The Battle I'm In - Part 1 - Domain

Dear Jesus - Please send Your Spirit to us so that we may grasp the things of You today...

Each day we wake up and from that moment on, we are at least dimly aware of forces acting upon our lives.  Maybe the alarm failed to go off and now we are late.  Maybe the baby kept us up all night.  Perhaps the sun is shining and everything goes perfectly and we feel very full of good fortune.  We all have very personal examples of scenarios at the more drastic end of the spectrum.

As we navigate the moments in our lives, are we really left to fate?  The good moments we are almost ready to discount as they frequently seem heavily outweighed by the not-so-good moments.  Are we sitting in a canoe riding down the river of life with our only option being to periodically dip our paddles in the water and hope a change of direction occurs?  And what about the age-old question 'why do bad things happen to good people' - is there really no answer to that or is this even the right question?  Was Benjamin Franklin right when he said 'God helps those who help themselves.'?  <uh, no he was NOT right about that!  see Romans 5:8.>

A believer in God confronts these questions and does not seek to minimize them.  This series seeks to uncover what the Bible paradigm for our lives is.  <spoiler alert - it's a great one!>

It is beautiful to me that in this first chapter of Genesis, the term 'God' is actually Eloyhim which is the plural noun or plural name of the Godhead.  One reference calls them 'the Divine Ones'.  And so, we get this beautiful picture of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit having a very personal conversation over their creation.  In fact, as we review Genesis chapter 1 with this knowledge, we see that the first glimpse of the Godhead in the Bible is conversational, creative, thoughtful, familial and unified.  Wow!

The first two days of Creation go quickly as the basic creative elements of this new planet are established.  But - at the end of the 3rd day - once this new planet is identifiable as 'Earth' the Godhead make the first of four qualitative statements:  It is good.  Of course, it would be FROM the 'earth' that man himself would come.  How beautiful to know that heavenly 'quality control' was at work from the beginning!  Of course, we don't doubt that a perfect God does perfect work.  But - given the reality that this earth presently exists in wretched sinfulness, it comforts us to know that in the beginning there was a qualitative stamp of approval'.

Genesis 1:26:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

The 'Let us' builds our picture of the unified Godhead creating.  And wonder of wonders:  the Godhead desired and intended to make man 'in our image, after our likeness'!

Often I have wondered about the dominion designed for Adam.  Below is the definition of the world 'dominion':

Outline of Biblical Usage

1. to rule, have dominion, dominate, tread down
   1. (Qal) to have dominion, rule, subjugate
   2. (Hiphil) to cause to dominate

So we see that the Godhead intended Adam to rule this new planet.  Adam was, in fact, a son of God and ruler of the new planet Earth.  Does that recall any other text of scripture?  Sure - Job 1:6.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD...

We see here a microscopic view into the bigger creation that we are a small part of.  Just as Adam was a son of God and created as ruler of the planet Earth, God has other 'sons' who are 'rulers' of other planets.  And - they meet in an organized and governmental fashion.  What amazes me is that this snippet is provided in the book of Job - arguably the oldest book of the Bible.  It is amazing to me that the ancients had a solid foundational knowledge of the universe that far exceeds our own.  This was such a basic bit of knowledge, only the slightest nod to that reality is provided here.  

Here is some additional scripture from Psalms 115:16

The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

In Genesis 1:24-31 CEB, we see a beautiful 'handing over' of rulership from God to Adam...  Here it is:

24 God said, “Let the earth produce every kind of living thing: livestock, crawling things, and wildlife.” And that’s what happened. 25 God made every kind of wildlife, every kind of livestock, and every kind of creature that crawls on the ground. God saw how good it was. 26 Then God said, “Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling things on earth.”

27 God created humanity in God’s own image,
in the divine image God created them,
male and female God created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and master it. Take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and everything crawling on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I now give to you all the plants on the earth that yield seeds and all the trees whose fruit produces its seeds within it. These will be your food.30 To all wildlife, to all the birds in the sky, and to everything crawling on the ground—to everything that breathes—I give all the green grasses for food.” And that’s what happened. 31 God saw everything he had made: it was supremely good.

There was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.

Genesis Chapter 1 is done.

And now our minds begin to wonder - what happened?  How did Adam lose his dominion?  What happened to the government of God?  Stay tuned...  :-)

Thank You Jesus that You everything You do is designed to speak tenderness, beauty and compassion to our sin-weary souls...