Genesis 1:22, commentary and pictures

God blessed the sea creatures and the birds to be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the earth, and His spoken word itself gave them the life and power by which they reproduce. That blessing belongs to the mighty work of creating the world together by the Father and the Son in six literal days about six thousand years ago, followed by a literal seventh day of rest. It stands in the authentic Mosaic account of creation, preserved in purity and to be taken literally as plain fact, since creation is God's own work and not the result of natural causes. Every command of God is a promise bringing with it the life of the Infinite One, which received into the soul transforms the nature and recreates it in the image of God. To turn those days into vast indefinite periods strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which rests on a literal creation week of labor followed by rest.

Creation Blessing and Setting

The blessing records God speaking to the sea creatures and the birds, commanding them to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the waters in the seas and the earth, and that spoken word itself imparted the power and life by which they reproduce. It belongs to the mighty work of creating the world done together by the Father and the Son. The earth came forth from the Creator's hand exceedingly beautiful, like a noble palace with pure and healthful air. Its surface was diversified with hills, mountains and plains, regular and beautiful in shape rather than high and ragged as now, and bare high rocks were never seen upon them but lay hidden beneath the surface as bones to the earth. The waters, including rivers and other bodies of water, were regularly dispersed, while hills, mountains and very beautiful plains were adorned with plants and flowers and tall majestic trees of every description, many times larger and much more beautiful than trees now are. Angels beheld those wonderful and beautiful works and rejoiced.

When the earth came from God's hand it was holy and beautiful, with every flower, every shrub and every tree answering its Creator's purpose. Everything upon which the eye rested was lovely and filled the mind with thoughts of love, and every sound was music in harmony with God's voice. Sin marred that perfect work, and thorns and thistles, sorrow and pain and death are all the result of disobedience. Though marred with the curse, the earth still reveals goodness, forbearance and love, for the green fields, lofty trees, glad sunshine, clouds, dew, solemn stillness of the night, glory of the starry heavens, moon in its beauty, every drop of rain and every ray of light bear witness of the Creator.

The verse belongs to six literal days of creation about six thousand years ago, with six days in which God generated a new portion of His work each day followed by a literal seventh day of rest, making seven literal days in all. Every day He produced some new portion of His work and gave its productions at the close of each day. He could have spoken the world into existence in one day, yet chose to work through six days. Just how He wrought in six days was never revealed to mortals and is as incomprehensible as His existence.

That first week was measured off as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time, originating the weekly cycle of six days for labor and the seventh for rest. The first week was just like every other week, with six days of creation work and a seventh day of rest. God finished His work with all their host, ended His work, rested on the seventh day and blessed and sanctified it. By this He proclaimed His will to all the earth as the foundation for keeping the Sabbath in commemoration of the Creator's rest, with the first six days of each week given for labor because the same period was employed in creation, and the seventh to be kept from labor.

Authority and True Doctrine

Genesis 1:22 belongs to the authentic Mosaic account of creation and human history, unsullied by human prejudice or human pride and preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand. It is part of the most comprehensive and most instructive history possessed by men, come fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, shining light into the far distant past where human research seeks vainly to penetrate and beholding the power that laid the foundation of the earth and stretched out the heavens. It belongs to the Word of God alone that gives an authentic account of the creation of the world, whose truths the understanding must grasp and whose gospel teaching the heart must accept, or education is a failure. That Word is to be the chief study in schools, carrying minds higher than now thought possible and training heart and mind to preserve purity by daily supplies from eternal truth, to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life, to hold converse with patriarchs and prophets, and to learn what redemption cost the One who was equal with the Father from the beginning and sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from every common, earthly thing and renewed in the image of God.

That record is to be taken literally as plain Scripture fact and plain Mosaic record of what God Himself did, giving sufficient evidence for faith and leaving men without excuse. It must be believed even when human reasoning opposes it, and human reasoning that contradicts it must be rejected. Creation is the work of God, not the result of natural causes, so attempts to explain it from natural causes are wrong, including the suppositions of geologists that dispute the Mosaic record. Just how God wrought in creation He never revealed to mortals, and human science cannot search out His secrets in it, for His creative works are as incomprehensible as His existence. Changing the days of the creation week from literal days into vast, indefinite periods covering thousands or even millions of years comes from inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature, produces only a supposed conflict between science and revelation, and undermines and destroys the force of the word of God.

