For The Refuge Church (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) - Genesis 1:26–28 - Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
As a result of the fall, there Genesis 3:17ff - Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Abram’s Commission - Through Abram God would restore to the world what was lost by Adam. The Jews certainly believed this. The Apocryphal book, Sirach indicates the promise to Abraham meant God's covenant faithfulness would Abraham’s “exalt his offspring like the stars, and give them an inheritance from sea to sea and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth” [NRSV 44:21-22]. The Book of Enoch says, “But for the elect there shall be light and joy and peace, And they shall inherit the earth” (5:7). The Rabbinic tradition said, “he has called Israel to be his people. ‘I will make Adam first,’ says Israel’s God in the midrash on Genesis, ‘and if he goes astray I will send Abraham to sort it all out’” (NTW, NTPG, 251). So when Abram’s mission is fully unfolded in the new covenant era, we are taught that Jesus Christ is the [one] Seed (Gal. 3:16) and the “Land” is the whole world or universe (cosmos) under the dominion of Abraham’s faithful offspring, the Church of the Lord Jesus. Romans 4:13 expresses this, “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.” The blessing of all nations is the great commission gospel bringing salvation through Christ to the multi-ethnic Church in all the world. Thus we are included in this covenant. Romans 4:16 captures this profound truth: “The promise will be guaranteed to all descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.”
The Old Testament provides extensive instruction relating to worship with details and patterns in the sacrificial system of offerings at the Tabernacle (e.g., Lev. 1-10). These inform on the old covenant means of “drawing near” to God. In Lev. 9: “Aaron then brought (qoreb) the offering (qorban, “near bringing”) that was for the people. He took the goat for the people’s sin offering (chattat - “hiding”) and slaughtered it and offered it for a sin offering (yechatte - “hiding/offering”) as he did with the first one. He brought the burnt offering (olah, “ascension”) and offered it in the prescribed way. He also brought the grain offering (mincha, “gift”) took a handful of it and burned it on the altar in addition to the morning’s burnt offering (olah, “ascension”). He slaughtered the ox and the ram as the fellowship (shelem) offering (zevach, “offering/feasting”) for the people . . . . Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them.” (Lev 9:15-23 NIV). Lev. 9:22 summarizes: “And having sacrificed the sin offering (chattat), the burnt offering (olah) and the fellowship offering (shelamim), he stepped down.”
“What is new and of importance in the discussion of these sacrifices is the order in which they are presented here: always first the sin offering, then the burnt offering with its grain offering, and last, as always, the peace offering. . . .The order of the sacrifices, then, is determined by a law of the spiritual life: Perfect fellowship with God in peace, joy, and life is possible only after one has fully consecrated to God all that one is and produces; but one is unable to consecrate anything to God until one’s sin has been forgiven and the wrath of God against all unrighteousness has been satisfied.” (Kaiser, NIB).