| They were already in His image. Sin had not yet come in. He just said, "Multiply I want more just like you, more in My own image." Of course, the image was marred. But Adam Eve had children. They began to multiply. There came a time, however; when God had to destroy most of the flesh that had been born. He started over with eight people. The more than two billion people who are on earth today came from the eight who were fruitful and multiplied. Hindrances: Only a few things will ever keep human beings from multiplying themselves in the physical realm. One is that they never marry. If they are not united, they will not reproduce. This is a truth which Christians need to grasp with reference to spiritual reproduction. When a person becomes a child of God, he should realize that he is to live in union with Jesus Christ if he is going to win others to the Savior: Another factor that can hinder reproduction is disease or impairment to some part of the body that is needed for reproductive purposes. In the spiritual realm sin is the disease that can keep one from winning the lost. One other thing that can keep people from having children is immaturity. God in His wisdom saw to it that little children cannot have babies. A little boy must first grow to sufficient maturity to be able to earn a living, and a little girl must be old enough to care for a baby. Everyone should be born again. That is God's desire. God never intended that man should merely live and die -be a walking corpse to be laid in the ground. The vast majority of people know that there is something beyond the grave, and so each one who is born into God's family should seek others to be born again. A person is born again when he receives Jesus Christ. "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God... Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" ('John 1:12,13)-the new birth. It is God's plan that these new babes in Christ grow. All provision is made for their growth into maturity, and then they are to multiply, not only the rich or the educated, but all alike. Every person who is born into God's family is to multiply. In the physical realm when your children have children, you become a grandparent. Your parents are then great-grandparents, and theirs great-great- grandparents. And so it should be in the spiritual. |