“Then God said, ‘Let us make man
in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion… 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. Then God blessed them and God said to them, ‘Be
fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over… every
living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis
1:26-28
God gave human beings dominion and
authority over everything on earth, and then God assigned Adam (with Eve) to
care for and bless the earth.
When the first Adam sinned, he
released his authority and dominion to an enemy, the enemy of enemies. Jesus calls him a liar and murderer from the
beginning, and every time he opens his mouth, he lies; there is no truth in
him.
Eve was deceived but Adam disobeyed
(1 Timothy 2:14). The very enemy who had
rebelled against God, deceived the woman, and then accused all mankind before
God, was now given place in the earth. That is, until the cross!
That is why when the enemy tempted
Jesus, after showing Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, he
could say in Luke 4:5-6, “All of this authority [dominion] I will give you, and
their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I
wish.”
Who delivered it to him? The first Adam gave it to him when he
disobeyed and rebelled.
[By the way, did you notice that
Jesus did not argue that those things had been delivered to him. Jesus knew it, that is why it was a
temptation.]
The good news is that Jesus came
to destroy all of the works of the devil, and as the 2nd Adam, He also
took back the dominion and authority that the 1st Adam gave away.
After the resurrection Jesus said
that “All
authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.”
Amplified (AMP)
Jesus is our Champion who died on
the cross for our sins and regained all that Adam 1 had lost, and even more. Adam was given authority and dominion in the
earth, and God told him to have dominion and authority over all of the animal
kingdom. Now in Jesus, He has also given
us authority over all the power of the enemy.
Jesus established a new kingdom in
His blood, and His dominion covers the universe.
One day He will return and set His
feet once again upon the earth. Until that
moment, He has promised to never leave us.
He abides in us and empowers us, and through His Holy Spirit, has given
us authority and dominion in the earth to us, His church.
The mission of the church is to
reach the hearts and minds of those who haven’t heard the good news, and to
make disciples of all nations. We are to be a royal priesthood reconciling
people to God.
As believers in Jesus, we have
inherited the same authority that Jesus walked in. We walk in the same righteousness that He
walked in.
There was a great exchange that is
described in 2 Corinthians 2:21,“For our sake He made Christ
[virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we
might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the
righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right
relationship with Him, by His goodness].” AMP
At the cross, God put all that
humanity was without God; all of the sin, all the unrighteousness, all of the unholy
and vile corruption of humanity (that came through the first Adam), and He put
it on Jesus as He was dying on the cross.
Then He took all that the Lord Jesus Christ
was in the earth and now is, all of His goodness, holiness, beauty, righteousness,
love, kindness, gentleness and authority, He made us to be.
We didn’t deserve it, and certainly
cannot earn it, but it happened because of God’s love for us. The
bible makes it pretty clear that all of God’s promises are yes and amen to us
who believe in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). We receive those promises through faith in
Jesus.
God put His Holy Spirit in us, which
is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Think about that one. How much power did it take to raise Christ
from the dead? That is how much power
you have available to you in Jesus!
You have the creative power of God
dwelling in you. It came through the Holy Spirit. It is released the same way
that God created, and that is through His words.
The bible also makes it clear that
we receive and walk in those things the
same way we receive Christ Jesus, that is, through faith.
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your
heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the
heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10
“We having
the same spirit of faith, according as it
is written, I believed, and therefore
have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak.” 2 Corinthians 4:13
“I believed, therefore I spoke…” Psalms 116:10
“But the righteousness of faith speaks…” Romans 10:6
“If anyone speaks, let him speak
as the oracles of God…” 1 Peter
4:11
One of the reasons that God gave us the
Holy Spirit is so that we would walk as sons and daughters of God, with the
authority and presence of Jesus. He also
desires to reveal things to us, and to teach us the things that He has given
us.
“But as it
is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart
of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us
through His Spirit…” 1 Corinthians
1:9-10
“Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the
things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words
which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual.” 1
Corinthians 11:12-13
We have become children and heirs of God Most High through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, “… As He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17
Again, we didn’t deserve it, and
certainly cannot earn it, but it happened because of God so loved His creation
that even though the first Adam messed up, God reached down to us through His Son.
Receive His love for you today, and begin to
walk in the authority and righteousness He has made you to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment