STEPPING INTO A WHOLE NEW WORLD
They stepped out of the ark into a fresh, clean, new world full of only good and godly people.
Can you imagine what that must have felt like, especially after enduring terrible storms and a whole year of being shut up in an ark?
Maybe they thought they would perish or never see land again.
Can you imagine the freedom, relief and jubilation that Noah and his family must have experienced?
HOW WOULD WE REACT?
What happens to most of us when we have an experience like this?
We revel in the moment and think about how wonderful it is.
We marvel at being who we are and where we are.
Suddenly we become very full of our own importance and marvel at our own happenings.
It is usually suddenly all about us.
We forget those prayers of anguish during the times of trouble, and we pat ourselves on the back for enduring so well.
How foolish and stupid we humans can be at times!
NOAH KEPT HIS FAITH AND OBEDIENCE AFTER THE FACT
Not so with Noah!
He humbly stopped and considered that everything that was happening to him now was merely because God was in control, and He had shown mercy and kindness toward Noah’s family.
HE BUILT AN ALTAR TO GOD
Noah immediately built an altar and gave thanks to God. He didn’t do it two weeks later, or after they got settled in the new place.
Noah immediately began to build an altar for God. He took from every clean animal and every clean bird and offered sacrifices to God.
Remember that there were only seven of each clean animal and clean bird.
AN OFFERING SHOULD NOT BE THE EASIEST THING AVAILABLE
Noah’s offering was costly.
It was a sacrifice.
There was only a little life left in the world and Noah gave 1/7th of it as burnt offerings to God right away.
These were animals that could have been used as food for Noah and his family, but Noah wanted to give something precious and valuable to God.
He wanted God to accept his sacrifice.
He gave of the best that he had, just as Abel had done back in the beginning of time.
A SACRIFICE WITH A SWEET AROMA
The sweet aroma of Noah’s sacrifices came before God and pleased Him. God accepted the sacrifices of Noah and his family.
THE EARTH CRIED OUT
We previously discussed how some of the sages say the earth mourned and was ashamed because with the destruction of the great flood it was not able to bring forth its seed in time for the harvest sacrifices to God.
Perhaps God once again listened to the cries of the earth which was forced to receive the dead from the flood.
Perhaps once again God knew the experience of the ground crying out to him, as had happened previously when Abel had been murdered by Cain.
The earth, once perfect, had again been corrupted by the evil of mankind.
God was forced to intervene.
CLEANSED BY THE DEEDS OF GOD; NOT THE FAITH OF NOAH
Now God had swept the earth clean and baptized it into new life.
Everything was again fresh and new and perfect.
God wanted the earth, as well as mankind, to be happy and good and He was still in love with His creation in spite of the fact that they had basically destroyed themselves and only the seed of Noah and his family remained.
As God smelled the soothing aroma of the sacrifices of his faithful servant Noah, God made a decision and spoke it out.
THE PROMISE
God announced that He would never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.
God said He would never again destroy every living thing as he had done with the flood.
God noted that while the earth remained, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night would not cease.
WHILE THE EARTH REMAINS
We should think of this and consider the mercies of our God every time a season changes.
Many think that the seasons did not change before the flood because the vapors of waters that were over the earth had not been emptied out before and they had maintained a constant climatic balance.
The flood brought changes that would have made ecological and climate changes appear that had not occurred before.
SEASONAL CHANGES
Now there would be temperature changes occurring at certain times of the year, making four seasons.
Perhaps before the flood one perfect season had existed all across the earth.
Now there would be seasonal changes.
THE LIFE SPAN OF MANKIND SHORTENED
Another thing that happened is the life span of mankind became much shorter.
The new atmosphere would never allow a man to live up to almost 1,000 years as before.
Man’s time on earth was decreased by the flood.
This was not all bad, as each man’s ability to bring evil into the world was also decreased by a large number of years.
THE GLORY OF GOD
These changes all proclaim the Glory of God, and they tell us that He is still in control of the earth.
They speak to us of His never ending mercy toward His creation, especially mankind.
God was merciful enough to let us begin again.
God is so like the proud Father who always has faith that his wayward child will eventually change for the good.
SIGNS AND SEASONS
So all of these things should serve as signs of God’s glory in every season; but God decided to give Noah another promise and an even greater and more noticeable sign.
God put the beautiful multi-colored rainbow in the sky as a promise and a sign to all people.
Every time we see the bow in the sky we can be sure that God is still in control and that God always keeps His promises.