg specialists to bruise the head of Satan.

Ruth, a Moabitess, covenanted with Naomi to go into the land of Israel.  Because she made this unusual decision, she married Boaz who became her kinsman redeemer, paying a ransom for her. Ruth bore the great-grandfather of David and Naomi became the child’s wet nurse, assuring he grew up and became the pillar of the line of David, again grafting in the gentiles as with Rahab.

We can see from these examples that God used women in some powerful ways. They were of great value to Israel and God accepted them into His family.

There were also several evil women portrayed in the Old Testament. T hey were leading the people of God astray and they had to be removed. Jezebel, Athaliah, and Queen Vashti were such women. Queen Vashti did not obey the command of the King and was removed so that the ladies throughout the land would not mimic her actions.  Jezebel was the picture of a whorish woman and a woman of witchcraft and was killed by Jehu (2 Kings 9:33-37).  Athaliah was a wicked woman, a woman of treason toward God.  Her wickedness was passed on to her sons who broke into the house of the Lord and used the holy things in their Baal worship (2 Chron. 24:7).  She was taken out of the house of the Lord and slain (2 Chron. 23:21).

Jesus’ Relationship with Women

Everything Jesus did showed what He came to do.  Throughout Jesus’ days on earth He repeatedly related to women in ways that were in direct opposition to the rabbinical customs and the Old Testament laws.  His purpose was to establish the new covenant; to fulfill all the law and the prophets; and to bring freedom to those who were in bondage.  Through His redeeming blood the way was opened for mankind to be restored to its former relationship with Father God, also making man and woman as co-equals.  In Galatians 3:28 Paul made this powerful statement concerning the human race, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."  There is such freedom in these words, if only we would allow them to flow through us.  But often times even today we find that our minds are still bound. Jesus came to bring freedom and a new way, let’s receive it!

As Jesus related to women, He was opening the door for the woman to be considered a part of the household of Israel.  In Matthew 9:18-26, the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus.  Under the law an unclean woman was not allowed to be anywhere near the people (Lev. 12).  Yet Jesus received her as "daughter," one who was part of His family and welcome to touch Him.  All of this happened while Jesus was on the way to the house of a ruler, possibly a rabbi, who had approached Him concerning the death of his daughter.  In that day a female child was not valued as much as a male child, so this was a radical request.  Jesus’ response once again demonstrated the newness of life He brought for all to enjoy.

Jesus continued to baffle the minds of the rabbinical priests as He allowed women to anoint Him on two different occasions (Matt. 26:7-13, Luke 7:37-39).  Under the old covenant only men were allowed to anoint someone.  As these women anointed Jesus, He was giving women the same right as men and the same right as the Old Testament priests.  We are all to be a kingdom of priests unto God with all the privileges of royalty.

In another expression of the new freedom Jesus came to establish, He allowed Mary and Martha to sit at His feet and be taught (Luke 10:38-39).  In those days only men were permitted to be scholars and men were not allowed to teach women.  He was turning everything around!  Jesus, speaking to Martha, said, "Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken from her." Mary had chosen Him and HIS WORD. How we need to grab hold of Him and His word and let it permeate our every thought!

Many times Jesus demonstrated various aspects of freedom that women were to enjoy.  He brought double freedom to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), freeing her from the stigma of being a Samaritan, one of the Jews’ hated neighbors, and of being a woman.  He had come as the kinsman redeemer.  She had, had five husbands and the one she was living with not her husband. Jesus had come to be her husband, her kinsman redeemer.  Romans 7:4 says we are all married to Him.

In John 8:3, Jesus saved a woman who was considered an adulteress from being stoned.  At that time, men were not punished for adultery; the act was considered the fault of the woman.  In John 20 we find that when Jesus rose from the dead, He chose to appear first to a woman, Mary Magdalene, even though the disciples had just been at the tomb.  He sent her forth to carry the good news about Him, demonstrating that women had the freedom to carry the Word.

