subdue – Dancing In The Kingdom

Principles

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 18 – Entering the Dance

Principles

[Bible references: Genesis 1; Psalm 19:1-4; Isaiah 28:23-29; Romans 1:18-20; 2:14-15; 13:1-2; 1 Peter 2:13]

We cannot establish the kingdom of God nor overcome the powers of evil in our own power. While Jesus has overcome the powers of the world, we do not know when he will return to finish the deed to fully establish his kingdom and fully rid the world of the presence of evil. But we can continue to work on the mandates he gave us at the beginning and rephrased at the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you, which extends from our original directives to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and to subdue it and rule over all the creatures.

From the beginning of the church, we can see that while some people were sent out with the express purpose of spreading the gospel, most people stayed within whatever vocation they had, living in their own communities, sharing their resources, and supporting one another. Those that stayed in their vocations, did not change their vocations although they may have changed the way they pursued their vocations.

Albert Wolters suggests several principles that can help guide the way in which we pursue our vocations:^[1]

The universe that God created was good.
The structures/institutions created by people should reflect God’s character and his wisdom as revealed through creation and his word.
The structures/institutions created by people are vested with God’s authority.
The universe reveals God’s glory.
Wisdom is “ethical conformity to God’s creation.”
The will of God for our life can be known through his creation, our conscience, His word, spiritual discernment.
Since God’s initial creative activity in forming the universe, God has been creatively developing the universe either directly through his own work or indirectly through his people. Part of that development includes the development of societal and cultural institutions.
Even without the fall, people would still be expected to develop the garden and other aspects of civilization as part of our role in stewarding what God has given us
When Christ returns, He will restore the earth.^[2]

Whether we are directly communicating the gospel in our vocation or not, we may hold the narrative of the gospel as public truth to be shared.^[3] The first communicators of the gospel were eyewitnesses who could say, “That which we have seen and heard … we declare to you.” As the church, we are entrusted with the responsibility of sharing that same truth, not in a forceful way but in the way of Jesus and his apostles who affirmed what they knew and invited others to respond in dialog.

^[1] Wolters, Albert M. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, William B. Eerdmans Publishing 1985, 2005. eBook Chapter 2

^[2] Wolters, Albert M. “Worldview and Textual Criticism in 2 Peter 3:10” Westminster Theological Journal 49 (1987) 405-413 allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Wolters/AMW2Peter3.pdf

^[3] Newbigin, Leslie. . “An Introduction to the Theology of Religions: Biblical, Historical & Contemporary Perspectives” Gospel As Public Truth, Intervarsity Press 2003

Observe

Read Psalm 19:1-4. How can our work reflect the glory of God?

Discipline of Resting/Sabbath

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Resting/Sabbath

[Bible references: Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5: 12-15; Mark 2:23-28; Hebrews 4:1-13]

We work to live

To understand the place of Sabbath we need to understand who we are and the place of our work (or play). The accumulation of archeological research in the last few decades has made it more possible to understand the Genesis creation account in the same way it was understood in the times of Moses. Creation was not primarily viewed as a physical event but rather the moment of being assigned a purpose. The creation account, understood this way, was a dedication of a temple, that is, a place where God would meet with his image-bearers. Those moments of dedication were done within the boundaries of days, “there was the evening and the morning.” After the temple was dedicated, it was now the time to live into the temple, to live into what it was designed for. The “rest” was not referring to a cessation of activity, but of doing the activity that the temple, in this case, the universe, was designed for.

The seventh day, as described in Genesis 2, was not assigned a beginning and an end. It was not designated with “and there was evening and there was morning.” It continues now. Now is the time we live in the temple, doing that for which the temple was designed. Work has been designed for us, but we were not designed for work. Going back to Genesis 1 and 2, we see God was creating a place for him to reside and take control and for us to join him as co-regents. The seventh day, the sabbath, 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 “home” was now ready for God, and for us as co-regents, to begin the settling into our “home” and doing the things that our home 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.”

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 had created. These tasks, again looked at in light of Ancient Near East culture, were more of a priestly nature, 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, creating whatever structures we needed to “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.

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 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 (Gen 3:6) and as his image-bearers we would be expected to also create beautiful things.

The introduction of sin has complicated this sense of work by corrupting the value of the good work that had been intended for us and by adding more types of work that are only necessary because we need to mitigate the effects of our sin (law enforcement, hospitals, military, etc.). But even to that work, we can join Christ in His work of redeeming creation.

We rest to remember

Having determined the nature and value of our work, we can now determine the place of sabbath rest. The discipline of Sabbath is a regular reminder that work may have a place for us, but we were created by God for God, we were not created by God for work. There is work designed by God for us to do, and even if we enjoy that work, we need the reminders that we were primarily made for our relationship with God. The Westminster Catechism states that we were designed to “enjoy God and glorify Him forever.”

Our focus should be on God and not the work He has given us. In this world there is more than sufficient work to be done, but we are not created to be slaves to that work. The Sabbath is our opportunity to remember our dependence on God’s provision for us, leaning on His provision instead of our labors, trusting Him to provide for us instead of trusting in our work to provide for us. In that restful place we then have the opportunity to focus on our relationship with God. As Jesus pointed out, the Sabbath was made for us, for our benefit, for us to enjoy.

Observe

Read Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5: 12-15; Mark 2:23-28; Hebrews 4:1-13. What is the reason for the Sabbath?

Our Mandate

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 14 – Remembering our creation

Our Mandate

[Bible references: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25; 3:6; 39:22-23; Matthew 17:10-13; Acts 3:19-42; 1 Peter 5:10]

We have seen how our journey, the journey of God’s people, creatures made in God’s own image, began with our ordination in the Garden of Eden and we have seen what God has intended for our future. We have seen how that intention has not changed despite our rebellion which continues to this day, and how God has not ceased to work with us, His people, despite our persistent rebellion. We have seen God’s patience and tenderness in not totally abandoning us despite our rebellion and how He has called us generation after generation – from the patriarchs and prophets to the apostles and all who are called Christian – to join Him in His ongoing restoration of His Kingdom on earth.

As image-bearers, we still are charged with the work of stewarding His creation, However, we must be restored ourselves before we can fully join Him in His work. That work of restoration begins when the Holy Spirit comes within us to unite us to God and His community. That is the work God must do within us.

In the previous chapters, we have followed how God called his image-bearers to join in the work that he began and then how, through the years, his image-bearers have joined that work, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. In this chapter, as we prepare to consider how to move forward, we will revisit that multi-faceted call to rule over the earth, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it” and to cultivate^[1] and keep it, to create beauty. This call to act as God’s stewards of His creation is a call to use our gifts of intelligence and creativity, to cultivate the resources of the earth to establish a godly culture and civilization. This call is sometimes called the “cultural mandate,” where our culture includes all the things we discover and make and pass on from one generation to the next: our food, language, sports, arts, businesses and their products, civic organizations, and governments, etc.

The charge to “have dominion over” and “subdue” the earth and all its creatures includes physical, cultural, and intellectual activities such as farming, mining, manufacturing, government, arts, civic organizations, education, sciences, technology, and many other activities. But the primary place of God’s kingdom is to restore the souls of men. All would be well if all souls were in right relation to God, everything else would fall into place. Evangelization of the souls of all men is the ultimate goal. But if we think of the ways in which God, out of his overflowing abundance, finally managed to touch our hearts, there were many steps and many different ways in which we were individually touched by the hand of God.

As God’s image-bearers we are uniquely equipped to imagine and discover what kind of possibilities can be made of the overflowing abundance of God, the physical resources He has provided for us: turning grain to bread, grapes to wine, oil to energy and plastics, iron ore to steel, limestone and shale and clay to cement, and many other things we have made from many types of resources. We are uniquely equipped to imagine and discover out of God’s overflowing abundance what kinds of ways we can organize ourselves to fulfill our responsibility to subdue and cultivate the earth by creating organizations such as businesses, civic and social organizations, political parties and non-profit organizations, governments and educational and religious institutions.^[2] In all of these activities we can reflect God’s knowledge and wisdom by engaging in intellectual pursuits such as reading, writing, mathematics, sciences, philosophies, language arts, history, engineering, forensics, medicine, law, etc.

^[1] Huber, Dave. “Avodah Word Study” EFCA Today Summer 2012 www.efcatoday.org/story/avodah-word-study

^[2] Manahan, Ronald E. “A Re-Examination of the Cultural Mandate: An Analysis and Evaluation of the Dominion Materials” Docsbay Grace Theological Seminary dissertation May 1982 docsbay.net/A-Re-Examination-Of-The-Cultural-Mandate

Reflect

We were assigned priestly duties in the Garden of Eden. As believers, we are to be kingdom of priests. As God’s care for His Creation continues, so does our mandate. What things can you do (and are equipped to do), with God, to fulfill His mandate?

Observe

Read Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15; 39:22-23. How would the world be different if we fulfilled our duties towards creation in the same way the Joseph fulfilled his duties?

Living temples

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 3 – The image-bearers

Living temples

[Bible references: Genesis 1; 3:6; Isaiah 35; 54:10; 60; Jeremiah 29:1-23; John 2:19-21; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21; Revelations 15:8; 21:22]

Although God’s first 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 several blessings: the freedom to procreate (be fruitful and multiply), to oversee God’s creation (subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures), and to nurture God’s creation (work it and take care of it).^[1] We were given the assignment to be fruitful, to fill all the earth, discover its possibilities and care for the world in the same way that God would care for the world.^[2] Just as God continues to create more living things and sustain all that he has created, we as his co-regents^[3], can join him in sustaining and creating 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]

We were also given the responsibility to subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures. When there is resistance, we still have the responsibility to bring the rule of God to the world. Then we are given the responsibility to work and take care of the earth, starting in the Garden of Eden and then expanding to all of God’s creation. Implied in all these things is that we should do everything in context of God’s love, to care for each other and to care for the earth and its creatures with the mind of the God who created us for love.

“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 … šmr is used in the contexts of the priestly responsibility of guarding sacred space, as well as in the sense of observing religious commands and responsibilities … 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.”^{^[5]}

We were to take care of this place which was designed to be a “very good” place for us to flourish in, creating whatever structures we needed to “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.^[6]

When examined closely, we can see the breadth of what was 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 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.

As we look forward to the new earth which will manifest when Jesus comes again, nature’s comeliness will reach its pinnacle; the wilderness itself will burst into blossom, and streams will gush in the desert. To complement all this natural beauty, human culture will flourish. All the great creativity of humankind-artistry in music, dance, painting, woodcrafts, sculpture, architecture and more-will be brought into the New Jerusalem.^{^[7]}

There is a sense in which we, as members of the Kingdom of God, now seem to be living in a foreign land. This puts us in a position similar to the Israelites when they were taken in exile into Babylonia. During their stay in Babylonia, God’s instructions were to settle down, build houses, get married, have children and to seek the prosperity of the city they were sent to, for “if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

But above all these things we can do, we should not lose focus on who we are. We are creatures designed by God to be like God to be in relationship with Him, the God who is a community in Himself: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Everything we do should be done in context of who we are. We should remember that we were designed to be human “beings,” not human “doings.” This viewpoint become clear when we compare the Biblical view of creation to the view of other Ancient Near East cultures. For the surrounding cultures humans beings were created to feed the gods and serve the gods who created them, whereas the Biblical viewpoint sees God being the provider for the people.^[8]

Originally, we see Creation designed as a temple, a place for us to “be” with God. Later on, Jesus refers to himself as the temple, a human in whom God resides. Later on, Paul declares that our own bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. So here again, we see the mystery of perichoresis, where we are distinct from the Holy Spirit, yet the Holy Spirit becomes a part of who we are. In this we see the mystery of perichoresis unifying the persons within God, unifying the body, soul and spirit within humans, and unifying God and humans.

^[1] Jacobsen, Eric O. The Space Between: A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment, Baker Academic, 2012, (Page 20 )

^[2] Crouch, Andy. “What is the Cultural Mandate” The Village Church, 6 Jan 2017 www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/talks/what-is-the-cultural-mandate

^[3] Walton, John H. “The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate (Proposition 4) InterVarsity Press. 2015 Kindle Edition

^[4] Albert M. Wolters. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview William B. Eerdmans Publishing 1985, 2005. eBook(Locations 203-208)

^[5] Walton, John H. The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate Edition(p. 105-106).

¹²²Buzenitz, Nathan. “The New Jerusalem”

^[7] Sherman, Amy L. Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. Intervarsity Press, 2011 eBook location 291

_[8] Walton, John. “The Lost World of Adam and Eve,” I “Proposition 12: Adam is Assigned as Priest in Sacred Space, with Eve to Help” (p.104)

Observe

Read Genesis 1; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16. What difference does it make if the universe is God’s temple or that our bodies are God’s temple?

