Genesis 1:28. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…”
When we are first introduced to the Earth, it is without form and void (Gen. 1:2). It is shapeless and empty. So what does God do? He forms and he fills the Earth. God spends the first three days of creation forming, and the second three days of creation filling. He forms sky and water, land and sea. He then fills his creation with the heavenly bodies, all kinds of plants, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every category of animal you can imagine. Then finally, he forms man from the dust of the ground, and fills him with the breath of life (we’ll get to this soon).
When God blesses Adam and Eve and tells them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, he is doing much more than simply telling them to start a family, make babies, and live happily ever after. He’s telling them that they get to be creators like him. That they too get to form and fill. And, most importantly, their forming and filling of the Earth is the result of their loving union, just as God’s forming and filling of the Earth was the result of the Trinity’s loving union.
When God created, he created by fiat. This means he brought forth the Earth instantly by his spoken command, that is, by his word. For example: “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (fiat lux). Also, God created ex nihilo, out of nothing. There was nothing, and then there was something. God brought forth creation from nothing, something only he can do.
Obviously we do not have the power to create by fiat, nor do we have the power to create ex nihilo. We can only create using what God has already created, and we can only create using our bodies, not only our words. Yet, graciously we were created to image God by finishing the forming and filling work that God began. God could have planted every tree and bush, fruit and vegetable, that would ever exist all at once, but he didn’t. He only created a garden’s worth and told mankind to make it grow and spread over the whole Earth. God could have created every person who would ever live all at once, but he didn’t. He created two people and gave them the mandate to create more people through their covenantal love for each other.
Creating is a huge part of what it means to be an image bearer of God – farming, building, engineering, drawing, designing, manufacturing, providing goods and services, raising families, culture care, society building. Since the Creation, mankind has been forming and filling in spectacular ways, from the domestication of animals (Gen. 4:20) to the forging of bronze and iron tools (4:22), from the invention of the brick (11:3) to the forming of governments (Gen. 6).
As Spider Man’s Uncle Ben said, “With great power (the power to create) comes great responsibility (do it in the likeness of God and his love).” But what the Genesis record has revealed is that this great power is so often abused for the glory of man. Inventing the brick in order to build a tower to God. Forging metals to create weapons for murdering one another. Kings and kingdoms that oppress the men and women of their realms. Even parents that use their children for their own comfort and glory. All in the first eleven chapters of the Bible.
And which of us hasn’t used our creative powers to build our own kingdom?
Praise God that in Christ we have been re-formed and re-filled by the Spirit as the New Creation. Restored to us in him is the mandate to form and fill, to create, from the same Spirit of Christ. Planting seeds of grace. Building up in love. Iron sharpening iron, creating an army of disciples to the glory of God.
Questions: Where can you see God using you to form and fill within his creation? In what ways might God use you to form and fill his Church?
To Live is Christ 