What truth do dogs, cats, and apples illustrate?

Genesis 1:2 tells us that on day one the earth was formless and empty. Starting in Genesis 1:9, the Bible tells us how God spent days 3, 5, and 6 forming the earth and filling it. While He was filling the earth, God established some limits that still stand today and these limits are illustrated by the pets we keep and the food we eat. Let’s take a look at these limits and see what they tell us about God.

Let’s start with Genesis 1:9-10 and see how God gave some form to the earth by creating dry land.

Gen. 1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.

Next, God started filling the earth. As you read the account of God filling the earth, notice the word “kind”. Notice how it is used and how often it is used. What does the word “kind” tell us?

Gen. 1:11-13 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

Gen. 1:20-23 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

Gen. 1:24-25 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

The use of the word “kind” tells us that as God filled the earth with plants and animals, He specified that there were limits to reproduction. Plants and animals could only reproduce within certain boundaries. We see these boundaries in our daily lives. Dogs can reproduce with other kings of dogs, but dogs can’t reproduce with cats. Apples can be cross bred with other varieties of apples to create new varieties, but apples can’t be cross bred with corn. All living things, including our pets and our food, are limited in their reproduction, just as God decreed.

These limits illustrate that ultimately God is in control because even after thousands of years of scientific inquiry and advancement, human beings have not been able to undo these boundaries that God established. Over the centuries, humans have done a lot of research into genetics and have cross bred many varieties of living things. Despite all the time and research, there are certain boundaries to reproduction that humans have not been able to cross and God’s limits still stand. Our pets that we play with and the food we eat are examples of living things that still reproduce within boundaries that God established at creation. So the next time you eat fruit or play with your pet, remember that you are looking at tangible proof that God is in control.

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“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.”