Servanthood - Part 1

God created mankind for husbandry.  Husbandry is associated with taking care of the household or management of resources including plants and animals.   

Right from the very beginning mankind was not going to be able to call its own shots.  As early as creation, mankind was to serve.  God created mankind for serving and in the very first chapter of Genesis, we see God as creator and therefore Master giving mankind the instructions to serve.  Let’s take a look at the instruction to begin to gain an understanding of what servanthood was required.

First of all, the command and blessing was given to be fruitful and multiply.  In order to follow through with the next command of replenishing the earth mankind would need to become fruitful.  What does the word Fruitful mean?  The rules of the English Language would make it to mean “Full of Fruit”.  This would have the idea of being beneficial, a blessing, etc.., to the extent of bearing fruit.  It could also mean that like the trees and plants, mankind was to bear its own fruit.  There are references given to the “fruit of the womb” which indicate that physical fruit or children were expected to be a product of the union between a man and woman.

The first man and woman were unable to physically care for the entire estate of the earth, even in their perfect state.  The surface area of the earth is 197 Million Square miles approximately with 71% of it being water.  That is a lot of area for two people to care for, and God’s intention was for them to have help.

Though Genesis doesn’t specifically mention this, Jesus is the Lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.  When God addressed Adam, Eve and the serpent after the fall; He prophesied to them that there would be a descendant that would bruise the serpent’s head.  This descendant would be Jesus, who many years later would offer himself as an atonement offering for sin, thus He became the Lamb which takes away the sin of the world.  This is another form of servanthood probably even the highest/most respected type of servanthood.

When God created mankind, He full well knew that mankind would fall into sin; and because of this foreknowledge, put a plan in place to redeem mankind.  God’s plan was to become our kinsman redeemer which includes bearing our shame, restoring a relationship that was lost due to our shame.

There was no way that we could help ourselves as mankind to get out of the fix that we created for ourselves through our disobedience to our Creator and Master, so God when He offered us His solution, was in effect making Himself a servant of the people that He had created for the sake of restoring their relationship with Him.

The reality is that God as Jesus Christ is the Lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world. Revelations 13:8

Servanthood for humanity has not ended when Adam and Eve sinned.  Their sin, though it was a rebellion against their Master did not erase their debt of servanthood which was still expected from them and the entire lineage of humanity.

It is when mankind has an elevated opinion of themselves that servanthood gets left behind.



Read More at:
Part 2
Part 3