2024 NHPBC Women's Conference - Session 1 - Friday PM

For your grace and your mercy and your love.

And as we sang these songs, Lord, you are so good.

You are so holy.

You are mighty, Lord, and you are so worthy to be praised.

And so we thank you that we can gather here this evening of like-minded women who just love you and want to hear the word of God.

So I just pray that you would bless this evening.

You would bless my mouth, Lord, that my uh words would be of you, Lord, that you would just soften our hearts to hear what you have for each one of us.

We're each here in different um seasons of life, different stages of life, different struggles and things going on, Lord, that you would just meet each one of us exactly where we are at, God, to your name be the glory.

Amen.

There are two words that are going to help us understand the creation mandate, and they are imperative and indicative.

An imperative is a command, and indicative is the truth or the why behind the command.

So when I say the word mandate, I want us to keep in mind that this is a command, an imperative.

So the creation mandate is a command that God gave to the human race upon creating them.

We will get into the indicative in a bit.

But if we don't understand the truth or the why behind a command, we will never be motivated to obey it.

So let's look first at what the creation mandate is found in Genesis 1.

Genesis 1, 26 through 28 says, Then 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 birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and every other creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.

Male and female he created them, and he blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

So let's first look at the imperative, the command or the mandane.

Oops, did that go to the next one?

Yes, it did.

Okay.

So we see that the commands in this verse are, you can see them highlighted, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And we'll break these commands down as we go, but these are the commands that are given.

So why did God give us this mandate?

Now we will look at the indicative or the truth or why behind the command.

This passage opens up by stating that mankind is made in the image and likeness of God.

Because we were made in the image and likeness of God, is the truth or the why behind the command to be fruitful, multiply, subdue, and take dominion over the earth.

So let's take a deeper look into why this is so important to grasp.

I want us to think about how the Israelites would have understood the words image and likeness.

In the ancient Near East, when a king would conquer another land, that king would leave behind a large golden statue that looked just like him, so that when the people saw the statue, they would be reminded that they belonged to him.

You might be picturing one in your mind now.

The first one that comes to my mind is King Nebuchadnezzar, right?

He made that nine-foot statue of himself.

In the same way, the Israelites were to be the image, to be the image and likeness of their great king, which was Yahweh.

They were to be his statue, so to speak, that would let others know what he was like.

God designed man to accurately reflect him as they lived in the land that he ruled over.

Unlike oppressive kings of their day who had their own selfish plans, Yahweh wanted to rule his people within the safety of his statues and love.

Yahweh was not a God that was distance from his people.

He created them for relationship, and he designed them to bear his image that the world around them would know their king and be in right relationship with him.

As we are made in the image and likeness of our great king, we are mandated to make more image bearers, to rule the earth and subdue it under God's righteous rule, so that the whole earth would be filled with the glory of God.

God's plan for his people who ruled in this way, bearing his image as he designed them to, would enjoy a beautiful, thriving relationship with him.

It's obviously important to understand the mandate itself, but it's equally, if not more important, to grasp the why behind it.

If we don't have motivation to obey a command, we will lose focus, we'll be frustrated, we will not see our purpose, and ultimately we will give up.

My prayer is that a fire will be lit in our soul so we can have the motivation and joy to serve our great God and King out of his great love and desire to be in relationship with us.

This is a radical thing.

He promises to give us eternal life and peace and joy.

Too often we spend our days without purpose, without joy, just trudging along until we do the next exciting thing.

God has designed us for so much more.

We're going to take a quick journey through the scriptures to see God's big picture purpose for man as he lays out the creation mandate throughout his word.

It has been said that you can summarize the big picture of the Bible in eight words.

When I first heard that, I was like, no way, you cannot sum up the Bible in eight words until I understood how you can sum up the Bible in eight words.

And then it made sense to me.

So those eight words are God's people in God's place under God's rule.

And we'll break those down as we go.

In addition, there are four words that sum up the progressive storyline of the Bible.

And you may have heard of these words.

They are creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, or restoration.

As we go through the four parts of the storyline of the Bible, we will see how those eight words fit into the four words as God reiterates the creation mandate in each part of the storyline.

So the first part of the storyline is creation.