We, as the Church, need to understand the freedom that Jesus brought to the woman.  Christ is formed in all of us and as Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

Transitioning to a corporate picture of the woman, we see that throughout scripture the travailing woman and the menstrous woman have been portrayed, each having different characteristics and purposes.  The travailing woman is one who gives birth while the menstrous woman has been associated with the evil forces of hell.  We want to turn now to these two.  Women, men, nations, the prophet speaking the word and even God have travailed like a woman.  But only evil Babylon has been portrayed as a menstrous woman.

The Travailing Woman

There are two Hebrew words that are translated as "travail," yalad (H3205) and chalah (H2470). Yalad comes from a primitive root meaning to birth; to bear young; to beget; and to show lineage.  Chalah has various meanings including: to be rubbed or worn; to be weak, sick, afflicted, diseased, grieved; to make prayer; and to be wounded.  Chalah is compared to two other Hebrew words including chuwl (H2342) and chalal (H2390).  Chuwl means to twist or whirl, dance, writhe in pain, wait, pervert, bear, bring forth, and fall grievously in pain.  Travail is work of a painful or laborious nature, which requires a physical and/or mental exertion.

"And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth (H3205): they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames." (Isa. 13:8, KJV)

In this verse men were responding grievously in pain after hearing the oracle Isaiah had spoken concerning Babylon.  Isaiah was prophesying that the day of the Lord was near, a day of God’s wrath, destruction, and fierce anger in which the land would be made desolate and the sinners destroyed out of it.  The kingdom of Babylon had to fall!

As Isaiah saw a grievous vision of Babylon, he was in the pain of travail.

"Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth (H3205): I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it." (Isa. 21:3)

The Lord told Isaiah to station a watchman day and night to look out for the approaching horsemen, donkeys, and camels.  As the vision continued the Lord allowed the watchman to see the horsemen arriving and proclaim, "Babylon is fallen and all their images are shattered."  This was a foreshadowing of Revelation 18.  Although Isaiah was speaking of natural Babylon, this is also a picture of the spirit of Babylon, which the Church and Jesus will destroy by executing judgment.  It will take travail, exertion in prayer, to pull this stronghold down.

Isaiah 26:17-18 provides an example of the nation of Israel in travail like a woman.

"Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery (H3205), is in pain (H2342), and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. We have been with child, we have been in pain (H2342), we have as it were brought forth (H3205) wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen." (Isa. 26:17-18)

In each of the above passages, sin was rampant, the people had chosen new gods, and the land was at war and in turmoil.  This is a principle we need to keep in mind.  Any time the gods over a nation are changing, war is at the gate.  A travailing Church is the only hope when the world is in this condition.

In Isaiah 42:13-14 we find that the Lord Himself travails.

"The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman (H3205); I will destroy and devour at once."

The Lord continued to hear the cry and pain associated with travail as He spoke through Jeremiah. For example, in Jeremiah 4:31-5:1, the Lord heard the voice of a woman in travail crying out about the pain of war and violence that surrounded her.

The theme of the travailing woman carried over into the New Testament.  The story of John the Baptist is a very powerful picture of one who travailed. John became the VOICE CRYING (travailing) in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." His parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth, were advanced in years and had petitioned the Lord for a child. An angel appeared to Zacharias and said, "for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John." (Luke 1:13, NKJV) The angel continued telling Zacharias:

"He will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:15-17, NKJV)

The voice of the prophet had been silent for four hundred years when Elizabeth birthed John the Baptist.

John the Baptist suffered a violent death when the daughter of Herodias, who was known as a wicked woman, beheaded him.  Here again, much like Jezebel, we see the wicked woman rise up to stop the voice crying in the wilderness.  Even today there are wicked women raising daughters to enter into whorish ways, to dance before their idols, and to take off the heads of prophets. "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matt. 11:12)

The Whorish Woman

There is also the portrait of the whorish or menstrous woman.  This woman cannot be pregnant and is thus unable to birth anything.  Her actions are in opposition to God’s purposes.  In Lamentations 1:17 we find Jerusalem depicted as a menstrous woman.  God had removed the protective wall around Jerusalem because of the grievous sins that had taken place there.

