Dominion-Image of God

Restoration of Dominion Image Of God In Man

By Abraham Israel

We all seek for prominence and identity in this life because we must understand that it is God who created us for this purpose. This purpose was the discussion that was on when God started to create men. The Bible reveals it by saying, Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, overthe birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “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.” (Gen 1:26-28). Here we see that God planned us to be made in His image. If we still are not sure about the identity and essence of God’s image, God Himself explains His image by saying, “ ..In Our image…Our likeness..let them have dominion over..the sea…the air and on the earth”. This image we can call it or phrase it as the ‘dominion-image of God’.

The Hebrew word for dominion is ‘radah’ [pronounced rä·dä'] which means 1) to rule, have dominion, dominate, tread down a) (Qal) to have dominion, rule, subjugate b) (Hiphil) to cause to dominate 2) to scrape out a) (Qal) to scrape, scrape out. The dominion image of God is that heart in us which has the natural desire to rule over the surrounding in which we live. This ‘dominion-image’ is also the legal right given to man to rule over the entire earth, just as God rules over the entire universe. The Bible also confirms this by saying, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s [i.e. under His dominion]; But the [dominion of the] earth He has given to the children of men.” (Ps 115:16).

But the problem is this dominion image of God will be active only as long as man is connected to God in his spirit-man. Because when God discussed about His image, He did not speak in singularity but in plurality [i.e. He did not say ‘I will create in My image’ but He said, ‘Let Us {which includes the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit} make man in Our image’]. The strength of God lies in the role which each person of the trinity play to express His creative image of rulership, which He exercises over His Dominion. This is why God is three in person, but are one in purpose. This implies clearly that unless man is connected to God in his spirit with one purpose, he will not be able to express this dominion-image of God through his life. The power of Trinity lies in their unity. This unity can be defined as a dependency upon each other and a spirit connection of inter-penetration to one another. The Bible says, ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit’ (2 Cor 3:17). In other words, in this time-space bound now-realm of this earth, the Lord [i.e. God-connection in this earth] is the person of the Holy Spirit. It also means the one who works in us as Master over us and through us in this earth is the Holy Spirit. This dependency upon God the Spirit activates the dominion image of God in us. This dominion-image of God will give us unique identity and prominence because of the restoration of the original purpose of God in us. In other words we are wired and uniquely designed to fulfill this purpose. Praise the Lord!

God created man in His dominion-image, so that he can exercise dominion just like Him. Jesus was the one who first exhibited this exact dominion-image of God in this planet earth after the first Adam lost this image because of disobedience (1 Cor 15:45,49; Luke 3:38). For example Jesus said to the hypocritical religious leaders who opposed Jesus when He exercised dominion in the earth, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matt 12:28). In other words Jesus was telling them that the dominion image of God is what He was exercising and that is done by the Spirit of God Himself. In opposing the works of the Spirit of God who was working in Jesus these people were already opposing God’s kingdom rule which has already come upon the earth through Jesus, which the Pharisees boasted as though they were the true representatives of it. In the succeeding verses Jesus spoke about their wrong critical and judgmental attitude in attributing the Spirit’s work to the work of Satan, and that cannot be forgiven even for eternity because these religious people wanted to break the purpose of God which is to exercise the dominion-image of God in the planet earth (Matt 12:31-32). Jesus represented every one of us before God and he is the “repairer of the breach” (Is 58:12) or in other words the repairer of the lost God-connection of human kind.

Jesus also confirmed this reflection of God’s dominion-image which he reflected by saying,“….Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel” (John 5:19-20). Jesus also said “….the Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (John 14:10). In other words, because of the spirit-connection Jesus had with God the Father, the works that Jesus did in this planet earth was equal to Father-God Himself sitting in the earthly body of Jesus and doing His works on earth. This spirit-connection to God through the Holy Spirit brings the dominion image of God in us to be activated to rule and reign in this planet earth (Eph 2:18). The power to rule and reign in this planet earth comes in to activation proportionately equal to the flow of communication between God and us. The more we are connected to God to represent God in His likeness, that much of power of authority and dominion image of God will be expressed on this earth.

The more we express it, the more prominent and unique identity we will have in God. This is the place where all the enemies of God in the spirit world will come to recognize the dominion image of God in us and through us, as the evil spirit himself confessed when it rebounded and attacked the faithless seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish Chief Priest, who had no God-connection[i.e. dominion-image of God] in their spirit man inside them (Acts 19:13-15). As the Bible says in Acts 19:15-16, “And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” Only when you are strong in your spirit-man with a mature dominion image of God inside you, all the principalities and powers will know you and will acknowledge the authority of God in you.