On the sixth day of creation, God created the pinnacle of his handiwork.

Yell it out if you know the pinnacle of his handiwork.

Somebody said woman.

Somebody said woman.

Man, right?

Man was the pinnacle.

Woman is included in that.

It's man and woman.

Yes, agreed.

And what did God say about that pinnacle of his handiwork?

It was what?

Very good.

Genesis 2.15 tells us that God created man and put him in the garden to work it.

At this time, God had given Adam the instruction.

Adam, just keep that in your back of your mind, God gave Adam the instruction of eating from any other tree in the garden, but he must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

After this instruction is when God made Eve.

Reading through Genesis 1 and 2, you may not catch this, that the instruction to not eat the fruit was only given to Adam.

The creation mandate is given in Genesis 1, 27, and 28, and the mandate was given to both Adam and Eve.

But Genesis 2 does not happen directly after Genesis 1.

Genesis 2 backtracks and it fills in some details that happen between Genesis 1.26 and 127.

This is an important detail to tuck away for later.

We'll get back to that.

So just wanted you to put that in the back of your mind.

So let's talk about these eight words, God's people and God's place under God's rule, and how they fit into the creation story.

So God made a people for himself, that was Adam and Eve, to live in a place which was the garden, where he would rule them.

Adam was given a command.

If Adam obeyed the command, he would live in right relationship with God forever.

If Adam disobeyed by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God said he would surely what?

Die.

Just want to see if you guys are awake.

You know, it's getting late and we need some coffee.

Because Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of their great God and king, they were mandated to make more image bearers to rule the earth and subdue it under God's righteous rule, so that, and we're going to hear this over and over, so that the whole earth would be filled with the glory of God, and they would enjoy a beautiful, thriving relationship with Him.

Not only Adam and Eve, but every human being that would ever descend from them.

As image bearers, Adam and Eve were to subdue and take dominion.

So what does this mean?

Subdue means to tread something down, beating it, forcing it into submission.

The idea is conquer and make it obey.

Adam and Eve were to bring creation under subjection, forcing it to be tamed by God's goodness.

They were to bring God's righteous ways into the world with his authority, upholding his righteousness, so that all creation would be subjected to his authority.

If we think of subduing through ancient Near East understanding of kingdoms, the lesser king or vice regent was responsible to crush rebellion and disorder and cause the land and people to be orderly subordinates of the king's authority.

This would also include using the resources of the earth and land to benefit the king.

So subduing has to do with land and people.

So I don't know if you're thinking of something in your mind right now, but hopefully you're thinking about what that might mean to subdue the land.

And this using the resources of the earth makes me think of work.

This is a mandate for work.

So a mandate for science, for farming, for fishing, for building, for teaching, for banking, whatever it is that you do, all within God's righteous statutes.

This is to cultivate a civilized society that reflects God's order and rule.

This applies to whatever it is that you do every single day.

When we think of dominion through ancient Near East understanding, the vice regent was responsible for exercising dominion over that conquered land, so what already has been subdued.

So we subdue with God's righteous standard and then we take dominion over it.

Man is to represent the king's interest to the people and the people's interest to the king.

They were to promote the high king's law and order.

In God's kingdom, dominion means that humans are to rule on his behalf, upholding God's law and orderliness and prompting and promoting purity and goodness throughout their world.

The influence and blessing of the king and his kingdom is to fill the whole earth with his glory.

So let's think of this in a very practical way.

My brother, his name was Tony, passed away almost a year ago.

He was a very talented builder.

He ran my dad's business after my dad retired.

My brother would use the resources of the earth to build things.

In doing so, he blessed people and honored God.

He honored God by his good work ethic.

He honored God by the way he conducted business, using God's righteous standards, not cheating people or doing things illegally or unethically.

He offered them a good product, all in the hope to bring glory to God.

Then he took the proceeds from the business to build a ministry to help others in need.

He subdued his business and had dominion over it, bringing God's righteous standards into it, bringing order into the business and teaching God's standards to his employees.

As a result, others came to know Christ.

He held Bible studies at work every morning from 5.30 to 6.15 before the guy started work.

Every morning, about 45 employees showed up.

Amazing, right?

