Dominion mandate

Text: Genesis 1:26-28 Key Verse: Genesis 1:26 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (KJV).

Dominion in the Hebrew word is “Radah” and it means contending with something that is wild and untamed and bringing it under control. Mandate is official order or authority to do something. Mandate is like someone giving you a Power of Attorney to act on his behalf. When God created a man, He gave to the man, a Dominion Mandate.

Why is the Human Being created?
There is the general will of God for creating human beings, though there is the personal will of God for our individual lives. The general will of God is that man shall have “Dominion” over all the earth.

God’s Three Intentions for Creating Man
• Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man….” From the above Scripture, you will see that God intended to create man, so man was not a product of accident. It was God’s intention to make man. “Let us” implies trinity at work.

•Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….” God made man to have God-like qualities. Man was created to resemble God. “Image” is a reflection of the original.

• Genesis 1:26, “… and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea ….”
God committed the Dominion over all He created to man. It was intentional. Why donate His Dominion to Man? Because God is a Spirit and not a physical being and so needed a physical being to exercise influence over the earth. Whatever God wants to do on earth, He does it through the instrumentality of man.

It is important to note here that God did not give man dominion over his fellow man.

How did God Implement His Intention?
Genesis 2:7, “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

• He Formed Man from the Dust of the Ground: Dust is earthly material and it is seen. The dust has been an already existing material on earth and out of which God created man.

Genesis 1:27, “… male and female created he them.” Every culture in the world has that problem of wrong perception of women. The male think that they conferred the image of God to the female and therefore are superior. In the Bible, “Man” refers to both male and female. It is not only the male that was created in the image of God, it included the female. Before Gender equality and advocacy, God had established the foundation – “… male and female created he them.” You cannot have a weak version of God. The image of God in the female is not a watered down image.

• God Breathed into Man the Breath of Life: The Breath of Life was not in existence before God created Man. It was divine and it came from Heaven not from earth. This is the spiritual component of man that distinguishes him from other creatures on earth.

God created man from two opposites: earthly and divine. The physical is the dust, but behind the dust is what you don’t see – The Spirit Man. You cannot manifest the image of God from the natural, but from the spiritual. When you lose your spiritual nature, you lose the image of God

• Impartation: There were two kinds of impartation God made in man: “blessing” and “commission.”

• Blessing: God blessed man with gifts and empowered them to be what He created them to be. The “blessing” is what distinguishes man from other things that were created. For example, a man has self-awareness, he can think through options, reason and can live both by instincts and knowledge.

• The commission: God commissioned man and said to him, Be Fruitful, Blossom and Produce; Multiply – Grow, excel and expand; Replenish – Fill the earth up; and Subdue – Rule, govern and manage the earth. “Be” is a command and not a suggestion.

Today’s Nugget: Man is a Product of Intention and not a product of accident.
Prayer: Lord, help me to exercise dominion here on earth.
Prayer line: Send text only to 09078154261.
Dr. Chidi Okoroafor, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria
E-mail: evangelgospel@yahoo.com