Karl Coke
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
God created man to live in the “Kingdom of the World” with the principles from His “Kingdom of Heaven,” Man is created to live in both kingdoms simultaneously. In fact, man is the ultimate example of God’s creativity of using “Heaven’s” principles to produce an “earthly” creation. Man was made in the image and likeness of God. In Genesis 2:7, “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.”
According to Chaim Nussbaum, in his book The Essence of Teshuvah, “Creation implies pluralism, separability of created elements. Consequently, both tziruf (combining) and iruv (mixing) are basic concepts in the story of creation. … we find at the earliest stage of Creation, not so much a mixing but rather a tziruf a combination of ‘good and good.’
In the process of creating man, God brought about a fission of the best of all substances. In so doing, He initiated the first mixture of heterogeneous elements, combining fertile dust, the most suitable substance for molding man’s intricate body, and the nishmat chaim, the soul, originating in the heavenly realm.”
Man is designed to live in world with the principles from “Kingdom of Heaven.” Man succeeds at this when he does something in this physical world exclusively with a principle from the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of this World is the physical manifestation of principles from the Kingdom of Heaven. Our physical world was created by and is maintained by Heaven’s principles. God the Father thought through our creation. Jesus the Son of God built and maintains the creation by His Word. The Holy Spirit of God brings creation into order out of chaos caused by sin. The Bible is the codification of Heaven’s principles and was given to man to assist him in living in harmony with God and creation. Heaven’s principles work on earth and elsewhere throughout the universe because they are the blueprints of creation. In the end, it is quite foolish not to obey God’s Word here on earth. God’s Word works on earth because He created earth.
Hebrews 8:5 calls the “Sanctuary” (Tabernacle of Israel) “a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.” Since things in this world are copies of things from the Kingdom of Heaven, it is advisable for all mankind to discover “Heaven’s Principles.” Simply stated if anyone desires knowledge of how things work on earth, he should read God’s Word (seek first God’s Kingdom of Heaven) in order to discover Heaven’s Principles.
There is an implication included in God’s purpose for creating man to live in this world with kingdom of Heaven principles. What is implied? If man will live in this world exclusively with Kingdom of Heaven principles, he will have dominion over the world. Since the invisible Kingdom of Heaven principles were invoked to create this world, this physical world must obey those principles. God’s Heavenly principles worked at creation, are working to sustain creation and will again work at the creation of a new earth.
The exact opposite of the above is true. If man chooses to live in this physical world refusing to obey Heavenly principles, this world will dominate that man. As an example, man was created to “have dominion” over the plants on earth. When man obeys God’s Heavenly principles, he dominates plants. However, since the sin of Adam, plants have ruled over mankind. We call these “plants,” coffee, tea, cigarettes, drugs, food and alcohol, but they are all plants.
It is interesting that Adam was “dominated” by a plant when he ate from the forbidden tree. He also attempted to cover himself with the leaves of the fig tree. The sin, however, of Adam was disobedience to a principle from Heaven. According to Nussbaum, “After eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Adam also received the quality of intelligence enabling him to discriminate between good and evil independently. Armed with this capability, Adam felt that he was justified in assuming he could keep to a minimum the risk of making serious errors, so that he would not jeopardize his own and mankind’s existence and future development by using his God-given freedom of decision making.”
Since Adam, men have felt they do not need to obey principles from the Kingdom of Heaven. Most men treat God and His Heaven’s principles as an imposition. This attitude reveals another implication not in evidence. This false and deadly implication is that the physical world exists apart from God and that God is an intention of man’s mind.
All men would be well advised to live in obedience to God’s Heavenly Kingdom principles. God’s Laws are not an imposition upon man. They release things in order that they might work. Moses told the Israelis in Deuteronomy 4:39-40. “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is none other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives You for all time.”
To the degree that a man lives in this world by the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven he is spiritual. Spirituality is not man temporarily escaping the Kingdom of the World to visit the Kingdom of heaven! Attending a church service does not a spiritual man make. Neither is spirituality man’s attempt to make living in this world temporarily bearable. True spirituality is living full time in this world, always and only knowing the present, by applying to all life’s situations the Kingdom of Heaven’s principles. They are eternal and always work.
To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength, is to fully accept that the Kingdom of Heaven exists and has practical principles which work every day. “Taking dominion” simply means to apply Kingdom of Heaven principles to every situation met in the Kingdom of the World. Satan’s tool is to blind mankind to the principles from the Kingdom of Heaven. Satan wants men to use principles made by fallen man called “principles of this world.” Kingdom of this World principles are based upon pride of life, lust of the eye and lust of the flesh. They do not work. Ask anyone wasted by them.
Psychology is secular man’s attempt to replace the Kingdom of Heaven principles. The reason it doesn’t work in the end is that it rejects principles from the Kingdom of Heaven by replacing them with Kingdom of this Worlds’ principles.
Materialism is man’s attempt to achieve one of God’s Kingdom of Heaven principles. Like psychology it doesn’t work in the end either. In order to get money, the Kingdom of this World teaches one how to take it from others. In opposition, the Kingdom of Heaven principle says. “give and it shall be given to you.” Men without God laugh at such a proposition. Yet. since Adam Heaven’s principle has worked in every generation. The principle of “giving to get” also works for God! He gave one son and got many.
(Reprinted from Tishrei Vol 4 No 3, Kingdom of Heaven, Summer 1996)