All of us who take the Bible seriously believe that mankind’s purpose on earth is to subdue it. God specifically gave that assignment to Adam.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

There is some discussion about how that is to happen. Some believe that the earth will be subdued only after the church is removed from the earth and Jesus comes with immortal saints and angels to rule over the earth through a restored Israel. Others believe that Jesus has done what is necessary to rule and does so through His body. I am of that belief. My question is what does that look like?

In one sense, the first scenario would be easier. I could just relax knowing that I had no responsibility in engaging the cultures of this world. Knowing that things will inevitably get worse and the only hope for rescue is the intervention of heaven, I could just focus on making sure I was ready for the judgment, and try to get my friends and family ready. The deterioration of various societal structures would not be of any concern to me. Justice on earth would not be possible and peace would not come until after Jesus returns again. It is my opinion that too many have adopted that view, and it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. As salt of the earth and light of the world I believe we have the privilege of working with the ruling King to influence the world and be a part of its restoration.

Adam was not only given the assignment of subduing the earth, he was also given the ability to name the animals.

Notice that he named the animals and knew their nature enough that none were picked as his helpmate. He could tell the true nature of things and was able to distinguish one from the other. I think we can safely say that mankind will not be able to subdue the earth if he can’t name the animals.

God works on the level of "being". He is not found encouraging one species to act like another. He gives something its nature and the behavior comes with it. Science has determined there are distinct kingdoms of reality: the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the human kingdom. It is interesting that to change kingdoms, a thing has to die to its identity in the previous kingdom. A mineral gives up its distinction as a mineral to be a part of the plant. The plant gives up its plant nature to become an animal. (The cow eats the plant.) The animal gives up its nature to become a part of the human kingdom as it turns up as steak on the plate. (Of course, we can make a good connection here of the human having to die to become part of the kingdom of God.) So we have proven that we haven’t lost all of our ability to name the animals, but our ability has been distorted. Human wisdom is limited by what we can observe as we test the events in life. Primarily it is catalogued as conclusions based on observations analyzed by our reason. But there is a higher reason.

Human observations must be aided and interpreted by divine perspective in order to subdue the earth as God intended. God’s commentary on events and things is necessary for us to know the reality of them. History is just a record of events unless interpreted by someone who knows their significance. Abram left his homeland on a journey. Is that significant? Many inhabitants of Ur had made trips before. But this one was initiated by God in His purpose to rescue the human race and restore the earth to its original purpose. It becomes part of the divine story of redemption that is culminated in Jesus the Christ. There were several million descendants of Abraham that left Egypt. Other tribes had left one part of the world for another. Was this significant? It was the Exodus! God was working and interpreting the events for all to know. Later a man dies outside the walls of Jerusalem. Many had done that before and many would do that later. Why was this significant? Would anyone have known if God had not commented on it? The wisdom necessary to do our job on earth is divine wisdom.

The age of David and Solomon is known as the Golden Age of Israel. Solomon’s name is associated with true wisdom. He exhibited the ability to look beyond the apparent and see the true nature of things. People came from all over the known world to marvel at his wisdom. We have several books in the Bible we call the wisdom books: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. They give different views on wisdom, but all point to a heavenly wisdom that is possible when God adds His perspective to life on earth. The hope of Israel included a belief that one day there would be a new kind of wisdom given to God’s people. They believed that it would be a part of the Day of the Lord when He judged His enemies and vindicated His people.

After the age of David and Solomon, things went badly for Israel. They began to neglect the wisdom of God and gradually lost the ability to rule over themselves and the land they had been given. Finally they were ruled over by foreign powers and ended up in captivity. It seems they refused to name God as God alone and ended up not being able to name anything correctly. Their destruction can be explained in Paul’s depiction of mankind’s inevitable disintegration.

