The Kingdom in Eden: The Original Design - Part 1

Let's turn together to the sacred scriptures and we're going to take a number of readings this morning and the first will be from the book of Genesis and chapter 1. Just before I take the readings, it's just a note of appreciation to the assembly, the assembly here in Mount Sterling. It's a privilege again to be here with the assembly. I see many dear friends that we've come to know over the years who are here in the audience this morning and it's very valued to see them and be amongst the Lord's people again here for the conference.

I should also put a note just of appreciation that here we are with our brethren. I have had the appreciation and been able to work with our brethren here in the past and we trust that God will bless us as we move through these Bible readings for the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus. Let's turn then to Genesis chapter 1 and we'll read together from verse number 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and the first day begins here in verse number 3 and God said let there be light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness and God called the light day and the darkness he called night and the evening and the morning were day one the first day.

Now look down with me please it would be profitable to be to read quite a bit of this chapter but let's read from verse number 24 and God said let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind cattle and creeping thing and the beast of the earth after his kind and it was so and God made the beast of the earth after his kind and the cattle after their kind and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind and God saw that it was good and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image in the image of God created he him male and female created he them and God blessed them and God said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth and God said behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for meat and to every beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat and it was so and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening and the morning were the sixth day thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God had created and made now let's look down again verse 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 soul and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed and out of the garden made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil and a river went out of Eden to water the garden and from thence it was parted and became into four heads and the name of the first is Pison that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah where there is gold and the gold of that land is good there is Bedellum and the onyx stone and the name of the second river is Gihon the same as it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia and the name of the third river is Hittikel that is it which goeth towards the east of Assyria and the fourth river is Euphrates and the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it and the Lord God commanded the man saying 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 not thou shalt surely die and the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone I will make an help meet for him and out of the garden the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air and brought them on to Adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof and Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field but for Adam there was not found and help meet for him and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he woman or made he a woman and brought her on to the man and Adam said this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out of the man therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave on to his wife and they shall be one flesh and they were both naked the man and his wife and were not ashamed look over with me please to exodus 19 we'll take a second reference in exodus chapter 19 and at verse number 1 exodus 19 and verse number 1 in the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt the same day came they on to the wilderness of Sinai for they were departed from Rephidim and they came to the desert of Sinai and it pitched in the wilderness and there Israel camped before the mount and Moses went up unto God and the Lord called to him out of the mountain saying thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation these are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel and Moses came and called for the elders of the people laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him and all the people answered together and said all that the Lord has spoken we will do and Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord we take a final reference in the book of the psalms the book of the psalms just to pick up the divine commentary on what we have read together psalm number eight this beautiful psalm of David psalm number eight and the title of the psalm the superscription of the psalm part of the inspired text of the psalms to the chief musician upon geteth a psalm of David oh Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth who has set thy glory above the heavens look at verse number four please what is man that thou wert mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him for thou has made him a little lower than the angels and thou has crowned him with glory and honor now many will be aware that this passage is quoted in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter two it's linked with Adam and in Hebrews 2 it's very definitively linked with the Lord Jesus one of the things that comes up in question is the fact of glory and honor and the question arises what is the glory and honor that is both associated with Adam and with Christ I would judge that the next verse actually tells us what it is just look at verse number six verse number five says thou has crowned him with glory and honor verse number six I judge then defines what the glory and honor is thou has made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou has put all things under his feet and God blessed to us those exceedingly precious readings from the sacred scriptures and we do trust that God will give us the gracious help of his spirit as we make our way through this Bible reading and anticipate the help of God's spirit in the Bible readings that are to come I had the privilege last night of just giving a