Now for Adam and Eve in a world without sin, this mandate shouldn't have been too complicated.

There would be joy in cultivation.

The ground was not cursed, and the work and the work was given to man to be productive and to give him pleasure.

If only Adam and Eve had passed the test in the garden.

But we know how the story goes.

So in our first part of the storyline, creation, we saw God's people in God's place under God's rule.

Adam and Eve in the garden under God's rule, God as their king.

The second part of our storyline is the fall.

We're going to spend most of our time here.

Satan enters the scene in the form of a serpent and tricks and deceives Eve.

He casts doubt on God's intentions by accusing him of keeping something good from Adam and Eve.

Satan suggests that they could have their eyes open and become as wise as God, apart from their relationship with him.

Romans 1, 18 through 23 says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

I can't tell if that slide went.

Okay, there we go.

So according to verse 20, we can see that Adam and Eve clearly saw God's divine power.

In verse 21, we know that Adam and Eve knew God, but they did not honor him as God.

They were futile in their thinking.

According to verse 22, we can see that Adam and Eve were thinking that they could be wise like God, but they became foolish.

According to verse 23, we see that Adam and Eve exchanged the glory of God for immortal things.

So let's go back to the point that I made earlier that I asked you to tuck away for later.

I mentioned how Genesis 2 backtracks.

It fills in some details that happened between Genesis 126 and 27.

We see the story of creation laid out in Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 1 ends with the creation mandate given to Adam and Eve.

God blesses them and tells them how he is giving them all his beautiful creation to rule and enjoy, and it was very good.

You can read this account in Genesis 2, 15 through 18, but for the sake of time, we won't go there.

But the reason this is important to recognize is that God created Adam first and gave Adam the command not to eat the fruit.

Adam was the federal head.

This is a very important thing to understand.

Adam was the federal head.

This is such a crucial truth to grasp when it comes to understanding the gospel.

Adam was the first representative of humanity.

Adam was responsible for being the head.

He was to relay the command to Eve and be her protector.

But instead, Adam consciously chose to follow her lead rather than following the instruction of his creator.

Rather than making sure that the serpent never entered the garden in the first place, Adam let him in and allowed him to deceive Eve.

He should have crushed the serpent's head.

Adam and Eve failed the assignment God gave them because they thought they knew better than God.

And in 1 Corinthians 15, 22 tells us that in Adam all die.

Now creation is cursed.

Adam and Eve are cursed, and they are cast out of the garden.

Genesis 3.15, this is God speaking to Satan says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

In the same chapter where we find man's failure, we find hope of the gospel.

When God delivers the consequences to Adam, he explains that the earth is now cursed.

So we see this in Genesis 3, 16 through 17.

We see that thorns and thistles will grow, making it difficult to get crops.

We see Adam's working life in the fields will be marked by sweat and hardship.

We see that instead of work being a joyful source of purpose and meaning in Adam's life, it would be a lifelong source of necessary frustration.

It would be hard and sweaty.

Eve's consequences now bring pain and childbearing and a desire to rule over her husband.

So as we compare the creation mandate to the consequences received, I want us to see an important connection.

These consequences that they received directly impact their ability to fulfill this mandate.

Pain and childbearing will affect the fruit of the womb.

Thorns and thistles and the sweat of the brow now make subduing the earth and taking dominion impossible.

I love the timeline of this.

Adam and Eve rebel against God.

They feel ashamed and they cover themselves.

They get caught.

But before God faces them in their shame with their consequences, he rebukes Satan.

I love that.

Then, after rebuking Satan, then he turns to Adam and Eve and delivers their consequences.

I just see even his grace in that.

Then immediately after that, in Genesis 3.21, God made garments of skin and clothed them.

This is our very first picture of the gospel in Scripture.

This was the first blood sacrifice to cover sin.

God kills the animal himself to cover their shame and tells them hope is coming through the seed of the woman, which is Christ, that will one day crush the head of Satan.

In Genesis 6 5, only three chapters later, the earth is filling up, but every intention of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually.

God is about to bring judgment on the earth.

Genesis 7 records the story of the flood where God wipes out the entire world except for eight people, Noah and his family.

After Noah gets off the ark, God gives him an instruction.

