Ruling Animals and Making Babies
Genesis 1:26-28
The Climax of Creation
At the end of Genesis 1, Moses slows down and zooms in on the most beautiful aspect of the diadem of God’s creation: man and woman. The creation of humans at the end of day six is the climax of the six days of creation. Moses uses more words to describe what happens here than any other day. What happens here is so important that Moses actually comes back to it in more detail in chapter two in order to give us a 3-D view of what God does here.
The main idea of the last six verses of chapter one (vv. 26-31) is that God created us to rule over his creation and relate to him as Creator. You were created by God to know God and rule for God over God’s creation.
Today we’ll look at two aspects of how God designed us to rule his world, or what our rule looks like: exercising dominion over the animal kingdom and filling the earth, or “ruling animals and making babies.” Next week we’ll look at another aspect of our rule, namely, what it means to “subdue” the earth.
Created to Rule the Animal Kingdom
First, we were created to rule the animal kingdom. As I said a couple weeks ago, “image of God” is something we are, not something we have. We are God’s ruling representatives on the earth. And with that comes the function of exercising dominion over the animal kingdom. This function is made explicit in the last part of verse 26:
“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.”
And the last part of verse 28:
“Subdue (the earth) 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.”
What’s immediately obvious is that our rule over the earth is primarily related to all other living creatures on the earth. God assigned us as the rulers and keepers and tamers and protectors and preservers of all living creatures. We’re God’s governors over the animal kingdom.
Our rule, however, isn’t an autonomous rule. We rule on behalf of Someone else. This means that there are limits to our rule. We can’t do whatever we want with God’s property. Our rule comes with limits, not license. Just as kings of the past were expected to care about the welfare of their subjects, so God’s kings and queens must reflect God’s character.
This means that we aren’t free to exploit or abuse or neglect or waste or ignore God’s glorious creatures. This doesn’t mean that we all need to become zookeepers or Dr. Doolittles or pet lovers or conservationists. It does mean that PETA shouldn’t be the only group who care about the well-being of animals. Socially liberal people shouldn’t be the only ecologically minded people.
The Christian tradition provides the only stable foundation for the care of animals. If we’re essentially the same as the animals, then there’s no reason we should care for them. Noah was the first conservationist, not Steve Irwin. Christians should do what we can to promote the well-being of the creatures our Creator created.
But we should do this without letting animals become idols. It’s safe to say that our culture has placed a higher value on dogs than babies. This is a tragically great reversal of God’s plan. God made us to rule animals, but many people are ruled by their animals. Animals are good and beautiful gifts from God. But if you’re consumed with your pet, then you need to remember that God made us to rule, not be ruled. And you also need to remember that there are other aspects to our rule in the world.
Created to Multiply
Verse 28 also says that we function as God’s image-bearers by filling the earth. We’re created to multiply. God made us to rule over animals and to “multiply” ourselves and “fill the earth.” Part of God’s basic plan for our lives is “multiplication.”
The first part of verse 28 says, “And God blessed them.” What kind of “blessing” did God give man? The text makes it clear that the blessing is the blessing of posterity. God blessed the sea creatures and birds in the same way (v. 22). The first blessing in the Bible is the blessing of procreation.
God wanted the creatures he made to continue to exist, so he blessed them by giving them the gift of ongoing life through self-propagation. “Be fruitful…multiply…fill” should not be seen so much as commands, though they are, but as the blessing of God. In other words, God is saying to the human race, “I bless you by making it possible for you to multiply yourself.”
The weightiness of what’s happening here is seen in the fact that this is the only time God speaks directly to the creation, “And God said to them…” Humans are uniquely blessed by the Creator as the first ones who get to hear his voice. And the first blessed thing that comes out of his mouth is the promise of fruitfulness.
While exercising dominion over the animals is good and important, the focus of Genesis is on the blessing of fruitfulness, not on dominating animals or subduing the earth. This command, and the implicit promise that God will enable man to fulfill it, is repeated to Noah after the flood (9:1) and to the patriarchs (17:2, 20; 28:3; 35:11). On his deathbed, Jacob publicly declares that God has fulfilled this word (Gen. 48:4). And the genealogies throughout Genesis tell us that God did indeed keep his word and allow humans to multiply themselves.