word of introduction in ministry to this great subject of God's kingdom and tongue-in-cheek I did say to the audience last night that I almost wished that the brethren and the sisters of the assembly in Mount Sterling had chosen a larger subject for us that we could consider together in a Bible reading conference we would have to admit that when it comes to the subject which is at our disposal for consideration this weekend this is one of the largest subjects that we have in scripture my brother Brody was teasing me this morning two hours and in two hours you get to tell them everything you know about the kingdom and more than that you get it you get to put it on a little piece of paper all of the notes that you've compiled about God's kingdom in two hours he's a he only gets an hour and a half and so it's narrowed down again and so here we are beloved saints and yet it is a great privilege for all of us to be gathered to consider this great subject before us of God's kingdom now you will notice on the outline that the remit which has fallen to my hand is to consider the kingdom in Eden the original design of the kingdom that's really the subject that will be the main focus of this Bible reading this morning and we'll be moving in our consideration we will be moving from Eden and we'll be going to Exodus 19 quite a scope and quite a subject that is before us we'll be considering the kingdom in Eden and the pattern of God's kingdom and then we move to Exodus 19 and we consider there the preparation of God's kingdom now if you have a copy of the outline you will notice that I have placed it's the pattern of God's temporal kingdom and I just want to commence here in outlining and opening my Bible reading this morning the pattern of God's temporal kingdom on the outline that you have just on the the heading for the Bible readings you will notice that it has been called God's kingdom in history and I have titled this the pattern of God's temporal kingdom what do we mean by that I just wanted to find that before we go any further so that we know the ground that we'll be moving in and so that we'll know the area that our focus will be in in this Bible study this morning we mentioned last night and we believe implicitly that God has always had a kingdom Psalm 74 verse number 12 says thou art my king of old God has ever and always had a kingdom we read last night 1st Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 17 and Paul in that great doxology he says now unto the king of the ages immortal invisible the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever amen so beloved saints this morning the God that we worship has ever and always had a kingdom the God that we worship has ever existed always existed there was never a moment when God came into existence the Bible teaches that there is one God who has eternally existed in three divine persons this is the God that we worship and beloved saints the whole purpose of this conference is not really to fill our minds with theology we will do that but the whole purpose of this conference is that when we leave we will leave as worshipers of the God that we have come to know blessed be his name he ever existed he ever will exist he always had a kingdom he ever will have a kingdom and so beloved saints this morning this is our God forever and ever but the God that ever had a kingdom he has created a kingdom in time and as we speak of God's temporal kingdom what we are looking at is the kingdom of God within the boundaries of time now just as we are moving you will notice that I've put a little note there just an introduction and what I've called it is the authority and the omnipotence of God's temporal kingdom you might wonder what we mean by that well what do we mean when we speak about kingdom if someone was asking you this morning the kingdom kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven the kingdom and they ask you to define the kingdom what would we say really what we're looking at when we look at the aspect of kingdom we are really looking at the rule of God you will notice that I've three things that are mentioned there as we consider rule we notice first of all that God has the right to rule the second thing that we'll have to notice together as we consider this great subject of kingdom is not only does God have the right to rule but we will notice the realm of his rule and the third thing we consider together is the reality of his rule that as we consider God's rule and his right to rule it is an active rule that God is presently ruling and the reality of God's rule is seen in this temporal kingdom from the beginning of the kingdom just a creation in the terminus of the kingdom that our brother Mark will bring us to tomorrow afternoon in the progress of the kingdom from creation to its terminus just at the conclusion of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus God has been actively ruling and beloved saints that's a great comfort to our hearts we look around the world and we think that the world is out of control beloved saints everything is under control we worship a God and there is nothing in this world that has taken our God by surprise we worship a God everything is under control and it is moving towards a goal that God has in mind when he will place a king upon a throne and he will reign from the river according to the scriptures to the ends of the earth God will enshrine and enthrone his king and that king is our savior the Lord Jesus and so the right to rule we'll see that in scriptures such as Luke's gospel chapter 19. You remember that the savior spoke about a parable and he spoke about a king who moved on a journey to receive a kingdom now in receiving that kingdom that shows that he was going to be given the right to rule our God ever and always because he is God has the right to rule the second thing that we'll notice is the realm of his rule I guess we could almost go to Acts chapter 1 and verse number 6 just to show the realm of God's rule you'll recall it was the disciples to the Lord Jesus he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands to bless them and you remember what the disciple said the disciple said to Christ wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel and so they had in mind an aspect of the kingdom they had in mind an aspect of the kingdom linked to Israel they had in mind that there was some aspect of that kingdom which had been known in the past they were wanting it now restored in the present and you say the kingdom that we are