Dreams & Mysteries - The Mystery of Man and the Earth

the earth groans rocks worship Ezekiel prophesized to the mountains and the valleys what do these scripture passages mean does the earth literally groan does it really respond to the prophet ik addresses of God's servants can any part of creation besides human beings worship God can the ground we walk on the ground itself be blessed or become defiled humans and the earth is there something more to our relationship than just gravity that pulls us together the first thing we need to look at is the language of the Bible when God speaks about the earth and gives it human characteristics is God speaking literally or is he speaking figuratively there are occasions when God uses metaphors and allegories to communicate truth to us so when God talks about the earth like it has human-like feelings is it just a personification personification is a poetic device where you ascribe a human characteristic to something that's not human for example the Wynn how old ominously of the Sun beat down showing no mercy is the earth groaning is God using literary devices to illustrate a point I don't really think so and I mean I really don't and here's why when I look at the totality of Scripture I see reoccurring passages where it's clear the earth really is responding to something the earth responds the Bible says the earth Waits the Bible says the earth yields the Bible says wouldn't that seem to indicate the earth has some measure of a choice how is it that that even the earth has a choice of whether to yield to us or not here's a clue what does the Bible say were created from it says were created from the dust of the earth the breath of God created the earth and then God took some of the earth and formed man and then he breathed again and Adam yeah and you and I came to life that's for the mystery starts a mystery of man and the earth it's his dreams and mysteries with John Paul Jackson for the earnest expectation of creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope because the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole creation groans and Labor's with birth pangs until now if these verses in Romans 8 were just meant to be poetry they could stand up against the greatest poets of any generation it has all the makings of a Shakespearean soliloquy it's beautiful it's descriptive it's even emotive it probably really impressed the church in Rome who might have been used to that sort of thing but there's another reason Paul uses literary devices like personification they add value and context in fact you and I do this ourselves all the time you might ask somebody how is the traffic on the way to work today and they may respond it kid this is like a parking lot let's traffic really a parking lot no but describing it that way you're able to share in the experience with somebody and the emotions involved in their experience God talks about the earth as if it the person in Scripture because he wants us to change how we view the earth and our role on it God's original intent for us and the earth was put on hold when Adam and Eve sinned but just as everything changed for us through Christ everything changed for the earth as well there's a problem the earth is waiting for us to bring it good news it's waiting for us to free it from its bondage if we're supposed to restore the earth to its original purpose it would probably be helpful to know what that original purpose was so to do that we have to look at the structure of man's original relationship with the earth and here's what you find in Genesis 1 God gave man authority over the earth and told him to subdue it as man subdued the earth its purpose was fulfilled in other words God told Adam look around you this garden has order and purpose this garden is doing what I created it to do but not all the earth looks like this so I want you to go and change that go and subdue the earth make the whole earth look like this I've done my part now it's your turn we were given authority over the earth to do that and we were told to subdue it and for a while man did we're not sure how long Adam and Eve spent subduing the earth but we do know this it end at the moment they send why does God attribute human characteristics to the earth then one reason is it reminds us of the relationship we once had what's the purpose for that you might be asking because when Jesus died on the cross the provision was made to restore man and earth back to the original relationship if that's the case and why don't we see radical changes all around us why doesn't every believer have an orchard say in their backyard and a garden full of vegetables and you might ask why do tornados and hurricanes decimate homes of Christians and non-christians alike well a lots happened in the last six thousand years that's for sure by that I mean a lot a lot of sin the earth will respond to the righteous however at the same time it's also responding to the unrighteous part of the futility that the well you might say part of the futility earth experiences today is due to a tug of war it's right a tug of war a tug of war between righteousness on one hand and unrighteousness on the other here's an illustration of that tug of war when we move to New Hampshire we moved into a house that had very little grass there were no birds on the property no animal scurrying about it was actually kind of strange every word in the middle of the most wooded state in the United States and our land though still beautiful seemed lifeless we cut down two dozen dead trees in the first two years historically every place my wife and I have lived the Lord has impressed upon us the basic principle turn your land in the Garden of Eden so that's what I wanted to do at my home in New Hampshire I could