Dominion Mandate Quotes

Remember, God placed man on earth and gave him dominion over the earth to cultivate and steward it. The fall of man subjected the earth to the same corruption as the hearts of man, but the work Jesus did on the cross set the course for the reversal of this process and the return to our intended mandate. Instead, we as Christians tend to sit back while those who do not know the Lord cultivate and dominate the earth. This is not wrong. They are in fact doing what they were created to do, but they are doing it under a different master. Consider what the world would look like if we took up our God-given mandate and released, by restoration, the glory of creation to a watching world!

In The Presence of God, J. Ryan Lister helps us understand the grand narrative that ties together the creation account in Genesis 1–2 and the description of the new creation in Revelation. Lister states, 'The garden was the sanctuary of God. Adam was his priest-king, who was to administer the rule and bring the presence of the Lord to the rest of the world. . . By issuing the command, the Lord called Adam to establish a dominion and dynasty that would cover the earth with his Creator’s relational presence. Adam was more than just a farmer; Adam’s call to subdue the earth had an eschatological, or future, goal.' Lister explains further, 'A large part of the divine mandate, then, consisted of Adam’s working to bring the presence of God to the rest of creation. Adam’s ‘subduing and ruling’ work in the garden was about the distribution of God’s presence. Adam was to expand the borders of Eden to cover the rest of the world. . . Adam was to subdue the whole earth – not just the garden.

So we see that God created man as a dominion creature who is commissioned with the “Cultural Mandate” (Gen 1:26) to subdue the earth to the glory of God. The question arises then: Will man subdue the earth to God’s glory as God intended? That is, will God’s creational purpose for man be realized — in history? Postmillennialism declares that it will.

In the very first expression of the Gospel, God tells the serpent he will be the enemy of the woman’s seed until the day his head is bruised (Gen. 3:15). Thus, Satan, represented by this strange crawling voice piece, would eventually be crushed under foot. God, our refuge, will enable us to tread on the lion and the adder (Ps. 91:13). Jesus gave his disciples authority to tread on serpents and scorpions (Luke 10:19). In the end Jesus’ death and resurrection was his own bruising and the powers of darkness’ ultimate defeat (Col. 2:14–5; Rev. 20:2). So the mandate to have dominion still holds, but now it must include reversing the effects of sin through the one who gained the power over sin, Jesus Christ. Through death he destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. Now, we too, through him have that power (Heb. 2:14–15).

The trial reconvened before the Supreme Judge of the Universe. The Accuser took his place to mount his next attack on the Covenant. “In your historical prologue, there is prattling on and on about the ‘generations of the heavens and the earth,’ etcetera, etcetera. And then we come to your creation of Man, ‘in the image of God you did create him, both male and female.’ I would like to address two aspects of this ‘image’: First, authority and hierarchy, and then this imperialist mandate of ‘dominion.’” Semjaza approached the Accuser and whispered in his ear. He was updating the prosecutor on the progress of Inanna’s forces. Enoch knew this already. Everyone on the defense knew it. Yahweh Elohim was not some kind of idiot finite deity who did not know what was going on in his creation. The mere fact that he chose to accomplish his purposes through such secondary means as the divine council and the freedom of his creatures did not bother Enoch anymore.

Under Christian dominion, America will be no longer a sinful and fallen nation but one in which the 10 Commandments form the basis of our legal system, creationism and “Christian values” form the basis of our educational system, and the media and the government proclaim the Good News to one and all. Labor unions, civil-rights laws and public schools will be abolished. Women will be removed from the workforce to stay at home, and all those deemed insufficiently Christian will be denied citizenship. Aside from its proselytizing mandate, the federal government will be reduced to the protection of property rights and “homeland” security. Some dominionists (not all of whom accept the label, at least not publicly) would further require all citizens to pay “tithes” to church organizations empowered by the government to run our social-welfare agencies and all schools. The only legitimate voices in this state will be Christian. All others will be silenced.

So we see that God created man as a dominion-oriented creature who is commissioned with the “Cultural Mandate” (Gen 1:26) to subdue the earth to the glory of God.[21] The question arises then: Will man subdue the earth to God’s glory as God intended? That is, will God’s creational purpose for man be realized — in history?

The curse levied at Adam (Gen 3:17–19) did not supersede God’s mandate to subdue the earth and take dominion. But it did make the task harder. The expulsion of humankind from Eden (Gen 3:22–25) turned a glorious dominion mission into mundane drudgery.

When substitute products are found, with each creature in turn, responsible dominion calls for a reprieve. The warrant expires. The divine mandate is used up. What were once "necessary evils" become just evils.

But most imperial elites earnestly believed that they were working for the general welfare of all the empire’s inhabitants. China’s ruling class treated their country’s neighbours and its foreign subjects as miserable barbarians to whom the empire must bring the benefits of culture. The Mandate of Heaven was bestowed upon the emperor not in order to exploit the world, but in order to educate humanity. The Romans, too, justified their dominion by arguing that they were endowing the barbarians with peace, justice and refinement. The wild Germans and painted Gauls had lived in squalor and ignorance until the Romans tamed them with law, cleaned them up in public bathhouses, and improved them with philosophy. The Mauryan Empire in the third century BC took as its mission the dissemination of Buddha’s teachings to an ignorant world. The Muslim caliphs received a divine mandate to spread the Prophet’s revelation, peacefully if possible but by the sword if necessary. The Spanish and Portuguese empires proclaimed that it was not riches they sought in the Indies and America, but converts to the true faith. The sun never set on the British mission to spread the twin gospels of liberalism and free trade. The Soviets felt duty-bound to facilitate the inexorable historical march from capitalism towards the utopian dictatorship of the proletariat. Many Americans nowadays maintain that their government has a moral imperative to bring Third World countries the benefits of democracy and human rights, even if these goods are delivered by cruise missiles and F-16s.