Co-sovereigns and servants

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 3 – The image-bearers

Co-sovereigns and servants

[Bible references: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15; Exodus 19:6; Ezekiel 34:1-10; Matthew 23:11; Mark 10:35-45; Luke 22:26-27; Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 1 Peter 2:9]

We are created in the image of the Creator, endowed with His attributes. With the attributes of God overflowing in our lives, He blessed us 1) with the pleasure of sex so that we would “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,” and 2) with the pleasure of acting on His behalf so that we would subdue it and rule over its creatures as His co-sovereigns. As creatures in His image, we have been given great abilities, and it is out of that mastery of those abilities that we have managed to use the resources of the earth to create all the technological advances that we have. Unfortunately, in many cases we have abused our abilities; abusing not just the resources of the earth but often abusing each other.

In our sinfulness, we typically appeal to our call to sovereignty while forgetting our call to service. This very issue Jesus took care to remind us of on many occasions. If we mistreat the earth that we are placed in or if we mistreat others, then we dishonor not only the one in whose image we are made but we also dishonor the other image-bearers of God. In fact, it is out of our call to sovereignty and service that we are called to love, to willingly give of ourselves to the service of God just as God gave of himself to us.

It is under the constraint of God’s love that he tells us to “subdue” and “have dominion” over his creation. As God’s stewards, our sovereignty means we have the responsibility to maintain the good in God’s creation, to bring order to it and to help his creatures flourish and fill the earth.

There are two dimensions to our responsibility to subdue and have dominion.

When Genesis 1 was written, it was hard work to cultivate the rocky soil and people had little control of the elements; people were more powerless than powerful. In that context we see the forceful aspect of radah (ruling the earth) that is evident in other instances in the Bible when that word is used. That is one dimension of our responsibility.

But another dimension of our responsibility to have “dominion” is tempered by gentleness, such as when God spoke through Ezekiel’s to the “shepherds of Israel” and reprimanded them for using cruelty and violence and caring more about themselves than the people they were responsible for, serving themselves instead of the people.

In our service, we are dependent on one another. We were not made to be self-sufficient; we not only need to have a relationship with God but also with each other. God allowed the first man to see that he needed another human before God presented the man with a woman to be his ‘ezer kegnedo. In Hebrew, ‘ezer is usually translated as “helper” or “deliverer” and is most often used to describe God delivering his people; kegnedo is usually translated as “in front of” or “opposite” or “parallel to.”^[1]

Later on, in scripture we see that we are called to be a nation of priests and a body where all the different parts have a purpose as they work together. We are called not just to a restored relationship with the one who made us but are called together as a people to serve each other and to serve the world around us.

^[1] Blue Letter Bible “ezer” Strong’s concordance, Blue Letter Bible www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=h5828; Bible Hub “Neged” Strong’s concordance, Blue Letter Bible www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5048/kjv/wlc/0-1/

Reflect

God provides the model of servant-leadership (see Chapter 2). What are some ways in which that should affect the way we take care of the earth and each other?

Observe

Read Gen 1:26-28; 2:15. Gen 2:15 shows God putting people in the garden to (depending on your translation) dress/guard/work/till/cultivate/serve it and to keep/take care/guard/look after it. So these verses together talk about our authority over Creation and our obligation to serve it. How do we do both?

Reprise with variations

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom – Chapter 1 – Prelude

Reprise with variations

[Bible references: Genesis 1; Psalm 8; 111; Exodus 8:16-19; John 21:1-14; Romans 8:19-22; 1 Corinthians 15; 1 Thessalonians 4; 5; 2 Peter 3; Revelation 21-22]

“The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal Son of God might obtain a spouse towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of his nature, and to whom he might, as it were, open and pour forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love, and grace that was in his heart, and that in this way God might be glorified. ^{^[1]}

God created the universe for his glory, and within that, humans were created to experience the true joy of living, to bear the fruit of His nature, to reflect His presence. We are designed to be image-bearers of God himself, stewards of the creation He inserted us into as we reflect the very character of God. The exercise of stewardship is seen in the process of “subduing” and “having dominion” over the earth (its creatures and it resources), and in being “fruitful” and filling the earth. God’s initial reaction to creating us was, “It was very good.” His intent was that we would fill and take care of the earth, all the while reflecting His character to each other and to His creation.

