This morning was an “A HAH!” moment. You know the kind, when you get a sudden revelation from text you’ve read many times.

Consider the Creation account in Genesis 1, especially on the third day:

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Stop here for a moment and consider the Hebrew form of the expression, “according to their own kind.” The literal translation is, “partitioning from that which already exists.” In other words, out of the original seed comes life.

That sounds very much like the new birth in Jesus…all because of the Resurrection of Him who died and was buried…and who rose on the THIRD DAY!

Later when God made the animals of the air, earth and sea He blessed them with the mandate of being fruitful:

And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

He gave the same blessing to man after his creation:

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

So what does this mean to me? And perhaps to you?

By God’s grace through faith, we are born again into His likeness, His image, according to His kind. Previously we were in the likeness of our father the enemy of our soul, according to the kind of Adam.

In this new life, we are given God’s blessing to “multiply and fill the earth” with new life according to HIS kind.

So during 2011, may you see the birth of many new lives, all in His likeness!