"Be Fruitful and Multiply; Fill the Earth and Subdue it..."
a sermon by Rev. Michael Gladish
Dawson Creek, BC, July 6th, 2008
According to the book of Genesis the first words God ever spoke to a human being were these, when after He had made this creature in His own image, male and female, and blessed them, He said,
"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" (Gen 1:28).
A little later, in the next chapter of Genesis, the Lord tied this commandment together with marriage, as we read about the woman being created from the rib of the man and being given to him for that purpose. So we have the literal concept of marriage as the seminary of the human race, indeed the seminary of heaven itself. And, needless to say, we have the concept of humans controlling everything on the planet.
But what is this really all about? [ The Word is about spiritual things, not merely natural things.]
This month, as in most summers, the minds of many of us are turned toward marriage as we celebrate the weddings of friends or family members – here or elsewhere. We rejoice with these couples and we wish them every success! But what is success in marriage? And what can we take from the Lord’s own words about this union?
Today we’re going to consider 5 specific things that the Lord told the man and woman He had made, namely, His commands to –
1. Be fruitful,
2. Multiply,
3. Fill the earth,
4. and Subdue it,
5. and Have dominion over everything that moves....
So what, besides having children, does it mean to be fruitful? I once proposed a wedding toast to an elderly couple who were surprised to hear me introduce this charge to them. But the point is that it applies to everyone, young or old, because it refers to spiritual, and not just natural things.
We have discussed this before at one of our informal services. Remember? Leaves correspond to knowledges, and fruit corresponds to the good works we do as a result of that knowledge. So... "A good tree brings forth good fruit, and a bad tree brings forth bad fruit" (Matt. 7:18). Also, "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).
And what does it mean to multiply? Just as people may grow in numbers, as the children of Israel were told to do, so the church will grow in faith as we learn the truths that it teaches. So to multiply spiritually is to grow in knowledge; it is to increase the number and extent of the truths we know from the Word.
Here’s what the Arcana says about all this: –
‘Being fruitful’ has reference to matters of love, and ‘multiplying’ has reference to matters of faith (AC 43). The most ancient people on earth found their greatest happiness and delight in marriage, but they also knew that the source of all this joy was internal, not external. So when they thought about their natural relationships they reflected on the spiritual qualities that were (or could be) represented in them. "For this reason they called the understanding in the spiritual person male, and the will female, and when the two acted as one they called it marriage" (AC 54). They literally "applied the term, marriage, to the understanding and the will, or faith and love when joined together, (and) they gave the name, fruitfulness, to any good resulting from that marriage, and multiplication to any truth" (AC 55).
This is why the Lord multiplied bread and fish in His miracles, and why He spoke of seeds growing and multiplying, some thirty-fold, some sixty and some a hundred-fold. Fish and grain in particular correspond to the truths we learn from the Word, that nourish our spiritual lives. And you can see how fruitfulness and multiplication go together, since goodness and truth always go together... In fact you can’t really do what is good unless you know the truth, and you won’t ever learn the truth if you do not at least try to live a good life.
Furthermore, goodness and truth are like a husband and wife in marriage, and what they produce together as a couple is what we call "the good of use," or usefulness, in other words, the further multiplication of truth and fruition of good.
But note, being fruitful doesn’t ONLY relate to the good deeds we do. It goes deeper than that. In fact, anyone can do good works, some with good intentions, others with bitterness, ill will, or purely selfish aims in mind. We all start our spiritual development with external, natural works: we learn manners, we learn to clean up after ourselves, we learn to be kind, hopefully even generous toward others. Sometimes when we are young we earn material rewards for doing these things, or we get punished if we don’t do them. So we learn self-discipline. But if it’s only external it won’t last, and even if it did it wouldn’t be inwardly fulfilling. It would just be "going through the motions."
And the Lord had a LOT to say about people just going through the motions – especially bad people trying to look good!
So how do we get from external goodness (fruitfulness) to internal goodness (fruitfulness)?
We go to the third and fourth commandments in our list of five. We "fill the earth and subdue it."
