Rabbi Schneider’s latest episode offers a deep dive into understanding our spiritual destiny as depicted in the Torah. Learn about the historical context and contemporary relevance of God’s first commandment to be fruitful and multiply. Rabbi Schneider also shares the significance of discernment and moral responsibility as vice agents of God, encouraging listeners to embrace their roles in dominion and spiritual growth, no matter their age or life stage.
00:00:04 Understanding God’s Purpose for Our Lives
One of the great advantages and blessings that come from studying the laws of the Torah is that we learn right away what God’s purpose for our life is. Have you ever wondered what God’s purpose is for your life? Well, you know what, my beloved friend? Right away, the Lord addresses that in the very first chapter of the Torah, in the very first chapter of our Bible. Now, there’s much more about what God’s purpose is for your life that the Bible says, but right away, the first law of God helps us to understand His purpose for every human being, whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile. There are a total of 613 laws in the Torah. Today, we’re going to begin by studying this first of those 613 laws. It comes from the book of Genesis. We say in Hebrew, Bereshit. The book of Genesis is referred to in Hebrew as the book of Bereshit, which means beginnings. And I’m reading now in the first chapter and the 28th verse, the grass withers. and the flowers fade, but praise the Lord, the word of the Lord abides forever. Hear the word of God. God blessed them, speaking of Adam and Eve here, God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. I want you to think about this because there’s a lot to be gained. The foundational and first commandment that God gave to you and I, whom He created in His own image, is that we should, number one, reproduce, be fruitful, and rule. The word to reproduce and rule over every living creature on the earth, the fish and all other beast of burden. So how does this connect to us? What do we extrapolate from this concerning what our destiny is, what God’s desire for us is? First of all, know that God has a good plan and His plan for you is to increase. When God tells us to reproduce, yes, He’s talking about physical reproduction. He’s talking about having children. We’re going to get to that in a moment. But even more so than this, conceptually, God’s plan for us as those that He’s created in His own image is that we would increase. And I want you to get that in you because a lot of times in life, we start getting older and we start thinking that our life is kind of going downhill from here. We reach 40, 50, 60, whatever age it is that we have in our own mind where we think that we’re getting old, we start to think, okay, it’s downhill from here. But the reality is for the rest of our life, every single month, every single year, every single day that goes by, God’s will for us is that we would increase. I just want you to get that generally for a second. The second thing we find out about the heart of God in relationship to you and I is that he has put us in the world as vice agents to rule. And so we said here that we’re to subdue and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So your purpose as one that’s been created in God’s image is to grow, to increase, to reproduce and rule. What a glorious destiny God has given mankind, you and me, whom he’s made in his image. In fact, the author of the book of Hebrews says that for a little while we’re lower than the angels, because right now angels are spiritual beings that are in the spirit world more powerful than you and I. But ultimately, we’re going to have dominion even over the angels, the scripture tells us. So we have been created from great heights to great things. Now let’s take a step backward and put this back in its original historical context. And then once again, we’ll give modern day spiritual application. So we go to the original concept and of course we know that literally God is speaking to Adam and Eve and this extends to mankind in general and tells them first to reproduce, to have children, to have families. And of course, this is what living and being human is about. It’s about having families, being in relationship with people. Life is all about relationship. Reproduce. Why do we reproduce? So that humanity continues to grow on the earth. More relationships are brought into being. More families are brought into being. Eventually Israel is birthed as a nation and spreads. Eventually the Messiah comes through Israel. All this has been brought about because beginning with Adam and Eve, mankind has been reproducing and filling the earth. Now, If you think about this, this same command to increase, fill the earth and rule over it can be extended even to the kingdom of God, where the Lord commanded us as His disciples to increase, right? To grow, to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, to grow in love, to grow in joy, to grow in peace. All the fruits of the Spirit were to be increasing, reproducing fruit, right? and to fill the earth with the gospel, Jesus’ last words right in Matthew, go into all the world and preach this gospel to all creation, to every nation, making disciples of all nations, of all peoples. And so we take this thing that begins literally and then we extrapolate and we see the spiritual application. And this is true of all the mitzvot, all the commandments that we’re going to be studying. By the way, when I use the Hebrew word mitzvot, this is another word that we use for commandment. So whether I say commandment, law, precept, or mitzvot, in this teaching from my book, Decoding the Torah, Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World, all these terms, mitzvot, precept, law, commandment, they’re all used interchangeably. But what we’re gonna be doing and what we’re doing in this verse, beloved friend, is we’re looking at the law in its original historical context, and then we’re giving modern day application. And so we’re still commanded, to fulfill the first foundational meaning of this law, to get married, to have children, to raise our children in the admonition of the Lord, to reproduce. Now, I understand that there are some people that are listening today, you’ve not been married. Some have difficulty having children. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have favor with God or that you’re not fulfilling God’s purpose in your life. But the clear meaning of this law that we’re looking at is that we should have children. In fact, what I’m sharing with you is the way Orthodox Jews view this today. Orthodox Jews, they don’t use birth control. They feel like the greatest mitzvah, the greatest thing you could do is to have a large family. I remember years ago, I was already like 60-something years old, but I met this Rebbe. Somebody introduced me to this Rebbe. And a Rebbe is more than a rabbi. A Rebbe is the leader of a Hasidic sect. Hasidic are the Jews that you see wearing the black hats and the black coats, and they’re part of these ultra-Orthodox groups. And each one of these groups has their own Rebbe. Those of you that have been to Israel before know You might’ve seen some of the big signs with the picture of a man, he looks like a rabbi, looks to be about 80 years old, close to it, black hat on, long beard, black coat. His name was Rabbi Menachem Schneerson. He passed away some years ago. But he was the leader of the most influential Jewish sect in the world over the last 200 years called Chabad Levavitcha. But the Hasidic community, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, they want to have as many children as they can. And they look at every child as a blessing from the Lord because in having all the children, they’re fulfilling this commandment. And not only that, but deep within the ultra-Orthodox world of Jewish thinking is that every time they have a baby, they are repopulating the earth with the six million Jewish souls that were lost during the Holocaust. And so to relate to this commandment in a spiritual and religious way, speaking now from a ultra-Orthodox perspective, is a very beautiful thing that it’s not controlling our lives. I’m going to have one child or I’m going to have two children and making it all about trying to create this perfect world. No, doing it according to the commandment is you get married, you have as many children as the Lord provides, and you bless him for every single one because the scripture tells us every child that you have is like a arrow in your quiver. And in so doing, we’re fulfilling God’s command once again to be fruitful and multiply.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider, and he’ll be right back. But first, I want to ask you, did you know why God gave the Israelites laws about what to wear and how to cook, or maybe why lampstands in the temple always had to burn? These might seem like small things to the untrained eye, but really, God has a deep and powerful purpose in every law that he gave Israel. In Rabbi’s new book, Decoding the Torah, Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World, Rabbi Schneider unpacks the laws of the Hebrew Bible, revealing the heart in them and how the principles behind them are applicable for believers today. Though we’re no longer under the law, Understanding it can help us understand our Creator. Order your copy today at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. That’s Decoding the Torah, Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World. Visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Now back to Rabbi with the second half of today’s lesson.
SPEAKER 03 :
Fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So the second part of this first commandment is the Lord making us, those of us that are his, created in his image, his vice agents in the earth that he’s called us to rule over the world. It’s a powerful thing, the place that He’s given us. I mean, you and I have consciousness. This is because we’re created in God’s image. Animals don’t have a sense of choice like we do. They can’t discern spiritual realities like we can. They’re not able to think through complex problems from a spiritual perspective like we can. I know that some would argue, well, you know, they can figure things out, but not like we can as human beings. We can think through moral issues and sort things out in a way that no other created being can do on the planet. And we’re called to rule over the world. And this also speaks to you and I, beloved, of the fact that God has raised us up to be kings and priests for him in the earth. The New Testament tells us we’re a kingdom of priests. And God wants us to think this way about ourselves. that He wants us to walk in this world in our calling. It doesn’t matter what we do for a living. We’re created in His image to rule. We rule where we’re at. We rule over the space that we’re given. If you’re called as a seamstress, you rule where you’re at as a seamstress and you do your job with excellency. And by your very presence, you reflect the rule of God. If you’re a mother in your home, You don’t become a victim to the whim of your children, but rather you bring your children under God’s authority in you as a mother. And obviously the same thing for fathers. We live according to our calling. We’re called to rule, to walk in that. Not to do it like the ancient pagan kings ruled, but we do it as God’s rulers with his dignity, with his love, with his compassion. God called humanity here to rule over the fish and over everything that moves on the earth. But we’re gonna see in one of the other laws that we’re gonna cover later on in the series, that God calls humanity to treat livestock with compassion and sensitivity. So we don’t just rule with brute force, but we rule with the mind of the Godhead, with the love of God and the compassion of God and the wisdom of God expressing his nature and his character, beloved ones, to all that we rule over. And I want to help us grasp this as not just a principle, once again, that applies when we’re young and can have children, if we can have children, but this applies to us even when we’re old and in old age. We can still bear fruit. We can still give wisdom to our loved ones in such a way that we’re ruling by giving God’s great godly counsel to our children, grandchildren, or loved ones. Because the Bible tells us that even though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day. So even though we can’t stop the body from decomposing, it’s just what happens inwardly, we’re being renewed so we can keep bearing fruit and keep ascending because God’s Spirit is living in us and through us. So getting back to our question, What is God’s purpose for you? His purpose, beloved friend, is to increase and to rule. Now I want to think about this law of reproduction, this law of increase, by applying it to our lives as we continue to grow in age chronologically each year. How do we continue to increase? How do we continue, you and I as believers, to