May 25, 2025

DOMINION (25 May 2025)

Introduction - this message is the introduction a series of messages on the idea of Dominion, the mandate to rule over something with authority given from God, to fulfill His purposes in the earth.  The modern church has given the impression to Christians that there is no responsibility higher for the Christian than to get his own wounds healed, and to make all of himself that He can make.  This is a self-serving goal which will miss a bigger, eternal purpose: that of glorifying God and serving Him.  In these lessons, we will be studying something that is scarcely heard today, that being our initial role as children of God, a role which continues to this present day:

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” 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 God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” NASB

Genesis 9:1-3,7 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky; on everything that crawls on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. They are handed over to you. 3Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, as I gave the green plant…7 “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”   NASB

Psalm 8:5-8 What is man that You think of him,And a son of man that You are concerned about him? 5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You have him rule over the works of Your hands; You have put everything under his feet, 7 All sheep and oxen, And also the animals of the field, 8 The birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. NASB

It is so evident in these three verses which span the time before the fall of man, the time periods after the fall of man, and another confirmation well into the later dispensations of time (the dispensations of Law, and later, Grace) that God, through Jesus, has restored man to his original task and responsibility to subdue the earth to glorify God.  This has not changed, even though mankind fell through sin.  God’s people were, and are, to rule in every area of life, using God’s law as a blueprint.  The Hebrew word for rule, radah, meant to tread down, as you would crush grapes.  A second word, kabash, translated as subdue, meant to trample under foot, as you would separate dirt from a garment by putting it in a washtub and treading it to make it clean.  Both ideas are embodied in God’s command to us to govern.  We have authority to govern all that is willing to be governed.  In the second word, man also has the authority to govern that which is not willingly governed, i.e., to remove evil by force.  This power actually gives to the Christian a greater, more powerful ability to affect the world than any secular government of man. 

This “treading” must be done in accordance with God’s commandments.  We cannot just do what we want to please ourselves.  We must obey earthly authorities while we are using our spiritual powers to change things which they can’t.  We, as the image-bearers of God,  must reflect His character and values before we can rule over ever larger sections of God’s creation.  We rule effectively by first governing ourselves through the effect of the word of God:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.  NASB

It will be done by the preaching of the Word then to others:

Matthew 28:19-20 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you [always, to the end of the age.”  NASB

It must be done with a sincere desire to please the Lord, not ourselves or others.    

Ephesians 6:5-6 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. NASB

Examples of what is effected in the Dominion Mandate

The Dominion mandate includes every conceivable creational endeavor.  All of the creation is to be studied and cultivated to bring forth the potentials God has placed within it.  Many gems have already been discovered; many lie waiting to be revealed.  This includes agriculture, astronomy, engineering, architecture, navigation, medicine, biology, science, aviation, physics, music, aesthetics, industry, education, horticulture, athletics, economics, politics, health, law, and an infinite number of future disciplines.  

Wilbur and Orville Wright (Christian men) had to study for several years concerning the mechanical, mathematical, and aerodynamic laws which enabled them to build an aircraft to fly a human in powered flight for the first time.  They studied birds and learned from the changing shape of their wings.  George Washington Carver (a devoted Christian) was used by God to discover innumerable products form the peanut.  Wisdom given to him helped save the economy of the South by discovering the need to plant more than one crop (cotton) which depleted the soil of nitrogen.  The Dominion Mandate is an amazing thing entrusted to the Christian!

The Urgency of the Dominion Mandate

Modern Christianity in the consumer-driven western world has dulled the urgency of the Command to subdue the earth.  Much of our faith is directed toward solving our own problems and fulfilling our own desires.  The parable of the Ten Minas is a very good motivation for us concerning this:

Luke 19:13-27 Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then to return. 13And he called ten of his own slaves and gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with this money until I come back.’ 14But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be summoned to him so that he would learn how much they had made by the business they had done. 16The first slave appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave; since you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to have authority over ten cities.’ 18The second one came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ 19And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20And then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept tucked away in a handkerchief; 21for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22He *said to him, ‘From your own lips I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? 23And so why did you not put my money in the bank, and when I came back, I would have collected it with interest?’ 24And then he said to the other slaves who were present, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25And they said to him, ‘Master, he already has ten minas.’ 26‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 27But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.’” NASB

Conclusion:  This parable was taught by Jesus to a large group of people, including his disciples.   It was designed to teach us that there is a serious reward for understanding and devoting ourselves to the Dominion Mandate—to learn about it, how to do it, and committing ourselves to it rather than retreating in the fear that the devil has overpowered the Lord and that the earth is doomed.  Have a big Jesus and a little devil!  Our God Reigns!