Friday, October 21, 2016

4. Chapter 2 Colonisation & Creation Acts - Why God colonise Earth

Chapter 2

Colonisation and Creation Acts - Why God colonise Earth



A. MOTIVE FOR CREATION AND COLONISATION

1.   The imperfect high priest and priesthood

We have heard news of high ranking government officials in very important portfolio who are caught, charged and are guilty of corruptions. Corruption must be eradicated at its root so as not to undermine the legitimacy of the government. The highest office of authority must have the highest standard of integrity and transparency. Great authority carries great responsibility.

In the Kingdom of heaven, there was a high ranking angelic being, an anointed cherub who was the highest dignitary of the Kingdom; serving as God’s vice regent to bear His Light in the office as the Light Bearer (the Latin word ‘Lucifer’) and he has iniquity. He refused to submit his will to God and was not contented with the position, prestige and power that God gave to him for service to God and others in the Kingdom. Instead he wanted all that was given to him, the position, prestige and power, to promote himself and for his own agenda.  This craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything he treasured more than God is covetousness or idolatry (Col 3:5). The corruption in this ‘high ranking anointed cherub’ who was the High Priest, the head of the governing body of the Kingdom was exposed. Even the heart of this most closest and favoured highest dignitary of the Kingdom, with all the position, prestige and power, cannot appreciate the grace and love of God and his heart was bent toward covetousness, how much more the rest of the high ranking angelic beings in the governing body? This priesthood was imperfect (pictured in the high priest Eli and his sons in 1 Sam 2-4) and was capable of cosmic chaos that can result in disorder, disharmony and dysfunction in the Kingdom in heaven. This corruption must be eradicated at its root.

2.     Reformation of the priesthood

There must be a reform of the governing body or priesthood with a new set of requirements, standard and selection process (Heb 9:6-10 c.f. 7:11-12). Seeing this imperfection in His former vice regent, God wanted a reformation in the highest level of the governing body in His Kingdom with a replacement of a new priesthood that is tested and proven before Him and all the angelic hosts and men before being appointed to the high office.

Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever. (1 Sam 2:35)
In the OT, this reformation and replacement of the Leviticus priesthood began in 1 Sam 2:35. It was replaced by the Zadok (meaning righteousness) priesthood, leading to its full expression in King David and the Tabernacle of David as a picture of the Melchizedek Priesthood that God intended. The Book of Ezekiel tells us of the restoration and the reformation of the Temple and the priesthood in the New Kingdom. Ezek. 44:10-28 tells us the outcome of the two priesthoods. One cannot come near God to minister to Him as priests, nor come near any of His holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place even though God still make them keep charge of the ministry in the temple(Ezek. 44:10-14) but the priests of righteousness shall come near God to minister to Him (Ezek 44:15-16).
3.     In substance, not shadow
He wanted a new priesthood who is truly in His Image and in His Likeness, in heart and in spirit, not only in external form but the fullness of the substance of God intrinsically. They are to be the intrinsic beings of His Light, not merely externally reflecting His Light in forms but truly emanating His light from within. At the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus, the new High Priest designated, revealed to Peter, James and John the substance of intrinsic light of the New Creation, which is the destiny of His ecclesia (Matt 17:1-2 c.f. 16:18). This corrupted ‘anointed cherub who covers’ served God with a mentality of a subject of the Kingdom and with a servant’s heart but God is reforming the new priesthood who will serve not because they have to but because they want to as begotten sons of the Kingdom. The new High Priest of the order of Melchizedek in Jesus Christ has the heart of a Begotten Son, fully manifesting the image and likeness of the invisible God, the firstborn over all (new) creation (Col 1:15).
4.          Creation for the New Creation
There is a reformation of the governing body in the Kingdom of God and God is preparing for its replacement by creating a new colony on earth with His image-bear man, both male and female (Gen 1:27) for the intent of  the New Creation of  new governing body, a new Melchizedek Priesthood. There shall be a New High Priest and new priesthood to replace the old angelic priesthood with its weakness (Hebrews 7:11-12). The New Creation is about the Christ.
 5.     Christ in you, the hope of glory
The word “Christ” comes from Christos, a Greek word meaning “anointed.” It is the equivalent of the word mashiach, or Messiah, in Hebrew. So, to be the Christ or Messiah is to be “the anointed one of God.” The overriding biblical imagery of the word “Messiah” or “Christ” is that of a king or a ruler chosen by God. ‘The Christ in you, the hope of glory’ means God has anointed and earmarked His ‘ekklesia or called-out ones’  to reign with Jesus Christ as co-heirs (Rom 8:7, 28-30) upon successful completion of the refining process, tested, approved and accepted for reigning.

