God’s Plan and Man’s Response

GOLDEN TEXT: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” —Isaiah 55:7

GENESIS 1:27,28; 6:5-8; 8:20-22

GOD’S purpose in the creation of man is clearly stated. Man was to multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over it. God said nothing to our first parents about one day being transferred to another part of the universe. The earth was to be man’s eternal home. Centuries later, God declared that he created the earth not in vain, but “formed it to be inhabited.”—Isa. 45:18

The word “replenish” in Genesis 1:28 is an incorrect translation. The earth had never been inhabited by man, so could not be “replenished.” The Hebrew text gives the proper thought, which is, “to fill.” (Dr Strong) The earth was created to be man’s eternal home, and man was to continue multiplying until it was properly filled, and “subdued”; that is, made like the sample God provided for our first parents in Eden.

David, in the 8th Psalm, refers to man’s original creation, and the fact that he was given dominion over the earth, and in Hebrews 2:8 we read, “But now we see not yet all things put under him.” Man lost his dominion, and even the right to continue to live. This was because he transgressed God’s law. Following his transgression he was sentenced to death and driven out of Eden into the unfinished earth to die.

But this did not change God’s purpose with respect to the earth and his human creation. The command to fill the earth has been in process of fulfillment throughout the ages, although each generation, because imperfect and condemned, has fallen asleep in death. But through divine love a way has been provided for escape from death; and all God’s prophets foretold that there would come “times of restitution.”

So while Paul says, “We see not yet all things put under” man, we do “see Jesus, who was made a lithe lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9) Jesus became a substitute in death for Adam, and in and through Adam for the entire human race, and in God’s due time all will be awakened, and those who then obey will have the lost dominion restored to them.—Matt. 25:34

Following the original transgression the growth of evil was rapid. In Noah’s day “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.” (ch. 6:5) In verse 6 we read that it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth. The basic meaning of the Hebrew word here translated “repented” is “to sigh.” or to “feel sorry,” in a favorable sense, to “pity,” or unfavorably, to “avenge.”—Prof. Strong

God realized that sin had resulted in much suffering for his human creation, and that to curb its rapid development drastic steps were necessary which would result in additional sorrow. He knew that the Flood was necessary, but he pitied those who would have to suffer on account of it. God is not a vengeful monster.

God did not feel sorry for having created man in the sense of concluding that he had made a mistake in doing so. He was fully aware in advance of the downward course of sin, and that it would lead into ever deeper depths of degradation. Had God decided that he made a mistake he would not have made provision to, keep man alive on the earth. Such a provision he did make through Noah, who found grace in his sight.

The account of Noah and his family, and their being brought through the Flood in the ark, is well known. Upon coming out of the ark, “Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.” (ch. 8:20) Of the clean animals—that is, those deemed suitable for human food—seven each of males and females were taken into the ark. This made possible the immediate use of some of these to offer in sacrifice to the Lord.

The Lord was pleased with this evidence of appreciation and devotion, and “in his heart” said that he would not again destroy all flesh—the margin says, “though the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (vs. 21) “While the earth remaineth,” this was to be true, and in Ecclesiastes 1:4 we are assured that “the earth abideth forever.”

God’s purpose had not changed. In the opening verses of chapter 9 we are told that he blessed Noah and his sons and commissioned them to multiply and replenish (Hebrew, “fill”) the earth. The glorious climax of the divine purpose will be realized in the “times of restitution of all things.”

QUESTIONS

What was God’s purpose in the creation of man?

How and when will this purpose be fully accomplished?

Did God decide, at the time of the Flood, that he had made a mistake in creating man?

How did God reveal after the Flood that he had not changed his purpose toward man?

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