Dominion

Dominion

12/9/15

How important do you believe the word dominion means to our existence?  Does it represent the physical, the spiritual or both? Does it even represent anything that would matter to our existence and if so, to what extent would it apply?  It must have some significance because God uses it specifically when instructing Adam, but what does the word actually mean and in what terms does God use it in?  The fact that God uses this specific word at this particular point in Adam’s life is profound and when people understand the meaning of the word it will become clear as to why it is a word that brings a foundation to the forces (kingdoms) that are vying for our eternal existence.

We all have been given gifts during our lifetime and many of these gifts come to represent a great value to our lives. It does not matter what the gift was or the when the occasion, but it is the memory in which the gift itself brings to that person at that point in time.  Many of these special gifts when looked at down the road bring us back to the day or night that we received them and along with the memories that accompany these gifts.  It is through these gifts that give us hope, security, and certain provisions that some other people might understand but we defend these gifts with our life and even though they become worn and torn down through time, we still cherish them then as the day we received these gifts; or, at least, we should.

The passages that are going to be used for the reference for this article are Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 2:8.  This passage is painting a picture of what God has created and what order He is setting into place for everything that He has created as well.  We must keep in mind that when god creates anything, He can only do so through His holy and perfect order and has a direct purpose for its creation.  This also means that our enemy has a reason for our dominion’s destruction.  But this raises the question if we even understand what this word dominion means to our lives and how important it really is to our survival.  God does not wish to hide things from us and that is why He places specific information into His Word for us to think about, to reason out and then through His guidance understand exactly what He is telling us.  God has specifically used this word in this passage and He wants us to know that our origins were made complete and it His will that we be complete in all areas of our existence.

Genesis 1:26 states: “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 that creepeth upon the earth.”

Genesis 2:8 states: “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

The word dominion comes from the Hebrew word radah and it means to rule over, to reign over or dominate something, and gives the object complete control over the ruled.  To the English speakers, it would be considered an action verb and one that gives authority over one’s possessions or land.  The word dominion here is presented in a unique manner to which it is strictly referring to what the human has control over and what the human rule over.  This word as God has shared with us before is a kingdom word and its meaning comes into play during the story of what transpired within the Garden of Eden.  And what makes this word so important is that it can be used for either God’s Kingdom or the kingdom of Satan, both of which are portrayed in the story of Adam and Eve.  Has anyone ever asked themselves the question as to why God would use such a word while giving instructions to Adam?  At first glance many might not even notice the word or its meaning; I would have to place myself into that category, to be honest.

When reading the story of Adam and Eve and the instructions that God gives them, one must first consider the instruction that God gave to Adam about his dominion.  A dominion is a place when a being has complete control over and is in charge of everything that goes on within that area, place or habitat.  One also has to wonder about what this specific instruction meant to Adam, you know he must have had questions to ask.  God gave him the authority to keep and to tend the Garden which means that Adam and Eve had specific instructions to take charge over all the activities within the Garden.  God did not leave them alone to do such matters without guidance, for the Bible states that all three had daily talks about what occurred in their day, each day.  One can logically portray that some of the conversations that they had dealt with how to complete the day’s tasks of controlling order about the Garden.

When reading this passage it would seem like only plants and animals were in the Garden of Eden but if that were the case why would God even have to instruct His prize possessions to make sure that all was on the up and up?  The Garden of Eden was created in a perfect state and condition and had no real reason for it to be mended or fixed in any way.  This means that there must have been certain entities allowed in the area that could cause damage to the Garden or even worse to Adam and Eve.  God would not have laid this type of foundation out to Adam if He first did not allow mankind the knowledge of what was at stake and to understand exactly what would occur if the place was not kept “tidy”.

The question then comes to mind if Adam really believed that there was an enemy that could actually do enough damage to them that God would even have to entrust Adam and Eve with the knowledge of such danger.  To me it seems like that at first, both Adam and Eve paid strictly to and close attention to what was moving about the Garden but as with most humans, they must have become lax in their attentiveness for at some point in time contact was made with the serpent.  The bible does not specifically mention this type of activity but based upon the quotes that Eve later gives to God concerning what occurred, some type of relaxed position between the humans and the serpent had to have been present.  And it is this point I wish to make reference to when the word dominion was compromised and the kingdom of Satan was advanced forward and God’s Kingdom was pushed backward.  This is not far-fetched at all; however, it is vital that we understand that this practice is occurring even today.

