DWDP - Gen 9: 6-7 Made in God"s Image

You don’t just have opinions, a job title, or a voting record, you carry an image. We start with Genesis 9:6-7 and follow the weight of that truth: every human being is made in the image of God, which makes life sacred and makes worship and obedience non-negotiable. If God’s likeness is stamped on you, then “half-hearted” faith stops making sense, and the question becomes personal: what are you holding back from Him?

From there we fast-forward to Jesus facing a political trap about paying taxes to Caesar. He points to the image on a coin, then delivers a line that still cuts through noise today: give earthly rulers what they’re due, and give God what belongs to God. We talk about what was left unsaid but clearly understood, that we belong to God because we bear His image, and why pride can keep religious people from surrender even when truth is right in front of them.

Then we move into God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, Psalm 127’s view of children as a gift, and the cultural forces that treat family as optional and life as disposable. We discuss abortion in America, the below-replacement fertility rate, and why the “economic reasons” story often ignores the biggest factors. We also share our experience with homeschooling, why worldview matters, what the stats show about faith after graduation, and why overpopulation panic misses the real issues of distribution, land use, and human treachery.

Subscribe for more, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What part challenged you most: worship, obedience, or trusting God with family and the future?

Transcript

Welcome And Set The Scene

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to More Than Minutes, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by our third physician, Dr. Robert Jackson.

