In Christ...

 

 

“Sisters Forever!!” 

 

©2005 by The Centre of Incarnatology

This document may be freely downloaded or printed, for your own personal and non-commercial use,

provided that it is not altered and proper citation of authorship is included.

Note: This material was originally printed in a booklet, which was created for a day of reflection for Christian women.

 

Table of Contents:

(Click on a section below to read it)

The Childbearing
Hello, Chosen Women 
“We Must Tell Elizabeth!”
The Call
Reflections

The Mother Mary,  a poem by George MacDonald

The Glory of Motherhood, by Dr. Henry Hildebrand

 

[Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]

 

 

The Childbearing

 

 

"Nevertheless [the sentence put upon women of pain in motherhood does not hinder their soul's salvation, and] they will be saved [eternally] if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self control, [saved indeed] through the Childbearing or by the birth of the divine Child." 1 Tim. 2:15 AMP

 

 

    “It can’t mean that! It just can’t mean that!” Deb blurted out in blatant disbelief. “Saved in pregnancy? Read it again Mara, you must have read it wrong!”

    Mara’s voice caressed each word in the dearly familiar biblical passage as she slowly and reflectively reread it for Deb’s sake...

    “Nevertheless... she will be saved in childbearing.... if they continue in faith,... love,... and holiness,... with self-control.”

Deb, Zella, Annabelle, and Aurore listened attentively. Mara’s every word brought forth the tender breath of Deity and the Presence took its promised place in the midst of the gathering of women. The room was pregnant with a sweet sacred silence.  

    “I don’t buy it!” Zella shrieked, “I just don’t buy it!” Her voice pierced through the silence shattering the sacred moment into countless shards that showered down on Mara’s  peaceful countenance. In this way The Presence slipped away as silently as it had come.

    “The bible actually says that the only way a woman can be saved is by becoming pregnant.... so I’m out of here!!” Zella angrily jumped to her feet as quickly as she had jumped to her conclusion, and bolted for the door. Deb, darting right after her, muttered vehemently under her breath, “I’ve never heard anything quite so crazy!! What a crazy old book and what a crazy old woman!”

     Tears of tenderness filled Mara’s dark compassionate eyes as she observed Zella and Deb’s stormy exit. Spilling down through the deep crevices in her aged cheeks, her tears fell into gnarled  hands cupped peacefully in her lap. With a grateful heart  and heavenward gaze, Mara worshipfully raised her human cup of  tears and meekly offered them to her Lord saying,

    “Thank you my loving Father for the indwelling life of Jesus our Savior and Son, and for creating us female in your image for your love. Thank you for inspiring brother Paul to prod woman on to take her place of rich blessing in identification with the Childbearing and Birthing Way of Faith in our Lord.” Mara’s prayer again brought forth the tender breath of Deity and the Presence of the Peace arrived once again in their midst.

     Annabelle, preoccupied with the intricate dance of all of her unanswered questions  found Zella and Deb’s stormy exit just a trifle distracting, while Aurore, the gracious hostess of this gathering of  women was shocked at Zella and Deb’s strong reaction. She likewise didn’t understand this passage but was sensitive to how deeply Mara cherished it and wondered at its meaning for herself. It was so peculiarly alive in Mara, it was almost as though it spoke itself through her... It was telling Aurore something vital, something she had always longed to hear, something she desperately desired to experience, something she somehow knew she was in need of and yet...whatever it was... remained... just beyond the reach of her understanding.

        

    - story by Marni Loewen

............................................

 

Questions for Reflection:

 

1.       What is your response to 1 Tim. 2:15? Does it resemble Zella’s, and/or Aurore’s, and/or Deb’s, and/or Annabelle’s

             and/or Mara’s response......... or is totally different?  Elaborate in writing.

 

2.       Which woman can you identify with most closely? Why?

 

3.       Write out any questions that you might have coming out of this little story.

 

4.       Write out your understanding of (and any questions pertaining to) Mara’s statement:    

               Thank you for inspiring brother Paul to prod woman on to take her place of rich blessing in identification

                with the “Childbearing and Birthing Way of Faith in our Lord.”

 

 

[Table of Contents] [Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]

 

 

Hello, Chosen Women

 

The Habit of Ratifying Your Election

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.

