6.3 Increase and Subdue

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue; have dominion over… every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:27-28).

God used three Hebrew words to speak of increase in these origin words, parah, rabah, and mala – fruitful, increase (have children), and fill. On the surface, this means to have lots of babies until you occupy every land on earth, and then have more babies. Yet this surface increase of population also contains the idea of outward prosperity and abundance.

A Deeper Substance. In this text, I will assume that you have completed Symmorphy VI: Mankind, and thus understand the relationship between heaven and earth, that the things of the earth are living only by a continuous relationship with their counterpart in the heavens. Yet, both heaven and earth, being created, are then coming out from a deeper substance, that is, God’s thoughts through the good-speaking of Jesus.

Then consider that John 1 says that the Word, Jesus, was in the beginning with God and that all things become through the speaking of that Word. Revelation 2 says that Jesus is the beginning of the creation. And Ephesians 2 says that we are created anew inside of Christ. “Inside of Jesus God created.”

Comprehending the Pro-Thesis. I lay all this out to assert that God has one purpose in giving us the account in Genesis, that we might comprehend the Pro-Thesis of God, His set-forth purpose, as it is Jesus, as it unfolds into the human experience, as it shows itself as the power realities of the Words of the Gospel, and as it becomes the very reason for our own existence.

We are fully aware that those who love God are synergeoing with God, directing all things into goodness; these are those who are being called and summoned according to His Pro-Thesis, that is, His set-forth purpose (Romans 8:28). The primary chapters of the Pro-Thesis, God’s set forth purpose from the beginning, are John 17, Ephesians 1-6, Philippians 2-3, and Revelation 12.

Our Background and Topic. Or we could say that the twelve ruling verses of the Bible working together are the deepest expression of God’s Pro-Thesis. Our intention here, then, is to comprehend “Be fruitful, increase, and fill heaven-earth” by the Gospel. Yet – absolutely and without question, children, and the raising up of children, directing them into goodness together with God, are a huge part of the Gospel meaning of increase.

That is our background. But this chapter is titled “A Complete Victory,” and thus our interest is not knowing “increase” in general, but “increase” as it relates to Victory over death. I am come that they might have LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10). – We want to know now the visible Abundance of the Victory we already possess.

An Abundant Web of Life. “Victory over death” is another way to say, “Life flowing out.” And Life flowing out is abundant beyond our comprehension.

Gardening today is different from gardening thirty years ago. Gardeners today are much less concerned about “the garden plants” and far more concerned with tending and nourishing the overwhelmingly abundant web of LIFE that fills the soil. The web of life in the soil nourishes and protects the plants that grow there. Plants cannot live otherwise.

Jesus said that LIFE is knowing God Personal and True. Thus another way to say “Victory over death” is “the knowledge of the Lord filling the earth as the waters cover the sea.” And – Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:7).

Be Fruitful. Parah: to bear fruit, be fruitful. A primitive root; to bear fruit (literally or figuratively) – bear or bring forth fruit, be fruitful, make fruitful, grow, increase.

Being designed as humans to “bring forth fruit” in overflowing abundance is a quality that is applied in every conceivable direction and in every part of our human construction and doing. The Day of Victory is NOT a “close run day,” as Wellington said of Waterloo. When Life swallows up death, everyone will be shocked to see that death is no worthy enemy of Life. Death will vanish in a whimper as Life flows forth in every conceivable direction and in all overflowing abundance.

Multiply and Increase. Rabah: multiply. To be or to become much, many, or great, to grow or increase. A primitive root; to increase in whatever respect, bring in abundance, be in authority, bring up, continue, enlarge, excel, exceedingly, be full of, grow up, heap, increase, nourish, plenteous, thoroughly, very.

This is the same as Paul’s use of the word “hyper,” excessive, beyond all, more than can be imagined. In fact, Paul’s gospel is filled with an exuberance of these three words. I can see the sense of to be fruitful as quality, but to multiply or increase as quantity. God does both; He never goes small. He brings forth an innumerable count of the highest possible quality. This fact shows us the supreme importance of giving thanks.

The Narrowest of Doorways. The most important year of my life, 1996, was a “close run day.” Yet as I look back now, all I can see is the perfection of God, both in my own design and in the circumstances of my entire life. In that year, God brought me through the narrowest of doorways, in removing contempt from me and in planting the tiniest seed that would become, “bring your brothers and sisters with you into Me.”

Yet God’s success, in bringing me through that tiny opening, required perfection, not just in that year, but in every stumbling step of confusion from my first day until today. All I saw then through every step, however, was overwhelming defeat and no victory at all.

What Makes the Difference? As recently as 2020, when I wrote about my life at Blueberry, I saw 1996 only as the worst year of my life. What makes the difference? Very simple. I place the Lord Jesus Christ upon every moment, circumstance, and interaction of my life. I give all my sin and sinfulness in every moment to the Father and receive Himself in its place. And I welcome every individual person whom God has entrusted to me throughout my life as the Lord Jesus Himself.

I synergeo with God through faith, and we together direct all things into pure and intrinsic goodness. And now I am astonished and overwhelmed as I see the absolute perfection of my life and of my construction, for everything was designed to bring me into my Father.

Quantity and Quality. I just did a rough calculation of the seconds of my life and came up with 2,130,138,000. More than two billion times of the Victory of LIFE in my way, in exceedingly great quantity and in the supreme quality that is the fruit of Christ Jesus. “I have come to you, Daniel, that you might have LIFE, and that you might possess it in overwhelming abundance.”

