Scriptural support – OT.

The Bible is full of verses and admonitions to transform society. It’s a theme frequently found throughout both the Old and New Testaments. But it is also widely ignored and even denied in Christian theology and Church circles for being part of, if not, the solution to the problems of this world. Thus, many Christians have been conditioned to feel the world must get progressively worse and worse before Jesus returns to save it, all by Himself, someday.

Gen. 1:28-30 – Starting from the very beginning – “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.” (KJV) –and on through verse 30.

Its our threefold purpose as God’s image bearers (vs. 27):

To protect what has been given.
To extend the glory of God to the ends of the earth.
To extend his image to all of creation.

It is termed—the “dominion mandate,” or “Genesis mandate,” or the “theocratic mandate,” or “cultural mandate.”

To be stewards over every aspect of God’s earthly creation.
As God’s image-bearer, we are to serve as his divine representatives in the physical world.
As we shall further see, this mandate has never been rescinded.
It has only been expanded.

Gen. 9:1-7f – God repeats this mandate after the Fall to Noah and his sons.

To be stewards over all creation.
This is the beginning of a “given, lost, regain/redeem it” theme.
Hence, this mandate was not lost or rescinded at the Fall.

Gen. 12:3b – “and all the peoples (families KJV) of the earth will be blessed through you.”

This blessing was not to be a privatized or horded – which the O.C. Jews did.
In Gal. 3:29 we are told that if we belong to Christ, then we “are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” Therefore, we are called to be a blessing to “all the peoples of the earth.”
Isn’t this also what the Lord’s Prayer is all about—worldwide dominion—“Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10)?
A synonym for dominion is kingdom.
Kingdom is also a political metaphor that insists that everything and everyone is under the rule of God.
The “King-dom” is where the King is in dominion.
So how extensive is his dominion/kingdom?

Psa. 24:1 – “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”

Psa. 50: 10, 12 – Is like Psa. 24:1.

Psa. 72:8 – “His dominion shall be also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the land.”

Psa. 103:19 – The universe is a theocracy.

Psa. 115:16 – “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man.”

Psa. 8:4-6 (KJV) – “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of they hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.”

“Man was commissioned to manage God’s very creation! That which He spoke into existence and proclaimed to be good, He entrusted into the hands of human beings for care and stewardship. Man, being created in God’s image, was thoroughly equipped for the task because the capacity for rulership is also one of the central aspects of what it means to be made in the likeness of God. . . . We are the only creatures given stewardship, and a position of tremendous honor” (Overman, Assumptions That Affect Our Lives, 59).

Ezek. 22:30 – “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”

Check out the context for this in verses 25, 27, and 29.

Hag. 2:8 – re: economics (silver and gold).

Exodus 20:5 – “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them [other gods, such as secularism or humanism], nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.”

Is America bowing down to “other gods” today?
Remember, God judges the compromisers along with their country.

Deut. 30:16 – “For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”

Doesn’t this command include the “dominion mandate?”

2 Chron. 7:14 – “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

This is the biblical model for “healing the land.”
But what “wicked ways” must they/we “turn from?”
How about abrogation of our dominion-mandated duties, etc.?

Eccl. 12:13 – “Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

What about the “dominion mandate?”

Jer. 1:6-10 – “‘Ah, sovereign LORD,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’”

Is this not a continuation of the “dominion mandate?”

Amos 5:24 – “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

There is a lot in the OT about “justice.” It’s “the great theme of the justice of God” (N.T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God (Downers Grove, IL.: IVP Books, 2006), 117).

Psa. 82:3 and Prov. 21:3 – “doing justice.”

Reflecting the justice / righteousness of God.
Also see Psa. 45:6; 11:5-7.

Isa. 1: 16-17 – “Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

Unbiblical laws need to be abolished or our societies will suffer for the sin they allow. This is termed “biblical law.”

Psa. 2: 8-12 – “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

This messianic psalm for ruling the nations is part of and an expansion of the original “dominion mandate” and we are Christ’s agents in doing this works and the “greater works.”

Psa. 94:16 – “Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”

Micah 6:8 – “And what does the Lord require of you: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

The message from the prophets of the OT was a combination of both forth-telling and foretelling, with forth-telling being the major component.
And forth-telling involved calling out wrongs, idolatry, and injustices in the current culture and a prediction of hard times ahead should Israel not change its ways.

Zech. 7:9-12 – “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’ But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.”

Isa. 9:6-7 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”

From what “time on and forever?”—“for to us a child is born.”
This is the messianic prophecy of the coming everlasting kingdom and Jesus’ expansion of the “dominion mandate.”

Dan. 7:13-14 – “. . . . And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” (KJV)

Dan. 7:18, 27 – But at some point in history “the saints of the Most High” were to “receive” this kingdom and this dominion and “possess it forever” as it was to be “handed over to the saints” by Christ, which is exactly what He did during his earthly ministry (see Luke 22:29-30).

Source:

1 A Once-Mighty Faith (future book – est. 2014-15) by John Noe