Many Christians have grown the size of their families based on interpreting God’s injunction to Adam6 and again to Noah7 to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” Far fewer Christians have improved their families based on what that injunction actually meant. The mistaken oversimplification of this instruction to mean that parents are meant to have the largest possible families is a terrible mistake that can actually lead to the polar opposite of God’s intent, creating unnecessary misery and children who are least likely to reach their potential instead of maximizing joy through making all things as good as they can be.
God’s purpose in creating the earth was to provide an opportunity for people to learn and live more like him. God’s charge to Adam and Noah was not simply to reproduce, nor to reproduce abundantly, but rather to advance his purpose through all means at their disposal.
We have well established that God’s face does not just mean the forward part of his head. In like manner, the earth’s face doesn’t just mean its surface. To “multiply on the face of the earth” (Genesis 6:1) doesn’t just mean to produce posterity on the earth’s surface, as there is no alternative location to do so. Rather, it means to develop families according to and in advancement of the plan and purpose of God. Remember, one meaning of “face” is the direction of, flowing through time or in increasing intensity or other progression.
The Lord’s improving influence is what demarcated a difference between what was “in the beginning” and what came to be through the various stages of creation. It was his influence on the raw materials that preceded the earth that yielded what would become the earth,8 with each interaction consisting of inputs from God and responses from matter, then plants, animals, and humans. In our phase of God’s continued creation, we operate under the instructions to make things on earth more like they are in heaven.9 The task of mankind is to obtain the image of the Lord in themselves, and to act in the world so as to bring about his image in the earth. In short, we are charged to align the face of the earth with the face of the Lord.
There are bounds within which the purposes of the earth can be achieved. When a person operates outside of those bounds, God makes the necessary changes to prevent them from impeding his purposes.10 When a person’s rebellion from God is sufficiently extreme, God can end their life. The same occurs when a group, city, or country violates God’s constraints: he warns them through messengers and mercifully minimized consequences, and if they continue in their rebellion, he destroys them. In the days of Noah, mankind as a whole had become so corrupted that it was no longer possible for the earth to fulfill its purpose, and God destroyed everyone except Noah, his three sons, and their wives.
With a better understanding of the concept of “face,” you can understand the purpose and necessity of the flood better than you ever have before. Read the KJV version of Genesis 6, where the italicized words are all the same Hebrew word for “face:”
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the _face_ of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt _before_ God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence _through them_; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6)
Now read this clearer rendering:
5 And when God saw man that he had made, it caused him great pain.
6 For the wickedness of man was so great that his every desire was completely evil all the time, and God was compelled to decree their destruction, notwithstanding the deep sorrow it caused him.
7 For he had loved mankind, creating all things for their sake, from birds and creeping things to beast, and man himself.
8 But Noah had pleased God by finding out about and becoming like him.
9 Noah walked with God; He was full of the revelations of God, and he lived in perfect accordance at all times to what God taught him.
11 And the earth had turned aside from the knowledge of God’s character and plan that had been plainly revealed and adequately demonstrated to them; all mankind was filled with injustice and malice.
12 And God recognized that the earth had become unable to attain its potential in its present state, because all men had so fully turned away from the path to becoming how he is that they had made it impossible for them to see what was good sufficiently to choose it of their own will; they had turned away from such plain and evident instruction toward improvement that their damaged senses could not be repaired through any righteous means.
13 And God said to Noah: the end of the procession of human life has come due to the fulness of rebellion against the revelation of my way, for they have allowed themselves to be used as a conduit to fill the earth with malevolence and injustice to the point where their children cannot choose what is right, and now I must destroy them. (Genesis 6, Author’s Reflection)
The destiny of the earth is for God to dwell upon it.11 When he returns, everything that cannot dwell in his glory will be destroyed from off the face of the earth. In Noah’s day, the Lord swept the earth clean with water.12 When he returns, he will do so with the fire13 of his glory.14 Until then, it is the duty of his servants to flood the earth with truth,15 offering persuasive arguments towards the next increment of improvement to all people,16 such that every person has everything needed to become as much like Jesus as they are willing to.17
Footnotes
- 1. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods. (Deuteronomy 31:17-18) ↩
- 2. ....Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts....(Malachi 3:7) ↩
- 3. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. (Hosea 5:15) ↩
- 4. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. (Ezekiel 39:23-24) And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. (Deuteronomy 32:20-25) ↩
- 5. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. (Isaiah 54:8) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14) ↩
- 6. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28) ↩
- 7. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (Genesis 9:1) ↩
- 8. “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2) Important details can be derived from understanding that “face” here can mean more than “surface.” ↩
- 9. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. (Luke 11:2) ↩
- 10. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. (Genesis 4:14) And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16) ↩
- 11. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. (Zechariah 2:10) ↩
- 12. ...I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. (Genesis 7:4) ↩
- 13. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1) ↩
- 14. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2 Thessalonians 1:9) ↩
- 15. And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. (Moses 7:62) ↩
- 16. Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor. (D&C 88:81) ↩
- 17. Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads. (D&C 88:82) ↩