Matt 16:16-19
16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church (Gk: ecclesia) and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
6.   To Jesus church is Eccelsia but to us it is congregation!

The word ‘basileia’ (Kingdom) appears 162 times in the New Testament and the word ‘ecclesia’ was mentioned twice only by Jesus (Matt 16:18 and 18:17) who was using it as the common man understood it during his time. ‘Eccelsia’ is the Greek word meaning ‘the called out ones’. It is a political term referring to the principal assembly of the democracy of ancient Athens. It was the popular assembly, open to all male citizens with 2 years of military service and regardless of social class. The assembly was responsible for declaring war, military strategy and electing the military generals for the campaign and other officials. It was responsible for nominating and electing magistrates, thus indirectly electing members of the Judicial. It had the final say on legislation and the right to call magistrates to account after their year of office. In short, the ecclesia is part of the governing body. The Romans copied this concept of government from the ancient Greek with some of its own modification and in the time of Jesus in the Roman colony of Palestine, Jesus was referring to the ecclesia concept of a governing body. Ecclesia, the way Jesus used the word, never had the religious connotation like the term church congregation. Ecclesia is equivalent to what we today call a parliament. It is a form of government and not a religious assembly or building.

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus was identified by  Peter as the Christ, the new King and Jesus replied He will build His Governing Body (the Ecclesia) for righteous and divine governance and will shut the openings of hell or darkness (i.e. ungodly influences) from gaining entry.

Col 1:26-28
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. NKJV
7.  Anointed, Approved and Appointed

The reformation of the governing body of the Kingdom of God requires a new law, a new set of criteria and process. Unlike the old priesthood of angelic beings who were installed the day they were created, which was shadowed by Aaron’s sons in default succession for the high priest, the new priesthood shall be a New Creation with new set of criteria. God Himself will raise up a faithful priest who will do according to what is in His Heart and Mind and God will build him a sure house before His anointed forever ( 1 Sam. 2:35) – they will be chosen, trained, tested and installed upon successful completion and approval by God Himself. (Rom 8:29-30). The ‘Christ in you the hope of glory’ means you are anointed but not yet appointed until you are approved through a process. Many charismatic evangelical churches are event oriented but not process oriented. Apostle Paul exhorts us with his own example “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14)

Anointed-->Process--> Approved--> Appointed

Eph 1:16-23
Making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. 

B. PREPARATION OF CREATION FOR 
     KINGDOM COLONISATION
    

    Subduing and stabilizing the Cosmic Chaos 

God decided to establish a colony on Planet Earth for the preparation of the new priesthood, the New Creation in Christ. Planet Earth was chosen by God and mankind was created by God. The creation is for the New Creation.

Genesis chapter 1 shows how God prepared the Earth for the subsequent habitation of man for the colonization of His Kingdom on Earth. Planet Earth was originally without functions and empty like other planets in our Solar System. To me, understanding the Book of Genesis and the Book of Revelation is paradoxical…you have to know the last book in order to understand the first book and vice versa and a good knowledge and understanding of God’s personality and patterns or ways. I was encouraged by the comment of Dr. Bruce Walke on the inadequacy of exegesis “evangelical teachers of every persuasion, including this writer, need to repent for their brash attempts to find God, who veils himself in Scripture from the proud, through merely scientific exegesis which they control”.[1]

Genesis is an ancient text for an ancient audience. It is only decoded using an ancient viewpoint. We are unable to comprehend it using our modern understanding or perspective. Genesis Chapter 1 mentions seven days of creation activity which are not marked by chronos but by kiaros. ‘Day’ here is associated with light and not time and it denotes a chain of divine activities in operation to restore a sequence of functions properly in an ordered system eventually, removing the cause or the agent of deficiency that disrupted the ordered system in the cosmos. So in Genesis 1:5 ‘So the evening and morning were the first day’ denote a divine activity accomplished to restore function back in divine order to eradicate disruption and disorder so that it can flourish again as we see evening (a period of increasing darkness) being displaced by  morning (a period of increasing brightness). The phrase “and God saw that it was good” indicates a satisfactory remark at the completion of each phase of restoration of proper function that contributed toward the eventual result of an ordered functioning system. In Genesis 1:31 ‘Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth’ was the verdict that everything was functioning in divine order with its resultant peace and God was very satisfied. He rested on the seventh day.

