God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”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.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 birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
19 sermons cite this verse
… after our likeness, 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. So God created man in his own image, In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Our image. Let us make man in our image. This defines man's unique relation to God. John MacArthur said that man is a living being capable of embodying God's communable attributes. You see, the unique value of each of us here tonight, regardless of our color, regardless of our intelligence, regardless of our age, regardless of our health, is found in those words, God made man in his own image. You know what that says to us? That says that human life is invaluable. irreplaceable, and matchless. When we think of men and women as anything less than the image of God, we devalue life. Each one of us, we are image bearers. …
… our understanding of sexuality, marriage, fatherhood, and motherhood, and our culture. All of which Scripture clearly speaks to in Genesis chapter 1, I'm sorry, Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 through 28, God's creation of man and woman in his image to Genesis chapter 2, verse 24, God's institution of marriage between a man and a woman for the purpose, Ephesians chapter 5, verses 22 through 33 of displaying the gospel and a husband's selfless sacrificial love for his wife, a wife's submissive respect and love for her husband, which leads to Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 4, and a father and a mother loving their child in a way that reflects the love of God for that child. There's so much we could talk about here, but just to bring the data on to bear on why this is so important, do you know what percentage of women seeking abortions are unmarried in our country. Approximately 86%. So almost nine out of 10 women in our country who seek abortions are unmarried. …
… debate concerning abortion is what is going on in the womb, and God is clear in his word. The womb contains a person formed in the image of God. That's clear. Psalm 139, other texts, Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 through 28. God is creating, forming a person in his image unlike anything else in all creation. He's knitting together a human being. Now people have argued and will argue, well what is full personhood? When does an embryo or a fetus become a person? And this really is the most important question. Virtually every argument in the entire abortion controversy comes back to this one question. What is the unborn? What or who is in the womb? Because once that question is answered, every other question comes into perspective. The reality is, if the unborn is not human, then no justification for abortion is even necessary. Some people say, well, the human is not, or the unborn is not a human person. It's just some non-viable tissue mass. Just a part of a woman's body. …
… and then verse 28 says God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and what? Multiply. Fill the earth. How do you do that? Well, you get to Genesis chapter 2, verse 24, and it says, A man shall leave his father and mother, unite to his wife, they will become one flesh. That's the answer. How do you multiply and fill the earth in the context of a marriage relationship between a man and a woman that multiply and fill the earth. And this is the picture of God's blessing. He blessed Adam and Eve for that purpose. He blessed them, gave them this command, be fruitful and multiply. And as you go throughout the rest of Genesis, you just see the same thing. You fast forward to Genesis chapter 12, verse one through three, and God blesses Abraham. He says, I'm going to bless you and your offspring. How is God's blessing going to be evident in Abraham's life? certainly in the land, he promised to give him land, but also in descendants. God said, I'm going to give you descendants. He gave the promise to Abraham, then Isaac in Genesis chapter 26 verse 4, Jacob in Genesis chapter 28 verse 14. God says, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, I'm going to bless you, and that blessing is going to be evident in descendants like the stars in the sky. …
Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, And be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth. And every tree with seed in its fruit, you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens and everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. and God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, there was morning, the sixth day. Okay, first truth about biblical manhood and womanhood. And we're gonna, I'm gonna mention at different points a variety of different passages in the New Testament, but because of all the ground we got to cover, we're not gonna have time to turn there, but you might write them down as we get to them. …
… Let us make humankind in our own image and after our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over the beasts and over all the earth and all the creeping things that creep on the earth. So God created humankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and all the living creatures that move on the earth? Then God said, Look, I give to you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree bearing fruit with the seed in it. They shall be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and the birds of the heavens, to all the creatures that move on the earth, to everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food. …
… In the image of God, he created him, male and female. He created them, and God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Now, the purpose of putting images of yourself on display as the pinnacle of your creation is what? To draw attention to your glory, yourself. That's what images are for. Images image forth the one they are images of. That's their job. That's why they're made in the likeness of the one they are to image forth. God is both the artist or the sculptor and the one that's being commemorated by the sculptures and so he's doubly the one being pointed to by persons created in his image. The point, the main point of every human being is God. just revolutionize your people if they get this they don't pass anybody on the street without knowing what's the main point of your existence answer God everybody has one main point in their lives to image forth God if God erects eight billion images of himself in the world. …
… manifested in the plurality. That's why the Bible here in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 says, our image, our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Man, that must have been awesome. Verse 27, so God created man in his own image and the image of God, he created him, that's mankind, male and female, he created them. And there's a reason why God put it that way. Out of all of God's great creative works, imagine this, as we now in our modern technology gaze upon clusters of stars and systems out there and nebulae that are just spellbinding. I mean, you look at the deep space that our great telescopes give us now, and you're mesmerized. You say, what is that thing? As fantastic as that is, and all the workings of astrophysics in the universe, That's nothing to God. …
… And then it goes on to say in 28, Then God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply. fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every creeping, every living thing that moves on the earth. When we continue on through that text, we see that what God is really saying is this is how I want you to show up in the world. I want you to be a people who are able to be fruitful and who can multiply, who can fill the earth and subdue it, let's think for a minute about the character traits required to fulfill that mandate, okay? In order for us to have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds over the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth, that means there is a certain level of authority, certain level of confidence, a certain level of focus and intentionality that was meant to be a part of our original nature. So this idea, and this isn't just you, this is me, where we experience insecurity, where we second get, that's not a part of our original nature. …