Geology without Bible history can prove nothing, and the time of things found in the earth can be learned only from the inspired record. Relics in the earth give evidence of a state of things differing in many respects from the present, but large bones of men and animals in mountains and valleys, with animals, trees and other wonders found in the earth, do not prove tens of thousands or millions of years, evolution of the earth from chaos, or a race before the record of creation. They reflect that men, animals and trees before the Flood were much larger than now, and that great changes took place in the earth at the Flood. Seeking to account for creative works upon natural principles apart from the word of God leads to boundless uncertainty, and conjecturing beyond the inspired record is innocent only when supposition does not contradict the facts found in Scripture.

The verse records one of the events of the first week, which took place in a literal day within a creation week of seven literal days about six thousand years ago, with six literal days of creation followed by a literal day of God's rest, not six vast indefinite periods plus another indefinite rest period. That first week was measured off by God as the sample for successive weeks to the close of time, in which six days were employed in the work of creation and on the seventh God rested, then blessed that day and set it apart as a day of rest for man, so that the first six days of each week are given to man for labor because God employed the same period in creation, and the seventh day is to be kept from labor in commemoration of the Creator's rest. To say the work required vast, indefinite periods strikes directly at the foundation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and makes indefinite and obscure what God made very plain, since the command to keep a literal week rests on a literal creation week and stretching the days into long ages to account for geology and fossils makes the fourth commandment senseless. That claim is the worst kind of infidelity, infidelity in disguise even among those who profess to believe the record of creation, charging God with commanding men to observe a week of seven literal days in commemoration of seven indefinite periods, which is unlike His dealings with mortals and impeaches His wisdom.

The verse gives one of the great facts of creation as presented by the inspired writers, which are pillars of the Christian faith, part of God's holy Word handed down at cost of suffering and blood and to be accepted as the guide of life. Yet they are practically rejected wholly or in part by a large share of the professedly Christian world. That rejection is infidelity prevailing not in the world merely but in the church, shown by denying pillar doctrines, refusing implicit confidence in the Bible, priding wisdom and independence, caviling at the Scriptures, and spiritualizing and explaining away their most important truths. It is inconsistent to declare the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation too obscure to understand and to oppose their investigation, while eagerly receiving suppositions about what God has not revealed. In the last days the earth will be almost destitute of true faith because on the merest pretense the word of God on creation will be counted unreliable while human reasoning is received.

Instruction and Daily Life

The blessing and command to be fruitful and multiply shows that the creative energy that called the world into existence is in the Word of God. That blessing imparts power and begets life, for every command is a promise that, accepted by the will and received into the soul, brings with it the life of the Infinite One. That life transforms the nature and recreates the soul in the image of God. The life thus imparted is sustained in the same way it is given, by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, building up mind and soul by that upon which it feeds.

God's spoken creation, including the sea creatures and birds blessed to reproduce, is a reservoir of means made ready for Him to employ instantly to do His pleasure, and nothing in it is useless. Tares were not part of that creation but were sown afterward by the enemy because of the curse. Rational beings alone should not cause confusion in the world but should live to God and honor Him, for God and Saviour is all-wise and all-sufficient and came to this world that His perfection might be revealed in men. The first and second chapters of Genesis set forth the Lord's plan in the beginning for equal taxation of the mental and physical powers, where true education embraces more than study of books and joins useful physical employment and exercise of muscles and reason with exercise of the mind, as shown when man was put in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. The Word of God alone gives an authentic account of the creation of the world, preserved in its purity through the ages by the divine Mind and Hand.

This Word is to be the chief study in schools, carrying minds higher than now thought possible and training heart and mind to preserve purity by daily supplies from the fountain of eternal truth. There converse may be held with patriarchs and prophets, and there may be learned what redemption cost the One who was equal with the Father from the beginning and sacrificed His life that a people might stand before Him redeemed from every common, earthly thing and renewed in the image of God. Its truths the understanding must grasp and its gospel teaching the heart must accept, or education is a failure, and it trains the mind to comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life. God's great work of creation is to be taught to children on the Sabbath, especially by parents walking with them in the fields and groves in pleasant weather to explain the reason for the institution of the Sabbath. God's making of the world took six days though He could have spoken it into existence in one day. This shows He does not lead to working day and night to exhaustion and breakdown, but to measured labor with regular hours preserved for sleep and work, stopping when strength requires it and preserving health and powers instead of overstraining.