Welcome friends and family to the Methodist Voice. Just to be clear, the podcast is called
the Methodist Voice. This particular series is called Primeval. So that's what we're
going to be continuing today. Genesis chapter 1. We're going to try and wind up Genesis
chapter 1 today. We're still on Genesis 1.26, but this is a rich passage of scripture. It
is foundational to the rest of the entire Bible. So we're going to not leave any stone
left unturned. And we're going to continue reading from Genesis 1.26. We will try and
turn the page next week to Genesis chapter 2 and start digging into the details of that
story. But just to kind of kick off today's podcast, let's look at Genesis chapter 1
starting in verse 26. And we're going to go ahead and read out the rest of the chapter
and just try and button this up. So Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, the title of this particular
episode is called the Dominion Mandate. We've covered a lot of things from these verses.
We have not yet covered the topic of dominion. So that's what we're going to talk about today.
The Dominion Mandate, and here it is, the beginning of the message of the Kingdom of
God. Now I don't have to tell you that's a huge topic in scripture. It is the focus
of Jesus' ministry. And so understanding what God has in mind is critical to understanding
that message. So let's dig in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. Then God said, let us make man
in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion. Now dominion means to rule.
It means to govern. It means to manage, to be a steward of and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens. So everything that's on land,
everything that's in the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over every creeping
thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God
he created him, male and female he created them. And God blessed them and said to them,
be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. I'll talk about man woman
issues probably when we get to Genesis chapter 3, but this is a significant thing to remember.
Human beings were originally created as equal partners and they were both given the mandate
to rule. It wasn't just the man, it was the man and the woman functioning as partners
side by side underneath God's sovereign leadership. So let's continue in verse 28. And have dominion
over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing
that moves on the earth. Verse 29 and God said, behold, I have given you every plant
yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth and every tree with its seed and its
fruit. You shall have them for food and to every beast on the earth and to every bird
of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath
of life. I've given every green plant for food and it was so and God saw everything
that he had made and behold, it was very good and there was evening and there was morning
the sixth day. Now it's interesting to note on this passage, just a side note that it
was plants that were given to human beings and to animals as food. It does not say anything
about eating meat in that passage, which is a point you want to remember because when
we get later on after the flood of Noah is the first instance where God says, I now give
you meat to eat. So that's not today's topic, just a little heads up that's coming down
the pike a little while later. Now in regards to this topic of dominion being a function
of image bearers, we're created in the image and likeness of God. Dominion is a function
of being an image bearer. I'm going to cite professor David Kleins who is a biblical studies
professor at the University of Sheffield across the pond over there. Here's what he says,
what makes man the image of God is not that corporeal or embodied man stands as an analogy
of a corporeal God. That's not the point. For the image does not primarily mean similarity
in a physical nature, although it might imply that not necessarily or primarily he says
continuing on, but the representation of the one who is imaged in a place where he is
not. So human beings are placed on the earth to represent God when he is absent. Now that
gets into, well isn't God omnipresent? Well yes, but he isn't always equally present.
So there's the manifest presence of God and there's the omnipresence of God, two different
things. When God is present amongst the people of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and
a pillar of fire by night, he's present differently than he is in other places of scripture where
it's not obvious that he's there. So there's these stories in the Old Testament where the
tabernacle is set up and there comes a point where this cloud of glory manifests in the
tabernacle. God is always present in the tabernacle, but he's present in a different way, a more
tangible way when the cloud appears. God's always present on the earth. Whenever he comes
in the form of a man of Jesus Christ, he's present on the earth in a different way than
he is when he's omnipresent. So that's all to say God can appear that it's not, or it
can be where it's not obvious that God is present to human beings who are on the earth.
That's just a clumsy way of what I'm trying to say there. Continuing on with David Klein's,
going to Genesis 1 26, man is set on earth in order to be the representative there of
the absent God who is nevertheless present by his image. So one of the ways that God
chooses to be present on the earth is through his image bearers. And that's talking about
you and me. That's our responsibility as image bearers to be filled with the Holy Spirit
and to give expression to the energies and the life and the gifts that he works on the
inside of us. So here's the question we're going to try and address today. We're representatives
of God on the earth unto what? In what way are we representing God? What does that mean?
