The story of our destiny begins in the book of Genesis. There we learn that God originally placed humans in a garden in a land named Eden. In the Garden of Eden God told Adam and Eve “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals” (Gen. 1:28 NLT). He also “put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15, ESV). Then God gave Adam and Eve to each other so Adam (and obviously Eve) would not be alone (Gen. 2:18); Adam was to “hold fast” to Eve and they would be “one flesh” (2:24) and she was to be his “helper” (2:20). Thus, God gave Adam and Eve eight callings (we count reigning over the animals as one calling.) Adam and Eve were to fulfill these callings in intimate union with God and conduct this in a way that reflected the image of God that humans bore. Finally, their lives were supposed to be pleasurable; the root meaning of the Hebrew name “Eden” is pleasure.
Thus, God endowed humans with tremendous abilities and honor and happiness. Luke even refers to Adam as the son of God (Luke 3:38). God could have cared for the earth and the animals himself or assigned his angels to “work it and keep it” but he didn’t. He created humans to do these things. But Adam and Eve disobeyed God and they could not fulfill their callings from God. (We will expand on this below.) However, God was not going to change his glorious plan; Jesus came to restore us and our callings. For now, we can only achieve partial fulfillment of our callings, but “when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away” (1 Cor. 13:10, ESV).
Therefore, we keep our focus on the coming restoration of Eden, the New Eden. We look forward to being godly stewards of the Earth. God’s promise that his people will one day be stewards over the earth (the “reign of the saints”) is a major biblical theme. In Luke 19:11-27, Jesus tells the parable of the ten minas in which those who work to convert a gift of money from their master into a greater sum are rewarded with authority over cities in the master’s kingdom. In 2 Tim. 2:12 those who endure will “reign with him” (ESV); in Rev. 3:21 Jesus promises conquerors that they will sit with him on his throne (!); in Rev. 5:10 the saints “shall reign on earth” (ESV); in Rev. 20:4, 6 some saints will reign “with Christ for a thousand years” (ESV); Rev. 21:24 mentions “kings of the earth” (which are saints) who enter the New Jerusalem; in Rev. 22:5 the saints “will reign forever and ever”.
So, like David in Israel, we will be leaders on the New Earth one day and enjoy the opportunity to apply our creativity to God’s creation. We will not oppress others rather we will bless others, which will be tremendously fulfilling for us and make our Father proud. This is part of the destiny that we focus our lives on. It allows us to wait a few years – our lifetime in this age – and overcome the Goliaths in our lives until the new age comes and everything will be as God originally intended.
