Genesis 8:1-22 "Life After The Flood"

Let’s Pray!

Good evening, Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Next Wednesday, we are shifting away… wrapping up our Soteriology series… and trying out a new format through a study in Revelation.

This will be a short teaching by me… no more than 20 min or so… followed by a time of group discussion for men, women and kiddos who can sit through a Bible study.

We will share our observations, applications… answer questions… and have a blessed time of fellowship in the word.

If you have any questions about the new format or the shift, just see me afterwards.

Well… let now turn in our Bibles to Genesis 8. Genesis 8:1-22 this evening.

Since Genesis 6… we have been looking at the account of Noah and the flood.

Life on earth had become corrupted by the “sons of God” who we hold as demons… based on Job 1 & 2… who wanted to corrupt the gene pool of mankind to thwart the Gen 3:15 prophecy.

And, it would seem that most of the world had become corrupted in this manner, but contrasted was Noah who in Gen 6:9 was described as “perfect” (not morally perfect… even later Noah was cited as getting drunk (Gen 9:21), but genetically pure… not corrupted by the ‘sons of God’.)…

And compared to the world… Gen 6 :5-7 and 11-13 give us the LORD’s assessment of mankind during that time before the flood…

… wickedness, violence and corruption was great and every thought was only evil continually.

Jesus likened the ‘days of Noah’ to how the world will be during the tribulation… just before He returns… (Matt 24:38-39).

Making the ‘days of Noah’ a type for what is to come. It will be a time of God’s wrath, but also a time that He will preserve Israel.

In Noah’s day… the LORD was grieved by the state of mankind and determined to destroy man and beast alike.

Except for Noah… who found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

And, Noah was described in Gen 6:9 as “just” (right with God through faith).…

Heb 11:7 states Noah “became the heir of righteousness which is according to faith.”

Ezk 14:14 uses Noah as a example of righteousness.

2 Pet 2:5 states Noah was a “preacher of righteousness.”

So, Noah was a man who believed God… and professed to others of the truth of God.

God told Noah the end was coming in 120 years… and to make an ark, and God gave Noah the schematics for building a vessel that would survive a worldwide, cataclysmic flood of 40 days and night of rain… and water coming up from subterranean fountains.

Gen 6:22 testified that “Noah did according to all that God commanded him.” Noah was a faithful servant.

Even well into his years. Genesis 7:6 declares, “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.”

Gen 9:29 tells us Noah died at age 950… so he was middle aged when the flood came.

Long lives back then… it was a different world… different genetics… less chemicals…

But still… the demonic infiltration and influence of the ‘way of Cain’ (Gen 4, Jude 11) corrupted the earth…

… so God brought the “flood on the world of the ungodly” (2 Pet 2:5)… and Noah’s family would be “saved though water” (1 Pet 3:20).

So… Noah built the ark in faith… moved with godly fear… and saved his household from the flood which condemned the world… according to Heb 11:7.

And, indeed this was a universal flood over the whole world… not a local flood…

Gen 7:6 states the “floodwaters were on the earth”… which has to be the whole earth or animals and people could have migrated to dry land, but that was not the case.

Gen 7:20 reads the “mountains were covered.”

The Psalmist testifies Psalm 104:6–8 “You covered it [the earth] with the deep as with a garment; The waters stood above the mountains. 7 At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away. 8 They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys...”

The flood covered the mountains and valleys… all the heights and depths of the entire earth.

Except for those who were invited into the ark… Noah’s family… eight in all… those who God closed the door behind…

Gen 7:16 declared “the LORD shut him in.” What a great assurance! If God closed the door… He would carry them through the storm… as He does with us.

Noah and his family between Genesis chapters 7 and 8 would endure a flood that had a duration of and estimated 371 days… 40 days and nights of tremendous waters falling from above… and rising from beneath…

… the water continued to rise and peaked at Day 150 (Gen 7:24)… and then would begin to subside (Gen 8:3) … and it would take about another 221 days before the ground was fully dry.

Chapter 7 closed describing the judgment of God on the earth which destroyed both man and beast… all creatures who were outside the ark… only Noah… his family… and 7 of each clean animal… and 2 of each unclean animal would survive.

Tonight, we pick up looking at chapter 8… as the water subsides… dry ground appears and we peer into “Life After the Flood”… our message title this evening.

And, in reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage.

Genesis 8:1-22 “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.

15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

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.”

Praise God for His word! Please be seated.

In V1 we read, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark.”

Our human language is limited when describing the infinite… the eternal… especially in describing the behavior of God.

When we read “God remembered Noah”… we must understand this… NOT is the sense that God ever forgot Noah, but…

… Hebraic in thought for God “began to act on their behalf.”

God is always acting on our behalf in ways we cannot see or even begin to comprehend.

And God’s timing had arrived for Him to give the next instruction to Noah… who for a year now had waited upon the Lord.

Sometimes… we wait a long time… and we may come to a place where we think God forgot us…

Like David… Psalm 13:1–2 “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily?”

That’s a natural feeling and outcry from the heart of man. But it is faulty.

In no way does God forget us. And, God did not forget Noah.

It’s not like one day God was rapping with the Angels and the thought of Noah just popped back into His head and He exclaimed…

“Oh My… Oh My Self… the guy in the boat with all those animals…

… what was his name… Nolan… Noel… NO… Noah…

Noah… I need to check on that guy. How long’s it been??”

That’s not the picture of Gen 8:1. God doesn’t forget us.

David also wrote Psalm 40:5 and declared, “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.”

Again David wrote… Psalm 139:17–18 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand…”

There is but one thing that God forgets… which is captured in…

Jeremiah 31:34, “… For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Which is a promise God made to Israel and is realized in the New Covenant… where through faith in Jesus Christ… true cleansing from sin is accomplished.

And we praise God for forgetting our sins… removing our transgressions as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12).

And we praise God for His numerous thoughts about us… and for His perfect timing when He remembers us… when He acts on our behalf.

And as God remembered Noah and all living things with him on the ark…

“… God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. V2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.”

So… now God moves in three specific ways…

A wind… passed over the earth…

The subterranean fountains stopped erupting water to the surface of the earth.

And, the rains ceased from falling.

The wind most likely refers to actual wind blowing upon and aiding in evaporation of the flood waters.

I say most likely because the word for ‘wind’ is Heb. ruach can be translated as either “wind” or “Spirit.”

And this feels a little reminiscent of early creation when the earth was covered in water and “… the Spirit of God (ruach) was hovering over the face of the waters.”

And the question in some scholars minds is ‘did God once again employ His creative powers to divide the land and the waters?’

Probably not… virtually every Bible translation uses the word “wind” and not “Spirit”…

As it seem commonly accepted based on this context… that a physical wind is aiding the waters to recede.

And, yet still… God’s sovereign hand is all over the water’s receding…

As we read in Psalm 104 earlier “The waters stood above the mountains. 7 At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.”

Just as Jesus can silence the storm on the Galilee with three words, “Peace, be still.” (Mk 4:39)

So too did the waters of the flood in Noah’s day recede by the rebuke of the LORD.

If you like looking at science behind the flood… perhaps look in the the term “isostatic readjustment.”

Henry Morris wrote about this process and the thoughts behind how continents were newly shaped post-flood as subterranean caverns… once filled with water would collapse and surface elevations would sink.

The depth of thought behind all of Genesis and earth’s origins are spectacular.

V3 closes mentioning that it was at the 150 day mark… 5 months… of Noah being on the ark when the waters began to decrease.

So at day 150… the waters reach their peak according to Gen 7:24… and then begin to recede… leading to…

vv4-5 “Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.”

In vv 4-5 notice the specific months and days described… and what this aids scholars to track how many days into the flood events occured.

The seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month interesting enough is also 150 days into the flood…

So… the 150th day was a big day.

The waters peak on 150 days Gen 7:24…

The waters began to recede on 150 day Gen 8:3…

And, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat on the 150 day.

The tops of the mountains were not yet visible, but the ark came to a stop with the portion of the ark under the water becoming grounded on elevated terrain.

Essentially, the boat ran aground.

Then, on the V5… tenth month, first day of the month… day 224… mountain tops were visible as the waters continued to recede.

So, the addition of these days and months help to tell the story of what happened and when in the account of Noah and the flood.

If you’re interested in seeing how scholars come up with these numbers of 150 and 224… there are number of articles that take into account Noah’s age… the calendar… the sequence of events listed in scripture… etc. to track what happened on what day and how many days total.

It reminds me a little of being in math class in school… and I never was fond of any of math classes…

So… I’ll spare myself… and perhaps you the details… BUT, for you inquisitive minds… KNOW that the data is out there… available for your curious mind with the click of a button.

One more observation in V4 before we move on… in V4 notice the phrase “mountains [plural] of Ararat.”

Placing the ark settling NOT directly on Mount Ararat, but in the range of mountains nearby.

Interesting… there is a “Noah’s Ark National Park” in Eastern Turkey…

Some of you have probably seen this formation on the slide behind me… what is called the Durupinar formation.

It’s intriguing for sure… as it obviously looks like a boat-shaped formation… and it’s about the same size (though a little larger than the biblical record)…

The scientific community has been all over this… and is divided whether this is a natural geological formation OR a buried man-made structure… a boat.

A 1996 study by geologist Lorence Collins concluded it is a natural rock formation with no evidence of being a man-made vessel.

But, in May 2025… a research group called “Noah’s Ark Scan” announced results of enhanced ground-penetrating radar scans and soil tests…

And, they suggest there is evidence of angular structures and parallel lines… suggesting man-made features (a deck-like platform) approximately 8 to 20 feet below the surface.

So, they are leaning towards a boat.

So… why don’t they just dig already for crying out loud?

Well… there’s risks you see… for several reasons… but a big one is what if they dig and find no boat?

Presently, estimates of 100-200 thousand tourists visit the site each year.

And there is a lot of revenue generated in ticket sales, guided tours, the visitor center’s cafeteria and gift shop.

Ticket sales alone generate upwards of over a half a million a year in revenue.

Guided tours are about $2000 per person… upwards of $400,000,000 per year.

And, that’s probably still conservative. In 2024, over 52 million foreign tourists visited Turkey…

… and over $61 billion in tourism revenue was generated.

It would be a shame to lose one of their key attractions in the name of science and Biblical archaeology.  

I can only imagine WHY the Turkish government would drag their feet on the project.

But, feel free to verify… and give a call to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism… I’m sure they’ll give you a forthright answer.

And, look… I hope the boat is there. I’m pulling for it.

Noah’s Ark Scan is planning a controlled excavation of the site to verify their findings… and I hope the government issues the permits.

I love it when archaeology verifies the truths we read in the Bible.

In David Guzik’s Genesis 6 commentary… he goes into historic secular detail of evidence for the reality of Noah’s Ark.

You should check it out on his website “Enduring Word.”

Here’s an abbreviated synopsis of what he wrote:

275 b.c. a Babylonian historian, Berosus wrote of a ship grounded in the mountains of Armenia.

75 a.d.… Josephus wrote locals collected relics from the ark… and that ancient historians he knew of wrote about the ark.

180 a.d. Theophilus of Antioch wrote the Arks remains were still visible in the mountains.

1856… An elderly Armenian man in America said he, his father, and three scientists (atheists) visited the ark site to disprove the Ark’s existence, but found it… and were enraged, so they tried to destroy it, but it was too big and petrified.

In 1918… one of the scientist admitted on his deathbed the story was true.

1876… British statesman and author, Viscount James Bryce, climbed Ararat and reported finding a four-foot long piece of hand-tooled timber at more than 13,000 feet.

1916… Six Turkish soldiers claimed to see the ark.

Guzik gives a few more examples, but you get the idea… and I find this very intriguing indeed.

Guzik also wrote, “There have been many more recent attempts to find and document the ark, but they have been hindered by politics and surrounded in controversy.”

Gotta keep those dollars rolling in.

Anyhow… back to our narrative…

vv6-8 “So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground.”

Previously, we were at Day 224… now add forty days… we are now at day 264… and scholars state it was in days 264-278 when Noah released birds to test for ground.

If the birds came back to the ark… there was no dry ground for them to land. So, they hoped NOT to see the birds again.

Noah sends out a raven at first and it kept going to and fro…

That’s what my NFL team… the Ravens seem to be doing too. They just keep going to and fro… they can’t seem to land the big trophy.

Very very sad. But, maybe this is the year! They are presently ranked 3rd in likelihood to win the SuperBowl.

The Colts are way way down on the list. I hope they defy the odds though. I do root for the Colts… even though they destroyed my childhood… leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night.

Caused me to grow up without football.

And, many of you are thinking… who cares? Would you shut up already about football? I hate football and the Ravens. I hope they keep going to and fro.

Ok ok… I hear you.

“Raven” or “Ravens” only appears in the Bible 11x… so let me have my fun.

Some Pastors like to point out the symbolism behind the Raven and the Dove in the following verses.

I wouldn’t doubt it, but won’t say conclusively what the symbolism may mean.

Some see the Raven… an unclean bird (Lev 11:13-15) as representing the old nature. And, the dove… a clean bird representing the new nature.

And, linking the Raven to the death of the flood and how the old nature feeds off garbage like a carrion would.

Whereas the Dove does not associate with that scene and finds no rest until it’s feet are set on new ground.

Maybe… what I don’t like about symbolism is when it feels like a stretch.

Another interpretation I read was the Raven was often associated with judgment and the Dove with peace.

Linking the Raven to the judgment of the flood… and the dove… who finds ground… with a return to order, and God’s divine peace and favor.

Maybe… perhaps… not a hill to die on…

Like a Parable without an interpretation… I encourage you… tread lightly when handling symbolism.

vv9-12 “But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.”

In these verses we see two references to “seven days”… as well in Gen 7:4 and 10. Some have suggested these were Sabbath Days.

But as Morris pointed out… this is doubtful because there was not an even number of weeks between the first and second of these sevens… so the weeks don’t line up.

Point being… the astute scholar is a Berean in nature and doesn’t just accept interpretations without searching the scriptures themselves to see if these things are so.

A good application for us as we study the word and look to commentators. Be a Berean.

What’s interesting… at this point in the narrative… is Noah’s actions.

He was actively watching for signs of God deliverance. Day by day… he and his family would have been faithful to care for the animals on the ark… to tend to the ark… they made meals and used their systems to ensure water to drink.

But, Noah also opened the window to the ark… and sent out the birds to see if the waters had receded.

We recently read in our Romans study… Roman 13 that “now it is high time to awake out of sleep”…

We looked at 1 Thes 5 which speaks about the Day of the Lord… and how the Lord will come unexpectedly.

We should “watch and be sober.”

No doubt Noah was faithful to the things necessary for life on a day to day basis… but he was also mindful of the coming day of deliverance…

We don’t read that Noah grew weary… or doubted God…

Despite Noah watching the waters rise… and people die… and then the aftermath of visible signs of death…

Noah still waited for the day of deliverance.

And then one day… as we read in V11 that the dove returns with a “freshly plucked olive leaf in her mouth.”

You’ll often hear the olive leaf or olive branch as representative of hope.

And, no doubt… imagine being at sea for now about 10 months… with the entire earth’s landscape swallowed up by water…

You’ve sent out the birds and they’ve returned with nothing.

But, now… and olive leaf. Noah must have been ecstatic.

I imagine Noah gathered his family… with the olive leaf in hand… and his hope spread to them… and then they were filled with hope.

Hope is a powerful force… it’s contagious is the best of ways… as it’s shared… it spreads from one person to another.

And, the thing about Christians… is we have the best message of hope for the world.

1 Peter 3:15 declares, “… always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear… ”

What reason do you have hope in you? Be sure you know how to articulate that.

We sang earlier... “In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song...”

In Rev 12:11… tribulation saints are said to have overcome Satan “… by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Our hope can be summarized through…

Jesus’ death… and faith in Him justifies us before God.

The word of their testimony… and the best testimony we can give is to preach the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. (Rom 1:16)

And… the tribulation saints will be immensely dedicated to Christ… even to the point of martyrdom.

I’m not sure that on the forecast of our lives… but be sure you are ready… at all times… to give a defense… an apologetic… humbly and reverently to everyone who wants to know about your hope… your Christ.

And I pray God uses you to share hope that spreads.

So… back to Noah… he has received good news in the form of an olive leaf.

And seven days later he sends out the dove again… and it does not return.

Which is more good news. It found someplace else to rest it’s feet… dry land.

Then we read in vv13-16 “And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. 15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.”

So, in V13… the time stamp there brings us up to day 314.

… where Noah looks and spots dry ground… and goes on the Ark intercom to announce “Land ho!”

We don’t know how much land they spot.

But in V14… the new timestamp brings us up to day 370… so an additional 56 days pass between vv 13-14.

It’s amazing how for us… it’s just two verses, but for Noah’s family it was almost two months from spotting land to the earth now being fully dry.

And all this time they remain on the boat.

And, I love that we don’t read something like, “Noah got in his life raft… and rowed out to dry ground as soon as he saw it.”

That may be our story… “get me out of this boat… it smells like animal dung… I don’t care if I have to swim to a patch of sand with a single coconut tree… I want outta here!”

It’s easy to rush things… and get impatient… and get ahead of the Lord.

So many people jump ship and swim to the first patch of dry ground they see, but if they waited for God’s perfect timing… He would have something so much better.

People do this with work… with relationships… with where the go to church… with where they work…

Thinking as soon as I hear “Land ho!”… that must be the sign.

When that was just there to prepare your heart for the actual door or direction that God was going to give.

With Noah… what we see is he waits the additional 56 days from seeing dry ground… and then even with the earth fully dry… still Noah waits until he hears from God in V16.

How important is it for us to wait until we hear from God?

I learned this lesson the hard way… praying and asking God if I should move to Chicago for an insurance promotion.

God was silent, so I reasoned, “Well… he didn’t say, “No!”” So… we went and the next 2.5 years were some of the most difficult and dry years of my life.

Psalm 27:14 declares, “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!”

And Noah did just that… He waited on the Lord.

And this shows us that Noah was in complete submission to the Lord.

He didn’t just at the first site of dry land… up and run out of the boat.

He waited until he got clearance to go… which we read in V16 where God now tells Noah… for the first time in 370 days… a little over a year… “Go out of the ark…” You and your family… 8 in all.

We all LOVE the moment God says “go.” We’ve been waiting, but now it’s time for action!

And the success of your action is dependent upon the work you did while waiting.

Because waiting does NOT mean doing nothing.

Waiting well is active waiting. Actively preparing our hearts and spirit with God’s word and prayer.

Waiting is not being idle…

It’s waiting, but preparing our lives in anticipation of God’s green light to go.…

And, wise waiting leads to successful going.

In the following verses… God further instructs…

vv17-19 “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.”

So, God instructs for the ark to be emptied of all living creatures to begin life anew on the planet.

For them to be fruitful and multiply.

And we read V18… and it seems so simply to read, “Noah went out”, but consider the height of the door above dry ground.

I read an Answers in Genesis article that imagined Noah and his sons… opening the door… removing the pegs that secured the door…

And, one brother stopping another brother from nearly falling out as they were five cubits above ground… about 7.5 feet.

We might jump out of the boat, but before they could safely lead all the animals out, they would need to build another ramp of sorts.

So often picture books portray this moment of exiting the ark as sunny days… green grass and trees, but I don’t think that’s what they saw.

The earth would need some time to recover from the flood. There were likely ravaged trees all over. Lot’s of clean up.

And, some skeletal remains of people and animals were likely seen.

