male and female

In my previous blog I explained that a female sacrificial-animal refers to Jesus who, in complete obedience, went His way to the death of the cross. In response to this explanation I received the following reaction:

So the two types of sacrifices (represented by both sexes – m/f) are complementary, just as men and women are complementary. Now I still remain somewhat secretly wondering: Why did the Lord Jesus then come to earth as a man?

Indeed, Jesus came as a boy into the world and therefore, He was circumcised on the eighth day. He was not the daughter, but specifically, “the Son of God.” Literally! And yet, He also fulfilled a female role (as we saw), while being a man on earth. These are two different things. An example: Deborah was a woman, but she fulfilled a male role when she exercised rulership as a judge. In everyday life, in this connection, we still speak of a woman “who wears the pants.” Male and female refers not only to sexual identity, as biological data, but also to a role or function that someone fulfills. Also, mere physical things can be male and female. In many languages, words and concepts, by definition, are male or female. And an electrician also speaks of a male and female cable… The sun, as a cause of new life and to rule over the day, fulfills a male function (Ps.19:5 speaks of a bridegroom). The moon, however, as recipient of light, is female. She also is female in her monthly cycle of apparent forms. Male and female are, linguistically, relative concepts that express something about a relationship. So is the moon, with respect to “mother earth”, masculine: she exercises dominion over the night (Gen.1:16) and over the tides. God as Creator is male and hence: God the Father. The cosmos, the creation, is female and fulfils the role of an expectant mother (Rom.8:22). The word for “God” in the original languages of the Bible are masculine, (El and theos) and that is logical, because they picture the One Who subjects all and places all. Nevertheless, at some places in the Bible, feminine traits are attributed to Him. Thus we read in Isaiah 49:15:

“Will a woman forget her child, not to have compassion on the son of her belly? Even if these a woman will forget, yet I will not forget you,” says Yahweh.

In line with this, is the Hebrew word for “Almighty”, El Shaddai, which is derived from a word meaning “mother breast”. As El, He is the male God Who determines all things, but as Shaddai, He cherishes and provides, as a mother does that for her infant child. Now, for a brief moment, I need to come back to the Son of God as man. In the future, He will appear as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Paul, on the Areopagus, said:

… forasmuch as He (=God) assigns a day in which He is about to be judging the inhabited earth in righteousness by THE MAN Whom He specifies… -Acts 17:31-

On earth, Jesus was indeed the Son, but that became obscured. As Hebrews 5 says:

even He also, BEING A SON, learned obedience from that which He suffered. -Hebrews 5:8-

Jesus, while on earth, was the Son, but instead of being obeyed, He learned obedience from what he suffered. It is this role of subordination which is pictured by the female sacrificial-animal.

Delen: