Genesis 8:15-22.
KJV Genesis 8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.
17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:
19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Looking now to verses 15-22, the first thing we notice is that it was at the command of God that Noah leaves the ark .
It was upon the command of God that Noah entered the Ark
KJV Genesis 7:1 -5 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
KJV Genesis 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
KJV Genesis 7:5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
And it is by the command of God that Noah leaves the ark.
Here is a man who lives by the commands of God. This shows the measure of Noah's commitment and love for almighty God. Noah did not decide for himself that it was dry outside and therefore it was time to move out. He waited on the command and direction of almighty God.
We likewise are here to live by the commands of God.
KJV John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
By waiting on God's command Noah was acknowledging God's authority in his life. He was willing to submit to God. Submission is a word that people react against today. For the Christian however it is submission to Jesus Christ that brings abundant life and fullness of Joy.
This will sometimes mean submitting to other people in God's scheme, structure and order of things, but that is rather something that is touched on in the next chapter.
The underlying ongoing Biblical principles are:
( And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? )
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. ( KJV 1 Samuel 15:22 )
And
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. ( KJV 1 Samuel 16:7 )
As Noah comes out of the ark into a fresh new world his heart's
desire is to express his gratitude to God for his deliverance. This he does in worship. The Christian's worship likewise should at least in part to be an expression of Gratitude for deliverance. That the awesome Almighty God who is of "purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: ( Habakkuk 1:13 ) has graciously chosen to bring those who offend him back into a right relationship with Himself is an incredibly thing.
Deliverance from the power of sin and salvation from the wrath to come as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We see that God "smelled a sweet savour" Verse 21.
x;xoyNIh; x;yre-ta, hw"hy> xr;Y"w:
soothing ( or relaxing ) the Fragrance to Yehovah smelled And
( restful) ( or odour )
KJV Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
The sacrifice signalled a rest or sweet pleasantness from what had been. With the passing of what had been comes God's statement that He " will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; ." I would see this as referring to the promise of No other flood of that magnitude, as in the covenant in the next chapter.
The idea of a sweet or relaxing odour is taken up by Paul when he writes to the Ephesian Christians in
KJV Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
The sacrifice of Christ is pleasing to God for Christ alone is able bring people back into a pleasant relationship with God.
At Noah's sacrifice God makes the statement, the essence of which is repeated throughout scripture, that "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; " (
wyr'[uN>mi
We must not suppose there is any inherent goodness in people, except to say that God has provided them with a conscience.
People learn to act according to rules and guidelines for their well being, and protection but will freely break the rules if they think they can get away with it and are foolish enough to see such conduct to their advantage.
True goodness is found in God only.
Mat 19:17
KJV 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
The Christian is one who has been wonderfully and gloriously changed. He or she has become a creature.
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
See John 15.
KJV Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Christians are eternally put right with God. They are redeemed, they are justified. They have a place prepared for them in the presence of God and have a great potential for making a tremendous impact on the world.
Yet there is a process that a Christian must work through in his or her life. A process of sanctification forwarded from God. Every Christian like Paul can say:
KJV Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Paul goes on to explain that there are laws at work in our lives. The
law of the flesh and the law of the spirit.
The Christian's will, unlike that of the non Christian is set free. We
can choose to set our minds on the flesh which is the position of death or we can set our minds on the spirit and experience all the life that is ours in Christ Jesus.
It is a bit like switching on a light or a radiator. The power to enjoy God's action in us is there. The switching is of course not always all that simple and sanctification or the clearing of the lines is an ongoing process and even Paul did what he didn't want to do and didn't manage to do what he wanted to do. Nevertheless as we cooperate with God He is faithful in what he wants to achieve with us.
The sinful non Christian values so strongly upheld by humanists and others of self esteem, self assertiveness and all the other self concepts can be the centre of your thinking or if you are a Christian you will deny self so that Christ has his rightful place in your life. Christ centeredness is the mark of a Christian.
Mark 8:34
KJV 34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Christ centeredness involves living not for yourself but for Christ.
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
His commands are imperative to you, the scriptures are precious to you. You will not want to change the meaning of scripture because of cultural or convenience reasons. You will be sore about the things God is sore about. You will want to delight in what he delights in. You will not demand "rights" or "positions", You will not bemoan what you feel you are missing out on. For all that Christ wishes to do through you will be done as you set your mind on Christ who loved you and gave himself for you.
There will be times of rejoicing with fellow Christians, and times of shaking the dust off your feet because people will not listen to God.
For the Christian there are eternal certainties, which make the trials of this life pale into insignificance . There are however some certainties as far as this world is concerned also.
KJV Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
What a wonderful thing it is to know that these things shall remain in spite of man. They shall remain until the day of the Lord which will KJV 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
God will destroy the world, not man.
Then of course will follow the great judgement when everyone will hear the words :
KJV Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
or
KJV Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand,
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For all who will be at God's right hand reality for them is eternal worship of the Sovereign Almighty Lord of all, creator, saviour, and everlasting King over all.
Let us consider the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
WSC 1 What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God(1) and to enjoy him forever.(2) (1)1 Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36
(2)Ps. 73:25-28
Like Noah do we find it natural to worship?
Many treat worship so lightly, but for those who have not learnt to worship here on earth can there be any hope they will worship God through eternity?
Exercises:
1. See if you can define worship.
2. In what Noah Gave in Sacrifice what was he doing?
