Who Wants More Children? I do!

I wrote this today in reply to a question about why I believe it is God's desire for us as Christians to have many children.

Mal 2:15a "Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring."

Jer 29:6 "Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease."

Ge 1:28a "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."

The American mindset is nothing like the mindset of God's covenant people in the Bible.

Listen to this admonition to Rebekah from her friends when she was getting married:

Gen. 24:60 "And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies."

If someone told a typical American young woman something like that she would likely be very offended. "Why would I want thousands of offspring?"

This is a worldview issue. It all depends on your goals and perspective. The Biblical mandate is that believers are supposed to have children and grandchildren who take dominion of the world around them.

What are the "gates" referred to in that passage? To possess the gates meant that you controlled the channels of influence and authority in that culture. The gates were where law, commerce, government and general influence took place. To take the gates of your enemies you'd have to have a powerful arsenal. You need a lot of arrows to conquer a city. It may not happen in your lifetime, but eventually if you trained your children well, and taught them to train their children well, your descendants could overcome the evil culture around you.

Jesus said in Matt. 11:12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."

I'm not talking about flesh and blood struggle here.

Eph 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

In Biblical days, God's covenant people weren't content to sit back and allow evil to triumph. They waged war against evil. I'm intent on doing the same.

Psalm 127:3-5 "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed (note: what is the opposite of a blessing?) is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate."

Arrows don't do wimps any good. They are only useful to warriors.

Wimps shouldn't have arrows. They'll probably just injure themselves.

For myself and my wife, we're sharpening a whole quiver (the bigger the better) full of deadly arrows that will penetrate the darkness and bring liberty to the captives. We're training children who will love God will all of their hearts and train their children to do the same. We're training children who will use their gifts and talents for the kingdom of God to see righteousness prevail and evil run and hide. We're planning on owning the gates of our enemies.

How many arrows do you want? It all depends on your worldview.