In the beginning, heaven and earth were joined at the Garden of Eden. It was a place where the Creator could have communion with his image-bearers and walk in the garden with them. The garden was the perfect place for the image-bearers to develop and begin working out the intended future of filling the earth and ruling over it as co-regents with God.

He gave us unimaginable delight and freedom, but that very freedom He gave us was joined to a responsibility, a responsibility that was wrongly used and caused immense far-reaching damage – damage we could not possibly undo – the whole universe is groaning, waiting for to be restored. Our pride-laden rebellion damaged the relationships between each other, between us and God, between us and the world and even between heaven and earth; but God had a plan from the beginning, a plan which is now underway, to ultimately restore what was lost and undo that damage^[2] and bring us to our intended destination – an earth filled with and ruled by image-bearers and where heaven and earth are rejoined so that the image-bearers can walk with God once again.

“Jesus’ own teaching during his brief public career simply reinforced the Jewish picture. He redefined a lot of ideas that were current at the time – notably, of course, kingdom of God itself, explained in many coded parables and symbolic actions that God’s sovereign, saving rule was now breaking in, even though it didn’t look like what his contemporaries had imagined and wanted.”^{^[3]}

Ultimately, we will be freed from the bondages of sin and death and all the relationships that are now damaged will be restored. In fact, in a timeline that we cannot fully grasp, God waited from the beginnings of mankind until 2000 years ago to defeat the power of sin and death and begin the process of restoring His kingdom on earth. Then He told us that someday, he will complete that process and he will return in the fullness of his glory to fully restore all things at that time. We just don’t know when that will be.

Our hope looks at the resurrection of Jesus as a harbinger of the resurrection that awaits all those of us who will be united with Him in our own transformed bodies in the new heavens and the new earth.

‘… what is the ultimate Christian hope? …what hope is there for change, rescue , transformation, new possibilities within the world in the present … if the Christian hope is for God’s new creation, for “new heavens and new earth,” and if that hope has already come to life in Jesus of Nazareth, then there is every reason to join the two questions together … “God’s kingdom” in the preaching of Jesus refers not to postmortem destiny, not to our escape from this world into another one, but to God’s sovereign rule coming “on earth as it is in heaven.” ^{^[4]}

Furthermore, our hope doesn’t ask for us to simply wait for that time when the Kingdom of God is fully restored, but that we can be part of God’s plan to bring the Kingdom of God into our broken world.

[1] Edwards, Jonathan, “Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume Two,” SERMON II. THE CHURCH’S MARRIAGE TO HER SONS, AND TO HER GOD. Ed. John E. Smith, Yale University Press, 2009(p. 62)

[2] Bible Project “Pursuing God, Heaven and Earth,” Bible Project www.pursuegod.org/biblical-themes-an-animated-explanation-of-heaven-earth

^[3] Wright, N.T. “Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, The Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church” Harper Collins 2008. Kindle Edition(p. 18).

^[4] Wright, N.T. “Surprised by Hope” Harper Collins 2008. Kindle Edition (pp. 4-5, 18)

Reflect

Speaking strictly from what we know from science, we seem to be random life forms on a random planet in a random spot in the universe. In that perspective, having an anthropocentric view of the universe seems absurd. But knowing what the Creator of heaven and earth has revealed to us, the universe was designed to be inhabited … by us! How does that change your view of the universe?

Observe

Read John 21:1-14. What does this passage suggest about our resurrection bodies?

Living Temples

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom, Chapter 3 – The Image-bearers

[Bible references: Genesis 3:6; Isaiah 54:10; Jeremiah 29:1-23; John 2:19-21; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21; Revelations 15:8; 21:22]

Although God’s first 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 several mandates: procreation (be fruitful and multiply), stewardship (subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures), and a cultural mandate (work it and take care of it).^[1] We were given the assignment to be fruitful, to fill all the earth, discover its possibilities and care for the world in the same way that God would care for the world.^[2] Just as God continues to create more living things and sustain all that he has created, we as his co-regents^[3], can join him in sustaining and creating 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, bits, 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]

We were also given the responsibility to subdue the earth and have dominion over its creatures. When there is resistance, we still have the responsibility to bring the rule of God to the world. Then we are given the responsibility to work and take care of the earth, this will expand from taking care of the garden to taking care of all of God’s creations. Implied in all these things is that we should do everything in context of God’s love, to care for each other and to care for the earth and its creatures with the mind of the God who created us for love.

