Genesis 8
Noah Worships the LORD Jehovah
The Flood
“The Flood is the greatest single event in the history of
the earth since the days of Creation. It is the most
satisfactory solution for most of the problems which
perplex and confuse the Christian student of geology
and physical geography.
But the Flood has more than a geological significance.
The basic cause for this great world catastrophe was not
geological or cosmic, but ethical and moral…”
The Flood
“…Because of the wickedness of man God destroyed
that world of superb perfection which He had created
for an habitation of man. A study of the Flood would
therefore be incomplete without a reference to the
moral depravity of that generation which was
responsible for the destruction of the earth and without
some application to the world of today” (Rehwinkel, The Flood, p.
343)
The Flood
According to the Lord Jesus, and the Apostles, the Great
Flood was a prototype of the final Judgment awaiting
the present world.
2 Peter 3:5-7 – “For this they willingly are ignorant of,
that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and
the earth standing out of the water and in the water,
whereby the world that then was, being overflowed
with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth
which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and
perdition of ungodly men.”
The Flood
Jesus said in Matthew 24:37-39: “But as the days of
Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be. For as in the days that were before the Flood they
were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
and knew not until the Flood came and took them all
away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be”
Genesis 8:20-21
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.” (NASB)
Genesis 8:20-21
Q: Why has Noah turned his thoughts toward God?
• The world has changed
• It has become forbidding and uncompromising
• Storms are brewing
• Rains continuing, although not violent like they were
• Earthquakes, and volcanic action continued
Genesis 8:20-21
Since the Garden of Eden, access to God came through a
sacrificial offering
• Noah had an extra clean animal to offer (if there
were 7 of each clean animal---or more to offer if there
were 7 pairs of clean animals)
• He built an altar, perhaps at the Ark, toward the top
of Ararat
• He offered up each kind of clean animal and bird
• This is the first mention of ‘altar’ in the Bible
Genesis 8:20-21
1. The word ‘sacrifice’ is used for sacrifices of praise
• Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him then, let us continually
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit
of lips that ]give thanks to His name.”
Genesis 8:20-21
2. It is used for sacrifices of propitiation
• “atonement”---covering what is offensive, restoring
friendship, or causing to be kindly disposed;
• “friendliness” where antagonism would be natural:
“graciousness”)
• Romans 3:25 “…whom God displayed publicly as
a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in the
forbearance of God He passed over the sins
previously committed”
Genesis 8:20-21
• Hebrews 2:17 “For this reason He had to be made like
his brohters in every way, in order that He might
become a merciful and faithful high priest in service
to God, and that He might make atonement
{reconciliation} for the sins of the people” (NIV)
• I John 2:2 “He is the propitiation for our sins…”
• I John 4:10 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us, and sent His son to be the
propitiation for our sins”
Genesis 8:20-21
3. This word is used for sacrifices of thanksgiving for
deliverance from the corruption of the antediluvian
world, and for preservation through the Flood
• Psalm 50:13 “He who offers a sacrifice of
thanksgiving honors Me; and to him
who orders his way aright
I shall show the salvation of God.”
Genesis 8:20-21
4. It is used for intercession for his descendants in the
new world, that their lives might be protected and
the earth not destroyed by water like it was
• Intercession for mankind like Abraham (who prayed
in Gen. 17:18 for Ishmael; in 18:23-33 for Sodom; in Gen
20:17 for Abimelech after Sarah was brought into the
harem); and as Jacob prayed for the sons of Joseph
(Gen. 48:8-23)
• The absence of intercession between the time of
Jacob through Moses shows how intensely personal
and individual the religious consciousness was
Genesis 8:20-21
• Moses takes intercessory prayer to a new height
• Exodus 15:25 (the bitter, poisonous water at Marah)
• Exodus 17:4, and 17:8-16 (Meribah – strike the rock)
• Exodus 32:11 – 33:12f with the golden calf
• Numbers 10:35f (praying as the Ark moved out…)
• Deuteronomy 3:23f (praying as they enter the
Promised Land)
• Psalm 90 – “A prayer of Moses, the man of God”
Genesis 8:21
21 The
LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and
the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the
ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart
is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy
every living thing, as I have done.
Genesis 8:21
Two events in Noah’s life have earth-wide importance
and are recorded after the Flood:
1. Noah’s sacrifice with the Divine promise which
follows (8:20-9:17)
2. The prophetic curse and blessing Noah pronounced
upon his sons---especially upon Canaan, grandson of
Ham (9:18-29)
Genesis 8:21
Until the Flood, God’s presence was still residing on the
earth, in the place where the Garden of Eden was.
• They could commune with Him, or after the Fall, at
least have a place to center their worship and
adoration.
• After the Flood, there was no Garden of Eden, and no
place where God was residing on the earth.
• They began to build altars to sacrifice upon, and as a
visual place to turn their hearts toward God.
Genesis 8:21
Q: What about the ‘smoke of the altar’ ascending to
heaven…
In the future, the hearts of the pious had to be drawn
heavenward, and their offerings and prayers needed to
ascend on high, if they were to reach the throne of God.