And so let's talk a little bit about this plan. Now I've talked extensively about this
plan in other places. I've got a lot of content out there about this. I will link to a good
deal of it in the notes of this podcast. So I would refer you to those. I'll try and give
you a summary. This is God's plan for humankind. And we're seeing this expressed here in Genesis
chapter one. God's plan for humankind is to live in bodies on the earth in this beautiful
environment that God has created that really is God's home at the end of the day. We're
going to learn from chapter two, God places human beings in this garden where he lives
with them and his intent is that they would manage the garden. But ultimately, as the
text says, fill the earth and subdue it so that it becomes like God's home. God wants
the entire earth to be his home, not just a part of it. So that's plan A. And I want
to remind you some of the attributes of God. First of all, God is omniscient. That means
God knows everything there is to know. There are no questions left unanswered for an omniscient
God. I'll cite first John chapter three, verse 20 is a scripture that describes that.
So if God knows everything, if that's true, then he has eliminated every other possible
plan and God has determined that this plan he's articulated in Genesis chapters one and
two is perfect. There is no other plan. And so this is important because God living with
human beings who are without sin, who have access to eternal life on the earth embodies
God living with them on the earth while they're embodies in this environment that he's created
with the intent that they will manage that environment and then they will take that environment
and populate the entire planet, not only with people, but with the same quality that he
has established in the Garden of Eden. That's the plan. The rest of scripture I'm going
to argue is about God's working to execute that plan. So the second thing we know about
God is that God is omnipotent. That means he's all powerful. Here's a verse you can
look up to cite that job 42 chapter job chapter 42 verse two. This implies that God has more
than sufficient ability to ensure that plan a is going to work. When God initiated the
plan from Genesis chapter one here, there is no escape hatch built in. God's going to
see plan a through to its fulfillment and its fulfillment is guaranteed based upon God's
unlimited ability and knowledge working together. That is this plan that God is executing cannot
fail. It's going to succeed. And so lastly, the other attribute of God we need to keep
in mind is that God is omnipresent. Like we've spoke about earlier, he's fully present not
only at all places, but just as importantly, also in all of time. An example of that is
Psalm 46 one Isaiah 57 15. God is personally present in all places and at all times overseeing
the advancement of plan a he's recruiting human beings to cooperate and partner with
him. He's personally involved in its progress, which further ensures its fulfillment. Plan
a is going to work. Plan B does not exist. And we all need to keep that in mind in regards
to our calling here on the earth right now. So when we get to the message of the gospel,
the gospel of the kingdom, the message of the kingdom of God, this is what it's about.
It's about human beings managing the good environment that God creates, the good ideas
that God has. Human beings are in charge of managing those plans that are in existence
and executing the plans that God wants to expand. And we're to do that in resurrected
bodies on the earth forever because that was the original intent. Human beings were going
to live in the garden on the earth in bodies with God forever. That's the plan. So we're
going to, we're going to kind of give you the overview of this plan. It's kind of fast
forwarding. We haven't gotten to the fall of human beings yet, but everybody knows that's
coming. You know, Eve and Adam are going to eat the apple. They're going to get kicked
out of the garden, but that doesn't mean the plan has failed. So the entire story of scripture
is about God rebooting this plan and helping it to take steps forward. Even if it's clumsy,
even if it's, you know, three steps forward, two steps back, God is constantly recruiting
human beings to help him execute this plan. Starting with Abraham, Genesis 12 one, God
promises Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant for critical promises. Number one, the promise
of land to possess and inhabit. Does that sound familiar? It's the garden of Eden reboot
Genesis 12 one, a specific piece of land, just like Eden was with dimensions specified
in Genesis 15 verses 18 through 21. So God calls Abraham, Abraham to a specific piece
of land, just like Adam and Eve were placed in a specific piece of land, piece of land
that was distinct from the rest of the earth, the garden of Eden, the same thing with Abraham,
the promise of many descendants. This is God's reboot of his commission to Adam and Eve,
be fruitful and multiply. So God promises Abraham Genesis 12 two, that the number of
his descendants would rival that of the dust of the earth, Genesis 15 16. Then there's
the promise that nations and kings would proceed from Abraham, your offspring, Genesis 17 six,
your offspring would be nations and kings. And then lastly, the promise to be a blessing
and to provide redemption for all nations. Abraham, through your offspring, we're going
to create the earth as an environment that everyone can live a blessed and happy life
in Genesis 12 three. It's just a reboot of the garden of Eden, the call of Abraham. It
says in Genesis 13 verses 14 through 16, lift up your eyes and look forward from the place
where you are northward and southward and eastward and westward for all the land that
you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever. There is no plan B. I will make your
offspring is the dust of the earth so that if one could count the dust of the earth,
your offspring could also be counted. Later, God advances the plan by making another promise
to a king in the Old Testament who was a descendant of Abraham named David. So there's a partial
fulfillment of that promise from Abraham comes a king, a literal king on the earth. We call
the promise God makes to King David, the Davidic covenant. Here's what the scripture records
about this promise. First Chronicles seven 11, when your days are fulfilled to walk with
your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons and I will
establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for me. I will establish his throne forever.
