KINGSHIP: God's Original Intent

Subject: KINGSHIP: God's Original Intent Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:57 pm

KINGSHIP: God’s Original Intent
By Jonas Clark

Kingship was God’s original intent – and He hasn’t changed His mind. From the moment Adam lost his kingship and was expelled from the Garden of Eden, God has been working all things after the counsel of His will – to restore this world and everything in it back to Himself.

Luke records God’s plan in Acts 3:19-21: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Who the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

Restoration is the act of restoring to the rightful owner something that has been taken away, lost or stolen. The word “restitution” in this Scripture comes from the Greek word apokatastasis, meaning “to return this Earth back to its perfect state before the fall.” God has been working to restore the Earth to its perfect state and to restore man’s kingship for thousands of years.

In the beginning, we know that God created Adam in His own image, in His likeness and with His nature (Genesis 1:26). The Word says that “God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed life (not air) into his nostrils and man became a living soul with purpose – to fellowship with God and have dominion over this Earth (Genesis 2:7; 1:26).

In the original creation Adam was perfect. He lived out of his spirit. He communed with God out of his spirit. He was connected to God through his spirit. He named the animals from his spirit. He tended the garden from his spirit. He exercised his kingship, or dominion, over the Earth from his spirit.

Scripture tells us that God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. He also gave Adam a command: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2). Of course, Adam did not immediately die when he ate of the fruit. He lived to be 930 years old. God was talking about a spiritual death.

Some time after this we read the testimony of Eve’s deception by the serpent. That old serpent told Eve that the reason God didn’t want her to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was because her eyes would be opened and she would be like God (Genesis 3:5). The reality was that Adam and Eve were already like God. They were created with the very nature of God, in the image of God, blessed by God, and given dominion over the Earth by God.

We all know the sad conclusion, Eve partook and Adam did, too. Sin entered the Earth and Adam’s spirit died because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Adam’s disobedience caused a communal disconnect between his spirit and the Spirit of God. Adam and Eve began to live out of their souls instead of their spirits. (Your soul is your mind, will, intellect, reasoning, imaginations and emotions.) They were led by their five senses – touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste – instead of their spirits. Before the fall they simply knew what they needed to know. They could draw any knowledge they needed directly from God’s Spirit. Their fall was the genesis of soulish education.

When God came into the garden to fellowship with Adam, he heard the Lord’s voice and tried to hide among the trees. God called out to Adam, asking “Where art thou?” Adam replied, “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 2:8-10). Of course, God knew where Adam was all along. God is all knowing. He didn’t ask because He didn’t know. God knew where Adam was physically but He couldn’t find Adam in His Spirit. For the first time Adam was not connected to God through his spirit.

From that moment on, God determined to restore mankind back to Himself. I can almost hear God saying, “Adam, I’m coming to get you!” In order to work this out to the counsel of His will, God had to send the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

What we need to understand here is that Adam didn’t fall from heaven. He fell from grace. Our ultimate destination as born-again believers is not heaven, but Earth. Even the rapture only takes us to heaven for a short time. We will eventually return to this Earth to rule and reign with Christ. We don’t need incorruptible resurrected bodies to live in heaven. We need them for life on Earth.

Adam did not understand his purpose. Not understanding our purpose is the foundation of all failure. God’s original intent for man has always been to fellowship with Him. We were designed from the beginning to take dominion over this Earth that God has created. We can never see our original intent restored until we are first born again and subsequently learn to live out of our born- again spirits.

Scripture says that the Holy Spirit is our Teacher who will lead us and guide us in all truth. He is the One who is actively involved in the restitution of all things. Friend, the Spirit-led life is the answer to walking out your kingship. The Apostle Peter said we are a priesthood of kings (1 Peter 2:9). Jesus said it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). Scripture declares that all creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19).

How can we manifest as sons? By exercising our kingship authority as believers and walking out the restored biblical truths of our generation. Every “movement” throughout history has resulted in some form of truth being restored to the Body of Christ. After the resurrection of Jesus, religious spirits attacked the Church and we plunged into the Dark Ages. Yet the seed of the Kingdom of God had already been planted and was destined to outgrow everything (Mark 4:31).

Consider this. It took over 2,000 years for the Church to be prepared for the restoration of this “kingship of every believer” truth. What we do with this revelation of kingship, as the original intent is up to us.