 |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||
e-mail me at: shearer@newhope.to |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
What's the Big Deal about Homosexuality? |
||
|
|
|
by Pastor Douglas Shearer |
||
|
|
|
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every 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. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it...” Genesis 1:26-28
In the ancient Middle East, a king would often erect images of himself along the borders of his kingdom. Those images marked the limits of his realm. That’s the truth that forms the backdrop against which the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego is told in the Book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar had erected an image of himself to mark the extent of his absolute sovereignty. An image, then, is a kingdom marker. It delineates the borders of a ruler’s kingdom. So when Genesis 1:26 – 28 tells us that man was created in the image of God, it’s telling us that man is God’s “kingdom marker” – delineating the borders of God’s realm and proclaiming his dominion over it. Therefore, when God made man in his image and put him on earth, he was, in effect, proclaiming his intention to extend the sway of his kingdom to earth – or, more accurately, he was proclaiming his intention to reclaim earth. Does that surprise you?
Look closely at what’s being said here.
Good grief, that means we’re living in a war zone, doesn’t it? The next items I want you to take note of in Genesis 1:26-28 are the words “dominion” and “subdue.” In short, mankind is being charged here in Genesis 1:26 – 28 with the responsibility of subjugating the earth and establishing God’s dominion over it. In other words, man is not simply a passive kingdom marker, he’s expected to wage war – he’s being told here that in marking out God’s kingdom – in announcing God’s intention to extend the sway of his kingdom to earth – to expect fierce resistance. In short, it’s not just that we live in a war zone, which is bad enough, it’s that we’re combatants in that war zone. Finally, the last item I want you to take note of is that man is two dimensional. He’s not just male; he’s male and female. Look closely at verse 27: ...so God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female. Genesis 1:27 Do you see that? Man is male and female.
In short, man exists only in the union of both sexes. In the absence of that union, man, God's agent of conquest, doesn’t really exist. Clearly, then, by destroying the union of male and female, by playing down its significance, the homosexual agenda inadvertently forestalls the conquest of Satan, thereby prolonging Satan's control of the earth.
************* |
|
|
|
Let me take you back again to Genesis – but this time back before the Garden of Eden – back to the mind of God in Genesis 1:26 – 28.
Here we have the creation of man – beginning in the mind of God. And there are several items I want you to carefully notice. The first item I want you to take note of is the word “image.” Do you see it there in your Bibles? It’s a word that’s not too well understood by most people. When we hear the phrase “made in the image of God,” we think only of “likeness” – that we bear God’s likeness. And that’s true up to a point. But it misses altogether the meaning of Genesis 1:26 – 28. 
Have you ever wondered about the wording of the Lord’s Prayer. Turn with me to Luke 11:2