The Kingdom Part 1

Genesis 1:

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

After God created the heavens and the earth, He created man in His image and gave them a purpose. tells us that Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful and to multiply, to fill the earth with more image bearers. God also gave them rule and reign over His good creation.

When God created Eden He created a kingdom, one where He was king and Adam and Eve were to be His loyal subjects.

God gave Adam and Eve one rule to follow though, a way to demonstrate their love and obedience to their one true king, and that was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was the one way to daily demonstrate that they were God’s loyal subjects and that He was their king.

As king, God gave Adam and Eve one rule to follow, a way to demonstrate their love and obedience and loyalty to their king, and that was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In Genesis chapter 3 we read of man’s sad demise. In verse 6 we are told that Eve reasoned within herself that the forbidden fruit was good for food, and to make one wise, so she took and ate and gave some to Adam who was with her. In one act of disobedience, by seizing autonomy, Adam and Eve chose to be their own king and thereby rejected God as king.

We immediately see the consequences. They felt shame as they realized they are naked. They felt fear as they heard the sound of God in the Garden. Through the consequences of their sin they introduced pain, suffering, and eventually death into God’s good world.

By rejecting God and His kingdom they introduced the kingdom of man or the kingdom of sin and death, the same one we currently live in with those same ugly characteristics.

Each of us have made choices of disobedience, of rebellion against God and His rule in our life, we have desired to be our own king and rule and reign for ourselves.

Question: It what ways have you rebelled against God?

Challenge: Examine your life and note your desire to rule and reign for your own interests.

Prayer: