God Fills the Earth

Aaron Whitmire

Genesis • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Genesis 1:14–31

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God fill the earth (The Great Commission is seed form)

Notes

Transcript

NT Scripture

Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Introduction

Do any of you plant a garden? My grandparents used to plant a huge garden down below their house and it seemed like everyone in the family got vegetables out of it. If you plant or have ever planted a garden, you’ll know that it takes a lot of work, especially if the garden is a big one. First, and most importantly, you’ve got to pick choice soil; everyone knows that no plant will grow if it’s planted in the wrong soil! Secondly, you’ve got to plant at the right time, and even then, if there’s a late frost it can kill, or at least severely damage some of the plants. You plow and turn the soil and then place those tiny seeds in the ground. Next, you need the correct amount of rain and sunshine to make sure that the plants begin to sprout. If the rain and sun don’t seem to be cooperating, you might even have to add a little fertilizer and if push comes to shove you might even have to pipe water in through a sprinkler system to make sure the plants get something to drink. Now, if all of that goes well, that seed you planted will die and then it will sprout and begin to grow, and then small sprouts will begin to peek out of the earth. When this begins to happen, and as the plants begin to grow you’ve got to be sure that you keep weeds from suffocating the fledgling plants, and you’ve got to make sure that animal don’t eat up everything. If all of that, everything I just described, goes well, then that tiny seed you planted, the one that died, it will form into a giant plant and fill not only area around itself with leaves, but it will bear fruit that fills your stomach and curtails your hunger. [Am I making anyone hungry yet?] In our text today, Gen. 1:14-31, we’re going to focus our attention on filling, particularly on God filling the earth in days four through six that he formed in days one through three. In verses 14-25 we’ll focus our attention on how God fills the earth, then, in verses 15-31 we’ll look at the pinnacle of God’s creation. Now, in all of this I’m going to consistently point your attention to Jesus, because I am of the firm belief that he is the fulfillment of all that Moses writes here. So, if you’ve got your read along with me.

Genesis 1:14–31 NKJV

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 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.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 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 living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Prayer

“God Fills the Earth”

Genesis 1:14–25 NKJV

In days 1-3 God formed the earth. On day one he separated the light from the darkness, calling the light day and the darkness night. Then, on the second day God divided the waters above from the waters below revealing the firmament or what we might call the atmosphere. Next, on the third day, God pulled back the waters of the earth to reveal dry land. He called the watery depths the sea, and the land he called earth. Now, after that, God spoke to the dry ground [earth] and said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth” (Gen. 1:11). Then, in Gen.1:13 we read that there was evening and morning, the third day, which brings us up to Gen. 1:14. In Gen. 1:14-26 you read about God filling the earth which he formed in the first three days. In other words, you might say that in days 1-3 God made the “kingdoms / spheres” of existence, and then on days 4-6 he placed in those kingdoms or spheres, the rulers. You could also put it this way, Days 4-6 don’t deal with function, but with functionaries. Let’s take a quick look at these verses. In Gen. 1:14-19 we read about God’s work on the fourth day. In these verses we’re told that God creates the “lights” in the sky, and we’re also presented with their function. One thing I want to point out to you concerning the way Moses presents this information about the “lights” in the sky is that he does so from the vantage point of the earth as if you’re standing there looking up at them. In Gen. 1:16 we’re told that God made the “two great lights”. Now, we know that he’s referring to the sun and moon at the very least here, but did you notice that Moses never names them? You see, in the ancient world people often worshiped the heavenly bodies, but Moses is pacing the emphasis on the fact that these, like everything else he has and will discuss are subservient to the creator of all things, God! I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the heavenly lights are put in place on the fourth day because if you recall, the Hebrew wording that describes what happened on day one it pointed to the fact that God was creating time. Now, on day four, the lights are put in their places, and it is through these that mankind reckons time and seasons, years and cycles. In fact, we’re even told as much in Gen. 1:14! Next, beginning in Gen. 1:20 Moses gives us a description of God’s creative activity on the fifth day. Remember, if you will, that on day two God separated the waters above from the waters below, and in doing so we have the sea and the sky. On day five, in Gen. 1:20-23, Moses will tell us of how God fills the sea with sea creatures big and small and also how God fills the air with birds. Notice, however, that there is a slight difference on day five because this is the first time in the narrative that God has said to those things he’s created, in this case the fish of the sea and birds of the air, “Be fruitful and multiply”. Notice also that in Gen. 1:22 God tells them to “fill” the sphere in which they are called to live. That word “fill” מָלֵא (mā·lē(ʾ)) is rather interesting in the Hebrew because while it often carries the since of “filling” or “being full”, but it can also point towards consecration to priesthood, which I think will become very important to what happens on the sixth day. With that said, we now arrive at the sixth day, and it’s here that we’ll spend the remainder of our time. On day six, in Gen. 1:24-25, Moses tells us about how God created all the creatures that we see walking upon the earth. Remember, on day three God created dry land and vegetation, thus, making a habitat for what he would create of day six. However, day six is different, and you don’t have to be a Hebrew scholar to notice that the amount of attention that’s paid to the sixth day is massive in comparison to all that we’ve discussed in days 1-5. The obvious question is why, and we’re given the answer in Gen. 1:26-31, but before we look at those verses, I want to ask you, when was the last time you simply walked outside and look in wonder at what God has created? When is the last time you looked up into the sky on a hot summer night and stared in amazement at the hand of the creator, or listened to all of the sounds of the forest? My grandfather once told me that he felt the closest to God, not sitting in the church pew, but when he walked into the woods alone and simply closed his eyes and listen to God’s creation. Friends, God doesn’t make mistake, and that creation that you see every day is still good! Not once does your Bible ever say that God’s creation is bad, even after sin enters the picture! It’s because of the general revelation that’s given in creation that that Paul says in Romans 1 that all people know that God exists. And it’s because of that knowledge that they will one day be held accountable. You see, when a person walks outside and looks at the creation, they realize that it didn’t just happen, they know deep down inside that a higher power is responsible for all that they see. And when they see this in creation it forces them to call out to God to show himself, and when they do this God says, “I have made a way for you to come to me, it is through my Son Jesus, and I will make a way for you to hear the gospel.” On the final day of judgement no one will have an excuse! What will you do with Jesus Christ?

