A blessing of “Multiply!”

My friend, Like Him (LH), fell in love with a young man and 6 years ago, they got married. I, along with other friends and family, celebrated with them and fully expected that within months, we would be rejoicing again, welcoming their first child into the world.

A few weeks ago, they were, in her own words, privileged to spend two days with their pre-term son, until God decided to recall him.

But you should talk to LH…she has absolutely no doubt in her mind that God is good, that He is faithful. Though it appears like things are not working out, she is strong. I love her strength! I love her faith and I am grateful to God for the grace He has given her to wait on Him. I know that although things may not look the best right now, God had spoken certain things to her in the beginning…

In Genesis 1:26-31, we see how God created LH in His own image, we read the words He spoke to her and see that after He was done, He saw that everything was good. Notice how God created everything before He created LH, not because these things are more important than her, but because He wanted everything to be just right. For LH. Wow! What manner of love!

Genesis 1: 28 records the first words God spoke to LH:

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. (KJV).

All the translations of the Bible that I have read agree that among God’s first words to LH, there was something about having children…multiply…have a lot of children…increase in number…grow in number…reproduce…fill the earth…give birth.

One translation of the verse I particularly like was done by Leena Vincenz-Gavin as follows:

After seeing His children created so perfectly and so much like Him, He blessed them by saying unto them: Be fruitful; grow in your relationship with Me, Multiply; create a beautiful family, And have dominion over all creation by taking care of it the way I will always take care of you.

Genesis 1:28 is both a blessing and a command which along with the surrounding verses in Genesis 1, explains the purpose for which LH was created, and the obligations that LH has because of that purpose. One aspect of her purpose is to “create a beautiful family”.

God created LH in His image, after His likeness. All children of God, as unique and different as we all are, are all different manifestations of God. Wow! Then, through multiplication, God gave LH the gift to create children in her image (which is really His image)…LH is to create as He created. His plan is that parents experience their own creation of another being. But who better to experience the joy of creation than those that are like Him? After all, to truly create as He created, then one must be like Him. God’s work in creation is finished (See Genesis 2: 1-2), and so now He has handed the baton over to LH.

But there is more…

God created LH in His image, after His likeness, so that He could establish His Kingdom on the earth, just as it already existed in heaven. LH, created in God’s image, is to administer God’s Kingdom according to God’s design. The fact that mankind has populated the world, and rules over it does not translate into fulfilment of God’s desire. God’s desire is to extend His Kingdom, not just mankind's geographical spread. As long as mankind's expansion is not Godly, it is not an expansion of God's kingdom. Husbands and wives who come together without God at the centre cannot establish the Kingdom of God. A family that reflects God’s nature is the building block of His Kingdom here on earth. I know without a doubt that LH’s family will be that kind of family.

Therefore, I cannot but be confident that God will always ensure that the Godly continue to create Godly seed so that LH and all that are like Him will experience the joy He experienced at creation, and also that His Kingdom will be expanded here on earth. 

In the beginning, God spoke and brought order into the chaos that was the world before the Word. Now, I speak, over LH, and over every other person like Him who desires to experience the joy of creation and is eager to establish His Kingdom on this earth, a blessing: “Multiply!”