Video Transcript: More are the Children of the Barren Woman

Welcome to Lesson 11. This is almost our last day together, we're going to wrap  up tomorrow. But today is probably one of our more important lessons, because  it looks at the things that make a woman, uniquely female, and also at what  scripture says about the things that God considers important about being a  woman. So even in the, in the places where we can't fulfill what society says,  are uniquely female. So let's get started. Today's lesson is entitled more are  those children of the barren woman, I believe woman was created with a very  special glory. Scripture says that God saw something of a deficiency in man's  isolation. And so he created a woman to be a helpmeet for him. If we look at  Genesis 2:18-25, we see that the Lord God said it isn't good. That man should  be alone, that remember, God has said over and over and over again, this is  good, this is good, and suddenly this not good. So he says, I'll make it helpmeet  for him. And he brings all the animals to Adam to see what he's going to call  them. And Adam names, everything, which shows that he has authority actually,  over all the animals because he's giving them names. And as he does this, there is no helpmeet found for Adam. So scripture says in Genesis 2:21, that the Lord  God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and as he slept, God took one of his  ribs, and he closed the flesh up, and he of the rib, made a woman and he  brought her to the man. And Adam, he's all excited, and he says, Oh, this is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. I'm gonna call her woman, because she was taken out of man. And the scripture goes on to say, Therefore shall a man leave  his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one  flesh. So in this scripture, we see that man, being alone was not a good thing. In fact, the word alone is in the Hebrew is BAD, now it's pronounced BOD, but it's  the word bad. And it indicates separation, by itself, apart from it's an adverb of  limitation. It comes from a Hebrew word that means to divide or dis unite, to  divide in parts. I think that's really interesting. helpmeet on the other hand, is a  word that means to aid or offer assistance and support in times of hardship and  distress. It's one who helps. It comes from a Hebrew word that means to  surround or protect, or aid. It's the idea of surrounding in order to defend. So  Adam was separated, divided, disunited, somewhat limited, and then God brings Eve along, and God says at this point, man now will leave his family, and he's  going to pursue and unite with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.  Achieving wholeness, though in unity, brings with it some challenges. We see in  Genesis 3 now that there is a curse. Eve has taken of the fruit, she shared it  with her husband, and suddenly God says, There's enmity between woman and  Satan. This is in the Garden of Eden. Early early on, Satan has talked her into  taking giving him control of the world. He says, I will put enmity between thee  and the and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise the  head, and you shall bruise it's heel, we see Christ's victory proclaimed because  he is going to bruise the head of Satan, but Satan gets a few licks in as well. If  we look at another version of the conflict between Satan and women, we see it 

in Revelation 12. Because we find this dragon. It's pursuing a woman into the  desert, we see this great wonder in heaven, there's this woman and she's  clothed with the sun, and she has the moon under her feet and a crown, with 12  stars on her head. And then she cries out with birth pangs. And then a great red  dragon appears in heaven with seven heads and seven horns and 10 are  crowns and 10 horns. And his whole focus is to devour her child when it's born.  The child appears to be Jesus, we read he is to rule all nations with a rod of  iron, and he's caught up to God and His throne. But the dragon persecutes the  woman who brought forth the child and eventually she's given wings. She flies  into the desert, and she's cared for there but the serpent tries to carry her away  with a flood. And then the earth opens up, swallows the flood, the dragon's  angry and goes to war with her seed. My takeaway from this is that we are not  wrestling with flesh and blood. There's a very real battle in the physical and the  spiritual realms that are forged against womanhood. Women were created in the first place, we're smaller and weaker. We don't have the upper body strength,  we're more sensitive to emotional stimuli, we're more intuitive. Our brains are  wired completely differently for men. And it's a good thing they are, we sense  things more deeply, we notice nonverbal cues more easily because we have an  innate tendency to nurture. But what happens if we don't feel nurturing? What  happens if we haven't married, or if we've had a bad marriage, and we're single,  what if we can't have children, or we haven't had an opportunity to marry, we  have been able to have a baby or had an opportunity to have a baby. in Bible  times, being unmarried or barren, meant a woman was diminished in the eyes of society and in man's view of God, and they were wrongly considered barreness  to be the result of sin. Now, Jesus addressed man's incorrect version of human  circumstances, in his response to his disciples when they asked who had sinned the blind man or his parents in John 9, but in ancient Israel, and still today, in  some churches, they look at women as if they should be married, and have  children. But women in the Bible, if they were unmarried, generally lived in  poverty, and were ostracized. And Jesus modeled the different treatment and he shows us our real place with God and with him. He shares the truth of who he is  with a woman at the well. He's patient with her he is kind and gentle. He doesn't  condemn her for having been married more than once or living with a man  unmarried. He's gentle with a woman caught in adultery. In fact, he saves her  life. And he points out the hypocrisy of her accusers. But Jesus's treatment of  us, shows us what he and God think of us. Jesus helps up the woman in  adultery and he encourages her to go forward living in righteousness. He says,  Go and sin no more this tells us, it's possible for us to move forward in life, no  matter what our past is. There's a clear separation between our past our present and our future, our life can be exactly the opposite of what it was before we met  Jesus. Jesus also calls the woman with the issue of blood daughter. This  indicates a close Paternal relationship, a parent to a child. In that culture, she 