God has to perform a series of divine activities before embarking on His creation acts on earth for the New Creation. God has to subdue, contained and stabilised the disorders and malfunctions in the Kingdom in heaven due to the cosmic chaos. Day One to Three were periods of divine activities in the spiritual invisible realms when God restored proper functioning order; Day Four to Six were period of divine creation activities in the natural visible realm when God created functionaries, for example the sun is not a function, it only has functions. It is a mere functionary.

1.  Single out or called out

When chaos happened, the innocents and those who caused havoc must be identified. Genesis 1 saw God establishing functions to restore order by calling out those angels who are truthful and loyal to Him and those who are not. Two distinct groups or entities were differentiated, which God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. ‘Night’ therefore is a group of spiritual beings capable of chaos or darkness and ‘Day’ is a group of spiritual beings capable of peace or light.

Here is an important spiritual principle to note – the order is first evening then the morning. Evening is associated with a period of increasing darkness and morning with a period of increasing light and brightness. 'From evening to morning' denotes a period of reversal from increasing darkness or chaotic disorders to restoring orders and stability. Throughout history, mankind sees the ugliness of darkness and learns from their mistakes and does not allow history to repeat itself. Improvement, correction, renewal, revival, restoration all comes forth after a period of darkness in disharmony, decline, decay and destruction such as slavery and bondages, wars and sufferings. The Lion of Judah has prevailed because He first appeared as the Lamb as though it had been slain. Darkness, evil and wickedness must first be exposed and manifested by the meek, innocence, the defenceless, and the non violent. Why did God allow evil? Truth is unveiled when light is contrasted with darkness.

2.     Separation

The second function God did to restore order was to enforce the separation by dividing these two groups of angels in spatial distance. He created Heaven, “a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters” (Genesis 1:6). In the Bible water is frequently used to symbolise spirits. Order was established by separation and enforced by divisions. These are spiritual beings divided and kept in separate spiritual realms or spheres. The concept of holiness is to be separated from that which is not of God.



In our Solar System, the planets orbit around the Sun with the nearest planet illuminated by the brightness of light and the heat of the sun. The further the planet is from the Sun, the light intensity diminishes and the planet is colder. The functionary of the planets around the Sun serves as  a picture of the spirit realm where the closer you are to God, the brighter in the light spectrum you are in and vice versa, the further you are the darker and colder you will be.  So there are spiritual spatial spaces, layers or spheres of spiritual luminance in concentric rings around God, the brightest in its centre and diminishing as it distance off, with earth in neutral shade and darkness and total darkness in the most outer end. It is liken to an ascending stairway, the top of it is where God is, the brightest and the most intense of light. The steps of the ascending stairway are the spiritual spatial distance from God’s Shekinah Glory. How much of light within you (the substance or His dwelling presence) will determine your closeness with God, which will manifest in your glory or weightiness of your spiritual stature and aura of godliness. In Ephesians 6:10 Apostle Paul exhorts us “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” and ‘to be strong in the Lord’ means the more of His substance in us, i.e. in truth, in holiness, in righteousness, the closer we are in Him in His image, the stronger is our spiritual authority in the spirit realm. The more of the Light of Jesus is in us intrinsically, the greater is our spiritual ranking in authority hierarchy of the spirit realm. Glory means heaviness, signifying a greater weight of authority as more of His substance is in us. ‘In the power of His might’ is the power of that authority attained. We exercise that power in His likeness. There is an increase in spiritual stature and capacity.  There is more “muscle” as more divine nature is built as we are strengthened and trained in adversity. Jacob became Israel 'the prince' because he struggled and prevailed (Gen 32:28). We, the New Creation will move from glory to glory and from strength to strength until the same Holy Spirit who completed the work in the man Jesus also complete the works in us and brings us to into His Rest with Jesus who sat at the right hand of the Throne of God. That is our destiny.


This spiritual spatial spectrum is also addressed by Philip Peter Jenson in his book ‘Graded Holiness’[2] as ‘Holiness Spectrum’. Jenson develops the notion of a holiness spectrum” on which the table is based.