"For these things I (Jerusalem) weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed. Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstrous woman among them." (Lam. 1:16-17)

In Ezekiel 16:30 the work of Jerusalem is described as that of an imperious whorish woman.  To be imperious means to be vixen (shrewish or ill tempered), to dominate, to give power.  This shrewish, domineering spirit drove Jerusalem to commit adultery by worshipping the gods of the great merchant land of Babylon and sacrificing their sons and daughters.

The Wicked Woman Representing Babylon

In Zechariah 5:5-11 an angel of the Lord showed Zechariah a vision of a bushel basket that represented the measure of wickedness that resided throughout the land. Inside the basket, which was sealed with a lead cover, was a woman who was the epitome of all wickedness. Upon seeing this wickedness, the angel quickly shoved her back into the basket and cast the lead weight on its opening.  Two women with the wind in their wings soon came and lifted the basket between the heavens and earth, carrying it to the land of Shinar (Babylon) where a temple was to be built for the wicked woman.  Babylon is built on a foundation of wickedness.

The Final Battle

The war that is ahead is a clash between the travailing woman, represented by the Church, and the imperious whorish woman of Babylon.  Revelation 12 provides a picture of the Church.  She is seen as a travailing woman:

"And there appeared a great wonder (warning of future events of ominous significance) in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered."

The wicked woman spoken of in Zechariah is again portrayed in Revelation 17.  She is described as a woman riding the beast and is named "Mystery Babylon."  In Revelation 19 a tremendous battle takes place and a great sound is heard in HEAVEN because the wicked whorish woman, the harlot, has been defeated.

The Church, the travailing woman, has to birth something before she can overcome the whorish woman.  Could it be the SONS OF GOD?  Paul wrote in Romans 8:14-19:

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God."

Romans 8:22-23 continues,

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but 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."

The meaning of "travail" (G4944) is "to have pangs in company, concert, simultaneously, with, to sympathize (in expectation of relief from suffering)."  This is the only place the word is used in scripture.

It will take the corporate Church to birth God’s purposes.  It is time to put aside all discussions about who can do what in the Body of Christ and join Jesus in the work of intercession. T he time has come to no longer be children, but to move into travail to see the sons of God birthed.  The price has already been paid to redeem the physical woman, the travailing woman and the Church.  We must rise up and join in travailing harmony with all of creation to possess the kingdom!

Recommended Reading:

Women, God’s Secret Weapon by Ed Silvoso

Redefining the Role of Women in the Church by Dr. Jim Davis and Dr. Donna Johnson.

Notice

Future issues of The Watchman will be transmitted via internet e-mail only, i.e., no more "snail mail" versions will be sent. If you have previously received the newsletter via "snail mail" and have access to an e-mail address, please send the address to Dana@WatchmanNetwork.org.  On January 14, 2002 I moved to Gateshead, England, Christian International’s European headquarters, headed by Dr. Sharon Stone.  I will join Sharon as well as other Christian leaders across the 40/70 window to establish a School of Prayer and help raise a prayer army throughout the 40/70 window.  If you would like to sow into this work of the Spirit, you may send contributions to Christian International, P. O. Box 9000, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459 and designate on the check "Martha Lucia, Eagle of God account."

Announcements:

Make plans to attend the Watchman Intercessors Prophetic Conference in Santa Rosa Beach, FL April 8-12, 2002. Call 1-800-388-5308 for more information or to register.

Book release, The Gate of Prayer, by Martha Lucia and Linda Downing.  Call Christian International to order at 1-800-388-5308 or place your order via our new website.

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