After over a year in the sea, decomposition, fish and scavengers would have reduced the deceased to skeletons… those that weren’t buried in silt.

I don’t picture a beautiful scene in my mind.

And, even with this… take a look at the dedicated and grateful heart of Noah.

vv20-22 “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.”

Noah gets off the boat, and his first order of business is to build an altar to the Lord… displaying God’s preeminence in his life.

Noah is only recorded as building two things in scripture… and ark and an altar.

And on this altar there would be many sacrifices this day.

All those seventh of the clean animals… if they didn’t have offspring on the boat… they became a sacrifice.

The was not just one lamb, but many animals and birds.

And Noah presented these as burnt offerings… which is an offering where the complete animal is burnt.

It symbolized complete surrender and devotion to God… atonement for sin… worship… and thanksgiving.

For Noah… no doubt he was grateful for God’s faithfulness and deliverance.

And this foreshadowed Jesus Christ… Just as the offerings were wholly consumed… Jesus gave Himself completely on the cross, serving as the perfect atonement for humanity’s sins and fulfilling the sacrificial system.

Hebrews 10:5–7 reads, “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”

The entirety of scripture points to Jesus Christ… and as this offering would look for to the Deliverer of the world… and the smell of this burnt offering rose and the LORD smelled “a soothing aroma”… or a “pleasing aroma”…

And, you know what this is like… when someone is grilling in your neighborhood… the smell reaches your nose… and it smells amazing.

But, God also recognizes the heart behind the sacrifice… and God no doubt was well pleased with Noah’s dedication… gratitude… and praise to the Lord.

In response… God promises to never again curse the ground or destroy every living creature…

And, God will set the Rainbow in Genesis 9:13–15 as a ‘sign of the covenant between Him and the earth… and every living creature on earth… that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.’

Even though God knows the condition of mankind. God assesses mankind as having a mind bent towards evil even from childhood.

And the only remedy… is foreshadowed in the burnt offering… Jesus Christ our LORD.

It’s amazing how a dedicated heart… that is offered up to God… can move the heart of God.

And those of you with Children… you know how this is.

They do something really rotten… but if they come to you humbly… with a kind act…

Hopefully not offering the dog on the Weber grill… that would be bad…

But they come to you with a truly repentant heart… they come to you to get right with you… with a voluntary act to express love and dedication.

And it melts your heart.

And, you say… “I was gonna kill you, but now I won’t… I’ll bless you instead.”

And God sees us… despite the weakness in our heart… despite evil thoughts that plague us…

God sees our moments of dedication and honoring Him.

And, it moves God to be patient with us.… and bless us… despite us.

2 Peter 3:9 reads “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

God desires all people to come to Him… and He’s been patiently waiting some 2000 years since the cross until one last Gentile gets saved.

God will uphold this covenant to Noah as long as the earth remains… which is what is reflected in V22… “While the earth remains”… God will be faithful through all the seasons of the earth until the earth remains no more.

And the Bible predicts there will be a day when the earth expires.

2 Peter 3:10 reads, “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.”

A day is coming when this world will end.

And a day is coming when each of lives will end and then we will stand before the Lord.

If you’ve never trusted in Jesus… do so today. We’d love to pray with you afterwards and answer any of your questions.

The people in the days of Noah thought the ark was ridiculous and they didn’t get into the ark… and they perished.

And, there is a greater eternal judgment looming ahead for every person who closes their eyes for the last time who has not accepted Jesus.

It’s the judgment of eternal separation from God… and torment by fire… in what the Bible calls hell.

Time is short… Christ can come at anytime… and when He does… the door of the ark will close… and those outside can no longer come in.

If you’re saved… I hope you have a sense of urgency to share the reason for the hope that is in you.

And, if you’re not saved… make today your day of salvation.

Let’s Pray!

If you need prayer for anything before you go, we are here to pray with you.

I pray the rest of your week is blessed…

And, as we read today… that your life is one that reflects waiting on and being consecrated to the Lord…

And that doors would open for you to share the hope of Jesus Christ with a world that needs the Gospel.

God bless you as you close out the week.