 

"To ratify is to make sure of (Moffatt). I have to form the habit of assuring myself of my election, to bend the whole energy of my Christian powers to realise my calling, and to do that I must remember what I am saved for, viz.; that the Son of God might be manifested in my mortal flesh. How much attention have I given to the fact that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? When the Son of God is formed in me is He able to exhibit His life in my mortal flesh, or am I a living contradiction of what my mouth professes? Am I working out what God works in or have I become divorced from Jesus Christ? I become divorced from Him immediately I receive anything apart from His indwelling. Have I a testimony to give that is not “me”? If my testimony is only a thrilling experience, it is nothing but a dead, metallic thing; it kills me and those who listen to me. But when I am in contact with Jesus Christ every testimony of mine will reveal Him."                                                   

   

    - Oswald Chambers, Our Brilliant Heritage

 

 

 

 "The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which shall be born shall be called the Son of God," (Luke 1:35 see rv mg). That is symbolical of what happens when the Holy Ghost overshadows us: our natural life is made the mother of the Son of God. What have we done with Him? Has He grown and developed? Has He been nourished and looked after, or has He been buried? When God comes does He find something dead in us instead of the real living Son of God? We have to nourish the life of the Son of God in us, and we do it by obedience, that is, by bringing our natural life into accordance with His life and transforming it into a spiritual life."                 

   

     - Oswald Chambers, Psychology of Redemption

 

 

 

[Table of Contents] [Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]

 

 

“We Must Tell Elizabeth!”

 

 

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."    Luke 1:39-45 RSV

 

    What an awesome example of our Father doing all things well!  Every need of Mary, Elizabeth, and all of humanity would be met in these humanly impossible Childbearings. He knew their lowly feminine frame, an older woman past the age of childbearing and a very young woman who had just been ushered into the capability to bear .... both miraculously pregnant with God’s promised children. He gave them to each other, to rejoice with each other in unity with the Holy Spirit... the Old Covenant in Elizabeth, (John) greeting the New Covenant in Mary (Jesus). What a lovely relationship our Father ordained, sisters in the old and new promises of  God, celebrating their God in all He was doing for them and for humanity. With their high degree of expectancy... the women waited together in joyous anticipation for the fruition of their respective pregnancies. And so we have a most beautiful prefiguring of the essential nature of the unity in the Holy Spirit that marks our regenerate sisterhood.

 

    In the miracle of our personal salvation/regeneration/sanctification we too carry the life of our Savior Jesus Christ in the form of a ‘spiritual pregnancy’ given to our mortal flesh. In its early stages we too need an Elizabeth, an older woman in the faith to bear witness in the Holy Spirit affirming the presence of Jesus’ indwelling life.

 

 

We who are mature in the faith, are we receiving and discipling new little mothers of Jesus?

We who are new little mothers of Jesus....do we have an Elizabeth to run to for discipleship training?

 

 

............................................

 

"One of the most beautiful passages of scripture is Luke 1:39-56, which suggests that we wait together, as did Mary and Elizabeth. What happened when Mary received the words of promise? She went to Elizabeth. Something was happening to Elizabeth as well as to Mary. But how could they live that out?

I find the meeting of these two women very moving, because Elizabeth and Mary came together and enabled each other to wait. Mary’s visit made Elizabeth aware of what she was waiting for. The child leapt for joy in her. Mary affirmed Elizabeth’s waiting. And then Elizabeth said to Mary, “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. ” And Mary responded, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord” (Luke 1:45-46). She burst into joy herself. These two women created space for each other to wait. They affirmed for each other that something was happening that was worth waiting for."

   

    - Henry Nouwen, Waiting for God

 

............................................

 

 

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God,

to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice,

holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God,

which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.”

Rom 12:1 AMP

 

............................................

 

A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him,

"Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.

" Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"
Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said,

"Behold My mother and My brothers!  Whoever does the will of God is

my brother and sister and mother." Mark 3:32-35

 

 ............................................

 

"It is not the passing of the years that matures the life of the Son of God in us, but our obedience."

 

- Oswald Chambers, Conformed to His Image

 

............................................