The Pinnacle of Creation

Genesis 1:26–31 NKJV

26 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.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 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 living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

This last section we’re going to talk about is one of the “densest” sections in all the Bible. Needless to say, there have been mountains of books written on any number of topics included in these verses. For example, when you read Gen. 1:29-30 you realize that at the beginning we were all vegetarians, both us and all of the other animals as well. While I certainly think it’s interesting to talk about things like that, I’m not going to focus on it today, instead I want to address the following two items, (1) Gen. 1:26-27, what does it mean when God says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness …” (Gen. 1:26)?, and (2) Gen. 1:28-31, what does it mean to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28)? First, what does is mean when God says in Gen. 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness”? There is and has been a debate surrounding the phrase, “Let us make” for millennia, and the debate rages around the word “us” which is a second person plural pronoun. Commentator Kenneth Matthews presents six basic views as to what this means. (1) a remnant of a polytheistic myth (2) God’s address to all creation, “heavens and earth” (3) the plural word “us” indicates divine honor and majesty (4) self-deliberation, in other words, God thinking to himself, (5) God is addressing the divine council/heavenly court [divine beings and angels] (6) a dialogue within the Godhead [Trinity]. We can rule the first one out because we know the Bible isn’t based on myth. The second option, “God’s address to all creation, ‘heavens and earth” is ruled out because of verse 27 which says, “God created man in His image …”, not in the image of the heavens and earth. The third option, “the plural word “us” indicates divine honor and majesty” is ruled out because the point of the statement “Let us make …” is that there is a unique correspondence between God and man; not the majesty of God. The fourth and sixth options, “self-deliberation” or “dialogue between the Godhead [Trinity]”, both have a number of points in their favor, except for the fact that in the case of a self-dialogue (God thinking to himself), the plural form of the word “us” is never used that way. In the case of the view that says this is “a dialogue between the Godhead [Trinity]”, the problem lies in the fact that all of the members of the Trinity are omniscient. In other words, the Father doesn’t need to tell the Son, and the Son doesn’t need to tell the Spirit, they’re all co-equal with one another. [Some might argue against this view on the basis that Jesus, in Mark 13:32, says in reference to his second coming, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” However, Jesus makes this statement after his first coming, and before his glorification and ascension back into heaven.] Many translations push this view that “Let Us make” is referring to a discussion among the Godhead [Trinity] by capitalizing the words “Us” and “Our” in verse 26. However, in the Hebrew, these words don’t work that way and you won’t see upper- and lower-case letter as in English. That leaves us with the fifth view which says that “God is addressing the divine council/court”. What are we to make of this? Well, we know that the divine council and heavenly court was in existence prior to when God created man because the book of Job point blank tell us this,

“4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 When the morning stars [these are angels] sang together, And all the sons of God [this is referring to the divine council it cannot be referring to human beings] shouted for joy?” (Job 38:4-7).