3.     Segregation

To further enforce this order of stability, the third function God did was to demarcate and draw the boundary to contain the disharmony and its spread. God created three spiritual zones, namely Heaven, Sea and Earth (these are the names of spiritual zones, not the natural zones we are familiar with). These are three spiritual zones of different spiritual operational dynamics where three distinct spiritual beings will operate; namely Heaven for angels, Sea for fallen angels and Earth for mankind (man is a spiritual being). Jesus in Luke 16:26 tell us a great gulf of segregation. These three spiritual zones or boundaries are physically represented and made known to us in the natural as sky, sea and land.

In the natural realm, water from the sky is fresh and supports life. This is fresh water. The water in the sea is salty and does not support life for the creatures of the land or air. The salty sea water only sustains those creatures living in that sphere. Land is sandwiched in between the sky and the sea and it is influenced by the sea and the sky. God is preparing the land to bring forth life and for man to live and flourish in it. The Land where man is to live is influenced by the Sea and the Sky, representing the agent of darkness and the agents of Light influencing man in his life. This is reflected in Psalm 1 where man can be influenced by the ungodly and the righteous. The land becomes the visible stage or platform where mankind can experience and learn of the effects of godly governance, while being in a dynamic environment influenced by various factors. Adam is mandated by God to subdue and have dominion over all in the sea, air and land (Genesis 1:28). It was intended to be training ground for lessons on ‘dominion’ for man. Man is intended by God to learn to subdue and have dominion by ‘putting his feet over it’ (Joshua 1:3, 10:24) and to rule like God because man is the New Creation intended for the new governing body for the new Kingdom. Cain, a picture of fallen mankind is still able to subdue and have dominion with his God-given ability, creativity and productivity but with a sin nature that distort the ability to function within the divine order of God and its resultant state of rest, and therefore a dysfunction Babylon is created. For the Kingdom of God to come fully, the fallen man must be born-again and regenerated by the Spirit of God until Christ is fully formed in him. Then he is mandated to be fruitful and multiply by the reproduction of the Seed inside.

4.     Stabilisation 

The first three days of creation, Day One to Three, we see God establishing functions to restore order and stability and containing the disharmony and setting the stage for man to come forth. God was assigning functioning roles in an ordered system. Therefore in the midst of chaos, God singled out or called out, separated and segregated to contain the chaotic situation and the forces behind it so as to stabilize and strengthen peace and orders for full restoration eventually.

The next three days in the creation account, Day Four to Six, God prepared Planet Earth for the habitation of mankind. He created cyclic time to remind mankind of the significance and impact of light and darkness, He created space and season to remind mankind of the natural forces of influences for good or destruction, and He created all things for mankind to subdue and have dominion. God set the stage on earth as training ground for man. The Planet Earth, which was ‘without form and was void,’ was given functions and filled with all types of life.

    a)   Day Four is corresponding to Day One - the Sun and Moon and the little stars to give light on the earth. Man’s life will be influenced and affected by days (good or life) and nights (evil or death). Man learns the difference between light and darkness and the importance of light. No matter how dark it is, there is always light! Light creates God awareness. 

   b)  Day Five corresponding to Day Two – the living creatures can only live in their demarcated boundary and domain. Birds fly, fishes swim and man walk but ecology must be balanced. Man must learn stewardship and governance. When the boundary is crossed and its domain lost, disorder and chaos happen. We must understand the ecology of the Kingdom of God on planet Earth.

     c)    Day Six corresponding to Day Three - a new sphere called land and its entire environment and ecology (spiritual and natural) was given to man to govern. Ecology is a balanced ordered system that is easily upset when any function is affected.

5.     Sovereignty

The King of the Kingdom in Heaven extended His influence on earth by colonization. The creation activities in Genesis 1-2 is God setting up His colony on Planet Earth. Man was created and anointed by God with the intention for eventual appointment to be the new priesthood of governing body for the Kingdom of God in Heaven. To be appointed for the new priesthood, man must successfully undergo the process of approval for appointment into the new priesthood. God set His Colony on earth as the training ground for man and for the formation of the stature, substance and wisdom of new priest-king function (i.e. the Christ) that man is earmarked for the intended priesthood of the new Kingdom in heaven. This is the destiny of man as God intended.

God must form the man before He can put the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.  Here is a spiritual principle – until God has finished forming you, He cannot put you in the Garden of Eden, which is the Most Holy Place, or the Temple of God, to serve and to guard.

