Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

• Genesis 9:1

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

• Matthew 28:18-19

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly.

• Exodus 1:6-13

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.

• Acts 8:1-8

A week ago, I wrote about Being Fruitful.  It was a Bible study that my wife had taken in 2011.  She dutifully answered the questions except she skipped one.

I thought I would answer that question now, but maybe I should have asked, “Why did my wife skip the question?”  The answer is that it is not that easy.  The challenge, rather than a question, is to compare and contrast the first two Scriptures above.  And then the next two Scriptures above.

Genesis 9:1 talks about Noah and his family being commanded by God to 1) be fruitful, 2) multiply, and 3) fill the earth.  This is a command to procreate.  It is a command to spread out.

Matthew 28:18-19 is a command for us to go to all corners of the earth to spread the Gospel, part of the Great Commission.

In comparison, both are spreading out, going to all parts of the world.

In contrast, one is speaking of fruitfulness in the form of procreation, how many great-grandchildren can you produce.  But the Matthew text is in preaching the Gospel.

In comparison, both need the work of God.  Barrenness halts the one regardless of the effort.  The work of the Holy Spirit is needed for the other to bear fruit.

This is not part of the question, but Noah and his descendants disobeyed God.  They stayed together as a big happy family.  As a grandfather, I would like to be nearer my grandchildren.  Did Ham, Shem, and Japheth tell their kids that they could wander, but not too far?  My wife was one of nine children. She and her siblings were not told to fill the earth, but of the nine children, my wife’s ashes are buried in a National Cemetery in Pennsylvania.  Seven of the siblings, two of the seven are deceased, are in an area from Dallas to Houston to Beaumont, Texas.  There was no command to spread, but it is natural to stay close to Mom and Dad or stay close to the grandchildren.  If you are wondering, the other outlier is in Minnesota.  Work caused a move from Oklahoma, which isn’t too far north of Dallas, TX.  But that siblings children are more spread out than any other set of siblings, other than my two boys.  Thus, the Tower of Babel causing Noah’s descendants to do what God commanded in spreading in the first case.  Persecution by the religious leaders, Saul in particular, in the other case.  Then, the spreading around the world happened.

But the second set of stories is a lot harder.

In comparison, one multiplies by procreation, again, while the other multiplies by evangelism and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Those comparisons are roughly the same as the first set of verses.

But there is a new comparison, persecution.  Persecution by slavery or persecution by imprisonment and brutality.  And the response to the persecution is the same, sort of.  The Israelites grew in number even faster under persecution in Egypt, and the work of the Holy Spirit was healing people and the numbers coming to Christ were growing.

I have written a few times about how we have it too soft in the USA.  It is changing and I weep as I see the changes, but at some point, when things get worse, those that are turning from God in the USA will return or their grandchildren will.  The people of Iran are finding Jesus Christ works where their theocracy is not working.  Islam is not working.  It may have to get worse before it gets better, just as the early church in and around Jerusalem found out.  Just as the Israelite slaves found out.  It took ten plagues to set them free and even then, Pharoah chased them to get them back.

The big contrast in both cases is physical children versus spiritual children.

Yes, I do not think my wife was ready for that kind of head scratcher.  The contrast is fairly easy to follow, but there are layers of this story, as if it were an onion.

But two things are necessary with either case.  We need to trust in God, and we need to be willing participants, servants of God to accomplish what God wants to accomplish in this world.

Lord, use me as You wish.  I surrender anew.  Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.