The Great Commission is generally interpreted to mean “preach the gospel of salvation to all people.” So for two thousand years, the Church has had a drive to tell people about Yeshua (Jesus) and get them saved. But this is not how Yeshua actually stated the commission in Mark 16:15. To help us understand this, first read Romans 8:19–21.
For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly 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 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.1
Our purpose is to release God’s entire creation from futility. That is what the Lord’s Prayer is all about: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). The souls of people are included in the salvation of all creation, but we have focused on that one aspect exclusively and have missed what Yeshua told us to do. When Christ appeared to His disciples immediately after the resurrection, He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:14–15). Salvation is God’s Kingdom in the earth for all creation.
When God created Adam and Eve, He commissioned them to rule over everything in the earth (Genesis 1:26–31). Yet when Adam and Eve fell, they relinquished their commission and their responsibility over the earth. Now the whole world is in the hands of satan (1 John 5:19). When Yeshua was tempted in the wilderness, satan took Him up on a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory. Then he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). That means it was satan’s to give. How did the earth with all its glory and everything it contains become satan’s to give away? Adam and Eve handed it to him.
Through the cross, Yeshua won back our birthright. When Christ defeated satan, it was very specific. He took back mankind’s right to rule over the earth. Adam and Eve lost it, but now it is back in our hands because Yeshua won it back. We are to pray that this earth is absolutely reaffixed within the Kingdom of God. Christ went into heaven and created the prototype of what this earth will be like. The Kingdom of God already exits. It has already been accomplished, but it is up to us to bring it into the earth. We are to manifest it in this realm.
This earth is our responsibility. Whatever exists in heaven, we are to bring here on earth. Is there sickness in heaven? No. Then we should end sickness here. Does the devil have any authority in heaven? No. Then why do we give him authority here? We should take it away from him. Is there backbiting in heaven? Is there hatred there? No. Then we should end those things here on earth. We have a simple application. Whatever Christ has done in heaven, we will do on earth. We have “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19). It is our responsibility. We turn loose the cry of our hearts for all creation to come under His dominion on earth as it is in heaven!
1 All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).