Multiplying on the face of the earth, and being destroyed from the face of the earth

Many Christians have grown the size of their families based on interpreting God’s injunction to Adam¹ and again to Noah² 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,³ 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.⁴ 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.⁵ 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.⁶ 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.⁷ When he returns, he will do so with the fire⁸ of his glory.⁹ Until then, it is the duty of his servants to flood the earth with truth,¹⁰ offering persuasive arguments towards the next increment of improvement to all people,¹¹ such that every person has everything needed to become as much like Jesus as they are willing to.¹²