The Meaning of “Be Fruitful, Multiply, and Fill the Earth”
By Dr. Juergen Buehler, ICEJ President
As we begin a new year, I find it appropriate to go to the very beginning of the Bible and consider the original mandate that God gave mankind when He created the heavens and the earth. When God created men, He blessed them and commissioned them, saying: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it (Genesis 1:28).
“Be Fruitful and Multiply” Meaning
These are four simple commands that God gave to humanity in the garden of Eden, and they are still relevant to us today.
Be Fruitful!
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15:8)
Fruitfulness is a basic characteristic of every living being. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “The capacity for growth and reproduction” is what defines life. It means fruitfulness is a basic call of God to all of us.
The Bible gives us many ways to be fruitful. Of course, this initial calling includes the call to procreate, to establish families. But the parables of Jesus also compare the spread of the good news of the kingdom as a cycle of seed and harvest. Thus, making disciples is considered being fruitful to the Lord. And in Galatians, another kind of fruit is mentioned when Paul speaks about the character that the Holy Spirit wants to produce in our lives: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
It means that God expects a tangible harvest of change and increase from us every year. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is very particular about this, comparing us to branches, with Jesus as the vine (John 15). Fruitlessness has dire consequences, while fruitfulness is the ultimate goal and proof of our being close to Jesus (Heb. Yeshua).
Ask the Lord to make 2026 a year of great fruitfulness for you, your family, and your church. I pray that when we look back at the year 2026, we will be different people than we were last year. We want Yeshua to be seen evermore clearly in us as we embrace the full “be fruitful and multiply” meaning in our daily walk.
Multiply!
But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:8)
Multiplication and increase are God’s will and mandate for mankind. Several of Jesus’ parables speak about this. In the parable in Matthew 13, the sower experiences a harvest of one hundredfold, sixty, and thirty. Also, the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 shows that God expects a multiplication of the talents God has given us.
Multiplication is a blessing of God. The first commandment in Genesis 1 is initiated by Him: “And the Lord blessed them.” The great psalmist King David wrote: “He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly” (Psalm 107:38). The Bible is clear that the increase of numbers in families and nations in biblical times was regarded as a sign of divine favor.
God also encourages Israel to ask for multiplication!
Thus says the Lord God: “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock.” (Ezekiel 36:37)
Ask the Lord for 2026 to become a year of multiplication; that God will give increase to your family, personal life, church or ministry.
Fill the Earth!
For God, there is no limit to increase. In Isaiah, the prophet foresees that the government of the kingdom of Messiah will have no end (Isaiah 9:7). It means we will never reach the limit of God’s capabilities. He still can add to the little or to the much we might have.
To Abraham, He promises that the multitude of his descendants will be like the sand of the seashore and the stars in the heavens. Today, we can calculate the approximate number of stars in the heavens—astronomers currently estimate that there are some 1023 stars in the universe. This compares roughly to 100 trillion stars per person on earth. It means Abraham’s faith could never outperform God’s capabilities. Therefore, the prophets could see the whole earth filled with the glory of God.
Abraham’s vision of impact was that in him, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And this is the vision that Jesus extended to the church. Every tribe and every nation is to be reached with the gospel of the kingdom of God, even to the ends of the earth (Matthew 24:14; 28:19; Acts 1:8; Revelation 7:9). So let us “fill the earth!”
Ask the Lord to receive a vision from Him in 2026 that will be large enough to give God the glory.
Subdue It!
Here we see something interesting! Even in the perfect environment of the garden of Eden, something in nature required Adam and Eve to subdue it. We can only speculate how this unfolded in that original, sinless world of Eden, but the following chapters describe how sin, rebellion, and bloodshed entered and spoiled creation. The consequences were a breakdown of relationships, increased pain, and hindering factors like the weeds, thorns, and thistles that sprang up in the world. Nature became wild, and “every intent of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
You might be wondering why I expect you to believe in a mandate that stems from the garden of Eden. It seems so counterintuitive in our present-day world. And indeed, the challenges of today are growing every year.
Increasing Antisemitism
Today, we are witnessing an alarming growth in antisemitism—especially in Western countries—that is unprecedented since the early Nazi era. Not only is it disturbing to see large pro-Hamas demonstrations staged in many cities across the world, but it is even more troubling in some ways to witness the strong anti-Israel sentiments found in today’s churches, even in Evangelical circles. Many pastors are boldly boasting in an unprecedented manner about being adherents to Replacement Theology and taking pride in sharply criticizing Israel.
Decreased Support of Christian Love, Support for Israel
For the first time in the United States—considered the bulwark of Christian love and support for Israel in recent generations—it seems their support is crumbling, especially among the younger people. Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and the ultra-nationalist figure Nick Fuentes have become powerful voices for anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric within the mainstream of the conservative camp. Some of these powerful influencers of public opinion are known to be on the Qatari payroll and may have ulterior motives, but others appear to attack Israel for very personal reasons.
Judeo-Christian Values Dissolving
Moreover, we are watching the foundations of Judeo-Christian values, which helped build enlightened, democratic societies, start to dissolve before our eyes rapidly. Freedom of speech is under threat in several surprisingcountries, and churches have often withdrawn into a religious bubble, lacking answers for the challenges of the modern-day world.
Considering all these new challenges, it’s tempting not to think of growth, multiplication, and reaching the end of the world. However, now is the time to strengthen our fortresses.
In Genesis 22:17, we read:
[B]lessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
God promises us multiplication in the face of the enemies standing against us! But God promises not just survival; as Jesus proclaimed to Peter, the “gates of hell” shall not overcome us, and He calls on us to possess them. This was the very blessing spoken to Abraham concerning Israel, a blessing that all of Pharaoh’s evil intentions could not stop, for the more he oppressed the Israelites, the more they multiplied.
A Great Mystery
There is a great mystery to how the church grows stronger in times of much adversity. Iran, China, and even the Russian free churches during the Soviet era are clear examples of this phenomenon. The book of Genesis also describes how Isaac started sowing even in a season of severe drought in the dry area of Gerar, which is today near the Gaza border. The word of God says that despite the adversity of drought, Isaac harvested one hundredfold that same year. That is fruitfulness on a miraculous level.
That also is exactly what the prophet Jeremiah foresees:
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
At the beginning of this new year, I want to encourage you that even though you might face adversity in your personal spiritual life, in your family, regarding your finances, or even your health situation, we must proclaim in face of these adversities that by the grace of God, in 2026, will make this a year of fruitfulness, multiplication, and vision.
Conclusion
If God is with us, we are unstoppable, as all authority in heaven and earth has been given to our Lord Jesus, and we are seated with Him in heavenly places. Please join me in expecting great things from God this year. May you bear much fruit, may it multiply and spread, may you pursue fresh visions from the Lord, and may you reach a new level of authority in Him.
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