have spent a small fortune landscaping to do this but what I actually did was speak to the land from the first day I took ownership right after we signed the contract we walked the corners of the property and consecrated it with oil sand speaking the blessings of God over it I said land were the new owners here we are we purchased you therefore we give you the right to live and I command you to live I said that because at the moment the land wasn't living so we commanded the land to live we spoke to the rest of creation in the area and commanded that creation to come dwell on our property and use the land as God created it to be used not long after that literally days are a couple of weeks that's exactly what began to happen Falcons turkeys Chipmunks groundhog deer Fox squirrel and many other animals returned to our property we actually had Fox have a have babies underneath our porch and that's unheard of well when we first arrived the land had none of this but after announcing our presence and blessing the land creation responded to us being there we announced who we were and commanded the land to fulfill its purpose you see I believe and I really believe we have a right to command the earth especially when we own it we have paid a price and the natural and Jesus's paid a price in the spirit there's also a secondary principle at play and this is much more of a spiritual principle than a natural one you see the earth feels and it has to be healed from it when my ministry was in New Hampshire we owned a piece of property called the pinnacle it was called the pinnacle because it was a mountain that was one of the highest points in the area and is even listed on the map for at least 100 years it had been a place for the occult met and made sacrifices the pinnacle had become defiled we were literally taking back a high place and the first thing we did when we took ownership of the property was to cleanse the land of that defilement we prayed we worship we took communion we did everything we knew to restore God's blessings on that property even after we owned the land the witches in the area tried to continue to hold the ceremonies at the top of that mountain they would build their altars would tear them down and throw the stones down the mountain we'd put up our cross and they would turn it upside down and or destroy it this went on for a year until eventually they stopped coming why did they stop coming it's like I told my staff they're gonna stop when they can't communicate with their God anymore so when we left New Hampshire I turned to Pinnacle over to the church at Planet and today the land is thriving it's an amazing place of worship and the presence of God rests in an unusually strong way there even to today when the righteous take possession of the land they begin to restoring it to its original purpose we're not just turning a neutral force into a positive force we're stopping the plans of the enemy in that geographic area and that could start in your apartment or in your house we're taking land and then end the natural and we're taking land and the spiritual as well we're going to change things if we grab a hold of this concept the land is waiting for us to subdue it and to take dominion over it learn more about powerful spiritual authority with the matters of the earth bundle this powerful 4-cd teaching is filled with practical faith building strategies you can use to begin using your god-given authority over the earth matters of the earth bundle also includes my journey so far a personal testimony from John Paul this teaching set is being offered for your gift of $45 or more to the ministry to order this bundle visit dreams and mysteries.com or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five now that we've looked at this kind of mysterious passage in Romans 8 about creation groaning I'd like to go back to the creation account in Genesis as I mentioned earlier God did the heavy lifting during the six days of creation and on the sixth day that's when he passed the torch to us here's how that handover happened in Genesis chapter 1 verses 28 through 30 then God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air over every living thing that moves on the face of the earth and God said see I have given you every herb that you'll seed which is on the face of all the earth and every tree whose fruit yields seeds to you it shall be for food also to every beast of the earth to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life I have given every green herb for food and it was so the key phrase is there is subdue the earth and I might add take dominion over it now the Hebrew word used here for for subdue is kibosh you might have heard an old colloquial saying says well they put the kibosh on that well there's a reason because in this context it literally means to forcefully control what enslavement actually that it is to be enslaved to you because it's inferior to you not inferior in a sense of value but in fear in the sense of what it's called to do versus what you're called to do it's very interesting the word choice here because it implies that the earth outside of the garden potentially dangerous notice man was put into the garden already subdued he had to go outside the garden to subdue and unsubdued earth so kibosh doesn't mean prune our water or speak softly it means use the authority you have to take full control that's an awesome power to have God would only have given that kind of power and authority at that level to someone he could trust someone who wouldn't use it to do evil and since we're talking about humans here that meant someone who didn't even know what evil was so what God do God gave the privilege and power of subduing the earth to Adam and Eve on one condition