¶ When the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually, Then it repented the Lord, that he had made man in the earth, and he was sorry in his heart. Therefore the Lord said, I will destroy from the earth the man, whom I have created, from man to beast, to the creeping thing, and to the fowl of the heaven: for I repent that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6:5-8 GNV

THE FLOOD CAME AND RECEDED:

And the Lord smelled a savor of rest, and the Lord said in his heart, I will henceforth curse the ground no more for man’s cause: for the imagination of man’s heart is evil, even from his youth: neither will I smite anymore all things living, as I have done. Genesis 8:21 GNV

So God made Covenant with the earth not to destroy life from it because of man’s sin.

Behold, I, even I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, And my covenant will I establish with you, that from henceforth all flesh shall not be rooted out by the waters of the flood, neither shall there be a flood to destroy the earth anymore. I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:9,11,13 GNV

AND SO THE EARTH WILL NO MORE BE CURSED By TOTAL FLOODING DUE TO THE SIN OF MAN.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. and saying, “ Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 2 Peter: 2:4-10,12-15,19-21,3:4-7 NASB

God has promised that as long as there is an earth that He will not destroy if for reason of sinful man. And so it is that even after our Lord’s return and the treading of the winepress, which will result in the destruction of evil men; still there will be an occupied earth with its seasons in tact.

Hereafter seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and Summer and Winter, and day and night shall not cease, so long as the earth remaineth. Genesis 8:22 GNV

Mankind is again moving in their relation to God in a direction which will result in Judgment. But although Judgment will effect the earth in many and sundry places it will not see destruction. This coming destruction of men who choose evil will be mostly by fire. Some of his own making and some from God Himself. It will begin during the coming Tribulation, and it will end with the Lords coming and the wrath of the Lamb.