“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” – Genesis 1:26
A belief
in Christ forever binds us to a belief in the Creation. God created man
in his likeness and God created the earth. He then gave man dominion over
His creation; dominion (not tyranny), the responsibility to care for and manage
as a ruler, not as one who can profit from his subjects. All creation
testifies to the glory of God and his creation is a constant reminder of the
divine hierarchy that has been forever settled in both heaven and
earth. To be a Christian is to be a creationist in the purist
sense; and all creation is in Christ.
Man’s dominion over the whole earth is a
responsibility, like many given from God this responsibility has been corrupted
and misunderstood. Satan has blinded the minds, and in our want and lust we have “worshiped the creation more than the
creator.” In some cases, the
creation worshiped being defined as rocks, trees, and animals. In other cases, the creation is none other than
our own selfish desires. A sinful man
will take too much, and give too little; denying the power of the one who put
is in charge in the first place. They
are servants who think themselves masters, and stewards who imagine themselves
kings. In all this, the grace of God reaches further and our dominion
remains. This dominion was not given to
us because the job was too big for God, no, it was given to us (at least in
part) for our learning and benefit. When you believe God created the
earth and gave man dominion over it, you then understand that God created man
and God has dominion over him. A belief
in creation couples itself with a belief in God. To believe in God is to believe that we were
created by him, and therefore in subject to him, and the Word which he
sent. This Word is the very Christ who
lived, died, and rose again; that we might have life free from the sinful
fallen state that the first man Adam bequeathed to us. The
earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof, but he gave man dominion over
His creation that in is occupation he might find instruction. The
abundance of this earth is in subjection to man (so much as God allows) and
that subjection reminds us that we are in subjection. We have one who has
dominion over us. When children come of age, there are those who are
given their own room, and the parents give them the responsibility to keep it
as the parents would keep it. It is not that the parents could not keep
it themselves, but they gifted this authority to the child in hopes that from
it they will learn, grow, and mature. God’s
house is far greater than the earth, the earth is but a room gifted to His
children; and to deny his existence and ownership of it would be just as insane
as a child contending that the room his parents gave him was his altogether.
That this room was formed through time and space, and has no creator, the child
has no parents, and this means that there are no consequences! We are free to do what is right in our own
eyes! To follow our own path to destruction.
To reject Creation as according to the
scripture is to reject God himself, and his dominion, and his blessings, and
the Son which he sent to save His fallen children that wronged Him and took for
themselves that which was not theirs. To reject Creation is to reject God.
The Bible, like a tapestry, is a mired
of fabrics woven together to produce a strikingly influencing image. To
pull at one strand is to pull at them all.
You cannot accept some truths and reject others, the beauty of it is
that it comes as a whole or not at all.
When you understand that all creation dwells in Christ, Christ in
God. Therefore we dwell in God and He in
us. This does not bring bondage but
deliverance. It does bring tyranny, but
dominion. God has given us dominion over
His creation, and a reminder that we have one who has dominion over us; to care
for us, to keep us, to guide us.
