Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents
Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude
Creation
[Bible references: Genesis 1:26:28; 2:15; 3:6; Jeremiah 29:11; Revelation 21; 22]
Studies of Ancient Near East cultures have found that the creation account could be looked at as the dedication of a temple, where God was creating a place for him to reside with us and we would join him as co-regents[1]. On the seventh day, God had finished the dedication of the “temple,” but it was not a time where He ceased to do everything. Rather, it was the time where the “temple” was now ready, both for God and for us as co-regents, to begin settling in and doing the things that the temple was designed for. Jesus in John 5:1-7 clarified this idea where he explained, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” Living into this sacred space would entail us taking part with God in his continual acts of creating and sustaining the universe. When Eve gave birth to Cain, she recognized that “I’ve created a man with Yahweh.”[2]
Although these image-bearers had close, unhindered, intimate contact with their Creator, there was enough space given them to think freely, as if they were not being watched all the time. It was in this space that they – and we – were given the responsibility of being stewards over all the earth and over all other creatures. We were given the assignment to fill all the earth, discover its possibilities and care for the world in the same way that God would care for the world[3]. Just as God continues to create more living things and sustaining all that he has created, we can join him in creating and in sustaining those things entrusted to our care.
There are two ways in which God imposes his law on the cosmos, two ways in which his will is done on earth as in heaven. He does it either directly, without mediation, or indirectly, through the involvement of human responsibility. Just as a human sovereign does certain things himself, but gives orders to his subordinates for other things, so with God himself. He put the planets in their orbits, makes the seasons come and go at the proper time, makes seeds grow and animals reproduce, but entrusts to mankind the tasks of making tools, doing justice, producing art, and pursuing scholarship. In other words, God’s rule of law is immediate in the nonhuman realm but mediate in culture and society. In the human realm men and women become coworkers with God; as creatures made in God’s image they too have a kind of lordship over the earth, are God’s viceroys in creation. [4]
The work that we were designed to do was more than just tending the garden. In Genesis 2:15, we were given a mandate to “work” and “take care of” the garden God created[5]. These tasks, looked at in light of Ancient Near East culture, were more of a priestly nature[6], taking care of this temple where we reside with God. We were to take care of this place which was designed to be a “very good” place for us to flourish in, and for us to create whatever structures we needed to as we would “increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.” This task, this mandate, meant that we would eventually go beyond the capacity of gardening and create not just a bigger garden but cities, a flourishing civilization as pictured in Revelation 21 and 22[7].
When examined closely, we can see the breadth of work committed to Adam and Eve. Subduing the earth would entail many physical, social and intellectual activities. In the gardening, we can see cultivation and farming; in the taking care of the animals, we can see shepherding and domestication; in the naming of the animals, we can see a cultural and scientific activity which required understanding the nature and attributes of the animals and establishing authority over them. We can see that God had created things to be beautiful and as his image-bearers we would be expected to also create beautiful things. Later on, in scripture we will see even more extended uses of the work God has intended for us.
[1] Walton, John H. “In Genesis 1, God Orders the Cosmos as Sacred Space” The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
[2] Friedman, Richard Elliot, Commentary on the Torah, Location 6942 of 37412, Harper Collins, 2003
[3] Crouch, Andy. “What is the Cultural Mandate,”,” The Village Church, 6 Jan 2017 www.thevillagechurch.net/resources/videos/what-is-the-cultural-mandate
[4] Wolters, Albert M. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview” William B. Eerdmans Publishing 1985, 2005. eBook (Kindle Locations 203-208).
[5] Walton, John H. The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate (p. 105-106). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. The verbs ʿbd and šmr (NIV: “work” and “take care of”) are terms most frequently encountered in discussions of human service to God rather than descriptions of agricultural tasks… ‘bd can refer to … work connected with one’s vocation.. to religious service deemed worship … šmf is used in the contexts of the Levitical responsibility of guarding sacred space, as well as in the sense of observing religious commands and responsibilities.
[6] Walton, John H. The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate (p. 106). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. “it is likely that the tasks given to Adam are of a priestly nature: caring for sacred space. In ancient thinking, caring for sacred space was a way of upholding creation.”
[7] Buzenitz, Nathan. “The New Jerusalem”, Cripplegate, 8 April 2017 thecripplegate.com/the-new-jerusalem-2/
Observe
Read Genesis 1:26-28. How do we fulfill the instructions to rule over the other creatures?
Dancing In The Kingdom 