«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　Gen. 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it…

　　Matt. 6:10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

　　The second aspect of God's intention in giving man dominion is to recover the earth (Gen. 1:26-28). Man is to have dominion over the earth, to subdue it, and to conquer it. To conquer the earth means that the enemy is there already, that a war is raging. Therefore, we must fight and conquer.

　　The young people who are preparing to enter into marriage must realize that marriage is a battle. Many of us know this by experience. Even when we were on our honeymoon, we were on the battlefield, fighting with our husband or wife. If we did not fight outwardly, we fought inwardly. Every area of life—school life, work life, family life—is a battlefield. The enemy never sleeps. All day long he is on the alert, not only in the family life, but also in the church life. Even in the church life, Satan and all his messengers are busy. On the earth a warfare is raging. God's intention is to recover the earth. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 81)

　　God wants to regain the earth. The earth has become a crucial place, a place that Satan wants to hold and a place that God wants to regain. The battle is over the earth. Whoever gains the earth is the winner. If Satan can keep the earth under his hand, he has the victory. If God can regain the earth, He will have the victory. The Lord Jesus has not returned because the earth is still so much under Satan's usurping. This is why God needs the church. The church must fight the battle to regain the earth, if not the whole earth, at least some stepping stones, some outpost for the Lord Jesus to put His feet upon. The earth is crucial.

　　This point has been fully proved by Psalm 8. Psalm 8 begins by saying, “O Jehovah our Lord, / How excellent is Your name / In all the earth!” It also ends the same way. There is no doubt that the Lord's name is excellent in the heavens, but, in a sense, the name of the Lord is not excellent on this earth. His name is not excellent among so many of the fallen people. We need to pray, “Your name be sanctified” (Matt. 6:9). Oh, the Lord's name must be sanctified on this earth. The problem is not in the heavens; the problem is here on earth.

　　God desires that His kingdom come to this earth and that His will be done on earth (Matt. 6:10). Now we can understand the prayer which the Lord Jesus established. He said, “Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come.” Certainly this means to come from the heavens to the earth. The prayer continues, “Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.” God's will is now being done in heaven. But on the earth there are many frustrations, hindering God's will from being done. We must pray, “Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.” We must fight to recover the earth.

　　The third aspect of God's intention in giving man dominion is to bring in God's authority, to exercise God's authority over the earth. Man must exercise God's authority in order that the kingdom of God may come to earth, that the will of God may be done on earth, and that the glory of God may be manifested on earth. All of this will be on the earth. God will never be satisfied to have His kingdom only in the heavens. Neither will He be happy to have His will done only in the heavens nor to see His glory expressed only in the heavens. He wants all these things to happen on the earth. This is the responsibility of the church today. In the church we have the kingdom of God. In the church the will of God is done. In the church the glory of God is expressed. Hallelujah! We have a foretaste. Now we can see why God gave man dominion over everything in the seas, in the air, and on the earth. God's intention is to eliminate the enemy, regain the earth, and manifest His glory. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 81-83)

　　Further Reading: C'WWL, 1964, vol. 4, “The Vision of God's Building,” ch. 1