We see that in Genesis 9:1.

Genesis 9:1

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Here it is, be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.

Do you see the mandate?

God restarted humanity with Noah and gave the exact same mandate.

Verse 20 tells us that Noah became a man of the soil and planted a vineyard.

He's cultivating the ground.

So you can see that he's subduing, right?

He's subduing, he's working.

But quickly that turns.

Rather than Noah subduing the creation and having dominion over it, we see Noah is being subdued by creation and being dominated by it.

We see this in verse 21, where it tells us that Noah drank of the wine and became drunk.

After a mandate given by God in both Adam and now Noah, both fall by being subdued by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

Noah shows us man's inability to fulfill the creation mandate, and he was the best of the best.

Sin has marred man's ability to subdue and take dominion over the earth.

The earth is cursed, and so is man.

But God, in his grace, still intends for man to work and rule over the creation he gave them.

So 422 years pass from Noah, and that brings us to Abram.

Abram shows up in Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

So from Genesis 8 to 11, just three short chapters, 422 years pass.

In those 422 years, the earth is filling up again.

Right before the call of Abram, we see the story of the Tower of Babel.

We know how that story goes, and that should tell you of the wickedness of man on the earth again.

There is no hope for man on his own to fulfill the creation mandate that God had given them.

The humans that God created in his image were not imaging him at all.

I find it interesting the way that God shares the mandate with Abram.

So let's read that in Genesis 12, one through three.

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

There's an interesting difference between these verses and what we saw in God's instruction to Adam and Noah.

What we see here is God says in verse 2, I will make you a great nation.

God didn't tell Abram to be fruitful and multiply.

God said he would make him fruitful and he would multiply him.

This meant much more than simply his own physical offspring.

As we read the New Testament, we can see that ultimately Abraham's offspring will include all believers, not just his descendants.

So this mandate has just become twofold.

One thing to note is that the covenant that God made with Adam was conditional.

God told Adam, If you do this, you will live.

If you do this, you will die.

It was conditional.

The covenant was dependent on Adam's obedience.

Adam sinned and the covenant was broken.

Adam had to now pay the price of separation from God.

But remember the grace of God in the garden, that the seed of the woman would bring rescue?

This story of Abram is the beginning of that story.

It was through Abram's family that the seed of the woman would come.

So this covenant was different than the others.

This covenant that was made with Abram was unconditional, meaning it was a one-sided covenant.

God put Abram into a deep sleep, and then God alone walked through the pieces of flesh, signifying that if the covenant was broken, that God himself would take the consequences of the punishment.

This part of the story is so important.

God sees the wickedness of man on the earth and knows they cannot fulfill the mandate he has given to them.

So God provides a foolproof plan, because Jesus, who is the perfect man, will fulfill every part of that covenant.

God calls Abram out and says that he will make a nation out of him.

Abraham has Isaac, Isaac has Jacob.

Jacob is the father of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Israel will be God's chosen people that he will dwell with in the land he will bring them into, and God will rule them with his righteous statutes that were given through Moses.

So we see those eight words again here in the second part of our storyline, The Fall.

So God's people, now the Israelites, in God's place, which will be the promised land, under God's rule, which is the Mosaic Law.

God made a way for man to dwell with him, to subdue and take dominion of the land, and be a testimony to all the surrounding nations of who the one true God is, so that all the world will be filled with the glory of God.

Now let's look at the covenant that God made with the Israelites through Moses.

Exodus 19, 5 and 6 says, Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.

So this covenant with the Israelites is a conditional covenant because it was dependent on Israel's actions.

And we know how the story of this covenant goes.

This covenant was also broken because they did not obey God's law.

Through a careful reading of Scripture, we learn how this creation mandate repeats and develops so that it bears significance for more than just fruitful multiplying through making babies and working.

We will see this play out as we see how God carries out this mandate in the New Testament through the unconditional covenants that he made.

God's design for fruitful multiplication is not just for rapid population of a fallen humanity, but a fruitful multiplication of a redeemed people.

We saw that language begin with Abram, and we will see it with his grandson Jacob.

We see this in Genesis 35, 11.

And God said to him, I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply.

A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.