When they refused to recognize God as God, they were confused about the nature of everything. They started thinking the created was the creator. They misnamed the nature of male and female, and even began to name animals as sex partners for humans. The last straw was their inability to tell the difference between good and evil. Though not every human has gone the whole way, we are all in that descent toward destruction when we don’t have God’s wisdom. We have all experienced the disappointments that result from wrong expectations. We have misnamed something or someone and become upset when they could not perform to our standards. Wives have named their husbands "savior" and been disappointed when they couldn’t save. Husbands have named their wife "momma" and then blamed her for not being momma. We name our church leaders "perfect" and then condemn them for being human. We name our churches "utopia" and then criticize when it proves to be a family of imperfect people seeking to learn how to embrace God.

Added to our long list of disappointments is our record of poor productivity. God has designed our projects to be done by teams. When we refuse to name the team members accurately and give positions rather than assignments that fit giftings, we don’t get the jobs done. Judgmentalism and frustration are constant reminders that we mess up when we name things incorrectly.

Speaking of frustration, I remember several years ago playing golf with a man who became so frustrated, he bent his club around a tree and was hyperventilating. You should know that sometime before that I had recognized some of the dignity of golf. It requires a respect that demands a commitment. To be good, you have to work hard and make an investment of time and money. I was not in a position to make that kind of commitment so I chose to be a man who plays golf and not a golfer. On this particular day I was doing my usual thing of hitting a few good shots and some not so good, but I was enjoying playing with the foursome. We were telling good stories and having fun laughing at each other’s shortcomings. The frustrated man came over and cornered me. "I know you are competitive. You like to win. (He had been talking with my wife, I suppose.) Why are you able to laugh this off? Don’t you care that you are not winning?" I explained to him that regarding golf I knew who I was. I didn’t expect to play like a pro. I knew I was a duffer. To expect anything better is stupid. If at some time I choose to really be a golfer, I will try to do the things that would allow me to raise my expectations.

Don’t hear that being average in everything is ok. But hear this: you must name things properly if you are to know what to expect.

Remember! I mentioned that Israel had a hope that included a new kind of wisdom. Well, the hope of Israel has been fulfilled. Jesus the Messiah is the wisdom of God. He demonstrated what it looks like in human terms. He knew who believed and who didn’t.

He could tell when a storm needed to be rebuked and when it needed to be enjoyed. He knew when an affliction required the expulsion of a demon and when it was a disease that needed to be healed. He knew that Lazarus was to be raised but others in the same cemetery were not. He knew that the man born blind was for the purpose of showing the glory of God. He knew that Peter was essentially a rock even when he looked more like mud. He knew who Judas was and was neither surprised nor frustrated when he acted out of his nature. He operated as a man with the wisdom of God. He could look through the apparent and see the essence of everything. He never misnamed the "animals".

He lived among a religious people who had badly misnamed reality. They had refused to name the Messiah and therefore had misnamed themselves. They were confused as to the nature of righteousness. They thought ethnicity was the basis of being in God’s family. They couldn’t recognize the temple when it was among them. They did not name the times correctly and were destroyed by a Roman Army they could have avoided if they had. Misnaming Jesus cuts one off from the wisdom that comes from God.

Paul tells us the secret to the new wisdom.
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

1 Corinthians 2:6-10 (ESV)

The wisdom that Adam had tasted, that Solomon had foreshadowed, and that Israel had longed for came in the person of Jesus. He not only has wisdom. He is wisdom. It is relational not just intellectual. When we come to be included in Him we have access to the perspective that makes the world make sense.

We can put on our "Jesus perspective" and see the purpose of history, the nature of salvation, the identity of God’s people, the power of the gospel, the goal of God’s creation. Actually, anything we view without His perspective is suspect at best. Any truth that is applied apart from Jesus is less than life giving. Any advice we receive that ignores Christ is man’s advice at best. He alone is the one mediator between God and mankind. All truth from God comes through Jesus. And it is available to the "in Christ" people. They simply have to ask.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

James 1:5-6 (ESV)

Can we get back to the original assignment of subduing the earth? We have been rescued by God and He has made the necessary wisdom available in Christ. We, by His revelation, can discern the true nature of things and people, and we can know how to manage in relation to them. There is a joyous work to do. We get to walk in the presence of God and work in His wisdom to accomplish what He had in mind when He created mankind. Jesus being the ultimate human has done what is necessary for us to be empowered to succeed. He in us and us in Him gives Him glory and us dignity.