Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”“
Genesis 1:28

There are two blessings in this verse. The first is right at the beginning. It is the same kind of blessing that He gave to the living creatures of the waters and the waterfowl (Genesis 1:22). In and of themselves blessed to live and to procreate. To engage their potential. The land-dwelling living creatures were not given this blessing because they did not need it. They were within the reach of humankind and therefore could be shepherded by humanity. The living creatures of the water and the waterfowl are frequently out of reach of humanity and therefore received a blessing to ensure they did what they were meant to do. Humanity shares that basic blessing. Even those humans who have turned away from God and plunged into broken desires and patterns have a need to spread their seed. This blessing is our empowerment to live on this planet, infusing us with power and favour to succeed in life. It is the mark of His love for us at the most basic level.

The second blessing is a blessing of command and it is also similar – with a key difference (power) – to what was given to the living creatures who came from the waters. There are three parts to it that living creatures and humanity received. First, be fruitful – that is more than procreation. Second, multiply – that is procreation. And third, fill – to spread out and not be congested into a single place in order for the fruitfulness to fill the entire Earth and so that the multiplying does not over-burden it.

To be fruitful is to bear fruit. And we know that fruit bears according to its kind. So fruitfulness is linked to multiplying in order for the maximum number of possibilities to be represented. Those who are artistic should produce art. Those who are mechanical should develop mechanical things. Farmers should farm. Gardeners should garden. Writers should write. Singers should sing. Mathematicians should math. The list goes on and on. We should bring forth out of our talents and abilities that which we have been given to bring forth. We should have INCREASE. Fish do it. Sharks do it. Whales do it. Birds do it. So should we. We have often seen the elimination of a species here on Earth and then seen a dip in the health of the ecosystem. Fruitfulness supports life. When Adam was told to work and tend the Garden (Genesis 2:8), the idea was to SPREAD the Garden until it encompassed the whole Earth. To GROW it. To be FRUITFUL with it. All that stems from this command of blessing. Not just to be blessed, but to SPREAD the blessing with our FRUITFULNESS. This fruitfulness, then, is the POWER we use, the power we’ve been given to produce and bring forth.

To multiply seems simple. Have babies. But the Hebrew word (rabah) comes from a primitive root meaning to increase in whatever respect. To continue, enlarge, excel, heap, increase, nourish, store, thoroughly, and greatly. It is hand in hand with fruitfulness. This again is more than just having children. It is to be ABUNDANT. It’s the command of blessing that Adam lost and we get back in Jesus (John 10:10). It’s increasing our population. It’s increasing our resources. It’s increasing our production. It’s increasing our intellect. It’s increasing our understanding. It’s increasing our creativity. It’s increasing all this GOOD that God had created. These two words are not limited to procreation. It’s not about spitting out babies. It’s about creating more life which can EASILY be sustained by all the produce and fruitfulness that we are increasing, which they can help us increase even more. Overpopulation is only an issue when the resources don’t increase with the population. But if we would increase the resources to support the increasing population, we wouldn’t be overpopulated. This ties into the next part of the blessing command.

The Hebrew word often translated (KJV) as ‘replenish’ is male (maw-law). It means to be full or to fill. It’s usage (as defined by Strong’s) is to accomplish, confirm, be fenced, fill, furnish, and satisfy. It’s root is to be full of in wide application. This wasn’t a REFILLING of something previously full and currently empty. Remember that vegetation had spread throughout the whole earth (Genesis 1:12), so had fish and birds (Genesis 1:21), and land creatures of every kind (Genesis 1:25). By the time God created the crown jewel of His Creation -males and females, humanity – the Earth was a lush place full of many plants and animal types. What it wasn’t was ordered, governed, and subdued like the Garden was. It was kind of doing whatever it felt like. Humanity was to FURNISH the Garden to the rest of the Earth – Genesis 2:8 confirms this. We were to take what He made and perfect it in the sense of seeing it’s fullest potential come to pass.

