Preached on Father’s Day, this message explores two callings placed on fathers, kingship and priesthood. It traces kingship to Adam’s commission in Genesis 1 to subdue and have dominion, and priesthood to the calling to till and keep the garden in Genesis 2, then works through the practical kingly duties of protection and instruction and the priestly duty of intercession, illustrated throughout with the example of Job interceding for his children.
Scripture Reference
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Key Points: Two Callings Placed on Every Father
- Genesis 1:28 distinguishes the shared commission to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth from the added commission to subdue and have dominion, which is identified here as the kingship duty given to the father.
- Genesis 2:15’s instruction to dress and keep the garden uses the same Hebrew word later used for serving or worshiping God, tying the father’s calling to a priestly responsibility of leading worship and service.
- The first kingly responsibility, protection, is illustrated by Abraham arming his household to rescue Lot in Genesis 14, and is linked to instinctive boyhood traits such as defending siblings and territorial competitiveness.
- Protection is also described as including the discipline of denying children things that would harm them, illustrated by Branham refusing to let his young son handle a razor, and applied to modern concerns such as limiting children’s access to social media.
- The second kingly responsibility, instruction, is drawn from Genesis 18:17 to 19, where God’s fulfillment of his promise to Abraham is tied to Abraham commanding his household to keep the way of the Lord, a word meaning to charge and direct with authority rather than merely suggest.
- The priesthood responsibility is demonstrated through intercession, illustrated by Job rising early to offer burnt offerings for his children after their feasting, not knowing for certain whether they had sinned but interceding for them regardless.
- The message closes with a testimony of a father who asked at the altar not for healing or blessing but for his teenage daughter’s salvation, and was told by the Holy Spirit, I give you your child, with the daughter present that morning, saved and baptized.