KINGDOM RESTORATION PROCESS

The Bible opens with:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
— Genesis 1:1 (KJV)

The Bible is silent about the details of how God created the heaven but provides details about how He created the earth.

In the narrative, man was created last, and he was created in the image and likeness of God:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
— Genesis 1:26 (KJV)

He was created to rule over all God’s creations because the power of dominion was given to him at creation.

Originally, the earth was meant to be God’s kingdom because God created everything to be very good, not just good:

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
— Genesis 1:31 (KJV)

The fact that He made man in His image and likeness to rule over His creations points to the earth being specially created for man.

Man lost this kingdom to Satan when he listened to Satan and disobeyed God’s instruction (Genesis 3). Satan seized the opportunity to restructure God’s creation and put man under his control:

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
— Romans 6:16 (KJV)

He also reconfigured man to have the Adamic nature after his (Satan’s) likeness and raised an altar of sin for man so that man would appear abominable to God.

Man is a tripartite being, as God is the Godhead. Man consists of body, soul, and spirit, just as the Godhead is the Father, the Word (Son), and the Holy Spirit, yet one God:

Body: The body is where man relates with the environment and the physical world using the five senses; feeling, smelling, tasting, seeing, and hearing.

Soul: The soul is the engine room comprising the mind, will, and emotion.

• Mind: Where ideas of what is to be done are conceived and processed.
• Will: Where the proposed idea is decided upon; a place of decision-making.
• Emotion: Where whatever is decided is sent to the body for action.

Spirit: The spirit is where intuition, spiritual communion, and conscience take place.

When man is viewed as the Temple of God:

• Body: Serves as the outer court where the general public stays and general activities take place.
• Soul: Serves as the Holy Place where priests carry out their activities and functions.
• Spirit: Serves as the Holy of Holies, which contains the Ark of God and is only accessible by the Chief Priest.

It should be noted that the soul and the spirit of man are invisible to the physical eye. However, the body houses the soul and spirit of man, and they cannot be separated.

1. Man became a living corpse: That is, man died spiritually.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”
— John 5:25 (KJV)

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
— Ephesians 2:1 (KJV)

“Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)”
— Ephesians 2:5 (KJV)

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”
— Colossians 2:13 (KJV)

2. Conflict arose between the flesh and the conscience in man: Even when the Spirit of God returns to man upon his belief in Jesus Christ, the flesh remains in opposition to the Spirit of God, leading to an internal struggle that makes it difficult for man to yield to the things of God.

3. The devil reconfigured man: By allowing a strong bond to form between the soul of man and his body, producing the flesh (self), which is the Adamic nature.

4. Man’s focus shifted: From God to the environment and nature. Man started having different views about things around him. For instance, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil appeared different to Eve from her former perspective.

5. The devil raised the altar of sin for man: Man began to be rebellious to God and the things of God, making himself an enemy to God and His institutions.

6. Man adopted the likeness of the devil: He imbibed all the character traits of the devil, becoming wicked, evil, and reprobate in mind, finding it difficult to do godly things.

7. Man became independent: He always wanted to exercise self-will and please himself and the body instead of trying to do God’s will, choosing to act based on his own terms and conditions.

8. Man viewed God as unapproachable: He began to worship God through created objects or other creatures of God.

9. The spirit of the devil took over: Occupying the space of God’s Spirit that became vacant, channeling communications to man’s mind and giving him directives.

10. Man became obsessed: With the environment, material things, nature, and the quest for rulership.

11. Man became a slave to Satan: Continually in a position of servitude, serving under oppression and afflictions.

12. Satan distracted man: From having true fellowship with God by making man worship God according to his own dictates and terms.

13. Satan subjected God’s creation to futility: Causing it to groan under hard labor.

14. Conflict arose between the flesh and the conscience in man: Even when the Spirit of God returns to man upon his belief in Jesus Christ, the flesh remains in opposition to the Spirit of God, leading to an internal struggle that makes it difficult for man to yield to the things of God.