Kingdom Principles

The Kingdom of God Versus the Government of Man

and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work [manage or administrate] the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground (Genesis 2:4b-6).

From these verses we see that the Creator allowed no productive growth to take place on the earth because “there was no man to work the ground.” The word “work” here implies management, administration, orderly development, and making fruitful. Thus, one of the principal motives for the creation of man was to provide a manager, administrator, and ruler of the planet earth. This is why the Creator expressed it in these words:

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule [or have dominion] over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26).

The mandate of the Creator for mankind was rulership and dominion. As we saw earlier, the word “dominion” here translates the Hebrew word, mamlakah , meaning “kingdom” or “sovereign rule” or government. Therefore, the first command given to man by his Creator was to establish a “government” on the earth to destroy chaos and to maintain order. Government is God’s solu tion to disorder. The logical conclusion one can derive from this scenario is, first of all, that government is God’s idea; second, that the absence or lack of correct government will always lead to chaos and disorder; and third, that wherever there is chaos, disorder, or lack of productivity, the answer is correct government. The fall of mankind as recorded in the third chapter of Genesis was the result of man declaring independence from the government of heaven, resulting in anarchy and social and spiritual chaos. Ever

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