A strange parallel

There is a strange parallel between Genesis 1v28 God's instruction to mankind to "Be fruitful and increase in number" and Matthew 28 the Great Commission to go and make disciples, and implicit in this to see the Kingdom of God come. Two go forth and multiply.

While in some ways looking at Matt 28 with Genesis 1 in mind may bring about the insight that, it is not just about mankind but about the whole of creation. It seems to me that there should be more than this. But I have struggled to get my head around this one.

The church is called to multiply and yet we see in many ways that man's increase in number has been at great cost to the environment in which he lives. We seem to have tried to subdue the environment when we should perhaps have been better stewards of it. When you look up the words subdue and dominion they do not help. Quite clearly the idea that man should be reigning over God's creation is there.

I think the issue is that the reign of man should be a reign, but it should be benign and beneficial - in the way that our God reigns. God's reign blesses rather than harms. Similarly perhaps the concept before the fall has a totally different idea to what it has actually become post fall. Perhaps our thinking is too much shaped by the fall, which is what we see around us.

Jesus spoke often about the coming of the Kingdom of God\Heaven, which could perhaps be called the Rule or Dominion of God.

It seems to me a strange parallel. Perhaps one of the common factors is that in the coming of the reign of God and the reign of man were not meant to be in competition but complementary. We were created to be the co-rulers of creation. In the new Kingdom we will once more reign beside him, and as the Kingdom grows. So we take back dominion over the creation, we reclaim to some degree through medicine and healthcare the dominion over creation from sickness and disease. When we fight against poverty and injustice we take dominion over creation to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. It was the rule that God intended us to have.

Perhaps therefore the problem is not with the passages but with our thinking. In both the reign of man, should actually be identical to the reign of God, and that as something very beneficial and good - and this not just for the few - but for everyone.

The Old Covenant was that we should obey and prosper, and that creation should prosper. The second is that we should obey and prosper, and that all should prosper through us. The reign of God that is introduced through the church therefore should not be a threat (though it may be perceived as such) but should actually be a blessing to the world.

When you read it more closely this idea is clear from Matt 28v16-20 - teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. This emphasises perhaps the requirement for more joined up thinking. The Holy Spirit coming is not so that we may feel good, but that God's Kingdom might come. That God may once more through us have dominion as was God's intention. The parallels are therefore because redemption and restoration is about precisely that. Mankind not just being redeemed but the whole of creation being redeemed as man once more takes His place, not to exploit creation but to enjoy it and care for it. Indeed in God's Dictionary perhaps care for and rule over are not that different.

The key of course is Jesus, the servant King. Rule includes not excludes service. The problem is we have such a wrong view of authority, because of the way that it normally operates - whether it is the Kings and Empires of the past, or the politicians of the present. Once you deal with that problem then perhaps the parallel is not so strange. God rules - and everyone is blessed, and by God's will and on His behalf man rules and everyone is still blessed.

And the multiplying bit... it is not about conquest but enjoyment.