And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
God blessed his new people, even though it wasn’t a very small group. He have them a job to do, “fill the earth.” Why? Because God was, and still is, gathering for himself a people to worship him. This is why we are to “go and make disciples of all nations.” As they were told to “go” so too we have the same command, spiritual reproduction. Noah’s family was given authority, and so it is with the Great Commission, all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Jesus and it is he who sends us out.
This verse is also great for all the vegetarians out there. God bless you if you don’t eat meat, but don’t abstain from meat because you think it’s somehow more holy to do so. Yes in Genesis 1:30 God said he have “every green plant for food. and it was so” meaning Adam and Eve were vegetarians, but God also told Noah and his descendants they should have a barbecue. Just like Adam and Eve were given all the plants, we are given all the (clean) animals. This is a deepening and expansion of God’s provision for his people. This goes even further through the New Covenant in that we are now given all animals, nothing you eat makes you unclean. God is good, he is always doing more, deeper, better… culminating in the best ever, Jesus Christ! Do you know him?
