God’s Covenant Promise After the Flood — Genesis 8 Daily Word

Noah steps onto the new earth with faith and gratitude, building an altar to God first. Discover how God’s covenant of grace restores the land and calls us to faithful thanksgiving.

God’s Covenant Promise After the Flood

1. Scripture

[20] Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. [21] And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. [22] While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Gen 8:20-22, ESV)

2. Daily Word

# Noah prepares with confidence to step out onto the new earth.

What his faith had secured became evident through the fresh olive leaf that the dove brought back — a sign that God had dried up the water even in the lower-lying areas and caused new vegetation to grow on the land. With that assurance, Noah prepares to go out onto the new earth. At that point, God speaks to Noah. Verses 16–17: “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh — birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth — that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

God now permitted Noah to step out onto land that had been cleansed once again by His grace, rather than the corrupt earth it had been before. Just as God had spoken, Noah came out together with his family, and everything that had been in the ark came out with them. Then, in verse 8:20, Noah built an altar to the LORD and took from every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. Noah built an altar to God first. Building an altar to God first is what those who live by faith are called to do.

In particular, Noah was grateful for the gift of the land, and he was thankful that he could now, within the Lord’s will, receive the blessing his ancestors had not — the blessing to be fruitful and multiply on this earth. He was also grateful that his family, who could have perished in their sin, was now able to live within God. And so, he offered a sacrifice using the clean animals God had set apart, and in the act of burning them and sending them up to God, he confessed his sins and declared his intention never to repeat them.

# God Received the Pleasing Aroma.

Verse 8:21 records that the LORD received “the pleasing aroma.” The LORD God accepted the purification offering that Noah had brought. Notably, the word translated as “aroma” in this passage derives from the Hebrew word ruach. The original meaning of ruach is “wind,” but when applied to a person, it carries the meaning of spirit, life, or breath of life. Therefore, this passage conveys that God breathed in the breath of life from humanity and was pleased.

Just as God formed Adam and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils and was delighted, so too Noah and his family possessed the spirit and truth — that is, the faith — that pleased God.

[18] I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. [19] And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:18-19, ESV)

3. Application

# God Makes a Promise.

In verse 8:21, at the heart of His declaration, God says that He will never again curse the ground because of mankind. The reason He gives is that the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth.

God knows that human beings are incapable of looking to Him alone, because that is the nature into which we were born. [10] as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; [11] no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Rom 3:10-12, ESV)

Therefore, God declares that He will not bring judgment upon the earth on account of this sin alone—because such judgment would only repeat itself endlessly. From this point forward, His intention is to deal with humanity through mercy and compassion. As long as people dwell on the earth, they will not be judged by water again.

However, when Jesus comes again, [10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Pet 3:10, ESV) the heavens and the earth that God has made will pass away entirely.

The judgment that is coming will be far more severe than the flood. Therefore, the path to salvation for us is the same as it was for Noah’s family: while others are swept away in the pleasures of this world, we must faithfully fulfill our calling and hold our ground. How long must we do this? Verse 22 tells us: as long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.

Therefore, in the midst of all this, we are to live within the ark that God has established—the ark we uphold by faith—which is Jesus Christ Himself. We must never cease to do this. May we remember this truth, never stop displaying the fragrance of faith before the Lord, and live as wholehearted worshipers under the protection of our Lord today and every day.

Noah’s altar, God’s covenant, the offering of thanksgiving, grace and faithfulness, a new beginning

Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com