The Garden of Eden was Adam and Eve’s place of residence, their entire existence was formed, molded and shaped in that Garden.  It was a perfect place and setting designed for perfectly created people by a perfect and loving Creator with a purpose for their existence.  It was personal and specific to them and they had complete control over what went on in that area of residence.  What allowed them to pursue other interests long enough and hard enough that would cause them to lose focus on their personal belongings like they did?  That question will be shared in another message from God, but it is important to keep that question in mind while continuing to read.

With the responsibility that God gave to Adam and Eve over the Garden, it demonstrates the confidence that God had in His creations to keep the rules and order that He had established before their time came to be on the earth.  It also states that when God charged these two with the upkeep and maintenance of the Garden it meant that He had given within them an option to do or not to do what He commanded, in other words, God was giving them a choice which means that they had the capability to make choices and decisions on their own for if they did not have this within their abilities God would have never had to make such a statement and command.  He also would not have had to make the statement about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil either.

Now, whether one realizes this or not but this passage is describing a human’s home or area of existence, and it is through this area that we are planted into in order for us to take control of this area.  It is our responsibility to keep our dominion in order so that we may have a defense when the enemy comes to attack.  If we do not understand what this dominion means to our lives we have no fighting chance against our enemy.  If we do not believe in the magnitude that our dominion reaches then we have no fighting chance against our enemy.  If we become lackadaisical about our defense of our dominion we stand no chance of defense when our enemy attacks.

If we take a closer look at Adam and Eve’s perspective concerning their dominion it is clear that they had become exactly what the previous paragraph described.  God did not immediately execute His judgment upon them, He continually tried His best to show them the truth and to deliver His message of holy covering before it was too late.  But, as we all have read the story, Adam and eve evidently did not take God’s warnings too seriously because they developed a relationship with the serpent and the doors flew wide open for eternal trouble.  Excitement had faded and tending to the Garden became a tedious chore even though they had been warned from their Creator. 

The distractions became clearer and the work became weaker and slower, procrastination set in and the serpent had his path of eternal revenge against the brightest creations God had established.  Adam and Eve had played with fire when it came to their dominion and they lost their heart for what was divinely given to them.  This divinely given dominion was proven stately when Adam and Eve were alive and the dominion that has been divinely given to us, both personally and as a nation, has lost its stately status within our hearts as well.  This explains why the word dominion is a Kingdom word, for it advances one kingdom and pushes back the other whether we understand this principle or not.  Yes, dominion is that important to our existence, both on the spiritual level and on the physical level as well.

God has given us this nation as a dominion, a dominion that He created for a refuge for everyone who wished to flee for their religious liberty through God.  It was this land that God established while His people were being physically flogged from their own lands and habitats around the world; ironically, most of the lands that God’s people were forced from were considered Christian lands.  This country has a divine purpose and through this purpose defines our dominion as a nation, just as it does in our individual lives.  Christians missed this back then and they are missing it still today!  Dominion starts on the personal level and then is reflected through the people onto a national scale.  It is through this partitioning that God sees the entire nation’s heart and when the picture becomes too bleak for recovery and restoration God must change the situation just as He has done many times throughout human history.

Adam and Eve gave into their surroundings and became more interested in their feelings instead of their directive from their Creator.  It is not difficult for us to understand what occurred with their lives after the fall but what is amazing to me is that all of us have a tendency to play the same games with God as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden.  We tend to focus ourselves upon our surroundings and then forget to protect and to keep our dominion.  Everything that we know as ours belongs to our dominion and it is our responsibility to keep our dominion intact at all times.  But if we contend that the world is our friend, and continue to embrace its ways we are automatically placing our dominion in a state of compromise and it shall not be too long until our enemy takes his rightful place that we voluntarily give to him.  He did it in Adam and Eve’s world, he accomplished the same feat in Sodom and Gomorrah walls and he finalized the total collapse of Israel in 772 BC all because the people did not understand and remember that their dominion was sacred and holy to them and they failed to keep it separate from the world.

Our dominion represents our life, our entire life as does this word as it pertains to our nation as well; it represents its life!  This message should call our hearts to respond to the call from God to return to Him.  The time for interpretations is over!  The time for repentance is now!  We as individuals need to turn our hearts back to God and to begin to clean up and fix our dominion, for if we do not we shall surely die.  Likewise, God states the same for this nation.  Adam and Eve lost their dominion permanently so why would God not be forced to do the same according to our actions as well? 

Therefore, as in the beginning it is within us from the basis of our individual creation, along this divine statement of dominion do choose to advance only 1 kingdom.  God is watching our choice and He too shall choose to act accordingly.  The world is waiting on a miracle to occur and to straighten things back with order begin restored.  We can try to do this alone and usher in a person who shall utterly destroy the world or we can place divine order back into place with our individual dominion and national dominion restored.

DLB