Gen 2:7
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Gen 2:15
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

6. Sabbath or Rest
On the seventh day, God rested. What does divine rest means? It means for deity that normal operations of the cosmos can be undertaken after a crisis has been resolved or when stability has been achieved[3]. It simply means a defect was fixed and consequently normal routines can be established and enjoyed i.e. there is peace.

The concept of Rest or Sabbath is not God sleeping after all the hard works. It means God is able to revert back to the normalcy of ruling by His sovereignty after subduing the forces of chaos and restabilising peace. God is now able to have peace from disturbance or interruption and is back to the normalcy of His ruling. It’s not mere inactivity but that God had demonstrated his sovereignty over the forces of chaos and now has fixed the defect and restored the normal divine order of operation and orderly functions back to the Kingdom. His Glory is reinstated; further revealing his sovereign power.

In the Ten Commandment, God commanded us to remember and keep the Sabbath holy. In the Lord’s Prayer we are exhorted to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6:33), we are to be mindful continuously of establishing the Sabbath ‘rest’ for the Kingdom of God in our life. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God’ (Matt 5:9) …’and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace’ (Eph 6:15)…only matured sons or Huious are at ‘rest’ and wear shoes, slaves don’t. Matthew 6:33 is in the context when the Kingdom is fully functioning and there is no lack to our needs. Everything that God created in His Kingdom according to His divine order and function is sustainable and able to produce and provide without lacks. Therefore we are to keep the Sabbath or state of Rest holy on earth and also in the heaven, i.e. to remove anything against His rule in our life and in ‘our garden’ that God has entrusted to us i.e. our family that will disrupt God’s rule in us. Things like worldliness, flesh, sin, self will cause discord and disharmony resulting in us having to labour hard for a little and Sabbath Rest is greatly affected. 

When something is out of order, proper functioning is affected.  There is a defect that causes malfunction. In a continued state, disorder; resulting in dysfunctions, defects and destruction, will cause chaos. Man in his fallen state with his sin nature is dysfunctional with its accompanied consequences of disharmony.  Keeping the Sabbath holy means we are to be vigilant and conscientious to keep and maintain everything in our personal life, our family, our relationship, our work, our resources, our place and our surrounding and to govern all aspects of our life in obedience to God’s commandments so as to achieved an ordered system resulting in righteousness, peace and joy (Rom 14:17). Apostle Paul exhorts us 'to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling…as we walk in the pattern that is in Christ'(Phil 2:12, 3:17).



C. THE PURPOSE OF CREATION ACTS ON EARTH

1.   God’s Colony on Earth in Genesis 2
After the completion of the preparation works of God in providing a platform and setting up the stage after arresting and stabilizing the cosmic chaos and the creation of land on earth in Genesis 1, God began setting up of a new colony of His Kingdom of Heaven on earth. God extended His Kingdom’s invisible rule in heaven down onto the visible earth by setting up a colony in Eden. God’s purpose was first to form Adam and then to put him into the Garden to be trained to look after His Colony and when Adam matured to be a reproducer, he is to father and impart into his progeny all that God has commanded him (Gen 18:17-19), to extend the colonization of the Planet Earth with His Kingdom influence, just like the Great Commission Jesus gave to his apostles (Matt 28:18-20).

2.   Strategy for Colonisation is by Succession   

The seed reproduces after its own kind. There is a very important spiritual principle on the process. It is repeated three times in a single chapter in Genesis Chapter 1 verses 11, 12 and 29 - “the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself, reproducing to its own kind”. A tree takes many years to mature, then it bears fruits and the seed inside its fruit is the life, the DNA, the pattern, which will reproduce after its own kind. The progress of spiritual maturity and growth is from a) consumer, to b) producer and c) reproducer.

Consumer --> Producer--> Reproducer

3.   The Seed is the most important in God’s Plan
I have asked many people what is the most important part of the tree and many would reply the leaves, the root, the branch or the trunk but these answers are wrong! The most important part of a tree is the seed. If the Seed is Christ, the fruit is Christ, the trees will be Christ and the forest will be Christ. Supposing God wants mangoes and when we return to God after our 50 years of long and faithful service on earth and excitedly present Him with oranges, He would said, “Away! I do not know you” and we will be most miserable of all! You can be a very tall tree with many fruits of a very successful ministry or church but of the wrong seeds. True apostolic ministry is not just about establishing apostolic churches only but producing the Christ in us. Philippians chapter 3 reveals the apostolic passion of Paul.