don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil well unfortunately we know the story they did that very thing and once they did the authority to subdue the earth was revoked it happened instantly Adam and Eve were forced out of the garden and was told you will have to till the soil and toil over your food from then on a wild earth that no longer respond to them I might add is where they were sent out to in fact in a way just as they had become slaves to sin they also became slaves to the earth why because now darkness ruled over the earth the enemy Satan ruled over the earth and had submitted to him they now had to serve the earth to receive the benefits of its fruit and that service again was called toil fruit that was once fruit on demand now became the fruit of their labor I believe we have an amazing opportunity to regain the type of relationship we had with the earth before sin it won't be exactly the same because we're still part of a fallen world but we can reveal ourselves to creation as a son and a daughter of God and in doing so we can set it free from its bondage Jesus bore all our sins on the cross and through salvation and a repentant lifestyle we are righteous before him because of this the earth will respond to our righteousness if we let it so how does this work practically and I want to make it practical because I don't want it to seem so mystical and enchanted that you don't feel like it like you could really do it yourself what I do is I really believe the principles in the Bible from the beginning to the end so here's how it works with me I spiritually take authority over every place I dwell I believe that that's been shown to us from the Garden of Eden every place I've ever lived I want to make it better than when I moved in my home my office my car the airplane seat that I paid a fee to write in I don't think it's silly nor do I think it's trite nor do I think it's superstitious I really believe it's biblical principles that are applied to everyday life I don't even do this as if some sort of symbolic prophetic act is taking place although I really do believe there's a place for prophetic acts and we're going to be seeing more of that in the future anyway anything I own I want cleanse through the blood of Jesus anytime or anything I'm temporarily renting something like a hotel room I want it set apart for at least the time I'm in it for righteousness because I'm in that hotel room probably speaking at a church or conference to change the earth and bring his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven here's what I'm declaring by doing this I basically tell the earth to listen to me just in case there's any confusion I let the earth know I am a child of the Living God and I tell creation to wait the wait is over I tell it that it's wait for for the son of gods the sons of God to be made manifest it's over and I tell them I'm here to set you free from your bondage I'm here to set you free from your fertility now be subdued and aligned with the kingdom of God I want to encourage you right now to begin exercising your biblical authority over the earth it's waiting to help you and again it's not silly it's not super to superstitious it's really the Bible in your home your business in your child's school announce to creation that a son or daughter of God is present then watch as the supernatural atmosphere begins to shift the earth will begin responding to your righteousness you'll help it reach the purpose for which it was created and in so doing it will help you reach the purpose for which you were created there's something in the air I'm scared because I'm not sure what is happened there were militant groups that were going around the area I have a gun you know I'm prepared to survive but I feel very uneasy I realized that the air was poisoned I knew I needed a specific type of urban warfare equipment and garb in order to deal with the atmosphere I'm checking people and and trying to see if they'll wake up but they're dead I'm at work I'm trying to leave but the roads are closed so I run back to my office I call my wife to tell her that I'm not sure how or when I'll get home Daniel the prophet and an exile who has taught dreams and visions from God at the same time went through all the child and processes of learning how to be a Magi how to work through all the child II and all the mystical type of stuff that were on the dark side of things he had to learn that as well because he was he was brought up in the Babylonian society that taught those things never forsake never forsake is his relationship with the one true God but at the same time learned about what the others were being taught but Daniel gives us a real clear illustration of something that I believe refers to this dream and that is night visions sometimes just because we have something that happens to us tonight we think it's a dream but the true definition of a dream and a vision is not that a dream happens at night and a vision happens in a day it's that one is more literal and one is more symbolic and you take a look at the visions and dreams in Scripture you find dreams and Scripture are always full of symbolism and visions in Scripture we're always full of the more literal that's almost like what you see is what you get here we have an illustration of what the person would interpret as a a dream but the reality is is more of a vision it's more of a literal event and this literal event is actually telling something very parallel to what we're talking about today and the mystery of man and the earth and that's this that when the earth because more violent men become more violent the the truth is is that when man fails to subdue the earth like he was supposed to subdue the earth then the earth begins to show the effects