going to speak about this morning is it only the kingdom linked to Israel no we are going to see right here from Genesis 2 and we read Psalm number 8 thou hast put all things under his feet so the realm of this kingdom is universal the realm of this kingdom and the rule and the authority of God is this world and this universe in which we are found that brings us to the reality of rule the reality of God's rule in God's kingdom has been acknowledged it has been acknowledged by those who were brought into relationship with God maybe maybe one of the the ones that I should mention is that king the great king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar by name in Daniel chapter 4 you remember what Nebuchadnezzar says just almost at the end of the chapter he's been recovered from those seven years you remember his experience he was like a wild animal in the field and just at the end of that experience when God has given back his kingdom God has given back his strength God has recovered all of that you remember it's Nebuchadnezzar the gentile king who says that the most high he ruled in the kingdoms of men the activity and the reality of God's rule beloved saints we have the authority and the omnipotence of God's temporal kingdom that brings me to the second thing just by way of introduction not only the authority and omnipotence of God's temporal kingdom but we have to notice the arena and the orbit of God's temporal kingdom where will this kingdom be seen where will this kingdom be known and that will bring us right into the book of genesis in chapter one it's a wonderful thing to open a bible reading with those immortal words in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and it was void and darkness was upon the face of the deep there's three deficiencies it's without form and it's void and darkness is upon the face of the deep and God is going to commence to arrest the deficiencies seven days the creation week it is quite a thing i was in the bank actually my bank at home just standing i was going to do something at the bank and there was a dear older gentleman that was standing just ahead of me and the two tellers they were busy and they apologized one of them called across to us to the older man first and then to myself they called across and they said we're sorry we're busy we'll get to you in a few minutes both of us said no no rush take your time and just whenever both of them actually cleared their desks at the same time and called the two of us up and as we were moving up the older gentleman looked across at the girl who was going to do business with him and he said there's no rush he said the earth wasn't built in a day and i looked at the girl that was with me and i said six and she said what i said the good lord he didn't build it in a day he did it in six and then he rested on the seventh day well beloved here we are in genesis chapter one and these things of genesis one the lord is going to he's going to address these deficiencies you many will know in the audience today that those first six days of that creation week they can be subdivided and they're paralleled day number one parallels day number four day number five sorry day number two parallels day number five day number three parallels day number six and so we will see that there's an order even in god's creation with this arena and with this orbit in mind and you say what do you mean he parallels those things well don't forget the three deficiencies the earth was without form number one and it was void number two and darkness was upon the face of the deep the first thing that god does as he addresses the darkness in the first day let there be light and there was light on day number four he made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night the first deficiency is taken care of you remember the second one there it says the earth was without form it was shapeless then on day number two he divides the waters and the sky and you say what's going on he's giving it form that of course day number two parallels day number five because the birds are created and the marine life is created on day number five then of course we've got the last one the earth was without form it was void it was empty and we see day number three and the lord starts in day number three the ground the earth and of course day number six the beasts of the field and it's on day number six that we read let us make man in our own image after our likeness the arena and the orbit of god's temporal kingdom you might wonder why i'm stressing this the reason why i'm stressing this is don't forget that our god created the physical universe but not only did he create the physical universe we we spoke last night of the fact that he's also created the ages hebrews chapter 1 verse number 3 by whom also he made the worlds he made the ages hebrews chapter 11 verse number 3 through faith we understand that the worlds the ages were framed by the word of god hebrews chapter 9 verse number 28 once in the consummation of the ages hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and one of the things that is going to play into this subject of kingdom is the fact that there is an arena and there is an orbit of god's kingdom the physical universe the temporal kingdom the ages have been determined and directed by our god one of the things that i always find interesting is that everything we need for time time space and matter is in genesis 1 we find the basis in the background for a day the evening and the morning were day one we find we read in two right from verse number one to verse number three and we've got the basis for a week why is it we have a seven-day week there have been there have been civilizations have tried to change that i think it was the french on one occasion they decided they would have a 10-day week and of course it didn't work and the reason why it didn't work is this that god is enshrined as part of creation not only one day and determined the bounds of that day he has determined the bounds of a week seven days and then you see on that fourth day not only has god determined a day and determined a week but god has actually said let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years and so right there in genesis chapter one we've got the day and we've got the week we've got the years all predetermined by god in fact even in that expression there and i've got to move here very quickly i'm sure my brother won't mind me taking a bit of extra first bible reading uh you get um i i'm allowed