From the first chapters of the Bible we understand that the family is the basic Kingdom community. At the heart of the family we find a love-relationship and an order of authority, a reflection of the headship in the Godhead itself. The husband is the head, the wife is his equal companion, and together they raise children and bring them to maturity. The father and mother represent the authority of God towards the children and their main objective is to bring the best out of them and help them to reach their full potential.

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God created people in his own relational image to be a community. We were created in the likeness of God to reflect his glory by being masters of all life, by multiplying and filling the earth, and by subduing it to the dominion of God. In this way people were created to represent the rule of God and to fill the entire earth with the glory of God expressed in his kingdom. God has always existed as three in one and one in three, – a community of love. This community of love he wanted this to be expressed among people created in his own image! Family, friendship, community, and society originate in the covenantal nature of God and can only find their fulfilment in the Kingdom of God.

In the record of the creational work we discover that the three persons in God never do anything alone. They never act on their own, separated from one another! Because the sovereign God is a community of love, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit always work together. The Divine Way is to take counsel together and reach a united decision: “Let us make! Let us act together!” Sinful human beings have the tendency to say: “I want to do this for this is best for me!” And wilful people often act as dictators forcing their personal will and opinion on others without any thoughts of what the others wants. The triune God is not like that and his rule is never expressed in such a way!

In the beginning God created heaven and earth, the invisible and the visible world. Heaven was created first then the earth, as God is working from the invisible to the visible. Behind this creational order we discover that the earth is to be a visible representation of the invisible world to reflect heaven and to be ruled from above. In his sovereignty God arranged for life-rhythm on the earth to be govern by the sun, moon and stars (Genesis

1:14

-19). Through this arrangement God is teaching us that we are totally dependent on his benevolent rule and that we are to seek direction from above, from God himself.

Jesus Christ was confirming this understanding when he taught his disciples to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The clear implication of this prayer is the understanding that the earth is to be modelled after heaven. The Bible teaches us that heaven is such a perfect place because everything is done according to the will of God! Where ever God rules and his will is done he will bring perfection and harmony.

Among the heavenly being we find cherubs, seraphs, angles, arch-angles and they are arranged as powers, authorities, principalities or rulers. The sovereignty of the triune God is expressed in the hierarchical order of the invisible world. All the inhabitants of heaven acknowledge the rule of God and sing praises to his covenantal character of love:

The heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you. (Psalm 89:5-9)

The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it. Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted. (Psalm 89:11;13)

The very nature of God is the foundation of his right to rule and that nature is also being expressed in his rule. Covenant love, mercy and faithfulness go before him – wherever his rule is manifested, there will be kindness, love, mercy, faithfulness and fidelity. Love, the covenantal nature of the triune God, is the cause, the motivational power behind everything he does because he is love. Only when one is ruled by love, one can exercise authority right – without love there is even no right to rule.

God’s faithfulness is the guarantee that he will bring to fulfilment, to completion, to glorification everything under his rule – guarantee of everlasting, unshakeable rule.

God’s righteousness is the guarantee that God’s rule will always take the right actions. God’s justice is the guarantee that the judgements of the King will always be just and a guarantee that all will receive a fair treatment. Righteousness and justice are expressions of covenant love and faithfulness

When the sovereign triune God created heaven he established his throne on a firm foundation as an expression of his relational nature of love. According to the Bible the foundation for God’s rule is his unchangeable, holy, good, moral character:

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. (Psalm 89:14)

When we say “God is spirit” (John 4:24) we speak of the relational God who is the source of life and we acknowledge that the eternal dynamic vitality of the triune God overflows to creation. The God who is dynamic vitality within the eternal Trinitarian life relates to the world as the source and sustainer of created life. The world was created by a free act of love for a wonderful purpose that triune God has destined to be fulfilled!