You Were Created for Dominion

From the book: Seed Truths-From Genesis to Revelation

By: Mike Harding

²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  Genesis 1:26-28

 When God said, “Let Us make man in Our image…” and then, “let them have dominion…,” He was expressing something about His own nature. God is a God of dominion. When He created us in His image, He was imparting into us the nature of dominion and authority. When He decided to make us like Jesus, He was deciding to make us into the image of the One who calmed the sea, walked on water and raised the dead. Jesus wasn’t just a really nice guy. He cast out demons with a word, He healed the sick with a command, and He fearlessly confronted religious hypocrites. We are destined to be like Him.

 When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden, He told him to “tend and keep it.” What does that mean? In the Hebrew, to “keep it” means to guard it and watch over it. Why would that be necessary unless there was already an enemy to guard it from? God gave Adam and Eve dominion in a place where the enemy was already arriving to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10) Sure enough, Satan showed up in the form of a serpent in Genesis 3:1.

 From reading Genesis 1:26, you might get the idea that our dominion is only over fish, birds, cows and “creeping things”. Is our dominion limited to the animals? If so, why did God tell Adam to guard and protect the garden? Our dominion was over spiritual enemies as well!

God designed us for dominion. This is one of the seed truths, or themes, that runs throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. At the end of the book of Revelation, we see mankind ruling and reigning with Jesus over His eternal kingdom.

 But before that, we see our dominion-destiny in other books from other prophets:

¹ O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! ² Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. ³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, ⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? ⁵ For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. ⁶You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, ⁷ All sheep and oxen --- Even the beasts of the field, ⁸ The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. ⁹ O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!  Psalm 8

Psalm Eight, written by King David, is a super-rich revelation of man’s high calling to reign and rule with God over His creation and His kingdom. King David would, of course, understand something about God’s call to dominion and authority!

David writes in verse three about God’s creation: “Your heavens, the work of Your fingers.” He describes these as “the moon and the stars”. In verse four He asks why mankind is important in God’s plan and purpose. “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” He answers the question in verses five and six. Verse five says that we were made a little lower than the angels. The word “angels” here is actually the Hebrew word “elohim”, meaning heavenly beings or gods. It is a plural word, but it is almost always translated as “God” in the rest of the Old Testament. (Did you know that in Hebrew, “God” is a plural word? It refers to the triune nature of God.) We were made a little lower than God, or a little lower than the angels. We actually were made a little lower than the angels in power and ability, but we were created to be above the angels in our eternal position. 1 Corinthians 6:3 says that the saints will “judge the world” and that we will “judge angels” also. Hebrews 1:14 says that the angels are all “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation”. We are destined to be the sons and daughters of God, the body and bride of Christ. The angels are the servants of God. So we may be below them now in our limited human form, but in the family of God we outrank the angels and we will rule and reign with Jesus forever.

Verse five also says that we are crowned with glory and honor. This is a prophetic statement. We lost the glory and honor at the fall. Jesus, our Champion, came and won back the glory and honor. In a prophetic sense, this verse applies to Jesus first. He is the only Man that deserved to be crowned with glory and honor from God. He is “the Son of man”. However, we understand that Jesus came to restore the glory and honor to us. He won it back for us, because Adam and Eve lost it! So if you are in Christ, you are crowned with glory and honor! If you are not in Christ, all is lost.

Verse six says that God made us to have dominion over all the works of His hands. It says that He has put all things under our feet. This again is prophetic of Jesus first, and then us. Adam and Eve were created with dominion, but they lost it. Jesus won it back and restored it to us. But the dominion legally belongs to Jesus first. If we are part of Christ’s body, and part of His bride, we will reign with Him. We are restored to dominion. We are learning dominion and practicing dominion. We are growing in dominion as we grow in faith.

What are we to have dominion over? “All the works of God’s hands”! What has He put under our feet? “All things”! (Read 1 Corinthians 15:25-27 to see that this Psalm prophetically refers to Jesus first, and then to us in Christ. Also compare Ephesians 1:22 and Ephesians 2:6. If all things are now under the feet of the Man Jesus Christ, and if we are His body, then all things are also under our feet!)

Just in case you think this Psalm is only talking about “beast and birds and fish” (verses 7 and 8), remember this: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained…” What are the works of His fingers? “The heavens, the moon, the stars…” Are “the works of His hands” the same as “the works of His fingers”? I think so! So then, if we were made to have dominion over the works of His hands, we were likewise made to have dominion over the works of His fingers. We were made to have dominion over the heavens and the stars. We were made to rule and reign with Jesus as His body and His bride! If you are in Christ, you will reign with Him. If you are not in Christ, you have lost it all.

What happened when Jesus came to take back the dominion? We can read about it in Luke chapter four:

⁵ Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. ⁶ And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. ⁷ Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” ⁸ And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’“  Luke 4:5-8

Satan came to Jesus to tempt Him to fall into the same trap as Adam and Eve. Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, and said, “All this authority (dominion) I will give you, for it has been delivered to me.” Was Satan telling the truth? Yes – all the authority had been given to him when Adam and Eve obeyed Satan rather than God. Adam and Eve became slaves of Satan and surrendered their God-given dominion. (Romans 6:16) Satan recognized that Jesus had come to win back the dominion. That is why he offered Jesus a shortcut – a temptation – a trap. “Worship me, and I will give it to you.” That part, we know, was a lie. But the rest was true!

Jesus resisted the temptation to get the authority back by worshiping Satan. Jesus came to win back the dominion, but He would do it by obeying the Father rather than by obeying Satan.