“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 … šmr 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 … 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.”^{^[5]}

In the new earth, nature’s comeliness will reach its pinnacle; the wilderness itself will burst into blossom, and streams will gush in the desert (Is 35). To complement all this natural beauty, human culture will flourish. All the great creativity of humankind-artistry in music, dance, painting, woodcrafts, sculpture, architecture and more-will be brought into the New Jerusalem (Is 60).^{^[7]}

There is a sense in which we, as members of the Kingdom of God, now seem to be living in a foreign land. This puts us in a similar position as the Israelites were when they were taken in exile into Babylonia. During their stay in Babylonia, God’s instructions were to settle down, build houses, get married, have children and to seek the prosperity of the city they were sent to, for “if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

^[1] Jacobsen, Eric O. The Space Between: A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment, Baker Academic, 2012, Page 20.

^[2] Crouch, Andy. “What is the Cultural Mandate,” The Village Church, 6 Jan 2017 http://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/talks/what-is-the-cultural-mandate

^[3] Walton, John H. “The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate (Proposition 4) InterVarsity Press. 2015 Kindle Edition.

^[4] Albert M. Wolters. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (Locations 203-208) Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2005 Kindle Edition.

^[5] Walton, John H. The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate (p. 105-106). InterVarsity Press. 2015 Kindle Edition.

[6] Busenitz, Nathan. “The New Jerusalem” Cripplegate, 8 April 2017 thecripplegate.com/the-new-jerusalem-2/

^[7] Sherman, Amy L. Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. Intervarsity Press, 2011 eBook location 291

^[8] Walton, John. “The Lost World of Adam and Eve,” I “Proposition 12: Adam is Assigned as Priest in Sacred Space, with Eve to Help” (p.104) InterVarsity Press. 2015 Kindle Edition.

Reflect

If the universe is God’s temple and we are now living in the 7^th day, that is, the Sabbath, how are we supposed to live?

Observe

Read Genesis 1; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16. What difference does it make if the universe is God’s temple or that our bodies are God’s temple?

Co-Sovereigns and Servants

Dancing in the Kingdom – Table of Contents

Part 1 – Shadows of the Kingdom, Chapter 3 – The Image-bearers

[Bible references: Genesis 1:26-28; Exodus 18:4; 19:6; Leviticus 26:17; Numbers 24:19; Deuteronomy 33:7, 26, 29; 1 Kings 4:24; Psalm 33:20, 115:9–11, 124:8, 146:5; Ezekiel 34:1-10; Matthew 3:16-17; 20:27-28; 23:11; Luke 22:26-27; Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 1 Peter 2:9]

God is the master of all creation, yet he has given to us the responsibility to take care of the earth. It is out of that mastery that we have managed to use the resources of the earth to create all the technological advances that we have. Unfortunately, in many cases we have abused our abilities; abusing not just the resources of the earth but often abusing each other.

In our sinfulness, we typically appeal to our call to sovereignty while forgetting our call to service. This very issue Jesus took care to remind us of on many occasions. If we mistreat the earth that we are placed in or if we mistreat others, then we dishonor not only the one in whose image we are made but even the other image-bearers of God. In fact, it is out of our call to sovereignty and service that we are called to love, to willingly give of ourselves to the service of God just as God gave of himself to us.

There are two dimensions to our responsibility to subdue and have dominion.

In our service, we are dependent one another. We were not made to be self-sufficient; we not only need to have a relationship with God but also with each other. God allowed the first man to see that he needed another human before God presented the man with a woman to be his ‘ezer kegnedo. In Hebrew, ‘ezer is usually translated as “helper” or “deliverer” and is most often used to describe God delivering his people; kegnedo is usually translated as “in front of” or “opposite” or “parallel to”.^[1]

^[1] Blue Letter Bible “ezer”; Bible Hub “Neged” biblehub.com/hebrew/5048.htm

Reflect

God provides the model of servant-leadership (see Chapter 2). What are some ways in which that should affect the way we take care of the earth and each other?

Observe

Read Mark 10:35-41. Think about how love relates both to sovereignty and service. What implications does that have for how we treat others?