to do some things that some of our brethren are not but but uh in in that in that creation week we have it all beloved saints and we learn about god's temporal kingdom that brings me to the third thing i mentioned and i will sit down now how are we going to handle how are we going to handle the bible reading what we're going to try and do i will leave just a little bit of time for some general comments perhaps at the beginning maybe some comments about kingdom maybe some comments about rule things like that we won't take long with that because we want to try and get through the material which is before us what we're going to look at is those four main points on the outline point number one the administration and objective of god's temporal kingdom and that will bring us into those latter verses of genesis 1 and into genesis 2 then we consider the antagonism and opposition to god's temporal kingdom and we'll see the enemy coming in and we'll ask ourselves the question why is it that there's an attack coming into this kingdom we look at the activity and operation of god's kingdom now this is where the bible reading will get very interesting because we'll be leaving genesis 1 and genesis 2 and once we are leaving genesis 1 and genesis 2 we will be taking huge leaps we have approximately to give a round figure we have approximately 2,500 years that we're going to consider in this bible reading this morning approximately give or take a year you folks wouldn't hold me accountable for a year i'm sure within the parameters of what we're looking at i was actually going to mention archbishop usher speaking about dates archbishop usher he actually dated creation many of you will know that he said it was the 23rd 23rd of october 4004 bc so what we're going to do is we're going to use archbishop usher's date and we move from 4004 bc to approximately 1491 bc in exodus 19 approximately 2,500 years now what we're going to have to do is circumnavigate those movements from genesis 1 and genesis 2 and moving across to exodus chapter 19 one of the things that we'll find is this that god just didn't leave things god has actually ordered that journey from genesis 1 and 2 to genesis 9 to the beginning of exodus from exodus to exodus 19 all under god's control and we'll see that when we're handling point number c in the bible reading the activity and operation of god's temporal kingdom the last thing that we consider and i would like to try and leave time for this it's never you're never sure just how time will go in a bible reading but i would like to leave time for the arrangement and order of god's temporal kingdom and so we step into this ground this morning and we trust for god's blessing and we trust for god's help and the graciousness of god's spirit as we move forward for the glory of the lord now as i mentioned beloved brethren if there are any general comments just about either the material before us or perhaps the subject before us when it comes to the bible reading i would appreciate those contributions now so that we can move forward into the material in relation to the the rule of god brother john we often read the expression in our new testament and elsewhere to the the kingdom of god right and then we read another expression the kingdom of heaven sorry william could you just wait for a minute shouldn't you brother no no i'm only being a bit disingenuous go ahead william no no now you've you've referenced genesis it was moses who wrote the first five books of our bible yes and in the prayer of moses the man of god from psalm 90 and verse 2 he said this before the mountains were brought forth wherever thou has formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art god so could we say then that the kingdom of god is clearly from eternity to eternity in terms of the rule of god that's overarching yes whereas just by way of comment at this point the kingdom of heaven demands that there is an earth for heaven to rule over earth there must be an earth so while the kingdom of god stretches back into eternity the kingdom of heaven in that sense needs an earth to rule over okay i would have to admit that i i submit to and appreciate quite a bit of that comment brother william i would maybe and maybe had taken that the two expressions to refer to the same thing in terms of of your temporal kingdom they would i i thought even when it comes to the eternal kingdom i would be happy in that and the difference and distinction i would make is this and i would like to get the mind of our brethren on this i simply think that when it comes to the term kingdom of god that is not actually an expression that's used in the old testament it's an expression that's used in the new testament i think it's something like 69 times we find it in the new testament then the other expression that our brother william has used the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of the heavens is an expression that occurs in matthew's gospel and it occurs 31 times in matthew's gospel now personally i think that the expression the kingdom of heaven sorry the kingdom of god is putting emphasis on the one who is ruling i personally accept that the term the kingdom of the heavens is not so much emphasizing the one who is ruling but it's telling us where the rule is coming from and where it's coming from the heavens and where it's going ultimately where it's going to now i take it that that second expression the kingdom of the heavens is actually an expression which is located in an expression in the old testament i think it's located from the book of daniel chapter 4 that ye may know that the heavens rule and i think then it's picked up in matthew's gospel for a variety of reasons i don't want to get into our brother our brother donald's bible reading but um i i personally had thought the two were in fact as you know brother brother william the two are used simultaneously in matthew 19 verse number 20 yes in in the in the gospels in matthew um they're used interchangeably almost that's right right yes so any of our brethren want to step in brother mark no i'm very happy with that um with what you've said and as you say there are reasons i think why why matthew uses kingdom of heaven and we'll get to those but just just in relation to the the broader idea um you read from from genesis and uh right there in the in the genesis account i think there are a number of of important features um of the kingdom which actually reveal characteristics of god so you've been emphasizing god's god's power one of the