Therefore God must form in us the priestliness before He put us into His Temple to serve and guard His reign in the Garden He assigned to us. I have met many zealous Christians desiring to serve God and I always encourage them 'to focus learning to follow Jesus now' and to wait patiently for their time of appointment by God. Many went (and in the process learn by the school of ‘hard knocks’) but were not sent by Him. Gen 3:15 mentions the Seed will bruise the serpent’s head…it is not some romantic passage in wanting to serve God…there is enmity and there are bruises and further more it is a long journey of a lifetime.

4.   Beware of various theologies

The colonization of the Kingdom in Heaven on Earth is not the same as the colonization by the colonial power of the British or Spanish Empire in the history of the world. It is not by military might, invasion and imperialism by lording over the locals. His goal is that in the fullness of times God might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and are on earth in Him (Eph 1:10) and the mission of the Church is to bring the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph 1:23), by the equipping of the saints by the five-fold ministerial grace that He might fill all things (Eph 4:9-10). There is a big difference in ‘Kingdom Theology and Kingdom-Now Theology or Dominion Theology’. Zeal without knowledge will cause the ill consequences and pains of Jephthah in Judges Chapter 11. Many people are attracted to the action-packed account of Joshua and his military conquest of Canaan. There is an element of truth in the concept of ‘Kingdom Transformation’ but the method is not by military activism but  subtle permeation like leaven (Matt 13:33) achieved by multiplication through generational successions[4] and not by confrontations. It is not by reconstruction or redevelopment of surroundings or systems but first by the development of the people godliness and in Kingdom lifestyle and from and through them, transforming their lives and surroundings. We are to be light and salt! We must realised it is never by military confrontations and conquests by imperialism but by succession through reproduction and multiplying the families of your progeny. And to be effective salt of the earth, our progeny must be able to permeate the world just as salt cannot sweeten a pot of soup until it makes contact and diffuses. A preacher states “the sea is salty but the fishes are not!”
Secondly the Kingdom colonization of the Earth is God’s purpose and goal but not His intent. It is a mean and not the end. It is not seeking utopia but seeking His Kingdom and its righteousness. God is not in a hurry in what you can do for Him but what you have become in the process of doing His will and purpose. The end is ‘the new heaven and the new earth’ i.e. a new priesthood prepared for the new Kingdom in new heaven and new earth. The realization of the Kingdom is ‘already and not yet’ with Jesus Christ as the new High Priest and King. In an interview for his book ‘Surprised by Hope’, N.T. Wright said, “The danger with “building the kingdom” language is it can make us very proud. “Building for the kingdom” keeps you humble.” God’s original creation intent in Genesis 2 is for Adam to mature in and to take care of the Garden of Eden and then to reproduce after his own kind to fill and subdue and have dominion in the earth. Question – “What kind of seeds will Adam reproduce if there is no Fall?” It is very important that we cooperate with the Holy Spirit to work within us and to empower us to live in that pre-Fall condition in spiritual maturity and to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit because every Tree of Life that yields fruits will have the Seed to reproduce after its own. The Seed is the Christ in the New Creation.

5.   Temple of God in Garden of Eden

The Garden in Eden is the Temple of God, signifying the fullness of God’s reign in the colony. It is the picture of the perfect model of the reign of God, i.e. the Throne Room of God in heaven on earth.  Adam was perfect without sin and was placed in the Garden of Eden as God’s vice regent to govern the new territory. Adam was to serve and guard the Temple as priest/king in the spirit of holiness and in wisdom[5], learning the understanding and skill in governing the colony on earth and to train his offspring for succession. They were trained in the colony on earth in preparation for the Kingdom of God in Heaven.  Adam learned to bring God’s rule into his own life and his wife and children. He learnt to exercise godly headship and stewardship in good governance of managing resources for the well being of everyone and everything in the colony. Adam was God’s priest/king to govern God’s people in God’s place. He had to guide, guard and govern the colony.
                 

6.   New Creation and the Colony
God formed Adam (the godliness of His Image) and placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it (Gen 2:15). The usage of the word ‘to cultivate and keep’ in the Old Testament is also used ‘to serve and guard,’ God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, which is God’s Temple, to serve Him by guarding and governing His colony. Now Adam was trained to be the vice regent of God in His Likeness in his new priest-king role and function and continue the colonisation through his progeny filling the earth as God’s governing body by multiplying more Kingdom outposts of families on the earth.