Notice: this is a series in order! First we bear fruit by doing what is good outwardly. This leads to our need and desire and ability to learn more and more, thus to multiply our knowledge. Now we must "fill the earth." Since the earth is a symbol for the spiritual life that it supports, thus for the human life that makes up the church ON earth, individually or in a corporate sense, this next stage of our spiritual development refers to the filling of our own lives with the goodness and truth that the Lord has given us, in other words the application of His love and wisdom in every aspect of what we think and do.
Obviously, this is an ongoing process. It certainly doesn’t happen overnight – any more than the human population fills the natural world in a few years. But like the natural population barring wars and natural disasters, goodness and truth may increase very quickly once we get started, leading to an ever growing sense of satisfaction and delight.
But the new loves and the spiritual wisdom we gain are unfortunately at odds with the natural loves and worldly ideas we start out with. Now therefore we have to subdue or subordinate these natural loves and sense impressions so that they are in compliance with the spiritual principles that rule in our minds. Note, we don’t neglect our worldly needs or desires, but we bring them under control them so that they serve the higher life. There is nothing wrong with the delights of the senses! They were given to us for very important reasons. But if we want to enter into heavenly life we must learn how to handle them, how to enjoy them in appropriate ways. In that context we note that the serpent in Scripture and myth always represents the sensuous life – or to use a more neutral expression, the life of the senses. And while this can be very deceptive, when we have faith and really follow the Lord it can’t hurt us, in fact the Lord specifically said that we can take up serpents and they will not harm us. We CAN enjoy life in this world.
OK. So when we have "filled the earth" and "subdued it" by bringing everything in our lives into the service of spiritual principles, then at last we are able to "have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the face of the earth."
Again, Christian literalists are inclined to think that this means we should learn how to regulate, manage and manipulate everything in the natural world for our own purposes, and yet, aside from the impossibility of such an arrogant thought, given the infinite complexity and interrelationship of all things, it’s simply not the point of the teaching. Rather we are to learn how to control and use the things represented by all these creatures within ourselves!
Specifically, the fish of the sea represent all the various forms of knowledge – like the knowledge of the stories of the Word – that form a basis for our spiritual life. Cold blooded, and living under water, fish are a lower form of animal life and so represent a low level of spiritual life – merely knowing the truth.
Birds, however, represent our thoughts about the truth, or about the things we know. Many birds eat fish, but they soar high above the earth and have great vision, representing the insight and perspective we have in our thoughts.
And the living things – "every living thing that moves on the face of the earth" – represent all our varied loves and affections, the only things that really live in us, and move and motivate us.
When we have dominion over all these aspects of our inner life our purpose in creation is fulfilled, and we are truly blessed by God and prepared for life in heaven.
So, let’s review. Again, the whole series of commands is a sequence that develops in order:
Step 1 is to be fruitful. Take whatever knowledge and affection we have from the Lord, even if only for our own sense of satisfaction, and do good, useful things for others.
Step 2 is to multiply. As we do these good and useful things we will realize we have a lot to learn, and as we go to the Lord in His Word our insights into the truth will grow.
Step 3 is to fill the earth. As our insights into the truth multiply our minds will be filled with the knowledge and affection – faith and love – that come through heaven from the Lord.
Step 4 is to subdue the earth. So we will be able to subordinate the desires, thoughts and actions of our lower nature to the concerns and principles that now fill our minds. The head and the new heart will lead the body, and the body will obey – or at least come under some control.
Step 5 then is to have dominion over the fish, the birds and all living things. As we learn how to control the passions and cravings of our lower nature we will discover that the Lord can fill them with new life from within, and help us to make use of all the information, thoughts and affections that fill the world of our minds, so that far from threatening or hurting our eternal lives they nourish and sustain us and provide unending opportunities for us to be fulfilled in loving, helpful, mutually supportive relationships with others every day.
Each step is important, each stage wonderfully more advanced. And it’s all part of the Lord’s incredible process of creation, all based on the marriage of goodness and truth in our minds, a marriage that is reflected in the blessings of a happily married couple who may also in their relationship be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, having dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth whether they have natural children or not, since it is all about their mutual commitment to the principles of spiritual life.
Amen.
Lessons: Genesis 1:26-31
Matthew 19:1-8
Arcana Caelestia 54-55:selections