I will be to him a father. He shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love
from him as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and
in my kingdom forever and his throne shall be established forever. So these two promises
together comprise the message of the kingdom of God. It is nothing more than the advancement
of God's commission to Adam and Eve in the garden. So at the coming of Jesus into the
world, these were the two promises the Jewish people were waiting expectantly to be fulfilled.
That is why the very first words of the very first book of the New Testament, the gospel
of Matthew states the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son
of Abraham. Those are the two specific people highlighted before the long list of genealogy
listed there in Matthew chapter one, which is indicates to us that Jesus came to fulfill
these two great promises of God to the Jewish people. And ultimately Jesus came to complete
as a human being, Jesus came to complete God's original commission to Adam in the garden.
The gospel is the message that Jesus Christ is going to fulfill both of these promises,
but first he must make a way so that everyone can be included. This was Paul's message to
the people who weren't descendants of Abraham, the Gentiles, that everyone was included regardless
of who you were or where you came from. Galatians 3 7, know then that it is those of faith who
are the descendants of Abraham. So that's how we're connected to the kingdom plans and purposes
of God, not through a literal physical genealogy, but through choosing to embrace a posture
of faith towards the message of Jesus Christ and ultimately the plans and purposes of God.
It's faith or confidence in the truthfulness of the message of Jesus Christ that connects
us to these promises. Everyone who believes the message gets to play a part in this plan,
the plan to rule the planet as steward kings over all the earth underneath the sovereign
oversight of a good and holy God. The plans for an earthly kingdom or government led by
Jesus as King, the second Adam he's referred to in first Corinthians 15 verses 45 through
49. It's a clear comparison. Jesus to Adam. Jesus is the second Adam who came to fulfill
the original mandate God gave him in Genesis 1 26. The plan is for an earthly kingdom or
government led by Jesus as King as God promised to David centered in the land promised to
Abraham with a multitude of roles given to resurrected believers to execute the government
to fulfill the plan, which is precisely what Isaiah says in the book of Isaiah chapter
29 verse six for unto us a child is born to us a son is given and the government you could
also say dominion shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor
mighty God everlasting father Prince of peace verse seven and of the increase of his government
or you could say dominion and of peace there will be no end. There is no plan B. Plan A
is the plan and plan A is going to work. God has ensured that it's going to work by choosing
to become a human being, choosing to enter into our humanity and ultimately provide us
with an unmistakable example and by that example he is going to through his character through
his power through his love and through his wisdom. He is going to execute the plan in
the last book of the New Testament. The book of Revelation is says in chapter five verses
nine through 10. This is still the plan and here's what it says and they sang a new song
saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. Now the scroll is the title
deed of planet earth. The seals are the things that keep that scroll the plan on that scroll
from being executed. So it's handed to Jesus. He's going to take ownership of the title
deed of planet earth. He's going to rip every hindrance that keeps that plan from happening.
Here's what it says for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and
priests to our God and they shall reign where? On the earth. It's the plan from Genesis chapter
one coming to fruition. Revelation is painting a picture of how that original plan is going
to come to fruition and that is precisely why Genesis 21 and 22 is a reboot or reimagining
of the Garden of Eden. It is very clearly and unmistakably the Garden of Eden all over
again. This story gives us insight as the church and specifically what we're to be in
training to do. We're training in light of this story and this original mandate. We're
training to assume a role in ruling the world with Jesus at his return to earth and at the
resurrection from the dead. Another way of saying that is we are in training for greatness
says unmistakably in Matthew chapter five verse 19. Whoever relaxes one of the least
of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom
of heaven. Whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Just like we learned about in the angelic host, God's heavenly council, there is a hierarchy
through which he rules. There are higher ranking angels and lower ranking angels in God's kingdom
on the earth. It's going to be the same way. It will be a kingdom that isn't based upon
intelligence or inherited privilege or any of the things that characterize the rulers
of this world. It will be a kingdom that is characterized by virtue. The people who are
put in charge and who are put in authority are going to be put there because they've
lived a life that has provided evidence that they're going to choose a virtue, virtue relating
to others and stewarding God's resources from a posture of virtue, goodness, kindness, gentleness,
purity, self-control, these types of things. Yes, they've developed skills as well. They've
also developed skills. They're not just good, they're competent. Whenever you're in training
for godliness, you're not only going to train your character, you're going to train your
mind and you're going to develop power to wield. Those are all things that God clearly
expects from us in the discipleship that he provides his followers. We're in training
for greatness. Jesus further instructs his disciples that it is this message, this is
the message of the kingdom. This is the gospel. It is this message that must be preached to
the ends of the earth before the end comes. This is in Matthew 24 verse 14. And this gospel
of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom of God will be proclaimed throughout the whole
world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come. I want to read to you what
Dr. Heiser says in his book, again, The Unseen Realm. It is an amazing book. I cite from
it a lot in this series because I haven't seen anything like it as far as insights into
God's plans and purposes, not only in these original stories but in the entire Bible.