But what if? What if I looked upon a single moment and interaction of my life, and in my present judgment kept my sin for myself claiming that “it’s too much for God?” What if I refused to give thanks, convinced that such a moment was indeed cursed? What if I refused to receive that one person as the Lord Jesus? What if I refused to be wrong? I would call my whole life by death and rejoice in being cursed.

Not to Us. We describe such idiocy briefly for only one reason, indeed, for God’s whole purpose inside the age of human folly, that we might see the mighty contrast between All-Life and the tiny foolishness of fast-fading death.

In that moment when LIFE swallows up death and death is no more, it will seem to everyone else that everything went from all curse to all joy in one moment. But not to us. Not at all. For we see the all-joy of overflowing Victory in every second of our entire lives.

Indeed, for God ALWAYS leads us in the celebration of a Victory already given to us here inside of Jesus, and the aroma of His presence has always been made visible through us in every place we have ever been.

Fill the Earth. Mala: to be full, to fill. Accomplish, confirm, consecrate, be at an end, be fenced. To fill or be full of, in a wide application, literally and figuratively.

In the original setting, this was to fill the earth, that is, to take possession of and responsibility for every square inch of this planet, to nourish and to protect. As one Psalmist said, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” And another said, “Ask of Me, and I will give you… the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.”

Yet the care for all created things, living or non-living, upon the earth or in the heavens, has been growing inside of us with the enlargement to us of the Lord Jesus Christ. When this mantle of inheritance comes upon our shoulders, we will KNOW “for this I was made.”

Subdue and Have Dominion. Then, in His origin words, God used two Hebrew words to speak of subdue, kabash and radah. Kabash: to subdue, bring into bondage. To tread down; hence, negatively, to disregard; positively, to conquer, subjugate, violate – bring into bondage, force, keep under, subdue, bring into subjection. Radah: Reign; to have dominion, rule, dominate. Make to have dominion, prevail against, reign, bear. To tread down, i.e. subjugate; specifically, to crumble off.

We know from the writer of Hebrews that when God said, “Subdue,” He transferred all authority over all created things from Himself to mankind. As one of the prophets said, “Command Me concerning the work of My hands.”

A Staff of Iron. The one presently and actively overcoming and keeping watch until the completion of My works, I will give him, immediately and ongoing, authority upon the peoples, and he will shepherd them inside of a staff of iron, broken as an earthen vessel; in just the same way that I also have received from My Father (Revelation 2:26-27).

Love. – To Love is to rule.

If God had used the word, “Love,” in Genesis 1, we would have mis-defined it, even as we have mis-defined “subdue.” If I love you, God through me, then I have prevailed over you. Yet love, the Love that is God, always sets you free of me. This is the incredible paradox that is our Father just being Himself.

The Evidence of God. I watched a college professor on YouTube, a man who thinks clearly and scientifically about some things and wrongfully and anti-scientifically about other things, say (I paraphrase), “I would not ‘believe in’ God without objective evidence. Even if I saw great writing in the sky, I would require that a different cause of that phenomena be sought out.”

I thought, here is God’s answer to you. “I would certainly hope that you would reject such nonsensical ‘evidence.’ But let me show you something you have never considered. Look, here are Christians alive today loving one another with pure hearts fervently. This is all the evidence of Me there will ever be.”

Jesus said that this man will say, “Now I know that God sent Jesus into the world.”

Victory Made Complete. Here is another definition of VICTORY already given to us, another description of Life swallowing up death. – Christians on this earth loving one another with pure hearts fervently. The evidence and visibility of God.

Yes, the moment of Victory is the resurrection of our bodies, but that outward seal is God’s stamp upon the meaning of His Victory found BY US in every second and every interaction of our lives. There is nothing more important for you to do than to give an account of your life inside the presence of God, and, in giving that account of every moment, placing the Lord Jesus Christ upon all that you are. This is Victory made Complete.

Reading for Next Time. I wrote Chapter 7. “The Purpose of Folly,” a year ago as well, as part of the beginning of our study of Revelation. Begin reading/listening to it now, and for the next three lessons. That makes the next chapter for us now to be 8. “Redemption – A Love Story.” Indeed, that chapter has been shaping in me from then until now. As of now, the first lesson is “8.1 To Win the Heart.”

My understanding of the meaning of Redemption shifted fully when I wrote “The Feast of Tabernacles,” and with it, a list of every redemption verse in the New Testament. But that new understanding has grown exponentially in my knowing since then and I now see everything so differently. I see the Story of Love. I see everything Complete.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, Your perfection in directing the course of our lives amazes us, for by every stumbling step, You have brought us into knowing You, knowing that You share our lives and every moment with us. Father, we ask that You would anoint us with Your Devoted Spirit in this great task You have given us, to place the Lord Jesus Christ upon every moment, circumstance, and interaction of our lives, in all of our knowing.

“Father, as we know Jesus whom You have sent into us, so we know You ever deeper, forever. There is nothing in this universe more valuable to us, Oh God, than knowing You. Yet we now know and acknowledge that such is the only story our lives have ever been.

“God, our Father, we are here, inside of Jesus, inside of You, yet our hearts are broken with Jesus for the sake of our brothers and sisters throughout heaven and earth who do not yet know You as they ought. Father, we will not let You rest, nor give You any peace, until You make Your Church, our Jerusalem, to be a praise and a glory in all the earth, to be the flow and dynamic of LIFE and blessing to all.

“And Father, we intercede again for every individual You brought to us over the course of our lives, as a sacred trust to us, that we might carry each inside our hearts into You. Father, here we are and all these precious people, here in Your Presence. Father, cause them to LIVE! We know, Oh God, that we have received all we have asked.”