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Chapter
1
Paradise Lost
POLICE!!!
FREEEZE!!! BLAM! BLAM!
Two.38 caliber slugs whizzed through the cold, crisp night air
crashing into the fleeing form of one of the most notorious drug
lords and death dealers north of hell. The body jack-knifed and
slammed to the ground! The sound of recorded laughter from a
nearby TV escaped a window while at the feet of Agent Ruiz,
Death dined on a deserving dish, Drug Lord Flambé.
Less than two minutes before, officer Sheila
Ruiz had flashed her badge and identified herself as a DEA
agent. Her team, together with the local police had staked out
the club for well over two hours before they caught him coming
outside. Now, his days of terror were over…
Thus we have a practical illustration of someone
exercising dominion. What’s that, you ask? In the bible, the
word ‘dominion’ from the Hebrew is "Radah"
pronounced 'raw-daw', it means ‘to reign or rule over’
and comprises two components, authority and ability.
Exercising
dominion means demonstrating both authority and ability. So
when officer Ruiz flashed her badge and commanded the
criminal to stop… That’s authority! But when
she dispatched those two hot, lead messengers that found their
mark and made him stop… That’s ability!
The effective ability to enforce
competent authority equals excellent dominion!
As an officer of the law with delegated power from the state,
she excellently exercised her dominion!
Somewhere in the beginning of time, God said to man, “Have
dominion over creation." But something went wrong and
man lost the effective ability and competent authority to reign
and rule over God’s creation! What exactly went wrong? How did
he lose this great ability? Let’s check the records!
According to Gen
2:17 God said, “ but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you
eat of it you shall surely die!” What is death? Death is a
separation! Physical death is the separation of the spirit and
soul from the physical body. Spiritual death is the separation
of the spirit of man from the Spirit of God.
So when God
said “you shall surely die” He was
saying that the connection between man and God would be cut off
and the life of God would not flow through the man. Therefore,
if God’s life couldn’t flow, then God’s authority and
ability couldn’t be accessed. And without God’s authority
and ability flowing through him, it would be impossible to
exercise excellent dominion over God’s creation! See?
Now, ask me a question! “Why did the man need to have
dominion in the first place?” What was God’s design?
What was He planning…? I’m glad you asked! It’s like this:
God wanted to extend His reign and rule from His
spiritual kingdom in heaven to a physical kingdom, so He decided
to create a physical being with whom He could share the rule of
His physical kingdom. Not only this but He actually wanted a
being that He could live in and operate through in order to
effectively demonstrate His own dominion.
Remember,
God is a Spirit... only Spirit,
not flesh and blood! So, for Him to demonstrate His dominion of
a physical universe He had to first create a being who could
relate to a physical universe, then He, God, being a Spirit,
could live in and operate through that being in perfect unity
and harmony, demonstrating His own dominion of this new physical
realm. So God created man, put him on the planet earth and began
His dominion of the physical universe from there.
God also wanted a being with which He could have a
relationship and fellowship and share His limitless love. Man
was created to be the ultimate object of God’s love. He also
wanted to make him His co-regent with whom He would share His
reign over the whole universe in perfect harmony and balance
forever. Because of this, man was destined to occupy a great
position in relation to God! That place was at His right hand!
Adam, the first man was designed and destined to be God’s
right hand man!
The position at a king’s right hand is a position of
near absolute power, superceded only by the power of the king
himself! Under the king, that man reigned supreme! And so it was
to be with Adam and God. God is the king of the universe and
there is a seat next to God’s throne on its right side, which
was reserved for Adam to occupy. From that seat, he and all his
descendents would reign together with God as equals over
physical creation beginning with the Earth. God alone would rule
over spiritual creation (Heaven).
“The heaven, even
the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the
children of men,” Ps.115:
16.
Adam and
all his children would have access
to Heaven at anytime because of their relational position to God
(His right side) but their dominion would be forever over the
Earth! And so they would continue for all eternity. But...
God’s plan was not to create a robot that would
automatically do whatever He said, but to have a being designed
with free will, the ability to choose to align himself with God’s
plan... or not! God wanted someone who would voluntarily and
willfully choose His way, allowing God to indwell and empower
him and have a desire to follow God’s master plan for ruling
the universe... not his own!
