Gen 1:28 – Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” – New King James Version (NKJV)

One exciting thing for us as new parents of our two wonderful boys was the comments that our friends and relatives would keep giving that “one son resembles the father, and the other the mother”. This position kept changing as the boys grew because of their changing physical attributes, and became a topic of constant debate between ourselves and some of our friends. The statements like “the ears now look more like the father”, or “the forehead is now taking the form of the mother’s” became an interesting conversation starter when discussing our kids.

So is God’s command in Genesis 1:28 about bringing forth little people who look like us and filling the earth with them? If we take a look at a couple of other scriptures in the bible, we get to see that it wasn’t  just about PROCREATION (production of offspring), but about PROPAGATION – the action of widely spreading and promoting an idea or theory. The goal is to dominate the world with God’s Word – AKA The great commission. Matthew 28:18-20 – Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – New International Version

The great commission is every Christian parent’s mandate as spelt out by God through His servant Moses in Deuteronomy 11:18  “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” – New International Version

In this context, parenting is a critical vehicle for the great commission. It is about imparting Godly character and values in children, so that those same values can spread to other children, to their schools, to society, to their country and even to the entire world… This is true Dominion.