tremendous subjects benefits of studying the subject of the kingdom is that it brings before us very clearly that god's first thoughts are his last thoughts and as you were emphasizing last night so much of what we see in genesis one by the time we get to the end of our bible in spite of everything that satan has done to oppose and to divert god's program well it's all just established the way that god would another great feature of god that comes through very clearly and and you've been alluding to this is that god is a god of order you couldn't read genesis chapter one without appreciating the orderly way in which god works and and when we think of kingdom and we'll see this i think through the readings one of the things that's associated with kingdom is the idea of order we remember the book of judges the the anarchy of of that book and we're told four times in the closing chapters of the book just why things were so disordered there was no king there was no king so so divine order is something that we're going to see through these readings and then the other thing that we'll see is is divine righteousness when we're thinking about a kingdom we're thinking about a concept that is largely legal in many ways and uh you know we might ask questions about why god in in response to the fall of of adam didn't do this and didn't do that why does he embark on this this program that's not just centuries long but millennia long to to restore the whole thing and one of the reasons is this that god is going to act in accordance with righteousness he's going to act we might use the term legally right the way through and that's going to be very important the legal basis uh for the reign of god so that by the time we get through to the end of these bible readings and christ reigns in righteousness there's not a single voice in creation that can be raised to say sorry you don't have the right to be there very good so power and righteousness and order seen here at the beginning will be seen right through actually we'll notice those themes that will occur right through the bible readings and particularly it will become a focus in our brother mark's bible reading tomorrow afternoon brother donald you were going to make a comment there also i was going to say you're ticking off my bible reading nicely no the king the kingdom of god is is never mentioned as such in that term in the old testament that's right that's 69 times in the new kingdom of heaven is only mentioned in matthew and i think the context very much is linking it back to daniel where we're looking at the acknowledgement of heaven's rule on earth but i do take the same view as you that they are the one and the same thing but the emphasis is who yes and where thank you that's that's appreciated i'll go easy in your bible reading thank you brother now brother brody anything introductory before we just maybe further explanation on the terms that you've chosen to use from the beginning uh the idea of eternal and temporal now last night you gave us uh the two terms universal and local and then you talked about uh direct uh rule of god or the administrative rule of god or the mediatorial rule of god do you want to give us perhaps the reason why you've chosen what you've chosen but explain the others to us yeah so so we're very happy that when it comes to this idea of god's rule that there are aspects of god's rule which we see in the scriptures at times we see an aspect of god's rule locally at a local level there are other times that we would have to acknowledge that we are seeing the aspect of god's universal rule and we acknowledge both and both are taught in the scriptures some would prefer rather than use the term god's temporal kingdom they would actually prefer to use the term god's mediatorial kingdom i personally haven't used that term i've no problem with that term particularly here when it comes to this first section of the scriptures in the book of genesis we can definitely see god's rule and then god's rule through a mediator here right in the context of genesis 1 we'll see it particularized again when it comes to our brother mark's bible reading tomorrow afternoon now undoubtedly brother brody there would be other aspects of god's mediatorial work through the scriptures when it comes to the davidic kings and some of those things one of the reasons why i haven't used it is who mediates god's kingdom now and it's just just to be clear that god is still reigning now some would say that the holy spirit mediates god's kingdom now i just have put a question mark against that where i am theologically in my own mind i've put a question mark against that i'm thinking about that so i'm more happy presently to use the terms god's eternal kingdom and god's temporal kingdom the kingdom in eternity and the kingdom in time now anything you want to add to that yourself no i just think it's good to clarify that but uh a question then would be are there folks or people who may think that the gentiles are currently administering that kingdom so there is another school of thought that do accept that the times of the gentiles is an aspect of god's mediatorial root that may be again brother brody i've chosen to think about that in that sense but we can definitely see god is overall god is ruling and god is directly at times and indirectly at work in this temporal kingdom one of the things that we're going to try and do i i meant to mention this we could get bogged down in tangential issues this morning and in fact in every bible reading what we are going to try and do in the time available in this bible reading and in the rest of the bible readings is deal with broad brushstrokes and deal with the big the big picture which is before us undoubtedly we'll have to focus in on certain things just like what we have done but we want everyone to stay with us this is a very relevant subject it's a subject that is very particular to us it's a subject that we need to know about and so beloved brethren and sisters we keep the broad picture in mind but at some points we zero in to some specifics uh and i trust it will be helpful john just just a word for for um clarity you've used the word temporal throughout your uh handout here so it's a general question so am i understanding you right then in your use of this term that temporal kingdom applies from the moment of creation onwards in terms of our thinking of time yes that's how i'm using the term okay when there's an earth when there's an earth well there always will be an earth from this