of that and mankind begins to show the effects of that as well and here is the outgrowth of that something is in the air now that says the earth even the earth is recognizing something and he's picking up on what the earth is doing something is in the air he has a gun with him and why would why would it be carrying that because something is in the air and probably has been in the air for quite some time cause his wife doesn't know when it can get home he's at work he's trying to leave the roads are closed he ends up going back to his office all of these things say that when there's anarchy and the earth there's anarchy and the people and there's anarchy in the people there's an arc in the earth when the righteous rule the scripture says that people rejoice but when the unrighteous rule the people languish this is evidence of something happening where righteousness is not ruling and the result is people languish and usually when people languish violence as the outgrowth of that language so it's a warning dream and the warning dream basically is not telling him carry a gun the warning dream is saying that there's a time coming if men don't change if righteousness doesn't rule when mankind and creation are going to exhibit turbulence in their relationships and turbulence in society turbulence in the earth so it's a dream that goes along with what we're talking about today and it's a dream or a vision I should say that needs to be faced with the sobriety and yet at the same time with the confidence that following God will produce righteousness following God will produce the earth rejoicing not following God produces the opposite that's one of the reason of why we want his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven so righteousness rules it's a good thing over the last thirty years John Paul Jackson has studied how God speaks metaphorically through dreams parables and proverbs in the Bible God wants all believers to understand their dreams and that includes you for your gift of $60 or more we'd like to send you the essentials of dreams bundle this bundle includes a 2-cd set teaching the basics of dreams and visions John Paul's advanced six CD set essentials of dreams and visions and a three CD set on the biblical model of dream interpretation also included the moments with God dream journal plus four dream cards to help you understand your dreams order your essentials of dreams bundle today visit dreams and mysteries calm or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five you want to learn the deeper mysteries of God but feel overwhelmed with your schedule introducing John Paul's online classroom attend his classes without leaving your home fitting your lifestyle explore subjects like dream interpretation hearing from God living the spiritual life prayer and spiritual warfare watch and take notes with your 200-page companion study guide to begin your journey go to dreams and mysteries.com and click on John Paul's online classroom or call one eight hundred five three eight five two eight five the earth is longing to help you advance the kingdom it's eagerly awaiting on you to carry out your role as a son or daughter of God do you fully understand what that means it means God loved us so much that he kept creation waiting until our righteousness was restored at the cross just as he watched his son endure the insults and humiliation of wicked men he's watched the earth endure the same insults of sin bloodshed and injustice the earth is ready to respond it's ready to enter the battle with you you may be saying to yourself a John Paul I don't I don't even own land I'll live in an apartment on the third floor and the closest I get to the garden is when I sweep up the dirt at my front door well here's what I say to you all of creation speaks of him all of creation was seeing is praises if you don't have mountains and valleys to prophesy to then the four walls of your apartment will do tell them to forget the strife that happened before you moved in tell them they're set free of the sin they've been forced to witness and to profane words that have been spoken before you took possession till the four walls of your apartment that you're now part of the kingdom of God and tell them but they are also part of that Kingdom tell them to take notice that a son or daughter of God now lives here then move to every part of your home inside those four walls and declare the same thing and as you consecrate it by touching the walls and doors and windows with oil just like the priests did in the tabernacle that touched every element of the tabernacle with oil you can do the same thing at work right there at your desk or even in your vehicle as you're driving do this over every part of creation you have authority over you can even bless the public property that your tax dollars go to maintain and create proclaim these things as you walk around your children or your grandchildren's school all of these actions advance the kingdom and make your surroundings more like heaven you may never see a physical manifestation of that taking place but you will feel a sense and a shift in the spiritual atmosphere in each of those places of what you to play out of my own life to the point that now it's becomes second nature to me remember God has already done all the heavy lifting in the garden at the cross right now in your own home he's saying I've shown you the plan I've given you the authority now make it on earth as it is in heaven

Channel: Dreams & Mysteries

Views: 67,067

Rating: 4.9360728 out of 5

Keywords: John Paul Jackson, Streams Ministries, Dreams & Mysteries, dreams, dream interpretation, Daystar, Christian TV, Christian, Holy Spirit, earth

Id: 29EsWpydr0I

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 17 2015