From the moment Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden, God has sought a holy people. God loves his creation and wishes to re-establish a common presence with man. The earth is the throne of man. However, when man sinned, he abdicated his throne to Satan. The earth rightfully belongs to man, not to Satan. Subsequently, the Father initiated a takeover by sending his Son in the form of a man. Christ won the day and is now crowned with glory and seated with the Father. Although we do not currently see all things subject to man, our day is drawing near (Hebrews 2:5-9). However, in order to accept our throne, we must first learn that we have one… that we truly are royalty!
Because sinful thought has deceived us, we are not aware that we occupy such a position on earth. Man has so trivialized his position before God that he sees his existence as nothing more than to work, eat and die. We just don’t understand our sovereign status. Sovereignty begins in the heart of man, for it is here that God has his throne, where he comes to live with believers (John 14:16-18). For now, Satan has dominance. However, our hearts are given to God. Our new relationship with God, through Christ, revives us and instructs us in the proper code of conduct for children.
Intrinsically, man knows that he must rule. However, the modalities of sovereign government, as practiced by man throughout the centuries, clearly indicate how much man fails to understand the type of government that God intended. This is easily seen in nations that dominate other nations, totalitarian and imperialist forms of government, military dictatorships, the ideological practice of racial and cultural superiority, the enslavement of others, etc., using shock force tactics to impose control. . Man’s propensity for power is wrong. Also, if there is no enemy available, the men will create one! Now that the world is in full pursuit of globalization, we will experience a new phenomenon of world unity. This unity, however, is actually sovereign control masquerading as humanism: the belief that human resolve and ingenuity will rule the day.
However, genuine sovereignty, as intended by God, is of a different design.
For now, we are mortal. We came from the earth and we will return to the earth. Only Christ makes the difference. He can take us from mortality to immortality. He has already given us a down payment for eternity through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:14). We are children of God! We are more than trash!
For now, though, we’re content with dirt. Truly, we are proud of it! We make dirt work for us! We made it! We build! We conquer! All in the name of dirt! Reaching land, for humans, represents property, prosperity and, above all, power! Power over what? Because everything comes from the earth, power is power over the earth and all that it produces. The propensity of man is to achieve power. In his book On the Origins of War ([Doubleday: New York, 1995]6) Donald Kagan says that the wisest students of war realize that “the competition for power” provides the greatest impetus for war.
The true children of God do not seek to rule over other humans. Our original grant of authority was not over others, but over the other aspects of creation: vegetation and animals. It was a harmless rule; but, for now, it is suspended. However, the earth, in its eternal state (Revelation 21:1), will not be subject to the vandalism it now suffers. On this new earth, the redeemed will reign with Christ. The earth will no longer tempt us. The only power we will know is the one that emanates from God.
God is sovereign in the universe and so is man, who was created in the image of God. At a time when all things on earth are viewed as equal to or superior to man, it is pertinent that we understand and recognize the true order of creation. The things created first -heavens and earth, vegetation and animals- do not have preeminence over humanity, quite the contrary. The first of God’s creation were presented to man as a gift from the heavenly Father. All things were prepared for man to rule on earth (Genesis 1:28-30)-his throne from him!
On earth, humanity was sovereign, complementary to the Creator’s reign in the universe. Technically speaking, a king provides a throne for his heir, the prince’s estate. We were God’s intended princes on earth and Adam turned our throne over to Satan. What king would tolerate someone else sitting on the throne meant for his son? Man is sovereign on earth because he came from the earth. Satan, however, is an entity of a different order. Satan is not of the earth and he should not have jurisdiction in earthly affairs. That is why it is an insult to God that Satan has earthly powers over God’s children. Such things were never meant to be. God will change this.
Many believe that the central theme of Scripture is Christ dying for our sins. While his death is certainly a pivotal point in God’s plan to redeem sinful man, the central theme is God’s desire for sons on earth: sons of man who become sons of God. In order to become children, we first had to be redeemed. However, there is more to sonship than redemption. A redeemed sinner walks blameless before the Lord, but a child walks sinless before the Lord…one who is truly obedient to God’s will. Man is biologically born of woman but spiritually born of God, his second birth (John 3). Our “born again” status establishes us as sons and therefore heirs in the kingdom of God (Galatians 3:26-4:7). Princes of the King!
Our royal status was the main reason for the cross.