The original plan of God (Part 1)
Our story, the story of humanity, didn’t start with us. It started with God. For God created the heavens and the earth and everything that was on the earth. It was all the perfect picture. Life was everywhere and there was not a single trace of decay. There was just one thing missing. We.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”
Genesis 1:26
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.
Genesis 2:7
And thus the man was created, but he was still alone. Looking at the man He just created, God concluded that it would not be good that the man should be alone. When you read this part it almost looks like God was puzzled and confused, as if He did not know what to do next. He concluded that the man needed a helper, comparable to him. So God started to make all sorts of animals and brought them to Adam. Interesting to see is that He did this to “see what he would call them”.
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
Genesis 2:18-20
Don’t you think this is odd? It really looks like God did not know what to do next in order to find Adam a suitable helper that was comparable to him. Why not directly creating the woman for him? Now it looks like the woman was the last option, just a helper and some sort of slave in order to please the man. But God knew exactly what He was doing. He doesn’t only know the steps He is doing now, but He also knows all steps ahead. That means that He knew exactly that all of those creatures would never meet the standard that He wanted to use. Then why doing it anyway? Because He wanted Adam to know and He wanted Adam to come to the same conclusion. That’s why God listened when Adam started to name all of the creatures. Adam named them all, but none of them was named “helper” or anything equal to that. At the point where Adam realized that none of the creatures could be his helper, his equal companion, God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”
Genesis 2:21-23
God did not want Adam to take the woman for granted. He wanted to make a point. And when Adam was able to see the point, God created the woman for him and brought her to him. Adam was beyond enthusiasm. He finally had the helper he needed and who was an equal companion. And thus the woman was created. Together Adam and Eve formed a unity on the earth, creatures in God’s image, according to His likeness. They had a direct contact with their Creator and walked daily with Him. Most literally. But God also gave them a mission.
Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Genesis 1:28
The original plan of God. We were created to have dominion over the earth, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth. The very first thing God did was giving mankind the authority over the whole earth. What a glorious time it must have been. Yet it lasted only the first two chapters of the Bible. Nevertheless it was and is God’s original plan for us to have dominion over the earth. But then there was sin and it all changed.
It is good to mention that in God’s original plan, the dominion was just based on life. It was not based on law or knowledge, because Adam and Eve were created without the knowledge of good and evil. They had pure innocence. So, basically the only thing they were told to do was to spread life and to support the spreading of life. That was as far as their knowledge went.
Right after He created the man, and before He created the woman, God created a garden in Eden. In the garden were all sorts of trees which were all pleasant to see and good for food. In the midst of that garden were two different kind of trees. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Along with the creation of these trees, God gave the man the following instructions.
Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Genesis 2:16-17
Two trees, once decision. To obey or not to obey. To align with His will or to live outside of His will. When satan approached the woman, he tried the very same thing that he used in heaven and what caused him to be banned. The root of all sins: pride.
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5
It was the exact same thing that he did in heaven. He used to be the highest in rank in heaven and had only God Himself above him. Back then he was the only anointed cherub, covering the throne of God (Ezekiel 28:14). No other creature was ever so close to God then he was at that time. And he lost all of that because of his pride, because he wanted to be like God and because he wanted to be God. In his rebellion against God, he tried to conquer God and lost. He lost his place at the holy mountain of Lord. He lost his place in heaven. He lost his authority and he lost the right to “be”. The Word says literally “and there is no you anymore”, which took away his identity and the right to be (Ezekiel 28:19). Then, in the garden of Eden, he seduced the woman with the same pride, and she fell for it. Directly afterwards the woman seduced the man and he fell for it as well.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Genesis 3:6-7
Until that point satan had no authority over anything. But a spiritual rule is that faith gives power. What happened at that moment was a spiritual transaction, which transferred the authority over the earth from man to satan. How did he do that? By telling a lie? Yes, he did tell the woman a lie, but that’s not the only thing he did. He gave her the truth mixed with a lie. It was true that their eyes would be opened. It was true that they would be like God, knowing good and evil. But it was a lie that they would not die. By giving them enough of the truth to believe his lie, he caused the woman to have faith in him. But the only thing the woman probably heard was the part “be like God”. The aim of satan was to make Adam and Eve doubt God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. By succeeding in doing that, the deposit of authority could take place and he gained the authority over the earth.
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:22-24
And that’s where the original plan of God for mankind ended. Since they lost their innocence, they were no longer able to have dominion over the earth based on just ‘life’. The reason for that was that they now had knowledge of good and evil. And the thing with knowledge is that once you know something, you can’t ‘unknow’ it. Once you’ve gained knowledge, you can’t get rid of it. So in order to make the plan succeed, that man would be able to have dominion over the earth, a different plan was needed. A plan that involved the knowledge of good and evil and a plan that would undo the effects of sin that had just entered mankind and through mankind had entered the world. Adam and Eve, the king and queen of the earth, had lost their God given authority.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”
Genesis 1:26
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.
