If Adam never sinned…?

Today I’ll be sharing more information from the ongoing dialogue that I’ve been having with “Lisa” (not her real name).  If you remember I shared some of this conversation a couple weeks ago.  Read it here.   Lisa contacted me via Facebook and we’ve been “talking” for some time now.  Here’s more of our conversation:
Lisa:  “In the Bible it states the earth was meant to be perfect before Adam sinned and everything wasn’t supposed to die. Wouldn’t the earth become over populated?”
Carl:  Great question so let’s take a stab at it.  First, we have to give God the credit He deserves.  God is the only one who knows everything, past, present and future.   God knew we were going to sin.  The Scripture actually makes that point very clear.
Take a look at Genesis 2:17:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Did you catch that?  Notice what is written there, “for in the day that thou eatest.” Ouch!  That’s pretty straight forward, He knew Adam would eat!
Now, because He knew what Adam was going to do God already had a plan in place  that would provide a way of forgiveness and restoration.
Take a look at Genesis 3:15:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
I love what Dr. Henry Morris wrote about this verse in the notes of my Defender’s Study Bible:
This verse is famous as the Proto evangel (“First Gospel”).  The Curse was directed immediately toward the Serpent, but its real thrust was against the evil spirit possessing its body, “that old serpent called the devil” (Revelation 12:9).  Satan may have assumed he had now won the allegiance of the woman and all her descendants, but God told him there would be enmity between him [his seed] and the [seed of the] woman. [bracketed information added]
Lisa:  Thanks for all the great information Carl, but what would have happened if man had never sinned?  That would have caused us to eventually over populate the planet and destroy what God had created for us.
Carl:  Yes, Lisa, I did digress.  Let’s get back to your question.
First, it is vitally important that we read the Scripture and understand it in context.  Allow the Scripture to interpret itself  and make sure you’re not putting words into God’s mouth.n Genesis 1:28 God said,
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. (emphasis added)
Let’s kill two birds with one stone here.  First let’s deal with another very common comment that I hear.  “Carl, the Bible clearly says to ‘replenish the earth.’  That means there were people living prior to Adam and Eve and God wiped them out in between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 and now He’s calling to fill it back up.  That’s how we can explain dinosaurs and fossils, they fit in the gap between those two verses.”
Well, that’s just not true.  Let me explain why using the Word of God.
The word “replenish” is used in a variety of forms over 300 times in the Scripture.  Of those uses, it is translated “replenish”  only  seven times.  So we must ask, does the original Hebrew word mean to re-fill?  The answer is, it doesn’t have to mean “re-fill”!   Do some studying and you will find that in 1611 when the KJV Bible was translated this word simply meant to fill up!‘   As a matter of fact, of the more than 300 times this word is used in the KJV it is translated as fill, full or  filled 195 times.  For example, just 6 verses prior in Genesis 1:22 we read:And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. (emphasis added)
The exact same Hebrew word is used there and it is translated fill.
This ties in directly with the origin of death and suffering.  God makes it very clear that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23) and that at the end of the six days of creation everything was perfect.  If there was animal and human death for millions of years before Adam was created, we have a challenge to overcome.  The process of death and suffering leading to man is actually an attack on the character of God.  What He wanted for us, He gave to us… perfection.  Our sin destroyed what He gave us and we see the ugliness in the world around us because of our sin.  It’s not God’s fault!
Let’s read Genesis 1:28 again:
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. (emphasis added)
Knowing that the word there, “replenish,” means “to fill” is vital.  With that being the case, what did God just tell us to do?  It is imperative that we listen to what God says and not to others telling us what He meant.  God told man to “fill up” the earth, not to overpopulate it!
So, even if Adam and Eve never sinned would the earth have eventually overpopulated?  I’d say, No!  I would suggest that God could have very easily stopped the reproduction process at the point that the earth was filled up!  By the way, He could have done this in a variety of ways.  How old was Sarah when she gave birth?  If God can open the womb, He can also close it!
Admittedly this is all speculative.  The “What if?” questions always are.  But, remember the God that we serve, He is all-knowing and all-powerful.  In all honesty, there is no reason to believe that a God who can create everything with a spoken Word, couldn’t do something to handle something as simple as overpopulation.
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That’s it for my conversation with Lisa this week.  I’ll share some more in weeks to come.  Make sure to leave your comments below, we’d love to hear from you.
Stay bold,
Carl and the rforh team