January 6

Genesis 8:20‑21
“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. And 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 everything living, as I have done”— Genesis 8:20, 2120And 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. (Genesis 8:20‑21).
“THE Lord smelled a savor of rest” (literal rendering) because it spoke to Him of the work of His beloved Son. It was not that God found any delight in the sacrifice of a lamb out of the flock, or, as some have blasphemously suggested, that Jehovah was supposed to enjoy the fragrance of roasting meat. But He looked forward with glad appreciation to what His Son was to accomplish on Calvary. In view of this, He made a covenant with Noah, declaring that He “would not again curse the ground for man’s sake.” He knew that man is unimprovable so far as his natural heart is concerned. It is only evil and that continually. But in the work of the cross all this was to be dealt with (Rom. 8:3, 43For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:3‑4); 2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)).
“No blood, no altar now,
The sacrifice is o’er!
No flame, no smoke, ascends on high,
The lamb is slain no more:
But richer blood has flow’d from nobler veins,
To purge the soul from guilt, and cleanse the reddest stains.”