We Are in His Government

Ruling with an iron fist? Sin deprived man of the ability to rule creation as God would have us do.
Ruling with an iron fist? Sin deprived man of the ability to rule creation as God would have us do.

Gen. 1:26-28 [NIV]

26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Words like “rule” and “subdue” clearly indicate the position and role God intended for him.  God’s intended to enable him to rule in righteousness and justice. This is the essence of the Gospel-the Good News.

The desire to be governed or ruled is not necessarily bad, yet to be governed or ruled with the wrong personality without the faithful representation of God’s character is bad. Sin deprived natural man’s ability to represent God to rule His creation.

In order to restore Man to this position,  He sent His only Begotten Son to die on our behalf, so that we could receive the forgiveness of our sins and the doing-away of our old sinful nature and live a life in the power of the resurrection by the Holy Spirit. Now we are more than saved; we are restored to enjoy every right as the son of God.

The world tells us to rule for selfish reasons. Not so with God’s way for us. His intention has never changed. Just as in the beginning when He created the first Adam, now through the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, we are restored  to the right and honor as sons of God before the Fall and thus enabled to continue the good purpose of God for mankind. The natural comes first, then the spiritual. But we are born of the Spirit when we received the spirit of Sonship. Thus we are fully enabled by Christ Jesus to represent God to rule and govern His creation.  This is in accordance with His will and the way He chose to glorify Himself through our faith and obedience in Christ Jesus.

His kingdom is not of this world and exists in the invisible first and foremost. When one tries to identify or promote His Kingdom by standards of the world, he will miss the mark.  His Kingdom exists in the Heavens, and is founded on the sovereign will and power of God, which is in, through and by the Holy Spirit.

What then is the essence of the Kingdom of God? Paul put it well:

Rom. 14:17 [NIV]
Peace, joy and righteousness in the Holy Spirit, also power, hope, love and faith by the same.

This is post is _Part 4_ in the series The Government & the Economy of the Kingdom of God. To continue with this series, click on Pt 5.  To use this as a growth tool to better understand your own calling, you might start by reading the explanation of this series, Pt 1, Pt 2 and Pt 3.

Photo credit: sevennine

Get Instant Access To
FREE TRAINING VIDEO