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POLICE!!! FREEEZE!!! BLAM! BLAM! Two.38 caliber slugs whizzed
through the cold, crisp night air crashing into the fleeing form of one of
the most notorious drug lords and death dealers north of hell. The body
jack-knifed and slammed to the ground! The sound of recorded laughter from
a nearby TV escaped a window while at the feet of Agent Ruiz, Death dined
on a deserving dish, Drug Lord Flambé.
Less than two minutes before, officer Sheila Ruiz had flashed her badge
and identified herself as a DEA agent. Her team, together with the local
police had staked out the club for well over two hours before they caught
him coming outside. Now, his days of terror were over…
Thus we have a practical illustration of someone exercising dominion.
What’s that, you ask? In the bible, the word
‘dominion’ from the Hebrew is "Radah" pronounced
'raw-daw', it means
‘to reign or rule over’ and comprises two components, authority and
ability. Exercising dominion means demonstrating both authority and
ability. So when officer Ruiz flashed her badge and commanded the criminal
to stop… That’s authority! But when she dispatched those two hot, lead
messengers that found their mark and made him stop… That’s ability!
The effective ability to enforce competent authority equals excellent
dominion!
As an officer of the law with delegated power from the state, she
excellently exercised her dominion!
Mankind’s
Dominion
Somewhere in the beginning of time, God said to man, “Have dominion over
creation." But something went wrong and man lost the effective ability and
competent authority to reign and rule over God’s creation! What exactly
went wrong? How did he lose this great ability? Let’s check the records!
According to Gen 2:17 God
said, “ but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die!” What is death? Death is a separation! Physical
death is the separation of the spirit and soul from the physical body.
Spiritual death is the separation of the spirit of man from the Spirit of
God. So when God said “you shall surely die” He was saying that the
connection between man and God would be cut off and the life of God would
not flow through the man.
Therefore, if God’s life couldn’t flow, then
God’s authority and ability couldn’t be accessed. And without God’s
authority and ability flowing through him, it would be impossible to
exercise excellent dominion over God’s creation! See?
Now, ask me a question! “Why did the man need to have dominion in the
first place?” What was God’s design? What was He planning…? I’m
glad you asked! It’s like this:
God wanted to extend His reign and rule from His spiritual kingdom in
heaven to a physical kingdom, so He decided to create a physical being
with whom He could share the rule of His physical kingdom. Not only this
but He actually wanted a being that He could live in and operate through
in order to effectively demonstrate His own dominion.
Remember, God is a
Spirit... only Spirit, not flesh and blood! So, for Him to demonstrate His
dominion of a physical universe He had to first create a being who could
relate to a physical universe, then He, God, being a Spirit, could live in
and operate through that being in perfect unity and harmony, demonstrating
His own dominion of this new physical realm. So God created man, put him
on the planet earth and began His dominion of the physical universe from
there.
God also wanted a being with which He could have a relationship and
fellowship and share His limitless love. Man was created to be the
ultimate object of God’s love. He also wanted to make him His co-regent
with whom He would share His reign over the whole universe in perfect
harmony and balance forever. Because of this, man was destined to occupy a
great position in relation to God! That place was at His right hand! Adam,
the first man was designed and destined to be God’s right hand man!
The position at a king’s right hand is a position of near absolute
power, superceded only by the power of the king himself! Under the king,
that man reigned supreme! And so it was to be with Adam and God. God is
the king of the universe and there is a seat next to God’s throne on its
right side, which was reserved for Adam to occupy.
From that seat, he and
all his descendents would reign together with God as equals over physical
creation beginning with the Earth. God alone would rule over spiritual
creation (Heaven). “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but
the earth hath he given to the children of men,” Ps.115:
16. Adam and
all his children would have access to Heaven at anytime because of their
relational position to God (His right side) but their dominion would be
forever over the Earth! And so they would continue for all eternity.
But...
God’s plan was not to create a robot that would automatically do
whatever He said, but to have a being designed with free will, the ability
to choose to align himself with God’s plan... or not! God wanted someone
who would voluntarily and willfully choose His way, allowing God to
indwell and empower him and have a desire to follow God’s master plan
for ruling the universe... not his own!