In a stunning display of generosity, God shared the blessing of creation with us. He gave his image-bearers the ability to make more image-bearers. He created us to be creators. He called us to rule and make more rulers. He made us to multiply his royal family so that his rule would extend all over the world.
Making Children in Marriage
Whether you’re single or married, old, young, or middle-aged, retired or working, man or woman, this blessing from God applies to you! But how? Two ways: by making children in marriage and by making disciples in the world.
First, it means that we should make children in marriage. Notice how “male and female he created them” at the end of verse 27 is directly connected to, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” at the beginning of verse 28.
God made his image-bearers as distinctly male or female so that they could fill the earth. This should be done in the context of marriage (2:18). One of the most basic purposes of marriage is having children. Yes, marriage is meant to reflect the gospel (Eph. 5:32). But it’s also meant to be the place where we procreate. The Bible says more about our sexuality, but this text is unambiguous in saying that God gave us sexuality so that we could fill the earth with more of his image-bearers. Having children is one of the main purposes of marriage.
Making Children Outside Marriage Not Unforgiveable
Let me state clearly that having children outside of marriage is not the unforgiveable sin. It’s not the plan God made, which is why it leads to so much pain, but it doesn’t disqualify anyone from the mercy of God.
With the modern advent of various forms of birth control and the scourge of abortion across our land, having sex and having children are no longer linked in our modern minds. This wasn’t always the case. In our age, we see sex as a basic right and need and we see children as an optional add-on if and when desired. In past ages, having sex meant the possibility of having children, so sex was more likely to be reserved for those wanting and willing to raise children.
Cowardly men who sleep with women who aren’t their wives, and then abandon them when what God designed to happen happens will answer for their actions. Compassionate churches need to step up and do everything we can to provide for and support those who have the blessing of a baby without the protection and provision of a father.
Making Children Inside Marriage is Normal and Wonderful
God’s intention is for children to be the result of a union of man and woman in marriage. Having children in the context of marriage should ordinarily be pursued as a basic part of being married. There are reasons why couples sometimes shouldn’t have children biologically, such as putting the mother’s life at risk. But ordinarily, married couples should plan to have children. Can a couple choose to not have children? Some do choose this path. The reasons for choosing this path are what’s important. A couple may decide to devote themselves fully to Great Commission ministry instead of having children.
But if a couple chooses to not have kids because having kids is hard, then they need to ask God to help them see children as a blessing and not a burden. That children are a blessing from the Lord is stated plainly in Psalm 127, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward…Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” (vv. 3, 5)
Seeing kids as a burden is seeing them with our culture’s glasses on. When I was in Kenya several years ago, a Kenyan pastors told me that he’d been recently married and they were already expecting their first child. I told him that Suzy and I waited five years after we were married until we started having children. With a smile on his face, he gently said, “That’s how you do things in America, but that’s not how we do things in Kenya.” His point was that there’s a cultural vision that we all inherent that shapes our decision-making in profound ways.
We aren’t the first, the only, or the last culture to see children as a burden rather than a blessing. Russell Moore, in his book Adopted for Life, says that we all struggle with the kind of impulse that Pharaoh, Herod, and Planned Parenthood have:
“It’s easy to shake our heads in disgust at Pharaoh or Herod or Planned Parenthood. It’s not as easy to see the ways in which we ourselves often have a Pharaoh-like view of children rather than a Christlike view. What God calls a blessing, we often grumble at as a curse – and for the same reason those old kings did, because they disrupt our life plans.”
He goes on to say, “Children disrupt plans, and blessedly so. They might disrupt yours. It’s easy to resent this disruption and lash out against it, perhaps not in murder but in the anger that’s the root of murder (Matt. 5:21-22).”[1]
Why do we get so agitated when babies cry or toddlers pout or kids act like kids? We want our restaurants, our airplanes, our churches, and our public places to be as free as possible from the inconvenient disruption of kids. We privately curse what God has publicly and loudly blessed.
