Chapter 10: Noah's Sacrifice

From: Genesis: The Book of Beginnings By: George Christopher Willis

Genesis 8 • 3 min. read • grade level: 5

Genesis 8

Later Noah removed the covering of the ark. By one year and ten days, the earth was quite dry. So God told Noah that he and his wife and sons and their wives should leave the ark. And so they and the beasts and the birds and creeping things, all left the ark. How happy! But God had been with Noah all that long time in the ark. The joy of Heaven is to be with God, and the Lord Jesus, and He with us. Noah had this joy; although he was shut up inside the ark a whole year, he had the best Friend with him. We who believe in the Lord Jesus have Him with us, and are just as safe as Noah.

Noah built an altar and sacrificed of every clean beast and bird. The Lord smelled a sweet smell, and 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 everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease” (Gen. 8:20-22²⁰And 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. ²¹And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; 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. ²²While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8:20‑22)). The sweet smell from the altar is a picture of God’s foreseeing the preciousness of the sacrifice of His Son on the cross for us, and for Noah too.

All the water of the flood, or of baptism, can never wash away the sins of your bad thoughts and works, for “without the shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22²²And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)).

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things, But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Gen. 9:1-4¹And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. ²And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. ³Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. ⁴But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (Genesis 9:1‑4)).

Some think that good acts, not eating meat, not killing things, makes them fit for heaven. No! Eating meat, or not eating, has nothing to do with the forgiveness of our sins (1 Tim. 4:1-6¹Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ²Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; ³Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: ⁵For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. ⁶If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. (1 Timothy 4:1‑6)). But we do not eat the blood. Why? Because the blood is the life, and the life belongs to God (Acts 15:20-29²⁰But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. ²¹For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. ²²Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: ²³And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: ²⁴Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: ²⁵It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. ²⁸For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; ²⁹That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. (Acts 15:20‑29); Lev. 17:10-14¹⁰And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. ¹²Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. ¹³And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. ¹⁴For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. (Leviticus 17:10‑14)). The blood of Jesus Christ poured out, tells us that He died—He gave life for us.

God put the rainbow in the clouds as a sign of no more flood. This reminds us that God has promised that all who trust in the Lord Jesus have everlasting life and will escape judgment (John 3:16¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16); John 5:24²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).

Noah planted grapevines, drank wine, and got drunk. His son Ham saw him naked in his tent, but Shem and Japheth covered their father. When Noah was awakened from the wine, and knew what was done, he cursed Ham’s son. From then on, Ham’s children were to be servants.

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