The book of Judges shows that the Israelites acted wickedly and needed a king.

God later gave Israel a king, which fulfilled the promise that God gave to the patriarchs that we just read, Genesis 35, 11, that kings would come from them.

The most important king in Israel was their second king, David, with whom God made another covenant.

Psalm 89, 3 and 4.

So this is spoken by God through the name the prophet Nathan.

You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one.

I have sworn to David my servant.

I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations.

The Davidic covenant was an unconditional covenant.

Only one party is upholding this agreement, God Himself.

This Davidic covenant was a royal promise that built on the Abrahamic covenant, again promising land.

We see that in 2 Samuel 7, 10.

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more, and violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly.

But this Davidic covenant was also a royal promise that built on the Abrahamic covenant, promising offspring.

We see that in 2 Samuel 2, 7.

Sorry, 2nd Samuel 7, 12 and 13.

When your days are filled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I hope you're starting to see the themes.

I know this is a lot, and it's kind of fast tracking through that.

Like I said, it's being recorded.

We might need to go back and listen, but I think this theme is super important for us to understand.

The mandates and the covenants always include being fruitful, it includes land, and it includes dominion.

God's desire was that man would be fruitful, that he would multiply, that he would subdue the earth and have dominion over it, that he would be their God, that they would be his people, and he would rule over them as their perfect creator and king, to have a people in his place where he would rule them.

The plan and the mandate doesn't change.

What has changed is man's ability to fulfill it.

As we said before, man is cursed by sin and so is the earth.

In the immediate context of 2 Samuel 7, 12 and 13, Nathan the prophet is speaking to David about his own kingship and how God plans to have his house built through David's son Solomon.

But notice that God also promised to establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

The ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic covenant would come in a descendant of David who would rule eternally.

This progression of revelation concerning this mandate is showing us a new kind of being fruitful, a new way to look at the mandate.

The physical aspects still stand, but if we miss the spiritual application, we will not understand what Christ has done and what our purpose is on this earth.

Time doesn't allow us to read all the scriptures that point to the creation mandate and show how this is in direct relationship with the covenants that God made with his people, but it is repeated over and over throughout the scripture.

I just tried to highlight the most significant references.

We know what happens next.

Israel failed to worship God and they gave themselves over to false gods and worshiped them.

Because of that, they were exiled from the promised land where God's presence and means of keeping right relationship with them were.

But there was a remnant that still trusted God even in exile, and the mandate for them was still the same.

Some of the people that may come to mind when you think about Israelites in exile might be Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Esther.

Even when the southern kingdom of Judah was exiled into Babylon, when God's people were not in the place they were supposed to be, God still gives them the creation mandate, perhaps not spelled out exactly like it was in Genesis 1, but you can still see it.

The prophet Jeremiah tells the Israelites in Babylon to build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters, multiply there and do not decrease.

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find welfare.

God wants his people to bear his image even in exile.

As I mentioned, we saw a few remnant of Israel trusting in God and not bowing down to idols.

We also saw how they were able to some degree subdue and bring order to those places.

Daniel and Esther are two that come to specifically to mind, how they were able to make change in the areas that they were and to bring some order to those spaces they were in.

So I realize I spent a lot of time in the second part of our storyline the fall.

I felt that was important because if we don't understand the total depravity of man and the covenant that God made and upheld with Abraham and David, we will never appreciate the cross.

We take the cross for granted.

Understanding the creation mandate radically changed my life because it finally clicked with me not only what I was saved from, but what I was saved to.

Sometimes the truth of God's word falls flat and loses its impact on our souls.

We may say, as Christians, amazing things like Jesus Christ has come to the world and saved the world, or I'm a sinner and I've been saved by grace, or I have eternal life, or one day I'm going to heaven and I'm going to be with Jesus, or my God is sovereign and he's in control of all things.

We say these things, but oftentimes we say them so flippantly.

But do we understand how these truths should impact the way that we live?

How should they impact the way you live?

As image-bearers of God, we are not just saved from the wrath of God, but we are saved to something.

He designed us with a purpose.

Do we truly grasp what Christ has actually done to bless us or equip us to advance his kingdom?

We have been saved to bear his image accurately, to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to subdue it, and to take dominion.