Is raising kids hard? Absolutely, its the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Nothing activates my anger like the three blessings who live with Suzy and me! Most nights I’d rather put my kids in front of the TV than actually engage them. This is because I love my comfort more than my kids. Anything that gets in the way of my comfort brings out bad John!
Married couples should ordinarily and joyfully pursue the blessed gift of having children. It’s not a competition to see who can have the most, and you’re not necessarily a more faithful Christian if you have five children instead of two. John and Idelette Calvin had a son die in infancy and had no other children together. Jonathan and Sarah Edwards had eleven children live into adulthood. John Piper has five children; John Stott remained single and had no children.
None of these folks were more blessed than the others based on the number of children they had. God blesses through children, not through a certain number of children. But it does stand to reason that our society’s devaluing of children is one of the reasons our national birthrate continues to fall. May we stand against that tide and bless what God blesses.
Single men and women, be clear about your views on having children before you get married, and don’t marry someone who doesn’t see children as a basic part of why God created marriage.
Multiple Ways to Multiply Children in Marriage
There are multiple ways to multiply children in marriage. Many couples will struggle to have children biologically. Infertility is one of the most painful things a woman can walk through, as it suffocates the hopes and dreams God put in their hearts when they were little girls. If that’s you, please reach out for help and counsel and prayer. You need not suffer alone.
Infertility is why lots of families choose to adopt children. And that’s okay! But this shouldn’t be the only or even the main reason families choose to adopt. The apostle James’ instructions about “visiting orphans” wasn’t qualified by “if you’re unable to get pregnant.” Every Christian and church is told to care about orphans if they want their religion to be real (Js. 1:27).
As Russell Moore reminds us, “All of us are called to be compassionate. All of us are called to remember the poor. All of us are called to remember the fatherless and the widows. That will look different in our different lives, with the different situations and resources God has given us. But for all of us there’ll be a judgment to test the genuineness of our faith.”[2]
Adoption isn’t for everyone. But God knows our hearts. I pray for the day when many in our church will open their hearts and their homes for the unwanted children of the world. Isn’t that what God did for us?
Making Disciples in the World
But, you say, “Pastor, I’m not able to make babies or adopt children! I’m older or widowed or an empty nester. I’m single, so how am I supposed to ‘multiple and fill the earth’?”
It’s not a coincidence that Jesus’ final command to his disciples is about multiplying themselves across the earth. Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Jesus told all his followers to multiple themselves and fill the earth with his disciples.
This starts at home. We multiple ourselves by pouring ourselves out for the good of others. If your faith is more like a cul-de-sac than a conduit, your faith may be a dead faith. A living faith is a faith that works hard to help others in their faith.
What can you do? Start praying through the church directory. Pick a church member to start meeting with monthly for coffee and discussion about life and the Lord. Take a friend from school or work to lunch to initiate a relationship where the gospel can be shared. If you aren’t multiplying yourself by helping other people follow Jesus, you’re disobeying Jesus.
The Earth Will Be Filled with the Glory of the Lord
God made us to multiply ourselves. We can do that by having children in marriage or by having spiritual children through disciple-making. Every image-bearer of God is created to exercise dominion over the animal kingdom and to fill the earth with more image-bearers. And what God commanded he will fulfill, so that, “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).
Blessing through a Baby
How does that come about? There’s a clue for us in our text. Interestingly, in verse 28, the fulfillment of God’s blessing is linked to offspring. From the very beginning, it was clear that God’s blessing would come into the world through a fruitful womb. It would be a baby born to a woman who would crush Satan’s head and bring us safely home (3:15).
Paul tells us what this baby accomplished: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).
Jesus was born into the world to bless the world by taking the curse of the law upon himself (3:13), so that every lawbreaker who admits their sin, believes his word, and confesses him as Lord will be brought into the family of God. Our adoption is the reason Jesus came and died.
Friend, if you’re not yet a follower of Jesus, call out to him for rescue and stop trying to rescue yourself. And, church member, may Jesus’ generous love and kindness be reflected in our church through the way we treat his creatures and in our joyful zeal to reproduce ourselves and fill the earth with his glory. God created us and Jesus saved us for this wonderful work.
[1]Russell D. Moore, Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009), 64-5.
[2]Ibid., 82-3.