NOAH’S SACRIFICE

8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on the altar.

Coming off the ark, Noah’s first thoughts were God-ward. He “built an altar to the Lord”.

Adam’s first full day was the one that God set apart as special day for worship (Genesis 2:1-3). For Noah, his first day in the new world was set aside as a special day for worship and thanksgiving. The day that Jesus rose from the dead ushered in a new day for believers to meet for worship.

Noah, by his action, paid honor to the Lord who had delivered him and his family from the corruption and destruction of the pre-flood world. Those who belong to Jesus Christ, who have been delivered from God’s wrath and persevered by his grace, should be quick to come together on the Lord’s Day to offer heartfelt praise and adoration.

Noah’s action not only revealed a God-centered life, but it clearly indicated a thankful spirit. Often in the Old Testament, animal sacrifices were offered as expressions of gratitude and trust.

Psalm 141:2 May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Noah “sacrificed (offered) burnt offerings on the altar”. Ever since Eden, the way of access to God had been through the offering of an animal sacrifice; accordingly, Noah had taken one extra animal of each “clean” kind on the ark for this purpose.

Noah gave thanksgiving for deliverance from and preservation through the Flood of God’s wrath against sin. He also made intercession for his descendants in the new world, that their lives might be protected, cleansed and kept from sin and its consequences.

As the whole sacrifice was consumed by fire and the smoke ascended, so it symbolized the total dedication of the worshipper to the service of God.

By faith Noah offered his best to the Lord out of a heart of love and gratitude for God’s grace and mercy towards him and his family.

GOD’S ACCEPTANCE OF THE SACRIFICE

8:21a The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma.

If the worshiper’s heart was not right with the Lord and the offering was not being offered in faith, it was not pleasing to the Lord and would not be accepted. Instead of a pleasing aroma it would be a stench in God’s nostrils.

The phrase “pleasing aroma” highlights the special significance of this sacrifice. It suggests that it is a sacrifice to turn away (to appease) the wrath of God.

Noah knew that fellowship between a holy God and sinful man was only possible through propitiatory sacrifice. This truth runs throughout the Bible and points to the one great Sacrifice offered at Calvary by the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ.

GOD’S DECISION

8:21b-22 Then the Lord said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.

Three things call for attention in God’s response to Noah’s worship.

1. God now promises never again to curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.

This promise is not a removal of the curse pronounced at the fall of man in Genesis 3:17. The Flood was a curse over and above the one issued by God after Adam’s rebellion. What God is stating here is that He will not curse the ground any further despite the sinfulness of the human heart.

2. God promised that He would never again destroy all living creatures, as He had done by bringing a world-wide flood.

The bible says that this present world (the world after the flood) is being reserved for fire (not water), kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men (2 Pet. 3:7).

The bible says that the day of the Lord (the day of his return) will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless (2 Pet. 3:10-13).

3. To emphasize that there would be no similar disruptions to the created order before final Judgment Day, God gave the promise of fixed seasons and regular daily cycles: As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.

It is not by any natural necessity that there is this rhythm in nature, but by the deliberate will and faithfulness of God our Creator. God, not “mother nature”, brings the various seasons and temperatures and causes the earth to rotate on its axis, resulting in day and night.

The new situation into which Noah came after the Flood was the world in which we live. It is one which is running down, “groaning” and suffering the consequences of man’s sin.

As those in Christ have been set free from the bondage of sin and made new creatures in Christ, so this earth will one day be emancipated and made new by the powerful working of the one who created her.