In our past several lessons we have been discussing the differences between creation and restoration. The six days that are found in Genesis chapter one are not six days of creation; they are actually six days of restoration. The earth was here long before the tim e of Adam and Eve. How long ago the beginning was we do not know. The Father,Son and Holy Spirit never had a beginning,but the universe and the earth did. That is where Genesis 1:1 comes in.

We found out in Genesis 1:2 a curse was placed upon the earth. The earth was wrapped up in darkness and totally submerged in water. The whole earth froze and the ice ages began. The first thing that God called into being was light.

Verse 2 says, "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." The Hebrew word for "moved" actually means "to incubate". In other words, like a mother hen sitting on an egg, the Holy Spirit began to cause the earth to come forth. As the ice began to melt some of the waters evaporated into the heavens and the clouds were formed. The oceans were also formed,and the land came up.

Again, on the first day (verses 3-5) light was created, but this was not the sun; it was the supernatural light of God. On the second day (verses 6-8) the first heavens were created—the clouds and the atmosphere. On day three (verses 9-13) God formed the dry land, the trees,and the herbs. O n the fourth day (verses 14-19) H e created the sun and the moon. Inverses 20-23 we have the fifth day. On this day God created the fish and the birds. On the sixth day the creeping animals were created and verses 26­28 tell us that also on this day God created man.

Beginning in verse 24 of Genesis chapter I we read: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth (or literally, ‘let it spring up’) the living creature after his kind (or, 'after his species'), cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." In verse 24 we have the tame animals being created and in verse 25 we have the wild beasts. From the beginning God kept everything within it's species and we find no cross-over today. Animals remain in their own kingdom as God originally ordained.

In verses 26-28 God created man. God placed man on earth after everything was already created. God did not create man and then make him some food. He did not create man and then make him a house. Literally, God had everything prepared for man before the creation of man—there was nothing left for man to do. This is grace. Grace says everything man needs to sustain himself has already been provided.

Verses 27 and 28 continue: "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." All men come to a specific point in their lives in which they ask them selves the question,"Why am I here?" The sad thing is that many people grow up and die and still never know why they were here.

God placed man on the earth to have dominion over all of God’s creation, spiritual and natural. Man was placed on the earth as God’s representative to care for the earth and protect it from the attacks of the enemy, Satan. Once man fell, he lost this authority and the right to exercise spiritual domination. Man himself was now under the feet of Satan and demons. Satan was the lord over man.

Through the new birth, man has regained this authority through faith in the finished work of the cross and the shed blood of Jesus. Jesus has returned man to his rightful position under Himself and over all creation, natural and spiritual. This is the message Jesus preached and the message of the New Testament writers.

In chapter 3 of the book of Ephesians we find what God's purpose for man is. Paul says in Ephesians 3:8-11, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Notice, when Paul was a sinner he conversion, Paul was a powerful man—he was a religious man. He had money, he had position, he had power.

I want you to understand who the worst sinners are. The worst sinners are not prostitutes or homosexuals or drug addicts in the street. The worst sinners in the world are religious people. In fact, Jesus brought the worst type of condem nation on religious people. He said it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that day than it would be for His generation—a generation ruled by religion. Jesus hates religion. God hates religion. The most difficult people to witness to are moral people who have gone to church all of their lives and because of their good works they think they are going to get into Heaven.

Jesus won thousands of people off of the streets, but He won very few religious people. Tax collectors, prostitutes, the people on the street who had no illusions about themselves were looking for the answer and could see right through the phoniness of religion. When Jesus came along labeling religion exactly what is was, the masses followed Him . Jesus called the religious people of His day white-washed tombstones. On the outside they appeared clean and white, but on the inside they were full of dead men’s bones.

This is exactly how Paul had been before his conversion, therefore he called himself the "chief of sinners." Yet, as a believer, Paul called himself less than the least. People often talk about what they gave up for Jesus. Listen, no matter what a man may have given up, Paul describes it as "dung." All of the glamour, all of the money, and all of the life you gave up to come to the Lord Jesus is nothing.

Paul says in verse 8 again, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Verse 9: "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery..." This is a horrible translation. The word "fellowship" in verse 9 is the Greek word for "dispensation." Paul is saying in these verses,"My mission in life is to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and once they have come into the kingdom of God, my next mission is to teach them the truths concerning the dispensation in which they live."

One of the primary things you need to understand as a believer is the dispensation in which you live. We live in the dispensation of grace or the Church Age. Our dispensation is also called "the mystery" which means it was hidden in the past, but has been revealed today. Moses, Abraham, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, David—none of the Old Testament saints understood the Church Age. To them it was a mystery. But today the "mystery" has been revealed to man through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The things we have in our dispensation were not available in other dispensations. Before the Church Age, man had to be born into a special tribe to be a priest. Today, men become priests before God through salvation. Also, today man can become a child of God; something that never happened before. W e have the right to enter into the presence of God because we are His children. Under the Old Covenant the Holy Spirit was with them and would come upon them, but they did not have the new birth. Today, the Holy Spirit has come to live in us and has recreated our spirits. Spiritual gifts are available to all believers today. This is something for our dispensation alone. We are the body of Christ. Again, this is something that has never existed before. All of these things are specialized for our dispensation.

