REPLENISH THE EARTH?

Monday 16 June

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 (KJV)

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and REPLENISH the earth. Genesis 9:1 (KJV)

There are two trains of thought when it comes to the creation account in regard to whether or not Genesis 1 was a creation or a recreation.

One is called the Gap theory with the supposed judgement of Satan being thrown to the earth to a Pre-Adamite race which is said to have happened between verse 1 and 2 of Genesis chapter 1. The other point of view is that everything was created and made in 6 days as the Bible says. As always let’s dig deeper and see what the Word has to say on these matters.

I heard someone recently point out that replenish was the word used to describe what Adam and Eve did and therefore it means that everything must have been there before. But did you know that the meaning of the word replenish in English used to have an entirely different meaning in the 1600’s? Back then it meant predominantly to fill NOT refill or fill again. This is where problems arise when we try to interpret scripture without studying the language it was written in.

Knowing this we can see that the Hebrew word ‘mala’ which also means ‘fill’ is the correct meaning that is to be used for replenish in Genesis 1:1. While ‘filled’ is the primary meaning ‘fill again’ is also used sometimes. In Genesis 9:1 after the Flood it makes sense that replenish would have the secondary meaning as the earth needed to be filled again with the people and animals that were on the Ark. Make sense?

This tells us there was no recreation of the earth. Another confirmation is that creation itself is a function of time. Even Lucifer who became Satan was created in time. He was created in Eden (Ezekiel 28:13) not up in heaven where he staged a coup de tat to dethrone God! If this is true, then all the angels must have been created in time in the 6 days of creation along with the earth, animals and mankind etc. Some say the earth was formless and void because of this casting out of heaven judgment but Tohu, Bohu in Hebrew means ‘nothing nothing’, so there was NOTHING for Satan and his hordes to fall to.

If this is the case, Satan was not cast to the earth with a third of the angels because they were all created within the construct of time. As for a pre-Adamite race, there is a scripture used out of context in Genesis 1:26 where God says ‘Let us make MAN in our image , according to our likeness…The idea goes that ‘man’ must have existed before in a hominid form before God decided to make man in God’s image and likeness. This is clearly not the case.

The major problem with this understanding is two fold. The man that God was referring to here was not Adam but Christ. HE is the man that God made in His image according to His likeness. Adam was then made as a TYPE after the PROTOTYPE. Does the Bible confirm this? Yes.

Firstly, Jesus is referred to as the first born over ALL creation. This has a dual meaning. The first is literal to physical creations and the second is the first born of the new creations in Christ. Still not convinced?

Romans 5:14 puts it beyond any doubt.

‘Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a TYPE of HIM who was to come.’

Adam was a TYPE of HIM who was to come. Who?Jesus Christ. The firstborn or PROTOTYPE over all creation. The Greek word is ‘protokos’. In Christ we are types of the perfect prototype!

Colossians 1:15-16 says ‘The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.’

Based on what we have looked at there is no gap theory between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. Satan was not thrown out of heaven because he was never there! He was created on the earth to be Adam’s servant. Furthermore, there was no heaven for him to exist in because God had not created it yet which also means there was no recreation of the earth. God doesn’t even live in heaven, just in case you were wondering. So if there was no casting out of heaven then the earth was not judged to be made formless and void. We saw that the earth did not exist before the creation and therefore any pre-Adamite form of man was not even plausible or possible.

Don’t be like the individual who ‘reads into’ the narrative of the creation account, things that were never there. It’s time to put away the cunningly devised fables and ‘once upon a time’ religious bedtime stories and fanciful fairytales like Satan being the choir master and lead musician in heaven type of nonsense and get back to the truth of what the Bible actually says.

APPLICATION

Make up your mind that you are not going to be tossed about to and fro carried away by every wind of false doctrine but that you will carefully study, not casually read God’s word.