point forward because even when we reach where our brother mark is going in his bible read just at the conclusion of where he is taking us there will be a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness so from this point now time will conclude it's a remarkable thing for us but time will conclude when it comes to the great white throne and at the great white throne revelation 20 we read that the heavens and the earth fled away and there was found no space for them and so at that point we will have reached the end the terminus of time and we're just on the cusp then of what peter calls 2nd peter chapter 3 verse 11 the day of god 2nd peter chapter 3 verse 18 the day of eternity revelation chapter 20 verse 10 the ages of the ages eternity itself so the temporal thing that i have in mind is from creation genesis 1 verse 1 until we reach that point in revelation 20 now i had a mark sorry just in relation to that i was i was glad to hear you mention archbishop usher i i occasionally play with some of the books from his personal library and it's always quite nice to do that but i think the point that you're making is is very helpful in relation to the fact that this this kingdom is not just a kingdom in in space but it's a kingdom in time and uh of necessity we sort of have to select various kind of points along the way but we should be very clear that this is a kind of a continuous program and we're picking various interesting and important points or periods in that program but this is a program that runs right through the course of time yes and so that continuity is an important thing to emphasize we're going to notice the continuity of god's rule sometimes we will wonder where is god in all of this but the quantity continuity of god's rule remains unbroken now we have to move then to point a the administration and objective of god's temporal kingdom now one of the things that i do want us to get is this as much as i have put these subjects these six subjects here keep in mind that what our brother mark has already hinted at and told us we can see right here in these six subjects when mark is dealing with his bible reading tomorrow he could actually take up the same six headings and deal with the six same six headings just in a different time space than where we are here in the administration and objective of god's temporal kingdom so we consider together the significance of rule and we notice adam as head we'll notice the scope of his rule we'll have to take a look at that the sphere of his rule the subjects of his rule the submission of his rule and then the support in his rule there's a bride which is at adam's side so the significance of adam's rule adam is here as head adam is seen as the federal head of humanity right here in the garden of eden there has been delegated authority which has been given to adam and that delegated authority has been given from god we find that genesis 1 verse number 26 to verse number 28 can we make a comment on verse one please go start with genesis 1 1 genesis 1 1 yes in the beginning god and that's plural in the hebrew language you have singular that's one dual that's two and plural that's three right so you have an intimation of the triune god right created the heaven dual two heavens he created now paul speaks about a third heaven yes but there were two heavens created in in this creation and then you have the earth singular yes one earth is the focus of god's attentions when from the third heaven he spoke and he said let there be light right and there was light so that earth you're talking about adam now and his rule uh his rule is confined to planet earth yes one earth right very and you'll notice the order of genesis one just look again where our brother our brother william has taken us in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth notice the next verse and the heaven and the no and the earth the whole focus now is coming to the earth and that's what we have before us as our brother william has told us brother mark it's interesting um it's often been noticed very significant that uniquely as far as creation is concerned when it comes to the creation of man or before it comes to the creation of man there's this let us make man in our own image and very very interesting to think about the way in which that divine conversation really tells us a lot of the things that are involved in being in the image of god but i think it helps to underscore for us just the fact that that god is moving very deliberately and he's moving with great purpose as as creation sort of reaches its crowning point and it's interesting that of course we get that again in chapter 11 when there's another very significant moment which also relates to divine administration and divine rule and let us go down and the confusing of the languages of babel so again we're seeing here that god is god is moving deliberately and god is moving carefully in these important steps that relate to his administration of creation that's that's very precious i appreciate that and of course what our brethren have done is tentatively showed us from some of those scriptures that there's a background here in the old testament to show us a triune god whether it's what william is referred to there genesis 1 verse 1 or whether it's what our brother mark has referred to let us make man let us go down isaiah chapter 6 that other very famous one whom shall we send who will go for us and so we've got it there those implications of three divine persons who have eternally existed now one of the interesting things about the creation account of genesis chapter 1 is this that the sixth day is set apart in a very definite way from everything else one of the things that have been noticed and our brethren know this is just that the definite article is not there when it comes to the first five days when you're reading there about it we read in the king james version just look with me the evening and the morning verse number five the evening and the morning were and you'd almost think it's there but it's italicized the first day really it's the evening and the morning were day one look at verse number eight and the evening and the morning were day two look at verse number 13 and the evening on the morning where day three look at verse number 19 the evening and the morning were a fourth day day four look at look down again at just the end of verse number 23 the evening and the morning were a fifth day you see when you come to this day In verse number 32, it doesn't say that.