 

 

[Table of Contents] [Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]

 

  

The Call

 

 

That ye may know what is the hope of His calling. . . . Ephesians 1:18

 

"Remember what you are saved for—that the Son of God might be manifested in your mortal flesh. Bend the whole energy of your powers to realise your election as a child of God; rise to the occasion every time. You cannot do anything for your salvation, but you must do something to manifest it, you must work out what God has worked in. Are you working it out with your tongue, and your brain and your nerves? If you are still the same miserable crosspatch, set on your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you."

   

    - Oswald Chambers,  My Utmost For His Highest (May 15)

 

 

 

Do you hear the call?

 

 

 

“That the  life also of Jesus might be made manifest

in our mortal flesh.”   2 Corinthians 4:10

 

"We have to form habits to express what God’s grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life."

   

    - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest (May 14)

 

 

Try to express in your own words how you hear the call.

 

 

[Table of Contents] [Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]

 

 

Reflections....

 

 

"There are three ways in which we can responsibly receive communications from God:

by giving deliberate thoughtful attention to the Incarnation;

by identifying ourselves with the Church, and by means of Bible revelation.

God gave Himself in the Incarnation; He gives Himself to the Church; and

He gives Himself in His Word: and these are the ways He has ordained

for conveying His life to us."                           

 

- Oswald Chambers, Approved Unto God

 

 

............................................

 

 

And whosoever receiveth one such little child in my name receiveth Me. (Matt.18:5)

 

"God’s trust is that He gives me Himself as a babe.  God expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.”  Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transfigured by the indwelling life of the Son of God?  God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be manifested in my mortal flesh."  

        

     - Oswald Chambers,  My Utmost For His Highest

 

............................................

 

 

"Read the Word more with the heart than with the understanding.  With the understanding I know and comprehend—with the heart I desire and love and hold firmly.  Let the understanding be the servant of the heart.  Be very afraid of your understanding or carnal nature, which cannot receive spiritual things."

 

- Andrew Murray, Living the New Life

 

............................................

 

Let My Love Restore

 

by  Amy Carmichael

 

His thoughts said, “I am not what I’m meant to be, or  what others think I am.”

His Father said, “It is written, ‘He restoreth my soul. The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.’  Let some word of Mine restore thee.  Let My love restore thee.  Didst thou think thou hadst a Father who did not know that His child would need to be restored?  I will restore health unto thee: I will heal thee of thy wounds.  I will restore unto thee the joy of My salvation.  I will renew a right spirit within thee. I will not cast thee away from My Presence.

“Child of My love, trust thy Father.  If the Spirit speaketh some word in thy heart, obey that word.  And, before ever thou art aware, thou wilt know thyself restored.”   

 

 

............................................

 

 

"There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart,

and that is the Lord Jesus Christ."

 

- Oswald Chambers, Shade of His Hand

 

 

[Table of Contents] [Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]

 

 

 

The Mother Mary
 

    by George MacDonald


I.

Mary, to thee the heart was given
For infant hand to hold,
And clasp thus, an eternal heaven,
The great earth in its fold.

He seized the world with tender might
By making thee his own;
Thee, lowly queen, whose heavenly height
Was to thyself unknown.

He came, all helpless, to thy power,
For warmth, and love, and birth;
In thy embraces, every hour,
He grew into the earth.

Thine was the grief, O mother high,
Which all thy sisters share
Who keep the gate betwixt the sky
And this our lower air;

But unshared sorrows, gathering slow,
Will rise within thy heart,
Strange thoughts which like a sword will go
Thorough thy inward part.

For, if a woman bore a son
That was of angel brood,
Who lifted wings ere day was done,
And soared from where she stood,

Wild grief would rave on love's high throne;
She, sitting in the door,
All day would cry: "He was my own,
And now is mine no more!"

So thou, O Mary, years on years,
From child-birth to the cross,
Wast filled with yearnings, filled with fears,
Keen sense of love and loss.

His childish thoughts outsoared thy reach;
His godlike tenderness
Would sometimes seem, in human speech,
To thee than human less.

Strange pangs await thee, mother mild,
A sorer travail-pain;
Then will the spirit of thy child
Be born in thee again.

Till then thou wilt forebode and dread;
Loss will be still thy fear--
Till he be gone, and, in his stead,
His very self appear.

For, when thy son hath reached his goal,
And vanished from the earth,
Soon wilt thou find him in thy soul,
A second, holier birth.


