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Laying Claim to God's Creation

We are the heirs of the promise to Abraham (Gal. 3:29). Abraham was made "heir of the world" (Rom. 4:13).

Abraham is known as the father of Faith, that is, the father of those who have faith. The use of the term "father" is in the same sense that Scripture speaks of the sons of light, children of the devil, sons of thunder, etc. It is derived from the idea that people imitate their fathers, and so it became a common biblical idiom.

When God called Abraham and told him to go to Canaan, Abraham left Chaldea not really knowing where God would take him. When he arrived in Canaan, however, God then revealed to him that his descendants would be given that land. But Canaanites lived there, and God did not expect Abraham to pick a fight with them. Instead, God told him to do a work of faith. Gen. 13:15-17 says,

¹⁴ . . . Now lift your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward; ¹⁵ for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. . . . ¹⁷ Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you."

In other words, Abraham was required not only to look in each direction, but also to WALK throughout the entire land. It was a work of faith, because by this faith-walk he was laying claim to the land as a joint heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17).

This is the pattern by which we are being called to inherit the earth today. We are being called to finish the work of Abraham. Abraham himself was only one man, so he was not required to walk very far. The land of Canaan was relatively small. But we know from Rom. 4:13 that Abraham was "heir of the WORLD."

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the worldwas not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.

The means for attaining this inheritance was not by law, but by faith. Abraham knew this, and we ought to know this as well. Paul is not casting out the law, but he is saying that our inheritance cannot be attained by the discipline of self-purification, no matter how scrupulously we may try to become righteous. Our righteousness is by faith alone, by which we are IMPUTED righteous. God calls what is NOT as though it were (Rom. 4:17). The righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us ahead of time, so that we are able to learn obedience in an atmosphere of previously-bestowed forgiveness.

Abraham himself received an imputed righteousness because of his faith, as we read in Rom. 4:22,

"Therefore also it was imputed [logizomai] to him as righteousness."

Paul goes on to explain that the same is true with us.

²³ Now not for his sake alone was it written, that it was imputed to him, ²⁴ but for our sake also, to whom it [righteousness] will be imputed, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

This entire chapter (Romans 4) is about Abraham's faith being the reason why the righteousness of Christ was imputed (or "reckoned") to him. And this is, in turn, the reason why he is called "heir of the world." Likewise, if we are children of Abraham (by having that same type of faith), we are "heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29) and "joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17).

In our day, however, the gospel has gone out to the ends of the earth, and we are a many-membered body. So it falls upon us in our time to do the faith-work of Abraham. Whereas he only had to walk throughout the land of Canaan, the children of Abraham are being asked to walk throughout the whole world and lay claim to the world, not for one's self, but for the Kingdom of God.

In the days of Jeremiah, God gave jurisdiction over the earth to Babylon. In Jeremiah 27, God says,

⁵ I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. ⁶ And now I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, MY SERVANT . . .

 God created this earth and claims sovereignty over it. He had the right to put it under the authority of whoever He wished. He gave it to Israel, but when the people misused that authority, God then raised up Babylon and gave its king authority (dominion) over the earth. After 70 years He gave dominion to Persia, and later to Greece, Rome, and the "Little Horn." This "Little Horn" was broken up into two phases, first the beast from the sea (religious Rome), and then, after 1,260 years, the beast from the earth (banking system).

It is this final "beast" that is now being overthrown, and as of last month, the great Pan is dead.

We are being called in this time to do the work of Abraham by walking the earth and laying claim to it for the Kingdom of God. It is a reversal of what we saw in Jeremiah's day. We are at the other end of this long captivity to the various beast systems that have ruled the earth for centuries. But this reversal is not just going to happen on its own. The pattern of Abraham shows us that if we are heirs of Abraham's promise, then we are being called to do the faith-work that He was called to do.

This was the essence of the revelation of May 28, 2009, which I wrote of at that time. Each of us can do something, however small, in laying claim to the whole land for the Kingdom of God. In breaking those curses, we are essentially breaking the curse of men that have misused that which God has created. They have claimed sovereignty over the land and have used it to rebel against the Kingdom of God and to deny that Jesus Christ is the rightful King of all things.

God allowed this and even established it, not because He had confidence in their great ability to do what was right, but because God was bringing judgment upon the rightful heirs of the promise for their own rebellion and misuse of the land.

But now we are called to walk the land once again by faith. Break the curse of man's usurpation, put a blessing on the land in its place, and lay claim to it for Jesus Christ. This is not a work that is limited to North America. It is something that is applicable to all territory that God has created. Do you live in such an area?

Well, what about other planets and solar systems? Did not God create them? Well, yes, and I think that God contemplated this when He told Adam at the beginning to "subdue the earth" (Gen. 1:28). Psalm 86 expands this to include "all things" in creation, and this verse is often quoted in the New Testament. Heb. 2 comments on this, saying,

⁸ Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet. For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him.

I understand that the Kingdom of God consists of everything that He created--i.e., heaven and earth. Let us walk the earth today, and later, when we have the ability, we can walk the universe. In the end, all of it must come under subjection to Him. When there are no more usurpers, then the purpose for creation will be achieved. And we are now living at a momentous time in prophetic history. We have opportunity to participate in the divine plan, to show our faith by our works, and to labor in the Kingdom as joint heirs who have everything to gain and nothing to lose.