Reading Genesis 9:6-7

The Image Of God In Us

Jesus And The Tax Trap

What We Owe God

A Prayer That Changes You

Be Fruitful And Multiply

Children As God’s Gift

The War Against Life

America’s Falling Birth Rate

A Six-Child Hospital Encounter

Why Homeschooling Appeals To Parents

Faith Outcomes After Graduation

Debunking Overpopulation Panic

Scarcity Versus Distribution

Trust God And Obey

Closing And How To Connect

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Papa, can you tell me a story? Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go get your brother and your sisters, and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr. Papa. Gather around, grab your Bibles, and let us look into the written word which reveals to us the living word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we're in Genesis chapter nine, verses six and seven. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. As for you, be fruitful and multiply. Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading from his word. The end of verse six informs us that all men are made in the image of God, which means that unlike the animals, we have a spirit that can relate to God, that can communicate with our Creator. What an amazing privilege to be able to commune, to be able to fellowship with the Creator of heaven and earth, indeed the creator of all of us, a privilege which is squandered or neglected by so many created humans who do not seek the Lord while he may be found or call upon him while he is near. Now fast forward to an encounter that Jesus had with the religious leaders when they tried to trap him in an answer to a political hot button question of their day. When they asked him, should we pay taxes to Caesar? This was in regard to the poll tax of that day. Jesus asked for a coin and inquired of them whose likeness, whose image is on this coin? Quizzically, they replied Caesar's. Then Jesus instructed render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what belongs to God. Earthly rulers are to be respected and receive taxes. Caesar's image was on the coin, so respect Caesar and give him what he is due. What was implied and left unsaid, but clearly understood by every Jew standing in a circle around Jesus was that they were made in the image of God, which was stamped upon their being. They must render to God what is due to God, which is worship and obedience. In that instant, in that present throbbing moment, those religious leaders realized that the common folk had accepted Jesus as the Son of God, and they were worshiping him as such, and obeying him as God, rendering to him the respect due only to God. No doubt in an instant of holy spirit conviction, they realized deep in their souls that they too were speaking with God in the flesh, in whose image they were made, and to whom they owed worship and obedience, but their pride and their allegiance to their positions got in the way of true worship, and they could not call upon the Lord while he was near, in fact standing in front of them. Falling over themselves, they ran back to their religious bosses in total disarray. Dear listener, the very image of God is stamped upon your eternal, never dying soul. He rejects nonchalant, lacadaisical worship. Jesus deserves a fiery, passionate love and unreserved worship. He deserves total obedience that says in your heart, Lord show me where I am not being fully obedient, so that I can change my life to obey you completely. Does that prayer totally terrify you? Well it should. That kind of prayer results in a radical, sold out Christian life that pleases God and terrifies your mediocre Christian family and friends, but it puts you in good company with John the Baptist and Jesus' disciples and the Lord Jesus himself. Now look at verse nine. I'm sorry, verse seven. As for you, be fruitful and multiply, populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it. God repeats his command from way back in the first chapter of Genesis to multiply in the earth, literally to bring forth in swarms. In four thousand years we have gone from eight people who departed from the ark to over seven billion people. Somebody has been faithful to that command. Now let me give you the biblical perspective on this whole notion of bearing children. Psalms one hundred twenty seven, verses three through five. It says this, Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior. So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate. You see, that is a biblical perspective on child bearing. But who opposes that perspective? Well, I'll tell you who opposes that. That's Satan and the entire world that he controls. The Bible tells us in John chapter 10 and verse 10 that the thief, that's Satan, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. Think way back in Egypt land. Who tried to kill all the Hebrew babies? Well it was Pharaoh. He instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill all of the Hebrew children as soon as they were born. Pharaoh was a child murderer, and then fast forward to Herod when the wise men told him that there was a child born who would be the king of the Jews, and in jealousy and rage he ordered all the children under two who were born in the area of Bethlehem to be murdered by his soldiers. He was not valuing the life of small children. Fast forward to Hitler and Stalin and Lenin and Mao Zetong and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, who killed literally millions of people, not just children, but adults as well. Were they valuing life? Were they playing into the hands of the thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy? Of course they were. And think of the abortionist and their individual clients in America who reject the sanctity of the life of unborn children. And despite the Supreme Court Dobbs decision of just a few years ago, nearly a million abortions take place in America today, both surgical and chemical. And that continues yearly in America. And it plays into the hands of Satan, who is a thief, who comes to steal and kill and destroy. Did you know that the birth rate in America is below a replacement rate? The replacement rate is 2.1 per woman. The total fertility rate in America is 1.79 per woman currently. Why is this? Well, conventional wisdom explains that the decline is due to economic factors, such as the cost of housing, cost of schooling, the increased cost of child care and health care. All of these make it harder to afford more children. Then there is the delayed marriage and delayed childbearing, often due to mothers participating in the workforce or a career. Then the younger generation has different uh priorities that don't allow for many children, such as personal fulfillment, a bigger house, fancier cars, more elaborate vacations that don't allow for a traditional family. They often prefer dogs over children, which is why my grandparents tell me that they have granddogs instead of grandchildren. None of these explanations include the nearly one million abortions per year that take place in America. That surely affects our replacement fertility rates. Now let me describe the other side of the coin. When I was in the first several years of my private practice when my wife and I had about five children, one of the doctors at the hospital, who was a neonatologist, called me and said that a doctor's wife from Alabama had suddenly gone into premature labor while traveling from up north back to Alabama. She had stopped in Spartanburg and had given premature birth to her sixth child. And she was all alone here in our hospital, watching over her sixth child, who was premature and quite small. He asked if I would come up to the hospital and visit with her, which I did. And as she and I met and became acquainted, and I realized she had six children, and I had six children at that time, and I was talking with her, and the nurses were listening in, and I looked at her and I said, You homeschool, don't you? And she smiled and said, Yes, we do. And we talked on and on about homeschooling and about our families. And as I was leaving, the nurses grabbed me in the hallway and they looked at me incredulously and said, How did you know that she homeschooled? And I said, Ladies, in this day and age, anybody who's got six children or more, they I just know that they homeschool. It's just part of the culture of large families. Well, my wife and I have homeschooled for 30 years. We homeschooled all nine of our children. And we attended homeschool conferences for all of those 30 years and still do. In fact, my wife and my daughters went to a homeschool conference just yesterday. And when attending those conferences, the average family size is between six and twelve children. And at these conferences, the moms will be looking for curriculum, appropriate curriculum for their children, training in different topics. Now, why? Why would they homeschool their children? Why would they be looking for curriculum? Well, it's because homeschool families are committed to teaching their children a biblical worldview. Now, I know a lot of my patients and a lot of my friends are committed to their local, rural, elementary schools. And the moms are very committed to being involved and having input in their local elementary schools. But I'm telling you, it's still a government school. And the impact of a secular school is going to be a secular humanistic worldview through secular textbooks and secular college educated teachers who are thoroughly indoctrinated in a secular worldview. And most of the teachers, young teachers, are living with their boyfriends. And I know that for a fact because I'm their teacher. I'm sorry, I'm their doctors. Now, did you know that 76% of public school kids, even though raised in church, when they graduate high school, never return to church? Never. Never go back to church. Contrary-wise, 76 to 80% of homeschool kids, when they graduate high school, go off to college, they continue to participate in the life of a local church. You need to consider that, moms and dads. That is a very strong statistic. Obeying God's commands to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth is more important to these homeschool moms and dads than their standard of living. Being blessed with children is more valuable to them than a bigger house or a fancier car or additional cell phones. They believe that when God gives children, God gives meat. In other words, he supplies every need because they're being obedient to his command to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. Now I know what some of you are thinking. If every family has six or more kids, then the entire planet will be overrun and pe with people. Do you recall the book by Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich and his wife Anne Ehrlich, also a Stanford professor? The book was entitled The Population Bomb, and it was published in 1968. Together they predicted global famine due to overpopulation of planet Earth. Now I know there have been localized famines, but not the worldwide famine that they prognosticated due to overpopulation. If they'd been living in biblical times and prophesied this kind of thing, they would not have lasted long because you know the biblical penalty for false prophecy is being stoned to death. The fact of the matter is that our planet can contain and feed many more than its current 7 billion people. The issue is not overpopulation or food supply. The issue is distribution and population density. Have you ever looked out of the window of a commercial airliner when you were 40,000 feet up in the air? They're vast regions of undeveloped land perfectly suitable for habitation, and that excludes the deserts and the oceans. But people congregate in major cities looking for employment. Governments and major landowners sequester large swaths of perfectly good habitable land for national parks and personal use. The United States produces a huge percentage of the world's food supply. That's a technology issue, not a population issue. In Somalia, the people starve while famine relief is hoarded by the military officials for its soldiers. That's treachery, not overpopulation. Now be reasonable. Don't you think that when God commanded us to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, that he knew what the planet would be able to sustain? Just because men are foolish or treacherous does not invalidate God's command. You have to personally decide, on a personal level, one-on-one between you and God, whether you will obey God or listen to the fearful, alarmist voices of the world. Then you have to decide if you will trust God with your future. That's why the hymn writer says, trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. You're listening to devotions with Dr. Papa. If you like what you hear, follow, like, share, or download, please tell your friends. And we'll be back again next week. Until then, remember, Jesus loves you and your doctor loves you. And until next week, may the Lord bless you real good.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Thank you for listening to this edition of Northern Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, Instagram, or web page at Jackson Family Ministry.