“For I the Lord do not change…,” Malachi 3:6 tells us.
God’s plan has never changed. As God’s redeemed people, how we live our lives means we must know what an unchanging God has always intended for us. Our salvation comes through the cross of Christ and has restored us to what God always intended for us before Satan robbed us by deceit.
To know what this means in its fullness means we can better join God in His work of redeeming all of India and the entire world from the power of Satan. So, what did God intend from the beginning?
In Genesis 1, we learn that God made us “in His image.” Often, we interpret this to mean moral, ethical and intellectual abilities. However, a more accurate view, based upon better understandings of ancient Middle East culture and Hebrew grammar, suggests a deeper meaning.
A more accurate reading of this text is, “Let us make man AS our image.” In ancient days, a ruler’s image in the town square signified that ruler’s sovereignty over that town. In other words, God created humanity as a sign of God’s rulership over the earth.
“According to our likeness” indicates that God has assigned to us an active role in rulership alongside Him. God has designed us to become His regents in the earth, to keep the world in order according to His will. To have “dominion” means to rule as God would rule, with wisdom, reason, good judgment and careful management over all things. Adam’s fall disrupted all of this. History records how we have failed miserably in our assignment.
Through His life, death and resurrection, Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). All that Satan stole from the first Adam and his descendants (us) is returned to us by the Second Adam, Jesus Christ. By His authority, He has restored to us our lost authority as His image, according to His likeness, to have dominion. We are empowered through the Holy Spirit (John 14-17), spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12) and the keys to the kingdom (Matthew 16).
Through the cross, these already belong to us. All we must do now is claim and use them.
With our authority, granted by Christ, we are to use them to complete the full defeat of our adversary, Satan. Of course, Satan wants to blind us to our authority so he can continue to steal, kill and destroy. But in the end, God will still crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20).
As restored sons and daughters of our King Jesus, we have the opportunity to join Him in restoring the earth to its former glory—occupying until He comes, declaring the gospel of the kingdom, discipling the nations, preparing the way for the kingdom of heaven on earth where the knowledge of the glory of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that creation groans, waiting anxiously for the revealing of the sons of God.
May our generation not let the groaning continue! Once again, by God’s grace, we are His regents on earth. Let us learn by His Spirit to fully incorporate our unchanged assignment into our lives to His glory and for the blessing of the whole world!
From the Desk of Valson Abraham 