Dominion.

Dominion

But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. (Hebrews 2:6-8)

In the timeless vision of God, man has been crowned with glory and honor. Man is destined to be above the angels in authority. Today man is proud, spiritually weak, self-centered, rebellious, hard of heart. He is under various teachers and rulers. He has been placed below the angels temporarily in order that he may experience suffering, humiliation, and the denial of his desires. To the man who is faithful to carry his cross and endure hardness as a good soldier will come the dominion promised him from the beginning.

In the beginning God issued a four-part decree concerning man:

Man is to be in the image of God.

Man is to be male and female.

Man is to be fruitful—multiplying and filling the earth with people.

Man is to subdue the earth, exercising dominion over all nature.

These four aspects of the Divine decree were begun in Adam and Eve on a crude, natural level. They will be developed until they are fulfilled perfectly on a level both natural and spiritual—a transcendent revelation of what is in the mind of God.

Although our present topic is the fourth aspect, dominion, we will review the first three parts of the Divine purpose concerning man.

Man is to be in the image of God. The image of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the first Man to be in the image of God.

The image of Christ's personality is in part that which the Apostle Paul terms the fruit of the Spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22,23)

The image of Satan fills the earth today. Satan's image is the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit: hatred, misery, unrest, impatience, harshness, badness, treachery, arrogance, lack of self-control.

We humans reveal in our adamic nature the image of Satan. We can try in our old nature to imitate the image of God, the image of Jesus. It is well that we use the Lord as our example of behavior.

We soon discover, however, that we have set ourselves an impossible task. We have been commanded to be in the image of God but we fail miserably when we are tested.

God's plan of redemption is successful in converting us from the image of Satan to the image of Christ. God does not reform our adamic nature, He crucifies our adamic nature and gives us a new nature.

The change from the adamic nature to the nature of Christ does not take place in a moment. But the blood of the Lamb, the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God work together with our circumstances (which the Lord orders) to change us from the personality of Adam to the personality of Christ Himself.

Continued. Dominion 2