And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth.And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
7 sermons cite this verse
… 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. …
… before God. Now, what's interesting is right after this, we read in Genesis 1, 28, God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. So immediately, God starts talking about procreation, making babies. In Genesis 2, what we saw last week is God's design for how that happens. Marriage. Genesis 2.24. A man shall leave his father and his mother, 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. …
… 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 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've 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 and there was morning, the sixth day. Oh, there's so much here. And like I said, it's stunning. God has just described the crown jewel of all creation. And do you realize what it is. It's us. It's you and me. All of us, without exception, unlike anything else in all creation, you and I, people, are images of the creator. Mark it down. Humanity's defining characteristic is that we are all equally made in the image of God himself. …
… 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, …
… the possession of the slave owner, which was the serpent. interestingly in Genesis 9 verse 1 it talks about the earth after the flood we have Noah and his descendants have survived because of the ark and the Lord comes to them and gives them a commission and in this commission the Lord says be fruitful and multiply he does not mention subdue the earth Thank you. they can't be put into a military position until the keys have been re-obtained. So they've been commended in Genesis 9 verse 1, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, the subduing will come later. When Jesus came to earth, before he announced his ministry and began his ministry in Luke 4, we find the devil coming to him to tempt him. Remember, what did the devil want in the first place? He wanted to be worshipped like God. So he comes to Jesus who has come to die in our place and to reposition us to our original call. So the devil comes to him dangling keys and he says, if you will bow down and worship me, I will give you these keys to the kingdoms of the world. …
… story again in Genesis, the early chapters. Now look, if you will, in chapter 9 of this same chapter, and look, if you will, in verse 9. And God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them, BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY AND REPLENISH THE EARTH. NOW, YOU SEE, WE'RE, WE'RE NOT SAVED BY GOOD WORKS. WE'RE SAVED TO DO GOOD WORKS. GOOD WORKS ARE THE FRUIT OF SALVATION, NOT THE ROOT OF SALVATION. HE SAYS TO NOAH, NOW NOAH, I'VE BROUGHT YOU THROUGH THIS FLOOD. BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY. WE'RE NOT SAVED BY FAITH AND WORKS. We are saved by faith that works. Be fruitful now and multiply. The good works that we do are not in order to be saved. They're simply because we have been saved. And so what have we said about unsinkable saints? We've said that grace provides a Savior and grace provides salvation. Right? Right. Noah was saved by grace through faith unto good works. That ark was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. …
Chapter 9 of Genesis begins with these words. So God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth on every bird of the air and all that move on the earth all of the fish of the sea they are given into your hand and every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning. From the hand of every beast I will require it. From the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Now we have this text in chapter 9, verse 6. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God he made man. …