I hope these implications are falling fresh on your hearts as we enter the third part of our storyline, which is redemption.

Psalm 8, 4 through 8 says, What is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of Man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor.

You have given him dominion over the works of your hands, you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and all beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

Do you see the language of mandate in there?

For those who read this psalm in the time that it was written, did it seem that they had dominion over the earth?

Not at all.

It says dominion was given to man.

I had a little problem on my computer.

I am so sorry.

It says here in these verses that dominion was given to man, but sin marred man and creation.

But ultimately, this psalm is pointing to someone greater.

You see that in Hebrews 2, 5 through 9.

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.

It has been testified somewhere, and we see this psalm again.

What is man that you are mindful of him, or the Son of Man that you care for him?

You made him for a little while lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

At present we do not see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

You see, Christ is truly the man of Psalm 8.

God the Father, in the greatest act of mercy, sent Jesus to earth to accomplish the mission of redeeming his people.

Jesus came into humanity's existence on the created earth to do what God commanded Adam and Eve to do from the beginning, to fulfill the creation mandate.

Man was to image God, to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to subdue it and take dominion so that the whole earth would be filled with his glory.

Man was to image God, but he did not.

But one man did.

Adam, the federal head, failed for all humanity, but Christ, the second Adam, did not fail.

Hebrews 1.3 tells us that Jesus, he, Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

Jesus was the man who perfectly imaged God.

Colossians 1.15 says, He is the image of the invisible God.

John 14 9 says, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

Jesus showed the world perfectly who God was and resembled represented him accurately.

He perfectly lived out God's righteousness in order to bring God's blessings into the world.

He was the image bearer.

Do you see how Jesus fulfilled the mandate?

Second Corinthians 5, 17 through 21 tells us, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God.

For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because of Jesus, there is now a possibility of being redeemed back to our original mandate purpose as human beings.

Every person who has not repented of their sin and trusted in Christ is still dead in their sin.

In Adam, who was the federal head of all humanity, all men died.

All are spiritually dead.

Outside of repentance and faith in Christ, every person that dies will die in their sinful state and spend eternity apart from God in hell.

So again, we read 2 Corinthians 5 17.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

I want us to catch that word.

We are a new creation.

What was cursed and marred, Jesus has now reversed.

We are new.

First Corinthians 15, 22 says, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Christ is the second Adam.

He fulfilled what Adam did not.

And God has planned a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth.

Unlike the first creation, where He made, where He first made the place and then afterwards put the people there to live, in the new creation He's first making the people and then afterwards the place where they will live.

The new creation begins in the midst of the old.

Luke 17, 20 through 21 tells us, being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, Look, here it is, or there, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

When God raised Jesus from the dead, he was the first man in the new creation.

And anyone who is joined to Jesus Christ by faith is new creation.

This happens first in the inner person and later in the resurrection, in the outer person.

Ephesians 4.24 says, And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3.10 says, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

These two passages call believers to adapt in daily lifestyle all that is entailed in the new creation life within them.

Have you really thought of the implications of this, or are we so familiar with these verses that we just read them and we move on?

If you are a born-again Christ follower, the new creation life is already in you.

It's not coming one day.

It's in us.

We have the power to put off the old self.

Christ died, so we can.

Our new self is created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

This does not mean that we can now live in sinless perfection.

I hope we know that.

We're not walking away thinking we can be perfect.

Second Corinthians 3 18 says, and we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of God, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is spirit.

If we are in Christ, we are being transformed every day from one degree of glory to another.

We are continuing to look like Jesus more and more every day until he takes us home to glory.

Right now, in the redemption part of our storyline, God is fulfilling his plan to have a people in his place under his rule.

This was always his plan, but man continued to rebel and break the covenants of God that he made with his people.

But this new covenant in Christ is the fulfillment of the unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham.

Do you remember when we said that God himself walked through the pieces of flesh, signifying that he would pay the price if either party broke the covenant?

Well, Abraham broke the covenant.

All of Israel broke the covenant.

But God's promise still stands.

His promise to Adam and Eve that Eve's offspring would crush the head of the serpent.

God's promise to Abram that he would multiply his descendants and give him a land.