increase, thereby fulfilling this mitzvah when we get to be 70 years old if we live that long, 75, 80 and beyond? How can we continue to reproduce? We do it, beloved ones, through the law of the spirit. You see, the apostle Paul wrote in the book of Romans that the law of the spirit of life, has set us free from the law of sin and death. Think about this with me. The law of the spirit of life, Paul wrote, has set us free from the law of sin and death. What does this mean? There’s a law of sin and death that’s still in place. Our body continues to age, as I said. It continues to decompose, as I said. But just because our body is dying, it doesn’t mean that inside we cannot still increase and reproduce because the law of the spirit of life, the fact that we’re born of God’s Zoe life, the Ruach HaKadosh, the Holy Spirit, because he lives within us, we continue to grow in the fruit of the spirit. You see, as you and I, continue to lift up the principle of the cross of Christ in our soul. In other words, we deny the flesh, we say no to selfishness, we say no to anger, we say no to all the other things that are of the flesh, impatience, all those things. As we say no to the flesh, crucify ourself to those things and say yes to the spirit and agree with the spirit of love. Lord, I’m going to choose to love. When you have an impulse to hate, you reject it and you say, no, Lord, I will reach out. I will love. When you have an impulse to be impatient or angry, you resist it, you say, no, I’m gonna choose instead to walk in patience and long suffering. As we continue to practice the law of the spirit of life, denying the flesh and choosing to act in the law of the spirit, what happens is we keep reproducing. And every time you and I make a decision to crucify the flesh and choose life, choose the spirit by the grace that worked within us, we actually grow. Our spirit in us is expanding. In other words, God’s spirit doesn’t grow, but the emanation of his spirit gains access and dominion in and through our lives. And in that respect, we continue to grow and increase. We’re continually being transformed, the scripture says, from glory to glory and from strength to strength. So the truth is, as you and I are picking up our cross daily to say no to the flesh, no to the enemy, no to the powers of darkness, and say yes to the impulse of the Spirit and God’s truth, What happens is the power of the enemy is broken off and new life continues to be hatched or released from our lives. Our spirit continues to be expanded by God’s spirit and we keep on increasing in peace, in power. in love and in dominion. We grow spiritually, we become more and more powerful. It’s a tangible weight of God’s anointing that gains mastery over our lives. And when that happens, we also continue to rule more effectively. Because remember, the second part of this commandment was to rule over the fish and over every living thing. As you and I grow in God’s strength by saying yes to him, we grow in our ability to rule. We bring God’s glory and power and presence wherever we go. We bring his light into the atmosphere of darkness wherever we might be. Even if someone was in a nursing home, because maybe they lost the use of some part of their body, they would still be able to bring God’s light and weight and glory and happiness. Even in that place, wherever you go and wherever you are, God will be with you. And because you have consistently chosen to follow Him, His strength will be your portion. You’ll continue to emanate more and more light, more and more of His beautiful color and glory. You’ll impregnate every place that you go to with His dominion and His influence, and you’ll fulfill His commission to reproduce. by growing in character and spreading his name and fame and kingdom all over the earth, wherever you are. Many of us have heard the principle of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. And of course, what that means is we throw out the whole thing rather than keeping what’s good. The reason I’m bringing this up is that some of us have forsaken honoring the Lord with our tithes and our offerings because we feel there’s been those in the past that have tried to manipulate us for money. I simply want to say this, beloved, let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Honoring the Lord with our tithes and offerings goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. And today the scripture tells us if there are ministries that are blessing us and feeding us, we ought to support those ministries with our finances. Number one, to show thankfulness. Number two, to honor the Lord. And number three, so they can continue to be a blessing to the world. And those of you that sow your finances into ministries that are blessed in the world, you’re going to be rewarded for it. Beloved, I want to ask you for your help and I want to thank you in advance for your love and sacrificial support.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. And to take that step of faith right now, would you go online and give at discoveringthejewishjesus.com? Or if you prefer, send your donation in the mail. Our address is Discovering the Jewish Jesus, P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan, 49228. And then I also want to let you know today that Rabbi’s Messages are streaming on demand on Roku television. It’s a platform that allows you to learn from Rabbi for free right from the comforts of your home or wherever you have a Roku TV. You can dive deep into scripture in a brand new way. Just search for Discovering the Jewish Jesus on your Roku TV and begin your journey today. Or if you’d like to discover other ways you can listen to or watch our program, go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Thanks so much for being a part of this ministry and for your faithful support. We love you and appreciate you. Now here’s Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Blessings trump curses, and in the book of Numbers, chapter 6, we find the Aaronic blessing that God commanded Moses’ brother Aaron, the high priest, to speak over the children of Israel. There’s power in blessing, beloved ones, so take part in receiving Father’s blessing upon your life today.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’m Dustin Roberts, your host, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Be sure to join us next time when Rabbi Schneider explains why believers have been divinely ordained for more. That’s Wednesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
