The struggle for the birthright and for dominion over the earth is best known to Christians in the story of Jacob and Esau, found in Genesis 27. The history of that struggle, however, is not so well known. For this reason, many Christians do not really understand the current struggle, called in Isaiah 34:8 “the controversy of Zion.” If Christians did understand this historic struggle, they would have quite a different view of Bible prophecy than is popular today.

There are two primary areas of study that form the backbone of Bible prophecy. The first is a knowledge of Israel 's feast days, which we covered rather thoroughly in our book, The Laws of the Second Coming. The second is a knowledge of the history of the birthright from Adam to the present. It is this second area that we will cover in this book.

The Dominion Mandate

There are two parts to the birthright given to Adam in the beginning. They are the dominion mandate and the fruitfulness mandate. The dominion mandate is given in Gen. 1:26,

²⁶ Then God said, Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule [Heb. radah, “to have dominion”] over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

In this divine mandate we see that God intended for man to “rule.” The Hebrew word is radah, which literally means “to have dominion.” This, then, is the original dominion mandate. It is what established Adam as the king over all the earth.

Many rivals to this throne have arisen over the centuries, the first notable one being Nimrod, the founder of Babylon (Gen. 10:10). Nimrod literally means “rebel.” He revolted against the rulership of Noah and Shem (the builder of Jerusalem ) and established a rival city-state, which he called Babel, or Babylon. Since that time, men have dreamed of ruling the world and of making all men the servants of their world-empire. However, all of these rivals to the throne intend to rule by their own laws in rebellion against the divine law and Christ, God's anointed King.

The dominion mandate given to Adam did not give him any rules or advice that might help him to rule the earth properly. Since Adam was created in the image of God, proper world government was a given. But after Adam sinned and lost the glory of God, it was not long before the leaven of sin gave fallen man the idea that dominion meant enslaving others and forcing them to do the will of the rulers, regardless of what that might be.

It is not until the divine law was given to Moses that we begin to see a clearer idea of the will of God concerning exercising dominion. The first commandment itself, applied to rulers, meant that rulers were to rule their domains under God. The fact that the rulers were given divine laws to administer showed that God had not given them a license to rule by their own whims or by their own ideas of right and wrong. They were expected to rule by divine revelation. Perhaps the primary law of rulership was laid down in Deut. 1:16, 17, where Moses said,

¹⁶ Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between a man and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him. ¹⁷ You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God's.

In the New Testament, this concept of not showing partiality was repeated in James 2:9, where the brother of Jesus wrote,

⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

By the time we come to the New Testament era, we are given the full revelation of the dominion mandate by the example of Jesus Christ. Though He was born to be the King, yet He came as a servant. He did not come to call a people to a position of privilege. When the disciples disputed over who would have the highest privileges in the Kingdom, Jesus laid down the clearest principle of rulership to date. Luke 22:24-30 says,

²⁴ And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. ²⁵ And He said to them, the kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called Benefactors. ²⁶ But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. ²⁷ For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. ²⁸ And you are those who have stood by Me in My trials; ²⁹ and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you ³⁰ that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Likewise, Jesus said again in Matt. 23:8-12,

⁸ But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. ¹⁰ And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader; that is, Christ. ¹¹ But the greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

In other words, those who are called as rulers in the sight of God are not those that are recognized by men as kings, rabbis, teachers, prophets, or great men. The rulers in God's sight are those who serve God and His people. This is the mind of God. This is how God intended Adam to rule over God's creation. These are the kinds of people who will rule in the Kingdom of God at the first resurrection (Rev. 20:6). They are the ones who have taken Jesus' words seriously and can grasp the concept of serving others, rather than of being served.

This idea of rulers and judges being impartial, ruling as servants, thinking of the good of the people, rather than exploiting the people for their own welfare and comfort, is crucial in the age-long struggle between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of God. Any people who claim to be called to rule the Kingdom will ultimately be disqualified if they do not rule others by these basic standards. As we proceed with this book, we will see just how this principle ought to impact the thinking of the Church.

The Fruitfulness Mandate

The second part of the birthright given to Adam was the fruitfulness mandate. We read of this later in Gen. 1:28,

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

God's intent was not merely to fill the earth with carnally-minded men. It was His intent to fill the earth with the sons and daughters of God. It was His intent to fill the earth with men and women in His Own Image. In the law of biogenesis, like begets like. If Adam and Eve had brought forth children before the original sin, these children would have been begotten in the likeness and image of God. However, they sinned, and their children were born only after they had lost the glory and image of God. For this reason, since like begets like, all mankind were born after the flesh, not after the Spirit.

Even so, it is yet God's intent to fulfill this mandate, for Romans 8:19 speaks of the manifestation (unveiling) of the sons of God. This concept of Sonship begins in Gen. 1:26-28.

There are carnally-minded men who attempt, through technology and learning, to achieve the immortality and bodily transformation promised to the sons of God. They believe that if they can find the secret of life and transformation, they will be able to secure forever the dominion over the earth. This is the real motive behind their drive to discover secret technologies that have been acquired in the past century, beginning with the remarkable discoveries of the great scientist, Nikola Tesla.

Such carnally-minded people will not succeed in the long run. In fact, their partial successes indicate only that the true manifestation of the sons of God is near. Then those carnally-minded rebels—successors of Nimrod—will find their power eclipsed by the body of Christ, who are destined to rule and reign with Him in the age to come.