It says the evening and the morning were the sixth day. And the same when it comes to the seventh day. And what we're learning is there are two days that even in the text, the Hebrew text, have been specified, have been set aside, God has demarked and there has been a demarkation of these days for a very definite reason.

Because on this day, God will speak on each of the days. Day one he speaks, day two he speaks, day three he speaks twice, day four he speaks, day five he speaks, day six again, and God said, and God said, he speaks twice. Why? Because this sixth day is linked to earth and is linked to this temporal kingdom and is linked to this creation of man from the hand of God.

But now I would like some help because the time is going here, the significance of rule. Adam in his creation is distinct from the animal creation, beloved brethren. And so please come in and help us on the distinction of Adam and what is mentioned with Adam and Eve as they are created and formed from the hand of God.

Do you see, Brother John, that it's humanity in Adam? Not male and female, but humanity is set over dominion. I do see that there's an aspect in which that both are brought in here together, Brother Donald, when it comes to these verses. So we've got the two expressions, image and likeness.

Now those two expressions will actually be lifted and taken into the New Testament. When we're reading in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we will actually read about the man, why the man is placed in an order and why he has a certain role in the assembly is because he was made in the image of God. When we go over to the book of James, James chapter three, we will read about all human beings.

We will read, and it's the same word used in the Greek version of the Old Testament, made in the likeness of God. So those two words that our brother Donald has used play into human beings and human life on planet earth. So what does it mean then? Why are human beings distinct and why is there a distinction between men and human beings and animal life, the significance of root? So you're seeing a difference between the two words, image and likeness there, aren't we? I do.

Yes. Yes. So likeness being, as we've discussed before, representation.

So the animals were never representing God on any level. But then image carries with it this delegation of authority that you brought in, in your first point. I think that there's a number of things that we have to consider that are right here in the text.

I would consider in the idea of likeness, we definitely have representation. When it's the idea of image, it goes beyond representation. It may include representation, but it's beyond representation.

It conveys the idea of rule. Now those are not exclusively the only things which are going on here in the text. We've got rule, we've got representation, we've got resplendence.

There's a particular resplendence that has come from the hand of God. We've got relationship. The very fact that God speaks, this speaking of divine persons together, let us make man, shows us that there was a relationship between the Godhead.

And one of the ideas in the creation of Adam and Eve is that the relationship that existed in the Godhead, God wants to see now on planet Earth. So all of those things are playing in to image and likeness. All of those concepts come together in these verses.

And so, I think implicit in what you said, there's also the idea of resemblance. There are things that are true about God that are also true about mankind, but they're not true of any of the animal creation. That's the one that I hadn't mentioned, and I thank our brother Mark for mentioning that, that idea of resemblance.

And one of the things that we actually preach, and I've preached it myself, and we just need to be careful with it, is that we say the distinction between Adam and Eve and the animal life is this, man was made a living soul. That's not true. If you read Genesis 1 verse 24, the animals are called living souls.

If you read Genesis 2 verse 19, again the animals are called living souls. So it's true of animal life, and it's true of human beings. The distinction between human beings and animal life is this, the animals were not made in the image and likeness of God.

And in fact, the idea of God breathing distinguished Adam from everything else. When God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, that idea of God in-breathing was a distinguishing mark that never took place with the animal creation. It is only true of human life there in the garden.

Brother Donald, sorry brother William, see it's a busy street folks. Mark has added resemblance, you can add responsibility into that as well. I could.

Excellent, thank you very much. We'll bring those two thoughts together then, if I may. We've already spoken of the triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

And man, of course, was created body, soul, and spirit, a tripartite being. So there's a resemblance there. Good, thank you.

There's a number of triplets. We don't have time to do this this morning. We'd be getting away from the kingdom if we decided to unpack all of the triplets that are found in Genesis 1. But if you just take a look for them, the number three is stamped on this chapter and it's stamped because of God.

Now, one of the things that we need to look at is this, the significance of rule, Adam is head. That headship then begins to manifest itself in this chapter. And it manifests itself in chapter 2. There comes a moment, just look at chapter 2, that it says, verse number 19, that the Lord God formed every beast of the field, every fowl of the air.

He brought them on to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. So you say that God brought a dog to Adam and Adam said, oh, his name's Oscar.

That's not what's going... I have a dog at home called Oscar, that's why I called it that one. But that's not what's going on here. What happened is this, that the classifications of the animals are being brought before Adam and Adam is giving the names to the animals in classification.

Now, that's the delegated headship. God has placed into the hands of Adam this delegated authority. That's one of the manifestations of that right here in this context.