Jesus obeyed the Father all of His life. He then died for us on the cross and rose from the dead the third day. Now look at what Jesus said after He rose from the dead:

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  Matthew 28:18-19

After the resurrection, Jesus announced, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Who gave it to Him? It wasn’t Satan – Satan wanted to keep the authority! It was God the Father. God the Father, as a Judge, took away the authority (dominion) from Satan and awarded it to Jesus. Why? There were two reasons. One reason is because Satan illegally put Jesus to death. Jesus never obeyed Satan. He committed no sin. So Satan had no right to put Jesus to death on the cross. The other reason that God awarded Jesus the authority is because, unlike Adam, Jesus obeyed the Father perfectly all His life. Then He died to pay for the sins of Adam and Eve’s family, the human race. By dying for us, He reconciled us back to God and took away Satan’s right to rule over us.

I always thought that it was strange that Jesus would say, “All authority has been given to Me…” If Jesus was really God, didn’t He already have all authority? Didn’t He create the heavens and the earth? Why would He come to earth and suffer so terribly just to receive authority that He already had? Part of the answer is that He came to receive the authority as a man. Yes, He already had it as God. But Philippians 2:5-11 says that Jesus stripped Himself of His Divine power, His Divine knowledge and His Divine authority when He came to earth as a man. He lived as a real man, dependent upon God the Father in every way. The rest of the answer, of course, is that He did it for us. He won back the authority that Adam lost so that we could live in dominion again.

That’s why Jesus said, “Go therefore…” in verse 19. He won the dominion back. It is His to share with you. It is His to delegate to you. He was saying that if He is your Savior and Your Lord, then you are now authorized to go into the world with restored authority. You can be His representative and His ambassador. You can live in the dominion God designed you to enjoy.

If you are in Christ, you are restored to dominion. If you are not in Christ, you have lost it all.

¹⁷ For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)  Romans 5:17

The apostle Paul teaches us that we are to reign in life through Jesus Christ. What is reigning? It is what kings do. They command. They live in victory. They walk in authority. When are we to reign? Someday in heaven? No, right here and right now. In this life. In this earth. Why can we reign? Because Jesus has given us the gift of righteous standing before God. Because Jesus gives us abundant grace. How can we reign? Through Jesus Christ. With His name. And His victory.

What does it look like to reign in this life? It means that you live in growing victory over fear, over depression, over oppression, over poverty, over sickness and disease, and over sin. It means that demons do not stop you or intimidate you from anything God calls you to do. You realize that Satan is defeated and you live in that victory.

Romans 5:17 describes two heads over the human race. Adam was the first head. Adam fell, and everyone born under the first Adam is born into his fall, his slavery, his sin nature, and his condemnation. Jesus is the second head, or “the last Adam”. (1 Corinthians 15:45) Everyone born into God’s family through Jesus receives Jesus’ victory, Jesus’ dominion, Jesus’ divine nature and Jesus’ righteousness. If you are in Christ, you will reign. If you are not in Christ, you have lost it all.

¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15

In Romans 8:15, Paul identifies the two spiritual natures that are in the human race right now. If you are not born again, you have the “spirit of bondage”, and you are controlled by fear. Bondage means slavery. If you have not accepted Christ, you are still a slave to sin and Satan. It is part of your fallen nature. At a spiritual level, you are motivated and controlled by fear. It is how Satan’s kingdom works. Satan controls people with fear and lies. God motivates people with love and truth.

If you are born again, then you have received the “Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’”. What does that mean? The Spirit of adoption is the Holy Spirit. He enters and renews your heart at the new birth. You have a new nature. You have the nature of a son, not a slave. Something inside of you now calls out, “Papa, Abba, Father!” You are no longer a slave. You do not have a slave nature. You are a son. You have a dominion nature. You no longer have to be controlled or motivated by fear. God deals with you with love and truth. Satan is under your feet.

When Paul says, “you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear”, he is referring back to when Israel was in slavery in the land of Egypt. This was in the end of the book of Genesis and the beginning of the book of Exodus. Israel had gone to Egypt during a time of famine. They found provision in Egypt, but several generations later they ended up in slavery under the Egyptian Pharaoh. Generations of Israelites were born and raised in slavery. They had a slave mentality. They had a slavery identity.

God raised up a man named Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Supernatural judgments against the land of Egypt convinced Pharaoh to release the Israelites. Israel followed Moses out of Egypt and went to the border of the Promised Land. God told Moses to send in 12 spies to see the land and bring back a report. When the 12 spies returned, two of them said, “God has given us the land.” But ten of them said, “We cannot take the land. The enemies are too great for us. We will die here.” Israel fell into fear and refused to take the land as God had commanded them.

God’s response was this: All of this generation will wander in the wilderness for forty years. They will all die in this wilderness, except the two spies who gave a good report. After forty years, the next generation will go in and take the land. (Numbers 14:26-38)

Why did God have to do this? It’s because the first generation to come out of Egypt had a slave mentality. They had a slave nature. They could not see themselves as sons of God or as conquerors. They were controlled by fear. The slave mentality had to die. A new generation had to grow up without a slave mentality. They would be able to believe God and conquer the land.

That’s why Paul said, “You did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear”. He is saying that, as Christians, we have been set free from the old slave nature. We are no longer to be controlled by fear. We are to be more than conquerors in Jesus Christ. We are sons and daughters, motivated by God’s love and truth. We will reign with Jesus. We will live in dominion.

¹² If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.           2 Timothy 2:12

From Genesis to Revelation, we see this thread of truth, this revelation of the call to dominion. Paul told Timothy: “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him…” It is our destiny.

 In the book of Revelation, we see this theme fully developed. We see it realized and fulfilled:

 ⁵ There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Revelation 22:5

Hallelujah!