The dominion image of God was lost when Adam disobeyed God. The dominion over the world was in Adam’s hand until the day “sin entered the world” (Rom 5:12). If we ask what is sin? The Bible says, “sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4). In other words sin is the lawless nature of the devil which acts against and rebels against God’s dominion continuously (1 John 3:8). When the lawless nature of Satan began to influence humans legally in the soulish realm because of Adam’s disobedience, all became sinners by an in-born nature of our soul (Rom 5:19). Adam’s spirit connection to God became dead exactly on the day of his disobedience just exactly as God forewarned Adam (Gen 2:16-17). Once Adam’s spirit connection to God was severed, Satan began to use his voice to direct man in the soulish realm because God has created the soul to be operative by spirit-direction. Jesus affirms this fact by saying that the believer will start to reject the voices of Satan and his demons, which He described as “the voice of strangers” (John 10:5). The more people get deceived by these spirit’s voices in their soulish realm, the more they will become lawless. But the real voice of God will be heard by the believers because of a brand new spirit put within them by God to connect to Him (Ezek 36:26-27). These believers will begin to recognize the voice of God and He too will call them by name and will guide them as He had promised (John 10:3-4). The Spirit of God will be the one who will connect God’s voice directly from His throne in heaven to our soul on earth. Our soul in turn will be able to recognize the voice of God on earth through our activated spirit within us (1 John 3:24; Heb 12:25; 1 Cor 2:10-12).

Hence for man to have dominion on the earth is closely interwoven with his dependency and God-connection that He experiences with God in his spirit, which is only revived, regenerated and renewed only for a born again believer in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:16; Tit 3:5; 2 Cor 4:16). So only Jesus said,…“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:5-6). In other words Jesus is saying only the Spirit of God can make the dead spirit of a human to be become connected to God’s heavens life of the kingdom. Only those who are born from above can hear the voice of the wind which is the Holy Spirit of God(John 3:8).

The reason many people are oppressed more than ever in times past is because they do not accept and receive this truth of God [i.e. Jesus and His voice which is the Holy Spirit], rather they love to hear and receive deceptive soulish voices which will not be in-line with the truth of God revealed in the word of God (John 8:32; 2 Thess 2:9-12). The Apostle Paul in 2 Cor 4:4 says about these things clearly in his writing, “whose [i.e. unbeliever ] minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, whois the image of God, should shine on them.” The dominion-image of God will shine on us as much as we believe to receive the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Until a person becomes hungry to hear the truth and receive it, he will never be able to differentiate between God’s voice and the soulish voices he will hear in himself. This is the reason humans are not able to rule and reign in this planet earth, instead Satan and his evil cohort’s bully people tyrannically and is ruling the world invisibly by promoting evil, destruction and peacelessness in this planet earth. Satan has been able to blind people’s mind and deceive them is because man doesn’t have the power to have dominion exercised without God. Man is wired in such a way, the one and only way he can exercise dominion on earth is by his oneness of purpose in his spirit, soul and body with God (Luke 1:37). Jesus himself humbly confessed this fact by saying, “I can of Myself do nothing…”, even though he was the only begotten Son of God who came from heaven to this planet earth as an incarnated perfect substitute for every man(John 5:30; 3:16,17).

Satan and his evil cohorts are much more powerful as spirit beings than man, when man doesn’t have that God-connection in himself through the Spirit of God. That’s why the Apostle John wrote by Divine inspiration to the believers, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you [i.e. God the Holy Spirit] is greater than he who is in the world [i.e. Satan and his demons].” (1 John 4:4). In other words with God-connection in his spirit-man, man is more powerful that Satan and all his evil demons. This is confirmed in Ps 8:5-6 also, “For You have made him a little lower than the angels [i.e. Elohim.heb -> Creator God], and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have [already] put all things[including the angels] under his feet...”

[Note: The meaning for the word ‘Elohim’ is exactly translated as God who is the Creator. But the Jewish tradition has wrongly translated it according to their tradition, calling God as angels just because they found the word to be pluralistic. But Christians have no problem in interpreting it as God the Creator in a pluralistic way because we know and believe the doctrine of trinity.]

Here we notice three things in these preceding verses,

1) By the purpose of God in the original creation of man, man is only a little lower than only the Creator God Himself.

2) The very purpose of making man is for him to have dominion.

3) God has already put all things under His feet [i.e. feet of Jesus Christ] and has seated us humans with Him in the heavenly places. Through this elevated standing we [i.e. men who are believers in Christ Jesus] are higher than the angels (Eph 1:18-23; 2:5-6). So only in the New Testament angels are exactly described in Heb 1:14 as, “Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” [New Living Translation]. This has been confirmed by an angel himself who said, “See that you do not do that [i.e. fall down to worship me]. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (Rev 22:9), when apostle John overawed by the prophetic words and visions that came from the angel on assignment, fell down to worship the angel.

To be close to God and to be powerful with dominion-image of God is the original purpose and intention of God for man in His original creation. This is still His will for every man in this planet earth (Rom 16:20). Satan didn’t like the idea of God for him which is to be a guardian to man under him, so he rebelled against God’s project of planet earth (Ezekiel 28:13-19). This is the reason Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10) because Satan has rebelled against God and has been instigating and influencing men to act against God ever since the fall of first Adam. Only on earth God’s will is not done because of Satan’s evil influence over all men in this earth.

Man by God’s creation purpose is custom built to exercise dominion by depending on God and having love relationship with Him. Human being only then will have perfect peace, love and unity to exercise dominion-image of God on the planet earth. Only this will give prominence and identity that every human longs for. Are you ready? You are asking me for what? To exercise God’s dominion-image in this planet earth which is the sole purpose of our existence! Get that God-connection right and you will experience the dominion-image of God in you and through you. Praise the Lord!

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