God placed Adam in the Garden for the purpose of training him to be God’s vice regent to govern His Colony here on earth. Adam was to learn to represent God fully in His image and in His likeness, how to subdue and have dominion, how to be fruitful and how to multiply to extend God’s rule until the whole earth is colonized. Adam was to develop godliness and godly ‘governmentality’, which is the art of governing.

God set up His Colony on earth as a platform for grooming the heirs of His Kingdom in heaven (Heb 12:3-11). The colony was created by God to be Adam’s training, testing and approval ground. God established His Colony on earth in Eden and in the Garden of Eden, He extended His heavenly rule on earth with Adam as God’s vice regent; who was mandated by God to subdue and have dominion over all of creatures on earth. In the process of Adam naming and assigning every beasts and birds as functionality, God was training him in dominion by assigning functions and roles in an ordered system. Adam was to learn to govern well as he matured in the image and likeness of God; with the resultant signature mark of godly wisdom in governmental grace. As part of God’s plan Adam was to learn succession in commanding his offspring to keep the way of God, to do righteousness and justice (Gen 18:18-19), and to be fruitful and multiply to extend the colonization on the earth, thus seeing ‘His Kingdom comes’ i.e. God’s people in God’s colonies on the earth under God’s rule! The process was meant for Adam to mature spiritually from a consumer (a child, the Outer Court) to become a producer (young man, the Holy Place) and then to become a reproducer (a father, Most Holy Place) after God’s own kind.

Child --> Young Man  -->  Father
Consumer   -->   Producer  -->   Reproducer
Outer Court   -->      Holy Place -->   Most Holy Place
Today, the churches are outposts of communities of the Colony. The outposts of the colony are a platform for the outworking of His Redemption Salvation Plan in us. Unlike the perfect state of the original Eden, we are being groomed as heirs for the Kingdom in the background of a fallen world of sins and sufferings. Evil, wickedness and darkness is contrasted by the mercy, grace and Light of God in Christ Jesus. Discipleship in his Lordship teaches us holiness and righteous governance in the godliness and the wisdom in our God-allocated ‘garden’ as we endeavour to see His Kingdom and His will be done on earth as is in heaven. The colony is intended for the process of preparation of the sons of God in the New Creation. It is the training ground for the children (Gk: Teknion) of God to learn, nurture, develop, grow and be tested until perfected in holiness, ability, capability and productivity. It is for the grooming of matured sons (Gk: Huious) who are trained to reign in righteousness for the priest-king’s governing role as heirs of His Kingdom in Heaven. In the colony, we are groomed for His Inheritance (Gal 3:26 – 4:7; c.f. Heb 1:4). In the OT, the selection and the development of the priesthood was sovereignty made by God himself (Num 3:12) and the priesthood was not given territorial land (Num 18:20, Duet 12:12, Josh 14:4) and would have their inheritance in God.

Eph 1:7-23

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.


7.   Restoring the Temple of God as the mission of the Church[6]

A king extends his kingdom rule on another place by colonization. Eden is the Colony of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The Garden of Eden is where the Governor’s house is. The Holy Spirit is the Governor. The Colony of the Kingdom of Heaven exists on earth when all the following functions are present:

a. God’s Temple - as the seat of government, the authority of legal rulership.
b. God’s Priest -  as the governing body
c. God’s Rules –  as the law of the Kingdom
d. God’s People – as the subjects of the Kingdom
e. God’s Place -  as the place where God’s authority to rule is established

The Garden of Eden was the Temple of God, the extension of His Throne as His footstool on earth in the colony. It is the seat of government of the Kingdom on earth in the colony and Adam was the vice regent. The Fall of Adam and Eve has disrupted it. The Garden of Eden symbolizes the Temple, which unlike the temporal tabernacle, is a picture symbolising the complete full functionality of the government of His Kingdom and its complete rulership over the entire Kingdom territories (the Temple of Solomon replaced the Tabernacle of Moses when the reign of the Davidic Kingdom is over the entire Israel territory). The Temple is the source of the River of Life in Ezekiel 47 and in Revelation 22. The River of Life flows freely, peacefully and freshly in abundance out from the Garden, which is the Throne of God, and where the River of Life flows, representing the rulership of God, it brings forth life to the four corners of the earth. Gold (representing divine nature) was found in the land the river flows to, foreshadowing the River of the Holy Spirit bringing forth divine life, order, peace, progress and prosperity into the lives of the people in the land where the rulership of God is present. The time of King Solomon’s reign, the Davidic Kingdom enjoyed its golden age and the glory of God was highly revered throughout the regions. These are the seven-fold blessings in the Abrahamic Covenant in Gen. 12:1-3.

8.   Kingdom Colonization by  Righteousness and Truth

In the past, the conquerors would vanquish the defeated by burning the cities, taking the women and livestock and killing all the males but the Romans were different in that they imposed their culture, laws and language into the territories of their conquest. The emperor in Rome extended his rule into the Roman colony of Philistine. At the time of Jesus, Philistine was a colony of the Roman Empire. It is very important for us to take note that the time of Jesus’ incarnation in Philistine was intentional. It is to show us how the colonisation of the Kingdom and of the Roman Empire coexisted and was able to prevail.

When Jesus faced off with Pontius Pilate, it was the encounter of two powers. The colonization[7] of God’s Kingdom is unlike those negative experiences of the colonial masters of the past. When Jesus stood before Pilate, it was Truth winning by righteousness. I caught the spirit of righteousness from the teaching of a righteous pastor from Nigeria: “God will not forsake the righteous; He will not justify the wicked. The righteousness of a righteous man will answer for him in the days to come and the wickedness of a wicked man will fall upon his own head.” He taught “We win by righteousness! We rather choose to lose if we cannot win by righteousness.” We colonise by the righteousness and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ for He rules with the sceptor of righteousness.

In the history of the world, western powers like the British Empire and the Spanish kings started waves of colonization driven by forces of economy. The spread of Christianity faith rode on these waves. As we studied the history of Christian world missions, the Christian faith spread by the phenomenon of what we termed “3 MP”. First, the colony was set up when the merchants arrived, followed by the mercenaries to protect the colony and then the missionaries used the colony as the base to springboard their evangelistic works and finally the pastors to shepherd the flocks.

9.   Contemporary Cultural Colonisation and Culture War

In our present days, cultural colonization, the slow creeping replacement of a native culture by foreign culture with economic expansion often without intent, is very active through the digital social media, globalisation and ease of travelling, migration, humanistic ‘freedoms and rights’ and postmodernism of tolerance. We are constantly being influenced or ‘colonized’ and it is very important we permeate when immersed and not be submerged by it! Remember "The sea is salty but the fishes are not" and the Lord’s exhortation “if the salt should lose its saltiness, it is useless” (Matt.5:13).

Unlike terrorism and religious radicalism which is outright evil, the postmodernism of tolerance is a subtle but very powerful and deadly force which the Church cannot afford to be ignorant, passive and indifference to. It is an onslaught with dire consequences of life and death to the moral fabric of godly society. It actually capitalise on the sympathy of the gullible Christians. The Church must be proactive and pre-emptive in countering this ‘Haman’ and the Book of Esther is very relevant in the strategy to counter it. God is not mentioned in the entire Book of Esther but we can learn of the wisdom in dealing with a secular world.







[1] http://mydigitalseminary.com/bruce-waltke-inadequacy-exegesis/
[2] Graded Holiness: A key to the priestly conception of the world by Philip Peter Jenson http://www.friendsofsabbath.org/Further_Research/Bible/Graded%20Holiness.pdf
[3] Read ‘Divine Rest’ page 60, The Temple and the Church’ Mission by G.K.Beale, Intervarsity Press, 2004.
[4] Joseph Mattera, ‘Walk in Generational Blessings – leaving a legacy of transformation through your family’, Destiny Image Publishers, 2012.
[5] Read Graeme Goldsworthy’s article ‘Wisdom and its Literature in Biblical-Theological Context’ http://www.sbts.edu/wpcontent/uploads/sites/5/2012/02/pages-from-sbjt-v15-n3 goldsworthy.pdf
also listen to his series of audio lectures on 1 King 5-8 (http://www.christianlibrary.org.au/audio/goldsworthy.html)
[6] G.K.Beale and Mitchell Kim’s book ‘God Dwells Among Us – Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth’, IVP Books, 2014
[7] The late Myles Munroe wrote many books and teachings about the colonization of the Kingdom e.g. God’s Big Idea. Do a search in the internet, Amazon and YouTube to learn more. 

No comments:

Post a Comment