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20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." ~ Genesis 8:20-22
Today, we close out our study of Genesis 8 where we have been given details about Noah and his survival through the flood. Noah was a man of faith whose faith was galvanized in the faithfulness of the God of the Bible. Noah had a trust in God even though all of his friends and acquaintances had chosen to believe that God was not good. Noah's faith in God was seen in his obedience to God to build the ark, even though it had never rained before. Noah's faith was seen as he preached to the pre-flood world about God's righteousness and the judgment that was to come.
In v.20 of today's passage we read, "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar."
After the flood, the first thing Noah did was to build an altar which appropriated his worship of God. To worship God is to be defined by God. When we obey God, we show that He is defining us. Noah's was the first altar built in the Bible. Cain and Abel gave a sacrifice, but there was no mention of an altar.
The flood or the judgement of God upon man did not change the heart of man. This has been seen down through the centuries. It has always been the grace of God that changes man's heart. It was God's grace that caused Noah to build the ark. Grace is God’s unconditional love in action, embracing us in our imperfections and transforming us by His mercy. The human heart can only be changed by the grace of God, and yet, we can resist such an expression of love. John M. Sheehan once said, "Grace was against my will till God's grace changed me to accept His grace!"
The word "altar" means "high" or "elevated." Noah was atop the mountains of Ararat and the smoke of his offerings ascended even higher. When the altar was built, it was built to the God of grace. God's grace had changed the heart of Noah and as a result he saw God as the covenant keeping God who had proven Himself true as He fulfilled His promises to Noah. In response, Noah offered burnt offerings which was for the atonement for sin. In making these offerings, Noah was asking God for more of His grace and mercy.
The fire in the offering symbolized Noah's acknowledgment that he knew he deserved judgement from God. Through the flood Noah saw God's staggering judgment. Thus, he offered the sacrifice because his life was granted to him in the midst of the death of the rest of those on the earth around him. Most notably, this and all the other sacrifices in the rest of the Bible point us to the eternal work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
Noah remembered the Lord. That's a miracle because it is our human nature to forget the Lord. It is our human nature to promise God great things in a catastrophe, and then when the catastrophe is over we forget the Lord. In the Gospel of Luke the Lord Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and He passed through Galilee at the border of Samaria and there were ten lepers and they cried out, "Jesus! Master! Have mercy on us!" In response, the Lord Jesus healed them. Then the Lord Jesus told the healed men, "Go to the priest and offer the offering and go through the ritual purification and he'll pronounce you clean." One out of ten healed men returned and thanked the Lord for healing him. Noah remembered the Lord.
The very same day that Noah offered these sacrifices was the very same day that Ezra offered his sacrifice in the book of Ezra. This also was the very same day the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Right here in this verse is the first time the Bible mentions an altar. Instead of building a house for himself, Noah offered worship to God. He prepared a spot to meet with God and to give thanks to Him, and to glorify Him. The first thing Noah did after leaving the ark was to worship and to be defined by God.
In v.21-22 of today's passage we read, "And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, 'I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.'"
The Lord smelled a soothing aroma. In response to Noah's soothing sacrifice, God gave Noah a promise that the laws of nature would remain steady and dependable. God promised that there would be a consistent pattern of the motion of the heavenly bodies, consistent gravity, consistent rotation of the earth, consistent solar orbit, and consistent annual cycles.
This means we will not all die from global warming. It means it will be cold in the winter and warm in the summer. It means there will be summer, and there will be winter, and there will be seedtime and harvest. It means, even though the Flood happened, we will enjoy a period of uniformity where everything continues the same, until the earth goes out of existence. This is the promise of God upon whose faithfulness all of His promises rest.
The words, "The Lord said in His heart" means this wasn’t a covenant that YHWH made with Noah. This was a covenant that God made with Himself. He determined to overlook the coming times of ignorance. And now, we have been on this earth for some 4500 years and we have survived because of this promise. But, God's next judgment will be the destruction of the planet by fire not water.
In 2 Peter 3:10-13 we read, "10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."
I trust that you have entered into the salvation of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is as simple as admitting to God that as a sinner you are in need of His forgiveness. Then, believing that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sin. And then, asking Him to come into your life as the Lord of your life. If you enter into the protection of God by believing in His Son, I would love to hear about. You can let me know by sending me an email at byoungministry@gmail.com.