He must have had a tremendous intellect to be able to do that. And a beautiful bride. Well, we'll come to that in a moment, but he could encompass the whole of creation and be able to distinguish between.

Interestingly, when we get to Brother Brody's reading later, one of the things that Solomon could do was speak upon any subject and distinguish between the animals and all that sort of thing. So there's a little picture there of a recapture of what was happening here. Now, we're going to see a distinction.

I know some of our brethren want to get in here. One of the distinctions will be found when we come to Genesis 9 and when we come to Noah, when it comes to the animal life. So we'll keep that in our mind because we will be moving there.

Not too soon, but we will be getting there in the Bible reading. Some of our brethren. So how do you feel about Adam's fulfilling this responsibility of administration in the garden to dress it and to keep it? Yes.

Was that a part of his responsibility? I do think it was, Brother Brody. I take it that that was part of what God had given him in responsibility in the garden, part of his headship authority. Now, one of the things that we have to look at, because if our brethren have anything more on the significance of his rule, we're going to have to move through some of these.

So what about the scope of his rule? Because that will bring it on the sphere of his rule. That will bring us into those two things as we consider it. Was it only, Brother Brody, that that was only going to be manifested in the garden? Or had God bigger designs in mind? Like how large was this garden? Brother Mark.

You tell me. But I think just in relation to what Brody was saying, it is interesting that we see Adam carrying in the naming and in the dressing and keeping, he's doing God-like work. So that's the delegated responsibility.

And I take it that this was, I mean, I think embryo is the word on the handout. And I think it was always an embryo, even if the fall hadn't happened, that this was the beginning of something. And that almost in the way that God has structured the earth with the garden and Eden and so on, there's scope for this to spread.

And we see that there's, at the end of Genesis 2, there's a social order being brought in, and Adam and Eve have a responsibility to fill the earth. So one way or the other, fall or no fall, what we're seeing here is just the beginning of something massive. Sorry, Brother.

Do you mind, Brother William? It just shows us, Brother Mark, that sometimes we think about work, and you'd almost think that work's a bad thing. But what our brethren have done, our Brother Brody and our Brother Mark, is show us that this was something that God actually placed as a responsibility of headship upon the man right there at the beginning. And one of the things that we notice with the life of the Lord Jesus particularly is he dignified work, because it was actually part of what God envisaged in the original creation.

And so, we ourselves, we shouldn't be afraid of work. Now, Brother William, please, I cut across you there. No problem.

Chapter 1, verse 28, God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the garden of Eden, says the earth, and subdue it. So, Adam's responsibility was not only that he had to guard and keep the garden of Eden, but there was a larger responsibility that would encompass the whole globe. Yes.

And he had to be fruitful and multiply, I take it, because one couple wouldn't be able to do all that. Yes. Right? So, there is, in view, a progenity that would be responsible to take that in as well.

I take it that that's exactly what we have in mind here, that God started in the garden. This idea for garden, of course, carries the idea of royal palace. Paradise Park is really the idea.

It must have been quite a sizable area. We don't know the size of it. One of the things that always intrigues me is there was only one entrance to it.

And so, all of those are intriguing things that we can't go into this morning in this Bible reading. But it was a beautiful location. It was a place that God designed.

It was a place that God had actually, he had built it in a very special way for the man. But what God intended in Headship was he expected Adam to replicate this outside of the scope of the garden. And the, sorry, Brother Mark, the provision is going to be there.

Why is this river going out of the garden? The provision is going to be placed by God so that it can be carried forth to the ends of the earth, as our brethren have said. And just to substantiate that, in Psalm 8, we have man and the son of man. Now, Adam was man, but he wasn't the son of man.

So there are sons of man that have the responsibility, or should have had the responsibility that Adam had. Excellent. That's why I mentioned that when God made man, it was humanity that was to have dominion.

And, I mean, your point is quite right, William, that it wasn't just Adam, but it was humanity. And it carries right through to the very end whenever God became man and will ultimately fulfill that to God's purpose. Just a little aside, in relation to the earth, there was earth separated from water.

Do you feel, I know you can't be dogmatic, do you feel it was all one huge big island? I do. I feel it was all one land mass until Genesis chapter 11. That would be my own feeling on it.

In the days of Peleg, is the verse that we're referring to, in the days of Peleg, the earth was divided. And I think that that goes beyond what had taken place at the Tower of Babel. I think that God, in a sense then, allowed the distinction and the division of the land masses just to show that there's a division here that's happened amongst humanity.

Yes, because that's where it'll end up. There's no more sea in the new earth. Right.