II.

Ah, there he stands! With wondering face
Old men surround the boy;
The solemn looks, the awful place
Bestill the mother's joy.

In sweet reproach her gladness hid,
Her trembling voice says--low,
Less like the chiding than the chid--
"How couldst thou leave us so?"

But will her dear heart understand
The answer that he gives--
Childlike, eternal, simple, grand,
The law by which he lives?

"Why sought ye me?" Ah, mother dear,
The gulf already opes
That will in thee keep live the fear,
And part thee from thy hopes!

"My father's business--that ye know
I cannot choose but do."
Mother, if he that work forego,
Not long he cares for you.

Creation's harder, better part
Now occupies his hand:
I marvel not the mother's heart
Not yet could understand.


III.

The Lord of life among them rests;
They quaff the merry wine;
They do not know, those wedding guests,
The present power divine.

Believe, on such a group he smiled,
Though he might sigh the while;
Believe not, sweet-souled Mary's child
Was born without a smile.

He saw the pitchers, high upturned,
Their last red drops outpour;
His mother's cheek with triumph burned,
And expectation wore.

He knew the prayer her bosom housed,
He read it in her eyes;
Her hopes in him sad thoughts have roused
Ere yet her words arise.

"They have no wine!" she, halting, said,
Her prayer but half begun;
Her eyes went on, "Lift up thy head,
Show what thou art, my son!"

A vision rose before his eyes,
The cross, the waiting tomb,
The people's rage, the darkened skies,
His unavoided doom:

Ah woman dear, thou must not fret
Thy heart's desire to see!
His hour of honour is not yet--
'Twill come too soon for thee!

His word was dark; his tone was kind;
His heart the mother knew;
His eyes in hers looked deep, and shined;
They gave her heart the cue.

Another, on the word intent,
Had read refusal there;
She heard in it a full consent,
A sweetly answered prayer.

"Whate'er he saith unto you, do."
Out flowed his grapes divine;
Though then, as now, not many knew
Who makes the water wine.


IV.

"He is beside himself!" Dismayed,
His mother, brothers talked:
He from the well-known path had strayed
In which their fathers walked!

With troubled hearts they sought him. Loud
Some one the message bore:--
He stands within, amid a crowd,
They at the open door:--

"Thy mother and thy brothers would
Speak with thee. Lo, they stand
Without and wait thee!" Like a flood
Of sunrise on the land,

A new-born light his face o'erspread;
Out from his eyes it poured;
He lifted up that gracious head,
Looked round him, took the word:

"My mother--brothers--who are they?"
Hearest thou, Mary mild?
This is a sword that well may slay--
Disowned by thy child!

Ah, no! My brothers, sisters, hear--
They are our humble lord's!
O mother, did they wound thy ear?--
We thank him for the words.

"Who are my friends?" Oh, hear him say,
Stretching his hand abroad,
"My mother, sisters, brothers, are they
That do the will of God!"

My brother! Lord of life and me,
If life might grow to this!--
Would it not, brother, sister, be
Enough for all amiss?

Yea, mother, hear him and rejoice:
Thou art his mother still,
But may'st be more--of thy own choice
Doing his Father's will.

Ambition for thy son restrain,
Thy will to God's will bow:
Thy son he shall be yet again.
And twice his mother thou.

O humble man, O faithful son!
That woman most forlorn
Who yet thy father's will hath done,
Thee, son of man, hath born!


V.

Life's best things gather round its close
To light it from the door;
When woman's aid no further goes,
She weeps and loves the more.

She doubted oft, feared for his life,
Yea, feared his mission's loss;
But now she shares the losing strife,
And weeps beside the cross.

The dreaded hour is come at last,
The sword hath reached her soul;
The hour of tortured hope is past,
And gained the awful goal.

There hangs the son her body bore,
The limbs her arms had prest!
The hands, the feet the driven nails tore
Had lain upon her breast!

He speaks; the words how faintly brief,
And how divinely dear!
The mother's heart yearns through its grief
Her dying son to hear.

"Woman, behold thy son.--Behold
Thy mother." Blessed hest
That friend to her torn heart to fold
Who understood him best!