Another passage of Scripture that discusses the divine council is Psalm 82 [I really wish we had time to pick that Psalm apart, but maybe another time.]. So, I know you’re all wondering, “What does he think about this?” This is what I think is going on in this text, I think some form of a combination of views 4, 5, and 6, “self-deliberation, a conversation among the Godhead, and God addressing the divine council/heavenly court” is probably correct, although I won’t be dogmatic about it. The reason I take this view is because of verse 27 which says, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” I agree with the statement that the members of the Godhead are all coequal, therefore, the Father doesn’t need to tell the Son what he’s doing, nor does the Son need to tell the Spirit; they’re all coequal and omniscient, however, if God is “self-deliberating”, in other words, “thinking to himself” are not the other members of the Trinity involved also? So, I think in verse 26 when God says, “Let us make …” the “us” there probably presupposes at least a measure of Trinitarian theology. However, I also think God is speaking to the heavenly council as well because the members of the Trinity are omniscient. Plus, it’s pretty hard to argue with what is written in Job concerning the angels and divine council. This certainly doesn’t mean that you and I were created by the angels, we know that’s not what the Scripture teaches; we were created by God and God alone, and that’s where verse 27 comes into the picture and gives us some help, take a look at it. “So God created man in His own image …” The word “His” is singular in the Hebrew, the point being that yes, God can look at the angels and say to them, there is a part of man that’s like you because angels are spirit, and man has the Spirit of God breathed into him, but there is a part of man that’s different, he is set above all other creatures in that by his being made in the image of God, he will rule the earth as God’s vice regent. Now, this has implication for what being made in the image of God actually means, because if what I’ve said is correct, it means that by default that imaging God has something to do with ruling, not only ruling, ruling the entire earth, and I think that this is corroborated by what is said next in Gen. 1:28-31. Let’s look, now, at those verses.

Fulfilling the Command

Genesis 1:28 NKJV

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 living thing that moves on the earth.”

When you look at Gen. 1:28 one of the very first things you notice is that although God commanded the animals to multiply, he did not tell them to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. This command is only given to mankind. The obvious question that arises is why? I think the late Bible Scholar John Sailhamer does a great job answering this question, he says the following,

“This dominion is expressly stated as being over all other living creatures, whether of the sky, sea, or land. Why has the author singled out man in this way? An obvious answer is that he intended to portray man as special. He is a creature marked off from the rest of God’s works. There appears to be more to it than that, however. Man is not merely different from the rest of God’s creatures; man is like God. Behind the portrayal of the creation of man lies the larger purpose of the author within the Pentateuch. Man is a creature; that much is clear from the narrative. But man is also a special creature. He is made in the image and likeness of God.”

Now, it would stand to reason, right, that if man is this special in God’s sight, something would be expected of him. I think that’s where the subdue and have dominion part comes in. Genesis 1:26-28, with a focus on Gen. 1:28, has often been called the “Cultural Mandate”. That’s where God calls all humans, as those made in his image, to fill the earth with his glory through creating what we commonly call culture. That’s an amazing command and Adam and Eve, given their condition prior to the fall, were certainly capable of doing it, but we all know what happened. We know that after the fall the command in Gen. 1:28 was severely twisted, but we also know that when things get twisted, they have to be fixed. You see, God had a plan from the very beginning, and he hasn’t given up on that plan! When you read the rest of the Bible you find out that the way God goes about fixing what got twisted up is through his Son, Jesus. Do you remember earlier I began by using the example of the way a gardener plants a tiny seed in the soil that dies and then begins to grow and eventually becomes a giant plant that produces beautiful and tasty life giving fruit? Well, here’s where I want to bring it all home for you. Several thousand years after God spent six days creating the heavens and the earth a tree was planted on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem, and the “Seed” that was placed on that tree died. After he died, he was planted in the ground and all hell had celebration, but after three days that Seed sprouted and came to life. In the NT Jesus said the following, “… unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (Jn. 12:24). Did you catch that, “… unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me …” (KJV). I submit to you today, that the only way you can truly fulfil the command as given in Gen. 1:28, to “be fruitful and multiply”, in any real since of what it means, is if you firmly plant yourself in the “Seed” that is Jesus Christ. And here’s why I say that; do you know what Genesis 1:28 is? It is the Great Commission is seed form.

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