“The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you will only be above and you will not be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, to observe and to do them” (Deut. 28:13).
This declaration of headship was the high point of a very notable day. God wanted the choice between “life and death, blessing and curse” to be rehearsed in the minds of the Israelites at their entrance into the promised land—to strengthen their commitment to a covenant relationship with Him (Deut. 30:19).
Six tribes of Israel stood on the slopes of Mount Ebal shouting “Amen” to the curses of the Law. About 500 yards away, the other six tribes stood on the slopes of Mount Gerizim shouting “Amen” to the blessings (see Deut. 27:12-13). A special altar was erected in the valley between the mountains and from that area the Levites declared the word of the Lord. Blessings to the obedient reached a climax with this announcement of potential headship.
God’s Motive
Of all the nations of the world, why did God choose Israel for such a high calling? Deuteronomy 7:7-8a (NKJV) explains: “he Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples. But it is because the Lord loved you and because He kept the oath which He swore to your fathers.”
Yahweh was motivated by three primary things: first, His love for Israel; second, faithfulness to the promises made to the patriarchs; and third, the fact that Israel was the least likely nation to succeed on its own. This could be described as “the mustard seed principle” in the kingdom of God. Just as the mustard seed is the least of all seeds but becomes the greatest among herbs, so the Creator loves to choose people and things that are considered the lowest, the last and the least, then transform them into the highest, the first and the greatest—to reveal His power and give glory to His name (Matt. 13:31-32, see Rom. 9:17).
Knowing this inclination in God should build confidence in believers who feel overlooked, ostracized, unqualified, incapable, ineffective or self-condemning. God is still the same God, and He still functions in similar ways.
God’s Intention
Yahweh intended Israel to be the “head” in every arena of human experience: politically, militarily, socially, scientifically, educationally, monetarily, materially, religiously and spiritually. In achieving excellence and preeminence, it was to become the exemplary nation—a living testimony of what can happen when an entire nation walks in covenant with God.
What happened to hinder the plan? For a season it worked amazingly (the Red Sea opened, and Jericho’s walls fell). But then, after a lengthy season of miraculous victories, Israel’s headship status began to disintegrate, and the Israelites ended up becoming slaves to five successive Gentile empires—the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Grecians and finally, the Romans. For centuries, instead of being “the head,” they became “the tail” (just as God forewarned—Deut. 28:43-44). A single, two-letter word was the primary stumbling block—the fifth word in the following verse:
“Now it will be, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, then the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth” (Deut. 28:1).
The word “if” was the culprit. God would only exalt them if they obeyed His commandments. So, under the Old Covenant especially, headship depended primarily on human performance. The Israelites must have trembled with a sense of foreboding when they heard one of the final proclamations:
“Cursed is he who does not confirm all the words of this law by doing them” (Deut. 27:26a).
From that moment they shouted “Amen,” the heavy responsibility of keeping all 613 commandments of the Torah loomed over them like a dark, ominous cloud. As rebellion and transgressions increased from one generation to the next, their situation grew more and more hopeless. It looked as though God’s purpose were crumbling irreparably and would end in failure.
But then Jesus came, opening the headship door not only to Jews, but to Gentiles.
The Mysterious Turning Point
The miracle of the incarnation took place, and the Messiah walked among men. But Jesus (Yeshua) was more than a man; He was “God manifested in the flesh” (see 1 Tim. 3:16). After 33 years He was crucified, sinking to the lowest place of degradation. When He became “sin for us,” absorbing all the vileness of the Adamic race—in a sense, He became the vilest of all (2 Cor. 5:2). The one who was rightfully “the head” instead became “the tail” by offering Himself as our substitute.
But not for long.
Three days later, the Spirit of holiness quickened Him back to life. That pivotal event caused more than just an earthquake; it triggered a heaven-quake with rumblings that went all the way back to the fall of Adam. Through the Resurrection and ascension, God’s mighty power was released, “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph. 1:20-23).
The Amplified Bible, Classic Edition, insightfully adds that this is “a headship exercised throughout the church.”
Clearly, Jesus came down to our level for the purpose of lifting us to His level (see Eph. 2:5-6, Isa. 57:15). Through the blood that cleanses us, the Spirit that enlivens us, the name that sanctifies us and the Covenant that empowers us, believers are exalted over every enemy: sin, self, satanic powers, the world and death. Since Jesus is the head and we are His body, if all things are under His feet, all things are under our feet as well.
When sincere repentance is added to the equation in our lives, instead of personal failures being stumbling stones, leading us to degradation and destruction, they become stepping stones, leading us to a higher place of transformation—because God uses them to reveal His character to us and in us.
One day this purpose will be perfected when God’s people from both the Old and New Covenants become the ruling hierarchy over a new creation. We will then be “the head and not the tail” in a supreme way, exalted forevermore. But why wait until then for this headship calling to manifest?
To this we, too, shout “Amen!” with all our might.
To explore this wonderful subject more deeply, listen to a popular episode of Mike Shreve’s weekly podcast called Discover Your Spiritual Identity on our calling to be The Head and Not the Tail. {eoa}
A product of the Jesus Movement Era, Mike Shreve has traveled evangelistically in the United States and overseas since 1970 with an emphasis on healing and the prophetic. His primary biblical teaching for over 35 years has been the spiritual identity of believers. This powerful insight is featured on his weekly podcast on cpnshows.com, and his TV program—both titled Discover Your Spiritual Identity. It is also the theme of his Charisma House book titled WHO AM I? Dynamic Declarations of Who You Are in Christ. The first three categories on his YouTube website expand on this amazing revelation: YouTube.com/mikeshreveministries.
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