Genesis 2:7
And thus the man was created, but he was still alone. Looking at the man He just created, God concluded that it would not be good that the man should be alone. When you read this part it almost looks like God was puzzled and confused, as if He did not know what to do next. He concluded that the man needed a helper, comparable to him. So God started to make all sorts of animals and brought them to Adam. Interesting to see is that He did this to “see what he would call them”.
And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
Genesis 2:18-20
Don’t you think this is odd? It really looks like God did not know what to do next in order to find Adam a suitable helper that was comparable to him. Why not directly creating the woman for him? Now it looks like the woman was the last option, just a helper and some sort of slave in order to please the man. But God knew exactly what He was doing. He doesn’t only know the steps He is doing now, but He also knows all steps ahead. That means that He knew exactly that all of those creatures would never meet the standard that He wanted to use. Then why doing it anyway? Because He wanted Adam to know and He wanted Adam to come to the same conclusion. That’s why God listened when Adam started to name all of the creatures. Adam named them all, but none of them was named “helper” or anything equal to that. At the point where Adam realized that none of the creatures could be his helper, his equal companion, God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.”
Genesis 2:21-23
God did not want Adam to take the woman for granted. He wanted to make a point. And when Adam was able to see the point, God created the woman for him and brought her to him. Adam was beyond enthusiasm. He finally had the helper he needed and who was an equal companion. And thus the woman was created. Together Adam and Eve formed a unity on the earth, creatures in God’s image, according to His likeness. They had a direct contact with their Creator and walked daily with Him. Most literally. But God also gave them a mission.
Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Genesis 1:28
The original plan of God. We were created to have dominion over the earth, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth. The very first thing God did was giving mankind the authority over the whole earth. What a glorious time it must have been. Yet it lasted only the first two chapters of the Bible. Nevertheless it was and is God’s original plan for us to have dominion over the earth. But then there was sin and it all changed.
It is good to mention that in God’s original plan, the dominion was just based on life. It was not based on law or knowledge, because Adam and Eve were created without the knowledge of good and evil. They had pure innocence. So, basically the only thing they were told to do was to spread life and to support the spreading of life. That was as far as their knowledge went.
Right after He created the man, and before He created the woman, God created a garden in Eden. In the garden were all sorts of trees which were all pleasant to see and good for food. In the midst of that garden were two different kind of trees. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Along with the creation of these trees, God gave the man the following instructions.
Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Genesis 2:16-17
Two trees, once decision. To obey or not to obey. To align with His will or to live outside of His will. When satan approached the woman, he tried the very same thing that he used in heaven and what caused him to be banned. The root of all sins: pride.
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5
It was the exact same thing that he did in heaven. He used to be the highest in rank in heaven and had only God Himself above him. Back then he was the only anointed cherub, covering the throne of God (Ezekiel 28:14). No other creature was ever so close to God then he was at that time. And he lost all of that because of his pride, because he wanted to be like God and because he wanted to be God. In his rebellion against God, he tried to conquer God and lost. He lost his place at the holy mountain of Lord. He lost his place in heaven. He lost his authority and he lost the right to “be”. The Word says literally “and there is no you anymore”, which took away his identity and the right to be (Ezekiel 28:19). Then, in the garden of Eden, he seduced the woman with the same pride, and she fell for it. Directly afterwards the woman seduced the man and he fell for it as well.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Genesis 3:6-7
Until that point satan had no authority over anything. But a spiritual rule is that faith gives power. What happened at that moment was a spiritual transaction, which transferred the authority over the earth from man to satan. How did he do that? By telling a lie? Yes, he did tell the woman a lie, but that’s not the only thing he did. He gave her the truth mixed with a lie. It was true that their eyes would be opened. It was true that they would be like God, knowing good and evil. But it was a lie that they would not die. By giving them enough of the truth to believe his lie, he caused the woman to have faith in him. But the only thing the woman probably heard was the part “be like God”. The aim of satan was to make Adam and Eve doubt God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. By succeeding in doing that, the deposit of authority could take place and he gained the authority over the earth.
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:22-24
And that’s where the original plan of God for mankind ended. Since they lost their innocence, they were no longer able to have dominion over the earth based on just ‘life’. The reason for that was that they now had knowledge of good and evil. And the thing with knowledge is that once you know something, you can’t ‘unknow’ it. Once you’ve gained knowledge, you can’t get rid of it. So in order to make the plan succeed, that man would be able to have dominion over the earth, a different plan was needed. A plan that involved the knowledge of good and evil and a plan that would undo the effects of sin that had just entered mankind and through mankind had entered the world. Adam and Eve, the king and queen of the earth, had lost their God given authority.