God also
wanted one who would willingly
return His love based on the relationship and fellowship he had
with “his Father” not based on duty or obligation. So, God
created man with the power of choice! And with the power of
choice He gave him a choice.... obey the Lord and partake of the
tree of life or do not obey and partake of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. Your choice! (Gen
2:9,16,17).
Always remember, there were two trees specifically
planted in the middle of the garden for Adam. God only forbade
him from eating the fruit of one! He already had God’s
permission to eat from any other tree, including the tree of
life! And since these were the only two trees specifically
planted in the middle of the garden and God only forbade him
from eating the fruit of one, then, the choice was obvious!
Now follow me closely! When God created Adam, He not
only created him without sin but He created him without the
knowledge of sin. This means that Adam had absolutely no concept
of right or wrong! If he had eaten from the tree of life, the
condition of his mind would have been permanently aligned with
the nature of his spirit! All he would have known was to do the
right thing! Nothing else but what was right.... forever!
Think about
it, all of mankind’s decisions
henceforth would have been based on what was right, not what
made sense to his mind, not on what felt good to his body but
what he knew to be right in his spirit! His excellent moral
condition would have been sealed. His right relational position
to God would have been secured. And his dominion over earth
would have been sure!
On the other
hand, since he ate from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, his moral condition became corrupted. His
relational position to God was lost. And his right to dominion
was forfeited! Let me show you how…
From the moment Adam ate
from that tree, several things happened. First, spiritual
death ensued; his spirit became separated from God’s Spirit so
that the life of God could not flow through him. He began to
exist in a state of spiritual death operating purely on the
physical and mental levels, operating far below his inherent
capabilities.
He was
originally made in the image and
likeness of God and called His son, able to function at an
excellently high spiritual, mental and physical level. But now
he could not be called a son of God because the nature of God
was not in him, he no longer had God’s image and likeness in
his spirit and all his abilities were greatly diminished.
Second, the
process of physical death began
in his body, which fully matured some 930
years later. In other words, it took over 900 years to be
fully accomplished but physical death began immediately after
eating the fruit. Thirdly, he took on the nature of God’s
enemy... Satan! Because he chose to obey and submit himself to
the devil instead of God he now had the nature of rebellion and
pride, which characterizes the devil. There’s a spiritual law,
which states, “you become like who you obey!”
And as if all this wasn’t bad enough, he also inherited
a curse from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Check it out:
In the phrase “the knowledge of good and evil” the
word “knowledge” from the Hebrew is "Daath"
meaning “ignorantly committed.” So, by eating that fruit he
became cursed with a particular kind of ignorance. He was now in
the position of never fully understanding his own desires and
motives. Unwittingly committing acts of both good and evil.
Doing things and not fully understanding why! Never completely
discerning the thoughts and intents of his own heart.
Never
becoming the universal leader he
was intended to be, but instead... being led by his own
ignorance! He wasn’t being the master he was intended to be
but a slave to his own desires! He became locked in a cycle of
one moment doing something noble and selfless and the next,
something base and selfish and never fully understanding why.
This is the fruit of that tree! You’re doomed to live
life on your own terms, with your own faulty, corrupted
understanding of the nature of life! Never knowing from one
moment to the next what life has in store, running around in the
darkness, searching for something and not even knowing what it
is you‘re looking for!
You’re like Neo, searching for “The Matrix” while
you’re actually living in it as a slave to the system and not
knowing how or why! Sad but true, this is the state of fallen
man!
Now, because of this, Adam lost his relational position
to God. He was no longer able to occupy the right side of God
and be counted in the same class with his Father and Lord. He
fell from that glorious position. Instead of looking across at
God to speak to Him he now had to look up at God! And has been
looking up ever since, always looking upward, even to the point
of missing God and, in his ignorance, worshipping the stars
instead. Sad!
Finally, he lost his dominion by obeying Satan! When
Adam submitted to Satan, he gave up his right to rule over the
earth and Satan immediately usurped that authority, he didn’t
get it legally but he usurped it! God made Adam lord, then Adam
made Satan lord, by bowing to him in obedience. (Rom.
6:16) (2Cor.
4:4). God’s archenemy now had authority in the earth by
deception and fraud. What a thing! It seemed like all God’s
plans were going to hell. But remember.... God created hell! So
what seemed like a problem really wasn’t at all! Not for God!!
Read on!!!
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