If you haven't noticed through all the different parts and aspects of scripture we've looked at through the years, YHWH designed an order to everything in His creation. Not only are there hierarchies of power spiritually, there are hierarchies physically as well. When His hierarchies are maintained and followed, both in the spiritual and the physical, creation operates smoothly, as it should, and given the current state of the world, and the norm it has created, it's actually shocking to see the amazing results of His order being followed. On the other hand, when it is manipulated, distorted, confused, and just generally turned upside-down, there are effects and consequences that are clearly evident if you have eyes to see.
Obviously, on the spiritual side, YHWH is the top, or head, of the hierarchy. He is the Creator of all things, both spiritual and physical, and He is spirit (John 4:24). Being the Creator of the physical also makes Him the head of that hierarchy as well, however while He can be physically seen and interact with the physical (Exodus 34:5-8, Genesis 3:8), He is not physical.
Next in the hierarchy is Yeshua, the Son of YHWH. Of course, He was born in the physical as the Son (Matthew 1:22-25, John 1:14), but He existed spiritually prior to that, since the beginning (John 1:1-4, Genesis 1:26). Not only that, Yeshua has been given all authority both in the physical, on earth, and the spiritual, in heaven (Matthew 28:18). At the end, He will then give this authority back to YHWH (1 Corinthians 15:24). So, if you were to represent this hierarchy in spiritual and physical organizational charts, so far we have YHWH at the top on both, Yeshua below Him on both, and a line connecting both of them.
Let's focus in on the physical for a moment. We know that YHWH, as spirit, created the physical (Genesis 1:1), and that initially both the spiritual and physical coexisted in the form of the Garden of Eden. Not only did YHWH regularly traverse the Garden with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8), there were trees there that were able to affect man spiritually (Genesis 2:9).
We also know that in various verses we're told the physical can be manipulated and controlled by the spiritual. For example, YHWH did this throughout the Old Testament when He enacted the plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7-12), led the Israelites in the form of fire and a cloud (Exodus 13:21), and controlled where precipitation would form (1 Kings 17:1, 18:1, Judges 6:37-38). We also see that spiritual beings can not only control physical beings (Matthew 8:32, Luke 9:42) but also take the form of physical beings (Genesis 19:1, Acts 1:10). However, we don't have the same scriptural evidence that man can transition to the spiritual and back, or have the same ability to manipulate the spiritual without the help of spiritual beings. Though, we are given dreams and visions of the spiritual (Daniel 7, Revelation) and are helped by YHWH's messengers (Daniel 10:10-14, Hebrews 1:14).
During Yeshua's ministry, He fully became a physical man. As a result, He had the same disadvantage regarding the inability to manipulate the spiritual directly and was given the Holy Spirit in order to provide that ability (Luke 3:21-22) and perform all the miracles He did. The fact that He was a man did not change His authority as the Son of YHWH, therefore all spiritual beings obeyed Him (Luke 11:14), and we can also see that as far as the hierarchy goes, the Holy Spirit is below Him. However, the Holy Spirit, being spirit, would only be seen on the spiritual organizational chart. This hierarchy is confirmed by Yeshua Himself when He says the Holy Spirit is sent in His name (John 14:26). That phraseology was common historically to mean the individual has the authority of the person in whose name they are sent. By definition though, that individual is not the person, otherwise they wouldn't have to be "in his/her name."
Knowing the "top three" in our spiritual and physical hierarchies, it's simple enough to expand them to include other parts of creation. The spiritual beings, called messengers, mentioned earlier are obviously the next level down on the spiritual hierarchy, and they have their own hierarchical structure as well. On the physical side, we see that YHWH's design intended for Adam to be the head. He was the person from which all other people would come and was appointed to manage the plants and animals of the earth (Genesis 1:28). While Eve was created from him, she was not created by him, and by this, YHWH designated husband and wife to be more of a partnership than a subordinate relationship.
At the beginning though, not only was YHWH's design for marriage violated, His design of the dominion of man over nature was violated as well as the spiritual hierarchy. Eve followed a serpent's direction, Adam, rather than be the head and hold fast to YHWH's commandment, followed her lead, and ultimately they both let Satan's deceit lead them to give in to temptation (Genesis 3). These actions came with consequences that all of creation is still dealing with today. Yeshua's sacrifice gives us the opportunity to re-establish YHWH's design in our lives, for both the spiritual and physical hierarchies to Him, but we also need to re-establish any applicable hierarchies we are supposed to be the head of.
Some of these hierarchies we need to re-establish include parent-child, which is based on a child being created by the parents, and man-animal, which we saw was directed by YHWH. Arguably, the most important one is the marriage hierarchy, and to me this is the one most attacked by the evil one, as evidenced in the Garden as we just read. We're provided with some amplifying information on this hierarchy through Paul's writings.
When you look around the world you can see many efforts that have destroyed YHWH's designed order for marriage throughout history, and most certainly in today's society. While I believe the domination/subjugation attitude that occurred for millennia, and still exists today in many areas, was the very first attack, more recently the feminist movement (of the radical nature) was a renewed attack designed to either prevent women from even getting married or create such a toxic relationship that divorce rates skyrocket. The attitude that a woman doesn't need a man, or that they should dominate or show independence in a relationship, is not according to YHWH's order. And of course, even more recently, the rise of homosexuality and transgenderism seeks to destroy not only marriage but YHWH's design for sexuality in general.
We know that YHWH's definition of entering into marriage is the act of sex, and I neglected to mention sex outside of a marriage contract as being one of the attacks propagated by the evil one, but once in the marriage what is YHWH's expectation? What was His design? We saw that Eve was created out of Adam, and Yeshua reminds us that we're taught scripturally that marriage essentially puts back together that separation YHWH did at the beginning (Mark 10:6-8, Genesis 2:24). A husband and wife are intended to operate as one. That's easier said than done sometimes, but Paul also provided some amplifying information in his writings on the intended order of marriage.
Paul equates our hierarchy in marriage to Yeshua's hierarchy with the church in that just as He is the head of the church, the man is to be the head, or leader, in marriage (Ephesians 5:23). Does this mean the wife is to sit in the corner and wait for orders and decisions from the husband, or that the man is supposed to subjugate the woman like a slave? Absolutely not! That is not true leadership by any means. Just as Yeshua worked with the disciples, the first leaders of His church, throughout His ministry, husband and wife are to work together during marriage. While it's hard to find an example of Yeshua taking the advice of His disciples, mainly because they had absolutely no idea how things were actually supposed to work, He is the embodiment of YHWH's nature and we certainly see YHWH taking the advice of man (Exodus 32:11-14).
Part of our role in Yeshua's kingdom is to fulfill His will on earth, and one of the ways we do that is by living our lives in the way YHWH intended and designed for us to live them. We each must know what that entails, which scripture helps us with, and stick to it despite what the world tells us. YHWH's order of things is perfect, so let's trust Him and live it out!
Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!
-Rob and Sara Gene
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