What is the purpose of man on the earth today? Paul says in verse 10 of Ephesians 3, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Why are we on the earth today? Our purpose is to display the wisdom of God to Satan and the principalities and powers. God does not go directly to Satan and show him His wisdom . He points to us.

I am sure that there was a day when the whole earth was wrapped up in darkness and Lucifer was roaming the earth with all his demons when suddenly he heard, booming out of Heaven, "Light be!" I can just imagine Lucifer saying to himself, "Whoa! Something is happening here! This is my domain, I call the shots here!" Suddenly, the Holy Spirit came and breathed life into this earth. Lucifer watched as the heavens were created. He saw the firmament created—the clouds created. He saw them and suddenly something appeared that had been before—God recreated Eden.

Eden had existed long before the time of Adam and Eve. We are told in Ezekiel chapter 28 that Lucifer ruled and reigned on this planet from a place called Eden, the Garden of God. And when Lucifer looked around and saw all the beauty of this place he once ruled and reigned over, he began to wonder who G od would choose to place in the garden. Lucifer probably began to go down the list of angels: "Maybe it will be Michael or maybe G abriel." And as Lucifer was going through his list, God was creating man.

Psalm 8:3-4 says, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars,which thou host ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Verse 5 continues, "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." Some of the best teachers of the Word have said this verse of Scripture means man was created below the level of God. I will agree the Hebrew word for "angels" is "Elohim" (the same word used for God), but the word "Elohim" is not speaking of God in this instance; it is speaking of God-like creatures, which are angels. This verse is quoted again in Hebrews 2:6-7 where the word translated "angel" is the Greek word “angelos.” This word, in koine Greek (which the New Testament was written in), always means "angel" or "messenger," but never does it mean "God."

I want you to understand the difference between creation and position. Man, by creation on this earth, was below angels, but by position he was above angels. When Satan looked and saw the Garden of Eden on that sixth day of restoration, and then watched as God reached down and created man, I am sure he and the demons had to laugh; they were looking at the humanness of man. Psalm 8:5 says again, "For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,and hast crowned him with glory and honour." To Satan, placing a weak human man in the Garden was worse than placing Michael or Gabriel in Eden. It was an insult that man, who was inferior to angels, was crowned with the same position Lucifer had had before he fell from Heaven.

Psalm 8:6-8 continues, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden, He said, "Go out, multiply and replenish and subdue the earth." God told man he had dominion over everything—including Satan. Even though Satan, by creation, was much, much higher than Adam, Adam, by position, was far above him. Position takes authority over creation. Again, by creation man is lower than angels, but by position he is greater than angels.

Hebrews 2:6 says, "But one (David) in a certain place (Psalm 8:4) testified, saying. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Verses 7 and 8 continue: "Thou madest him (man) a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. However, now we see not yet all things put under him." Toward the end of verse 8 we have the fall of man. Adam was placed here on the earth and given authority. That authority was to subdue the whole earth. But when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he took his authority and turned it over to Satan. Man was, by creation, already lower than the angels but when he committed the original sin he also fell in position. After the fall of man, Satan received his position back as lord and god over this earth. God knew man was going to fall and had prepared a plan so Jesus Christ would come and bring man back to his rightful position; that is the work of the cross. God sent His Son to become a man, and because Jesus was without sin, He was qualified to destroy the barrier of sin between God and man.

Hebrews 2:9 says, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Jesus came as a man into the earth and He held the same position that Adam had originally held; by creation He was lower than the angels, but by position He was higher than the angels. Why did Jesus have to come and be a man? Because as God He could not die; deity cannot die.

Hebrews 2:10-16 says: "For it became him, for whom are all things,in bringing many sons unto glory,to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he (Jesus) that sanctifieth and they (us) who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren,in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again. Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same: that through death he might destroy him (Satan) that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them (us) who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham." If Jesus would have come to this earth and destroyed Satan as deity, Satan would have been destroyed by a superior. If Jesus would have come as an angel, Satan would have been defeated by an equal. Instead, Jesus came into this earth below the level of angels, and Satan was destroyed by an inferior creature called man. It is not the name of Christ that makes us free; it is the name of Jesus (the name for His humanity). It is the name of a man that has been exalted in Heaven and placed on the same level with God Himself. The name that causes demons, principalities and powers to bow is the name of Jesus.

Satan was defeated. He could put up no argument because Jesus, the man, conquered him once and for all. Jesus made a show of him openly; and when Jesus arose from the dead He gave authority back to man. The moment you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, by creation you are still inferior to angels, but by position you are once again lifted up above the level of angels. Man's purpose on the earth is to display to Satan and his demons God's wisdom in that God chose an inferior creature (man) to reclaim the authority Satan once possessed. That authority is in the name of Jesus!

Bob Yandian

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Copyright 2001 by Bob Yandian Ministries.
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