So this is from Dr. Heiser's book, The Unseen Realm. There's a distinction clearly made
in the text between the earth and the garden. And so this distinction helps us to see that
the original task of humanity was to make the entire earth like Eden. Adam and Eve lived
in the garden. They cared for it. But the rest of the earth needed subduing. It wasn't
awful. In fact, Genesis 1 tells us that it was habitable. But it wasn't quite what Eden
was. The whole world needs to be like God's home. That is a place where God can live and
fully manifest himself. He could do the job himself, but he chose to create human imagers
to do it for him. As his imagers, his representatives, they were charged with the responsibility
of executing his plan. So continuing on, he issued the decree, they were supposed to make
it happen. They were to do that by multiplying and following God's direction. Eden is where
the idea of the Kingdom of God begins. And it's no coincidence that the Bible ends with
the vision of the new Edenic earth, again, Revelation 21 and 22. Now, I would make the
case that the rest of the Bible is about God's working to help humans fulfill this plan.
The future and the next age called the millennium in the Bible is about God working to complete
this plan. So even at the return of Jesus Christ, there will be a continuation of this
plan until it is completed. And then Revelation 21, that's when the new heaven or the new
Jerusalem that city with the pearly gates and all that comes down out of heaven to the
earth because God isn't going to come to the earth and fully manifest himself until
it is habitable. Jesus is going to lead the nations in making the entire planet like the
garden of Eden. Once that project is completed, the new Jerusalem comes down to earth. God
wants the entire earth to be made into a place that is fit for him to make himself home and
to fully and openly manifest himself in all of his glory. Now, that is what I've just
described to you is an end times point of view called historic premillennialism. I'm
going to cite articles in the comments of this podcast that demonstrate that point of
view is the oldest point of view. There was a man who is discipled directly by the apostle
John himself, who clearly articulates a premillennial understanding of God's end time plan. The
man that he directly discipled, a man by the name of Irenaeus, clearly articulates a premillennial
view of God's end time plan. The title of the article is the apple doesn't fall far
from the tree. If these men were so closely associated with the apostle John, and that's
how the apostle John understood God's plans and purposes for the next stage, then that's
probably the point of view we ought to take unless we think that we know better and we
know more than the apostle John himself. Please. So that's why we dig in so deeply to Genesis
because if we don't know God's original plan, we cannot know where things are going. And
we can be confident that the original plan has not changed because we know the type of
God that came up with the plan in the first place. And so I encourage you to revisit some
of the articles and some of the other information that I've listed. I'm going to provide a link
to an entire series of videos that I did on eschatology, biblical eschatology, articulating
what the scripture teaches about God's plan for the next stage and for the future. These
are important things to keep in mind because it helps us to know what we need to be about
here and now. How am I going to be spending my best time and my best energy here now?
Because the scripture instructs us to set your mind on heavenly things where Christ
is seated at the right hand of God, not on earthly things. We need to have our minds
and our hearts set on God's plans and purposes that he wants to manifest at some point in
the future, not just our pleasures and comforts here and now. That is a waste of time, ultimately.
And a foolish thing to do. So I think that's going to wind up Genesis chapter 1. Well,
you know, it's going to bleed over into Genesis chapter 2 because those chapter divisions
are artificial. But I think we'll be able to start on Genesis chapter 2 with the next
week's podcast. And that sets us up for really going forward not only with Genesis 1 through
Genesis 1, but the entire Bible, like I say. If you don't understand this part of scripture,
you're going to miss most of the big picture things that are happening in the rest of the
Bible. So I hope that helps you and I hope you have a blessed week this week. We'll come
together again next week and start on Genesis chapter 2. Alright, have a great week. Be
blessed. Bye.