And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).

 

Man was originally created male and female. After the woman was taken from man, it would take both the man and the woman, in unity, to reveal the image of God. No man can fully reveal the image of God, and neither can any woman. We need each other, and this is why one of the primary assaults of the devil is to deceive men and women into thinking that they do not need each other. Therefore, homosexuality is one of the ultimate perversions of the purpose for which we were created.

 

For this reason, if the devil cannot push men and women into homosexuality, he will at least try to blur the distinctions between them. He will try to get men to become like women, and women like men, so that true unity can never be achieved by them. The way a man becomes one with his wife is not by making her into a man, but rather by acknowledging and honoring her differences. Likewise, the only way that a woman can become one with her husband is by acknowledging and honoring the ways that he is different. In general, women have strengths and perspectives that men do not have, and men have strengths and perspectives that women do not have. This is not stereotyping; it is simply acknowledging a fact that one has to be both spiritually and scientifically blind not to see this. The way we become one, so that we can reflect the image of God, is by acknowledging our differences, and seeing them as complimentary, not contradictory.

 

II Corinthians 3:18 states, "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." To be transformed into the image of the Lord requires that we see His glory with an unveiled face. There are many veils the devil seeks to place on mankind, so that even if we see the Lord's glory, we will distort it, and pervert the true reflection of Him. Though the image of the Lord is both male and female, and there is the nature of Him that would gather us as a hen gathers her chicks, God is presented throughout the Scriptures as "Father," and is never called "Mother." To dilute this is to distort His image with a very thick veil.

 

"Father" means "life giver." The father gives the seed, and the mother nurtures the seed. In Scripture, we see the creation as "a" mother. Both Israel and the church are also referred to in Scripture as "mothers." Just as the woman was taken from Adam so that they would have to come together to be the complete image of God, the Lord will be joined perfectly to His bride to give the creation a true reflection of His glory. However, there can be no joining if we do not see the differences of each. God is the Father, and He is masculine to the uttermost. We must not compromise this basic truth if we are to see His glory and be changed into His image.

 

The roles of men and women are being severely challenged in our time. However, that which the enemy intends for evil always turns out for the good of those who love God. The church is also struggling with understanding the roles God intended for men and women. We must use this challenge to search even more diligently for God's answer to these questions. When men become the men they are called to be, and women become the women they are called to be, the whole world will stand in awe of them, knowing in the depths of their hearts that they reflect who they are called to be.

 

The Apostle Paul stated in I Corinthians 4:15: "For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers." The same is true of the church today. There are many teachers, but not many fathers who are reproducing. That is why most great churches and movements tend to die with the death of their founders. They did not reproduce their ministry in others or it would carry on and multiply. One reason there are not many true spiritual fathers in the church is that for one to become a father, a woman must be present. Until women are able to take their rightful place in the church, there will continue to be limited reproduction. This is a crucial issue for our time. It is obvious that the world will continue to fall into a deeper depravity concerning women's liberation if the church does not seize and promote the true liberation of women. No one desires to liberate women more than the Lord. Neither will men be truly liberated until women are. If any part of the body of Christ is still in bondage, we all are.