Fill the Earth. When you are increasing resources, material, and people, there is a risk to over-saturate and destabilize the environment. To choke it out. But if we were to spread out and take up different space as well, that goes away. As of today, the world’s population is 8,298,978,817. About 44% of the surface of the Earth is populated by human beings. Up to 90% is TOUCHED by human beings (roads, train tracks, shipping lanes, etc), but our actual population centres do not amount to all that much. The issue is that the world is FALLEN. So we have deserts we can’t survive easily in. Poles that we would freeze in if we went wandering. But in the beginning, NOTHING was detrimental to us. We could live ANYWHERE. Also, if we really brought our full pre-fallen creativity to things, I’m sure we would have done fine. Even after the Fall, humans are pretty clever. We have built equipment to help us survive almost anywhere. Part of that is this blessing command that we have written into our DNA. We are to spread out to the ENTIRE globe. And we are to do it with the next part of the command.

Subdue it. To bring it into subjection – which is bringing something under the control of something else. The Earth is to be brought under our control. We are not to be at the mercy of it. It is to submit to us. Jesus put that into practise on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:39). We are to TELL the Earth what to do. But we Fell and lost that authority. Now, we only have it in Jesus and ONLY according to the Will of the Father and for the Glory of God. CAN I tell a storm to stop? Yes. Can I do it because I don’t ‘feel’ like rain today? No! Where is the glory for God in that selfish request? Even Jesus didn’t tell every storm to stop. Only the one that was hindering a command from God (‘go to the other side’ – Mark 4:35). But this is the command. Do NOT be at the mercy of the Earth. It’s interesting that the devil has spent a LOT of time trying to get us to forget that. The vast majority of substances that we are addicted to from chocolate to coffee to marijuana to opium to more, all come from PLANTS. From the EARTH. From the thing we are to place in subjugation to US, not that we are to be subject to. Naturally, the question becomes HOW we are to subjugate it.

With DOMINION. To bear, to rule over, and to prevail against. Merriam-Webster defines it as:  power, authority, jurisdiction, control, command, sway, dominion means ‘the right to govern’. None of this is DOMINATION – which is an exercise of mastery or control over something. We are to have dominion. To be SHEPHERDS. A shepherd is someone who protects, guides, or watches over, especially in a kind, helpful, and careful way. We’re SUPERVISORS. Directors, guiders, correctors. In fact, we are meant to be physical steward over this Earth in the same way that Holy Spirit is a steward over us. The same office is on us in regards to this world. Not just this world but ‘over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth‘. NOTHING is exempt. We have a responsibility to EVERYTHING. We have the right to the things of the Earth, and we must RESPECT the things of the Earth. To use them to be fruitful. To use them to multiply. To use them to create the Garden over every square-inch of this planet. That was our calling. That is built into our DNA. That is the BLESSING: total fulfillment, total resources, total abundance, in the service of the Lord, as we spread that affluence to every corner of the globe, into every person or living creature we come across, to give everyone what they need for us to all be the best we can possibly be as we all focus on, worship, serve, and give God the glory for this marvellous Creation He has placed us to work in and be blessed by.

Note: At NO POINT is humanity EVER given a mandate of subjection OR dominion over other human beings. It is ALWAYS directed at the lower classes of life. We work WITH each other to GUIDE WITH KINDNESS everything else on the planet so that they (and the planet) can come into the fullness of their God-designed potential. We are NOT to have dominion over each other. We are NOT to subdue each other.

This dominion is the seed of our Authority. But since we rebelled and Fell (more in Genesis 3), we lost that authority. We gave it away. Now, we only get it back in Jesus. Which means we can only wield the authority of Jesus in accordance to Jesus’ will, which is the Father’s will, which is the Word. We can NEVER use it in ANY WAY that contradicts the Word or God’s moral character. When we try, it ends up as empty words and not words backed up with His authoritative power and majesty. It is the mark of the special love that God has for humanity – both males and females. We’re Blessed to rule WITH God as His regents – male AND female. We were meant to represent His rulership here on this Earth. In Jesus, we do once more.