God also wanted one who would
willingly return His love based on the relationship and fellowship he had
with “his Father” not based on duty or obligation. So, God created man
with the power of choice! And with the power of choice He gave him a
choice.... obey the Lord and partake of the tree of life or do not obey
and partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Your choice! (Gen
2:9,16,17).
Always remember, there were two trees specifically planted in the middle
of the garden for Adam. God only forbade him from eating the fruit of one!
He already had God’s permission to eat from any other tree, including
the tree of life! And since these were the only two trees specifically
planted in the middle of the garden and God only forbade him from eating
the fruit of one, then, the choice was obvious!
Now follow me closely! When God created Adam, He not only created him
without sin but He created him without the knowledge of sin. This means
that Adam had absolutely no concept of right or wrong! If he had eaten
from the tree of life, the condition of his mind would have been
permanently aligned with the nature of his spirit! All he would have known
was to do the right thing! Nothing else but what was right.... forever!
Think about it, all of mankind’s decisions henceforth would have been
based on what was right, not what made sense to his mind but what he knew
to be right in his spirit! His excellent moral condition would have been
sealed. His right relational position to God would have been secured. And
his dominion over earth would have been sure! On the other hand, since he
ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his moral condition
became corrupted. His relational position to God was lost. And his right
to dominion was forfeited! Let me show you how…
The Fall
From the moment Adam ate from that tree, several things happened. First,
spiritual death ensued; his spirit became separated from God’s Spirit so
that the life of God could not flow through him. He began to exist in a
state of spiritual death operating purely on the physical and mental
levels, operating far below his inherent capabilities.
He was originally
made in the image and likeness of God and called His son, able to function
at an excellently high spiritual, mental and physical level. But now he
could not be called a son of God because the nature of God was not in him,
he no longer had God’s image and likeness in his spirit and all his
abilities were greatly diminished. Second, the process of physical death
began in his body, which fully matured some 930 years
later.
In other
words, it took over 900 years to be fully accomplished but physical death
began immediately after eating the fruit. Thirdly, he took on the nature
of God’s enemy... Satan! Because he chose to obey and submit himself to
the devil instead of God he now had the nature of rebellion and pride,
which characterizes the devil. There’s a spiritual law, which states,
“you become like who you obey!”
And as if all this wasn’t bad enough, he also inherited a curse from
eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Check it out:
In the phrase “the knowledge of good and evil” the word
“knowledge” from the Hebrew is "Daath" meaning “ignorantly
committed.” So, by eating that fruit he became cursed with a particular
kind of ignorance. He was now in the position of never fully understanding
his own desires and motives. Unwittingly committing acts of both good and
evil. Doing things and not fully understanding why! Never completely
discerning the thoughts and intents of his own heart. Never becoming the
universal leader he was intended to be, but instead... being led by his
own ignorance!
He wasn’t being the master he was intended to be but a
slave to his own desires! He became locked in a cycle of one moment doing
something noble and selfless and the next, something base and selfish and
never fully understanding why.
This is the fruit of that tree! You’re doomed to live life on your own
terms, with your own faulty, corrupted understanding of the nature of
life! Never knowing from one moment to the next what life has in store,
running around in the darkness, searching for something and not even
knowing what it is you‘re looking for!
You’re like Neo, searching for “The Matrix” while you’re actually
living in it as a slave to the system and not knowing how or why! Sad but
true, this is the state of fallen man!
Now, because of this, Adam lost his relational position to God. He was no
longer able to occupy the right side of God and be counted in the same
class with his Father and Lord. He fell from that glorious position.
Instead of looking across at God to speak to Him he now had to look up at
God! And has been looking up ever since, always looking upward, even to
the point of missing God and, in his ignorance, worshipping the stars
instead. Sad!
Finally, he lost his dominion by obeying Satan! When Adam submitted to
Satan, he gave up his right to rule over the earth and Satan immediately
usurped that authority, he didn’t get it legally but he usurped it! God
made Adam lord, then Adam made Satan lord, by bowing to him in obedience. (Rom.
6:16) (2Cor.
4:4). God’s archenemy now had authority in the
earth by deception and fraud. What a thing! It seemed like all God’s
plans were going to hell. But remember.... God created hell! So what
seemed like a problem really wasn’t at all! Not for God!! Read on!!!
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