To give direction to their offerings, heights or elevated
places were erected, from which the sacrifices ascended
towards heaven visually in fire and smoke. (K & D, p. 150)
The word ‘offering’ literally means ‘the ascending’
Genesis 8:21
“And Jehovah smelled the smell of satisfaction”
• He graciously accepted the feelings of the person
offering a sacrifice, which rose to Him in the odor of
the sacrificial flame. In the sacrificial flame, the
essence of the animal was resolved into vapor; so
that when man presented a sacrifice in his own stead,
his inmost being, his spirit, and his heart ascended to
God in the vapor, and the sacrifice brought the
feeling of his heart before God. (K & D, p. 151)
• This feeling of gratitude for gracious protection and
the desire for further communication of grace, was
pleasing to God
Genesis 8:21
God relieved their immediate apprehensions by promising
never again to destroy all life on the earth, destroying the
earth with such a devastating curse as they had just
experienced
The curse of Genesis 8:21 is not primarily the Flood, but
the curse of Genesis 3:17, which will prevail until
fulfillment of Revelation 22:3; although the Flood was
perhaps more immediately in their minds
God was not removing the Curse, but rather promising
that there would never again be a world-wide judgment
such as the Edenic law of death, or the Noahic visitation of
death as in the Flood (K & D)
Genesis 8:21
“…for the imaginations of man’s heart is evil from his
youth”
• Mankind is evil from his youth up – evil is innate in us
• We need the forbearance (patience) of God
• In the offering of the righteous Noah, not only were
thanks presented for past protection on the Ark, and
entreaty for present care in the new world, but Noah
is expressing a desire to remain in fellowship with
God, and thus obtain His divine favor (K & D, p. 151)
Genesis 8:21
“On the basis of an atoning sacrifice, God’s salvation and
blessing are received by faith. Thus, for the very reason
that man is completely unable to save himself, therefore
God saves him! Truly, He is the God of all grace! Noah
had ‘found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8)
and, through his faithful obedience and his believing
sacrifice, so have multitudes of his descendants. He did,
indeed, ‘comfort us concerning our work and toil of our
hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath
cursed’ ” (Genesis 5:29) (Morris, p. 217)
Genesis 8:21
Q: Is the Curse is found in the very structure of the basic
laws of science
It is found in the laws of thermodynamics
First Law of Thermodynamics: The total energy of an
isolated system is constant; energy can be transferred
from one form to another, but cannot be created or
destroyed
Second Law of Thermodynamics: All systems when
left to themselves tend to become degraded, or
disordered (watches run down; organisms grow old
and die; mutations lead to the extinction of the
organism, etc)
Genesis 8:21
The Curse is found in the testimony of the earth-wide
Flood as seen everywhere in the structure of the
rocks of the earth’s crust
It is found in the earth-wide fossil graveyard, 95% of
which contains invertebrate sea-dwelling creatures
It is found in the universal evidence of a cataclysmic
event that has happened earth-wide
Genesis 8:21
Q: Why has mankind distorted this record into a system
of evolution, and uniformity, disputing the Laws of
Thermodynamics (or the laws of “science”)?
Romans 1:21-23 – “For even though they knew God,
they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but
they became futile in their speculations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise,
they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man, and of birds and four-footed
animals and crawling creatures…”
Genesis 8:21
2 Peter 3:5 describes mankind as ‘willfully ignorant”
2 Peter 3:9 – however “God is longsuffering to us, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance”
Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remains, seed-time and harvest, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
night shall not cease”
• God gave Noah the promise that he need not fear
God, or a recurrence of events like the Flood
Genesis 8:22
Q: Is the principle of ‘uniformitarianism’ currently in
effect, even though the world was dramatically
different before the Flood?
• Yes
• Uniformity in the physical processes began after the
Flood, and can be counted on to remain the same
• Earth’s natural processes could be depended upon
Genesis 8:22
The present hydrologic cycle was gradually established,
with the energy of the solar radiation serving to draw
up water by evaporation from the oceans and then to
move it inland by the winds, where it can condense into
clouds and fall to the ground as rain or snow, and finally
run off through the rivers, back to the ocean again
This process is often mentioned in the Bible, with
remarkable scientific accuracy (Ps. 33:7; 135:7; Ecc. 1:6-7;
Job 26:8; 36:27-28; Isaiah 55:10) (Morris)
Genesis 8:22
The regularity of nature, which modern scientists have
formalized as their ‘principle of uniformity’ was
instituted by God after the Flood
The seasons, heat/cold, day/night, are now controlled
primarily by the sun, which actually supplies all the
energy for the earth’s physical processes
The earth’s orbital revolution about the sun, its axial
rotation and inclination, and its marvelous atmosphere
also help establish these constants of nature, which in
turn control most other geological processes.
Genesis 8:22
The promised uniformity of the seasons and the daily
cycle implies the essential uniformity of all other natural
processes.
Only these present processes can be actually seen by
modern scientists, and be observed, described, and
analyzed.
The present---not the past---or the future---is the proper
domain of true science (Morris, p. 219)