God's promise to David that there was to come a king in his line that will establish his throne forever and rule in a land that is fruitful and subdued, where the king would have dominion.

These promises have all been fulfilled in Christ, and we are a part of that new creation.

We are God's people in God's place under God's rule.

Christ is the head of the church.

He is ruling and reigning over us now.

We are living in the already but not yet.

Christ has already defeated Satan, but we still have sin in the world.

We are not yet dwelling on the new earth and reigning with Christ, where all things will be subjected to his authority.

But in Christ, a new humanity is forming that one day will in fact reign with him over all things.

And that brings us to the last part of our storyline of the Bible, and that is the consummation or restoration.

Consummation meaning complete or finalize, and restoration meaning restoring back to its original state or design.

Revelation 21, 1 through 4 says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.

Do you see it?

Do you see God's people in God's place under God's rule, finally the way it was intended to be, the way that he promised?

The words of Jesus in Revelation 3.21 says, The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne.

Jesus will rule over all things, and man will regain his dominion.

Praise the Lord, what a glorious day that will be.

And we should look forward to that day.

That is our motivation in the midst of a dark world.

But it's the world that is dark, not us.

We are the light of the world.

In Christ, we are new creation.

We have the power to live out this mandate in a way that was not possible before Christ defeated Satan on the cross.

God has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

As women who are in Christ, made in the image of God, we must daily remind ourselves that we are to subdue and rule to the glory of God.

We can only do that by obeying his commands by his standards of righteousness, and doing so with the strength that he provides by the power of his Holy Spirit.

Before we end this evening, I want to leave us with some practical questions that you can ask yourselves in light of how we are to live this out, some things you can reflect on as you go home tonight.

As a woman, should I allow my home to fall into chaos or labor diligently to maintain an orderly household?

Do I honor my husband and commit to be his helper and show him respect?

Should I passively watch my children be swallowed up in a godless culture, or valiantly fight the good fight to raise them in the fear of the Lord?

As a retired person, do I spend my free days advancing the kingdom and helping others, or do I spend those days predominantly on my own pleasures?

Do I solve conflict with anger and manipulation?

Or do I solve conflicts using the standards of righteousness God gives me in his word?

Do I use the resources that God gives me to bless others and advance his kingdom?

Or do I spend my resources on my own pleasures?

At my workplace, do I fight to be appreciated, noticed, or treated fairly?

Or do I look to the example Christ set for me and humbly be mistreated for the sake of showing what an image-bearer of God looks like?

In the spaces I daily walk, do I seek for opportunities to serve others and share Christ?

In any situation, do I see obstacles as opportunities to reflect Christ, even if it causes others to dislike me, even family?

When I am wronged, do I defend myself?

Or do I do as God's word says and know that I am blessed when I overlook an offense?

Am I quick to judge others, or do I have a forgiving servant's attitude like Christ?

As I have worked my way through this study, I think it finally clicked what being an image bearer meant.

Then I am not just trudging through life waiting for heaven, but I am a new creation.

I am new.

When the old man pops up, that is not who I am.

That is not my identity.

I don't have to give in to the sinful patterns of my flesh, I am new.

I don't have to get angry, I am new.

I don't have to be hurt, I am new.

I can be taken advantage of and still want to continue serving.

I am new.

This has radically changed my thought process.

My identity in Christ changes everything.

Ladies, we are not just saved from something, but saved to something, to image our great God and King.

And he has offered his life to enable us to do so.

I'd like us to close as we stand and read this exhortation together from Jude 24 and 25.

And then I will close us in prayer.

We'll stand and read it nice and loud together.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, now and forever.

Amen.

Father God, we thank you so much for this time this evening.

I know this was a lot of information, Lord, and I just pray that you would just allow whatever truths need to set in the hearts of the ladies here, Lord, that they would leave here encouraged, knowing what you have designed them for, and that you have sent Christ to die for us, to redeem us, to enable us by the power of your spirit to live out this call that you have given to us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth so that the whole earth would be filled with your glory.

What a blessing it has been to be here with them this evening.

I pray that you would bless them as they leave tonight, Lord, and they would come back refreshed tomorrow.

And we just thank you, God.

We praise you in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.