So what’s the big picture story of man from the beginning of time? Who is man and why is he here on the earth? What is his purpose? Who is God and where does He fit into all of this?

God created the earth and everything in it. Genesis Chapter 1. God is Creator and the originator of everything.

God said “Let us make man in Our image (the image of God), 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.” Genesis 1:26. So we are shown the plurality of the one God in this verse.

Then God blessed the man, and said, “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.”

That right there is PURPOSE. Gen. 2:15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” There is the work that man was to do. Man needs purpose and man needs work.

This original commission of man has never changed. God has never gone back on His word regarding man’s original purpose. Man was supposed to perform this purpose of rulership by submitting to the headship of God. But man messed up, so God had a plan on how to fix things. That plan was Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who would come to earth as a man, just like Adam, and show man what he was supposed to be doing, show him how to take dominion legally, how to rule over sin. Then He would die to redeem and restore man to his rightful place. Adam was supposed to deal with the devil in that first confrontation. Because he did not submit to God and resist the devil so as to make him flee (James 4:7), the future of the human race was to be born into a world where the devil reigned through sin, but….when Jesus, actually called the second or last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), came…

Jesus deliberately took on Himself all the sins of man and died on the cross, even though He pleaded with the Father, “if there is any other way”. (But there wasn’t) This was the only way to bring man back to his rightful position in the plan of God, to restore man to his rightful place of legal authority in the earth, and to give him dominion over everything that Adam had lost, which included the devil and his cohorts who seek to destroy everything on the earth. That’s just the beginning of redemption. We must go on from there and exercise this rulership.

The people of God who understand this are engaged in participating in this dominion position given back to them by Jesus Christ. “The earth He has given to the children of men.” Psalms 115:16 They do this through prayer, which is actually hearing information from God and then speaking it back to God, giving agreement with the will of God in the earth. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” We want the will of God in the earth, don’t we? We don’t want evil works to prevail. Well, God doesn’t either…so there’s two in agreement! And God is definitely a Winner! We also have fellowship with God by just talking to Him. There are several aspects to the word prayer.

That’s the big picture.

The rest of the Bible is the story of God working to bring man back into that position of dominion. All judgment of the human race has now been committed to Jesus, who is waiting until the earth is made His footstool and all rebellion is put down. (Hebrews 10:13) That’s where we come in. Jesus is looking for a bride to rule and reign with Him. We are that bride. One could say He is the sheriff and we are the deputies. We enforce what He tells us to enforce.

When everything is put under His feet and all things are in subjection to Him, then He will turn the Kingdom over to the Father, (1 Cor. 15:24) but until then, Jesus is the Head of it all. He is the One with whom we have to deal. He is the Lord of all.

So we said that Jesus came to earth to show man how to use this dominion legally. We’ll look more at that in the next post. These are huge things to ponder. I have touched on some of these things in a previous post.

Dear Jesus, Help me to see and to ever be mindful of Your great plan for my life in this earth. Open my eyes to see wondrous things from Your word. I am ready to find You every day working on my behalf and I am ready to find the plan that You ordained for me from before the foundations of the world. I trust that Your plan is the best thing ever! I believe in that plan and I want to hear “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” when I see You face to face.