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<2024.02> God’s Command to Be Fruitful and Multiply and Fill the Earth

European Bible Study Meeting, 2002
God’s Command to Be Fruitful and Multiply and Fill the Earth
April 2nd, 2002, Evening Lecture Part 2
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Philippians 2:6-8
Seth, the Other Seed that God Gave
Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 4 verse 25.
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
Genesis chapter 5 verse 4 tells us that after Adam fathered Seth, he lived another 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Since the gestation period for human beings is about forty weeks, if he had fathered one child a year that would have come to eight hundred children. It must have been a great many. When Abel died, Adam would have had many other sons, so perhaps you are curious as to why it says here that God gave him another offspring in the place of Abel.
The genealogy beginning with Abel, flows on to Seth, and then Enosh and Kenan, and it goes right through to Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 1 begins with “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (verse 1), which is easy for the Jews to understand. The genealogy begins with Abraham and goes right through to Joseph, the husband of Mary, but the genealogy in Luke chapter 3 follows in reverse order, beginning with Jesus and ending with “the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (verse 38). It’s a genealogy that goes right back to the beginning.
The nation of the Jews was entrusted with God’s word so that they might record the words of the Bible, and they were chosen to prepare the country to which the Son of God would come. Both the Old and New Testaments were completed through them, and in the midst of the ages, the Son of God came amongst the people of this nation. Abel is not included in this glorious genealogy, but in the letter to the Hebrews, we read that Abel was commended as righteous through his faith (see 11:4). 
Many seeds were scattered and many people began to be born and multiplied on this earth, but amongst all those people only one specific, very slender genealogy was protected as history unfolded. It only just managed to keep going. After Cain killed Abel, God gave Adam another offspring, and that was Seth. Then amongst the many people who were born as descendants of Seth, there was a man by the name of Abraham, and he also fathered children.
At first Abraham did not have any children. Then he had a son through Hagar, a female servant he had brought from Egypt. That son was called Ishmael. But God told Abraham he would have a son through his wife Sarah, and as God said, Abraham received a son when he was 100 years old, and he called him Isaac. Later Isaac fathered the twins, Esau and Jacob. Jacob, the younger brother, obtained the birthright.
After this, the genealogy just barely managed to continue once more, and in the process, a prostitute was brought into play, and one son was the child of a man and his daughter-in-law. There is also a Gentile included in this genealogy. Why is this? It is because Jesus is not just the Christ of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.
Let’s turn back to Genesis chapter 4 and read from verse 25.
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.  verses 25-26
The genealogy of Adam’s descendants then continues in Genesis chapter 5.
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. . . . When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. . . . When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. . . .When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. . . . When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch. . . . When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.  Genesis 5:1-6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21-24
Then we come to something very interesting.
When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech. . . . When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”  Genesis 5:25, 28-29
The descendants were related on and on, and many children were born, but there was one particular genealogy that flowed within all this. Also, Noah was born within that genealogy.
After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Genesis 5:32
Never Again Shall There Be a Flood to Destroy All Flesh
Let’s move on to Genesis chapter 6 and read from verse 5.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Mankind flourished and became great in number. At that time, people would live to be over nine hundred years old. This may seem like a story someone has made up, but such things were possible in those days. This is what the Bible tells us.
Yet, in God’s eyes the earth was filled with the wickedness of man at that time; the Bible says the thoughts of people’s hearts was only evil continually. As we read these words, we need to consider, “What about my heart? Isn’t it always full of evil?”
And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.  Genesis 6:6-8
But what about Noah? 
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.  Genesis 6:9-12
When it says, “all flesh,” it means all those who have blood running through their veins.
And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.  Genesis 6:13-14
Since the violence of all flesh filled the earth, God determined to destroy them all, so He told Noah to build an ark of gopher wood and told him what the dimensions were to be 
(see Genesis 6:15).
For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.  Genesis 6:17-18
God told Noah to enter the ark. Is there a place that we can enter? We need to enter the place by the name of Jesus, the place at the foot of the cross where Jesus Christ shed His blood. How do we enter there? It is when the words of the Bible become your own as you realize the truth in them that tells us, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), and see that this is why Jesus came to this earth, and that He took the sins of the world upon Himself as He was crucified and died.
And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.  Genesis 6:19
So, Noah began to build the ark.
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth.  Genesis 7:1-3
God would not have just wiped everything out without any plan, rhyme or reason. Bearing in mind that His plan was that the seed was to be passed down through the generations, He said that seven pairs of all clean animals (the male and his mate), a pair of each of the unclean animals, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens (male and female), were to be taken into the ship.
And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.  Genesis 7:5
Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.
The Bible tells us, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Romans 2:13), and “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10). It tells us that the law is to be kept, and if you keep everything in the law except for just one point, you are breaking the entire law.
The law says that you may eat whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals This indicates that pork is absolutely not to be eaten. (see Leviticus 11:3, 7-8). The law does not comprise the ten commandments alone. In the book of Hosea it says, “Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands” (8:12). God has set before Him ten thousands of laws. In that case, what are we to do? What are you going to do if you have eaten some pork?
In the Bible it says, “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakuk 2:4), “The righteous shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11). It says there must be faith in something. Also, in Matthew’s Gospel it says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (1:21). It is up to us to acknowledge what it says in this verse. This Jesus came to the earth, and as He died on the cross, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Son of God, who was without sin, came to this earth in the flesh and died, having fulfilled all the requirements of the law. In that case, it is for me to believe in Him, to live under Him and in Him.
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.  Genesis 7:11-12
In Genesis chapter 1, it says, “And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so” (verses 6-7). Until the time of Noah, there was some kind of barrier surrounding the earth. The sky was probably a little different from the sky we see now with clouds floating across it, but we cannot know exactly what it was like since we have never seen it as it was. One thing we can be sure of, however, is that there were waters above the firmament. The Bible tells us this. This barrier would have worked like a filter, blocking all the rays from the sun that are harmful to man, and it seems this is why people at that time lived
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