… hold fast to his wife, they shall become one flesh. And as man and woman come together as one flesh in marriage, they multiply. That's the whole picture that Genesis 1.28 is talking about. And this is really important for us to see because as we keep reading throughout the Old Testament, the blessing of God is often tied to husbands and wives having children, multiplying. Look at this. When God forms his people in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, look at what he promises them in Genesis 15. God brought Abraham, the father of the people of Israel, outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you're able to number them. Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. God said, I'm going to give you offspring, innumerable children and grandchildren, which necessitated marriage to Abraham's wife, Sarah. And God gives the same promise of offspring through marriage to Isaac in Genesis chapter 26, verse 3, to Jacob in Genesis chapter 28, verse 14. …
… that's male and female, he creates them. And he says to them, be fruitful and multiply. He says, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every creeping living thing that moves on the earth. He gives them dominion over the entire earth when he creates them. But then in Genesis 2 and 15, something unique happens. In Genesis 2 and 15, it says, Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Now, wait a minute. In Genesis 1, he gives him dominion over the entire earth. But then in Genesis 2, he doesn't release them into the entire earth. He plants them in a garden. It's almost as if he's saying, In order for you to do Genesis 1 and 28 properly, I gotta start you in a tighter space. My vision is for you to be into all of the earth and have dominion over all the earth, but I'm going to start you in a garden. …
… We read, then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 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. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Now turn over to Genesis chapter 2. So starting in verse 5, we see a parallel account of how God created man. Eden in the east. And there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground, the Lord God made to spring up every tree that's pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden, which by the way, Eden means delight. So this garden of delight, a river flowed out of it to water the garden. And there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon is the one that flowed from the whole land of Havilah where there is gold. The gold of that land is good. Delium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It's the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris which flows east of Assyria. Excuse me. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. And the Lord God took the …
… So Genesis 1, chapter 1, verse 28, says this. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion. There's that same language. That's where it's coming from in Psalm 8. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. The first sense of call in Psalm 8 is to the original commission that God gave humanity at creation. Sometimes we call this the cultural mandate. Being in God's image, being His representatives in the created world, His vice regents over the created world, our calling as humanity is to grow our number and expand our borders. Or you would say, bring new humans into the world and raise them up and venture out into new territory and bring order to the uncultivated raw wilderness. Don't expand your borders to take the borders of other countries. It should probably be said. but expand the civilization to cultivate and do so consciously and carefully, preserving natural beauty and making it accessible for human flourishing. …
… let us make man in our what? Image. And that's the word that we just talked about. Sell him 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. So God created man in his own what? Image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. Three times we see this Hebrew word. God, in his word, is saying that humans, that's what man is a reference to, humankind, people are images. They're representations of him. Almost like this world is a temple and the images or idols in this world that represent God are human beings. And not just some humans, like the elite or a particular ethnicity or gender. No, this is stunning. God is saying all humankind, without exception, including male and female, regardless of ethnicity, disability, anything, all humans are created in the image of God, or the likeness of God, which is a parallel concept here. And then read what happens next. And God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, behold, I've given you every plant yielding seed that's on the face of all the earth. And every tree with seed in its fruit, you shall have them …
… let us make man or mankind now we have in our image, in our likeness so that they, mankind, the man and the woman, may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over livestock and all wild animals and over the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them male and female. Both he created them in his own image. And God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish and the seas and the birds in the sky and over every living creature on the ground. And then God said, I give you all the seed-bearing plants. And he goes on to tell them all the things that he is allowing them to rule over. and then down to verse 31. God saw all that he had made, the man and the woman, mankind. …
… After God made man in His own image, after He created him male and female, verse 28 of Genesis 1, God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Part of the creation mandate was to spread over the whole earth. They had done that. God drowned that evil society, and they were to start all over again with the descendants of Noah. But they didn't want to do that. They wanted to settle in one place. So they said in verse 3 to one another, Come, let us make bricks, burn them thoroughly, that is to say, so that they would be strong, and they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. And they said, Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name. Otherwise, we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. They knew they were supposed to be scattered over the face of the whole earth. That was the creation mandate. That was God's order to them in the original creation. But they were rebels against God. They did not want to do that. They wanted to stay together. And so they decided that they would build a city, and they would build a tower, and they would make a name for themselves. The Lord came down, verse 5, to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, Behold, they are one people, …
starting with verse 27. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth. Go back to the first half of verse 28. God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it have dominion. It's interesting to me that in this initial commission for Adam and Eve they were given the assignment to subdue the earth. Be fruitful, multiply. Multiply means to have children who have children who have children. Be fruitful has nothing to do with having children. be fruitful has to do with your contribution to making the world around you better. It's being productive. It's a word that actually refers to strength, strength, capacity, ability, an ability to actually contribute to make everything around you even better. The Lord drafted Adam in this creative process and gave him an assignment. …
… Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and then rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creature that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created a male and female, he created them. God blessed them. And God said to them, what's the first command out of God's mouth when he creates man? The first command is not, don't eat of the fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden. No, the first command is be fruitful and multiply. I don't write the mail, I just deliver it. That's the first command out of the mouth of God. to human beings. Be fruitful and multiply. Now by procreation, I don't just mean having babies, although that's kind of a very important part of the whole process of procreation, okay? By procreation, I don't mean that God just intends for us to have children and for them to just be, you know, just sort of let loose out there. The whole idea of procreation brings with it the idea that we would represent God on the earth. …
Then we read in verse 26 of the first chapter of Genesis these words, Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And so God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him male and female. He created them. And then God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." We live in a world now that puts more value to fish eggs than to human embryos, more dignity to whales than to humanity, which is a reversal of the order of creation in which God creates mankind and mankind alone in His image. …