Another son--ah, not instead!--
He gave, lest grief should kill,
While he was down among the dead,
Doing his father's will.

No, not instead! the coming joy
Will make him hers anew;
More hers than when, a little boy,
His life from hers he drew.

 

[Table of Contents] [Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]

 

 

The Glory of Motherhood

 

from “The Model of Servant Leadership” by Dr. Henry  Hildebrand

 

What an honour this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me (Luke 1:43, Living Bible).

 

   At the end of the day when twilight falls, and again at the beginning of each new day, the beautiful songs of birds can be heard.  So, at the twilight of the Old Testament dispensation, various persons favoured by God burst forth into song.  Only Luke recorded those songs. 

    From him we received the Beatitude of Elisabeth, the Magnificat of Mary, the Benedictus of Zacharias, and the Nunc Dimittus of Simeon.  Luke reported the Evangel sung by the angel of the Lord over the plains, and the Gloria of the evangelic host.¹  When Jesus came into the world, poetry expressed itself and music was reborn.

 

   In Luke’s record we have the promise fulfilled that one day through motherhood, victory should be gained over the power of the enemy (Gen. 3:15).  Mary arose and went into the hill country of Judea to see her cousin Elisabeth.

 

   As we follow her to the home in Judea about six months after the angelic announcement to Zacharias, we can imagine the emotion of Mary’s heart — she, a virgin, to become the mother of our Lord!  She took the direction of the angel to visit her cousin.  She knew Elisabeth would understand her, because she was living in the hope that Israel was about to be redeemed.

   In their meeting, the two covenants met — the Old greeted the New.   Imagine what encouragement Elisabeth’s opening words were to Mary!  They revealed her faith in Mary’s purity and her faith in Gabriel’s message.  Moreover, Elisabeth joyfully acknowledged that much greater honour had been conferred upon Mary, her cousin, and so she burst into song: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.  And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk. 1:42-43)

 

            Thus Elisabeth, the daughter of the old economy, was the first singer of the new.  Hers was the first song of the gospel; the first song of the new age that was breaking.  All the blessing that she pronounced upon Mary passed through her to the son in her womb.  It was the last poetic voice of the old economy, and it greeted the new; the voice of a daughter of the priestly line, singing of the advent of Him for whom the old had looked and sighed and sobbed and waited, of Him whose coming meant the fulfillment of the past, and God’s march forward in human history to the accomplishment of the end.²

 

   Mary’s song was almost entirely composed of Old Testament quotations.  It is evident that she had been well taught in the book; she lived in it.  It was in her heart; she knew her theology.  Mary acknowledged her need of a saviour (Lk. 1:47). Catholics should take note of this, while Protestants should note verse 48: “from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” Mary exalted the God of her forefathers because of His holiness, mercy, might and faithfulness.

 

   From Elisabeth we have the first song of the New Testament; from Mary we have the last song of the Old Testament.  These songs reveal how well these mothers of the greatest sons on earth had been prepared for their sacred tasks (Lk. 7:26-28; 1:32-33).

They, with their husbands, were marked for their integrity, for their knowledge of God, and the Scriptures through which they discerned the mission of their sons.  With what dedication and sacrifice they must have given themselves to training those sons.¹

 

    Mary stayed with her cousin for three months, likely until the birth of John.   How exciting it all must have been to witness John’s birth and his naming! Zacharia’s tongue was loosed and he broke forth into the Benedictus.  John’s mission was clearly set forth (Lk. 1:76-79), and Luke summarized his development as he grew strong in spirit until the day of his appearance before Israel (Lk. 1:80).

 

    We would love to know more about John’s home life, his training, and what led him to the wilderness, but verse 80 will have to suffice.  The next time we meet him is when he goes forth to speak to Israel and introduces the Messiah.

     In the meantime, after being strengthened in her faith by her cousin and the momentous events of John’s birth, Mary returned to her home in Nazareth. She was well protected and cared for by Joseph for the next six months.  Truly the scene brings us to the threshold of the greatest hour in history!  The herald is being prepared and the Messiah is about to appear, veiled in human flesh.

 

Endnotes for Chapter 4

 

1. G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Luke, (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1931), p. 27

2. Ibid.

 

 

[Table of Contents] [Incarnatology Home Page] [Resources Page] [Contact Us]