would have been made to live alone outside the city gates, because she was  considered unclean, but he restores her to society and gives her a position  within the family of God as a result of her faith. Jesus also included the women  among his disciples, and He defended the woman who poured oil on his head  and feet, Mary. And one of the tenderest stories is the way he took care of his  mother. While he was suffering on the cross. He gives her into the care of John,  the Bible says that Jesus is the one whom women loved. Why? Because he lifts  us up. Out of this world's skewed hierarchy that place places us often at the  bottom of the barrel, he ascribes value to us to being female. We don't have to  demand our position when the King of the universe thinks that we're the best  thing next to sliced bread. So we know God values us and that Jesus loves us. If we don't have a husband or children, whether by choice or circumstance, or if  we're divorced or widowed or we've lost a child, if being a wife and a mother are  part of womanhood and being female, where's our identity if these are missing?  Scripture says, More are the children of the desolate woman than of her who is  married. Isaiah says, For thy maker is my husband, God's her husband. Think  on that. He says in Exodus 22:22 You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless  child. Zechariah tells us not to oppress the widow or the fatherless and Malachi  lumps sorcerers, adulterers, False swearers in with those who oppress the  widow and the fatherless. James tells us that pure religion undefiled before God  and the Father is to visit the fatherless and widows. Now remember the  Scripture uses the same word for divorcee as it does for widow. He cares for  them he provides for them. But what does that have to do with being able to do  the things that are innately female, having children is innately female, Isaiah  34:1, my favorite verse single barren thou that did not spare break forth into  singing, cry aloud those that did not travail with child because more are the  children of the desolate than the children of the married saith the Lord? How is  that possible? When we look around we often see women who do not have their own children find themselves in jobs, caring for children, they might be teachers  or health care workers or social workers and so on. They have a capacity to love and nurture that's unfettered, and they're able to love and be loved by so many  children who may not be receiving that kind of unconditional love at home. The  unmarried woman sees God as her husband. He comes to her aid and he  protects her and cares for her and provides for her in ways that are  supernatural. He's her confidant, and her guide. Her relationship with Jesus  might be deeper than a married woman whose heart and dependence is toward  her husband. An unmarried woman may be able to understand the bride and  bridegroom relationship with the church and Christ more fully than someone  who experiences the imperfections of a physical marriage. So does that mean  we shouldn't marry or have children? No, no, but if we find ourselves unmarried,  or without children of our own, it doesn't mean we can't experience as fully or  more so the joys of being female, and being a wife and mother. I remember a 

friend who had a really close relationship with her grandchild, she was so happy, because she worked a lot when her own kids were growing up. And so she was  really enjoying seeing her grandchild grow up. And he in turn loved her dearly.  But a disagreement arose between the woman and her child, and she was no  longer allowed to spend time with her grandchild and she was devastated. She  felt like her heart had been ripped in two. Suddenly God spoke the scripture to  her more are the children of the barren woman and so she decided to accept it  from his hand and entrust herself to him. Within days, out of nowhere, it seems  she found herself surrounded by Little children, who needed her love and  attention and who wanted to call her grandma. God provides those who need us to fill our need. God gave that woman the gift of protecting and nurturing life and the ability to love deeply. And he gives that to us as women. These  responsibilities are far greater than any position, competency, skill or attribute  that man values and promotes. When we choose to value what God values we  find our soul is satisfied. Our sense of wholeness will be intact. My prayer for  each of us is that we're able to fully embrace who God made us as women, and  that he'll reveal to us His love for us and his desire to be a husband to us, and to be a father and to provide children for us. I hope that you have a wonderful rest  of your day, that you're able to rejoice in being female and being a woman no  matter where you find yourself, whether you're married, unmarried, have  children or not. I pray that God brings you the things into your life that let you  rejoice in being female. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and I'll see you briefly tomorrow.