Noah and his family stepped out of the ark into a fresh, clean, new world.
The earth was only full of all things good. Nothing evil existed anymore. For a few years, there were only good and godly people in the earth’s population. Can you imagine what that felt like?
It must have felt wonderful after a very long time of living in a terribly wicked world. After that, Noah and his family had to endure the tossing winds and storms of the flood. Noah and his family survived this for a whole year. For months and months they lived shut up inside an ark full of stinky animals.
FREEDOM, RELIEF, JUBILATION
There were probably times when Noah and his eight family memebers thought they would perish before they saw dry land again.
Can you imagine the freedom, relief, and jubilation Noah and his family were experiencing in that first moment of stepping into a whole new world? All of their old troubles were completely washed away.
Now I want to consider something else. What generally happens to all of us whenever we have experiences like this?
We love to revel in the moment!
Usually we think about how wonderful everything is. We marvel at being who we are and where we are. Suddenly we become very full of our own importance. We sit back in awe of our own achievements.
Everything in that moment becomes “all about us.”
We forget all of those prayers of anguish during the storms. Those troubled times now seem far away. There is a very human tendency we have to pat ourselves on the back for enduring so well.
NOAH WAS A WISE MAN
Humans can be so foolish at times.
This wasn’t so with Noah.
Noah was a godly man in all of his ways. He knew and understood the provider of his help.
That first day of living upon the new earth, Noah stopped and considered the truth. He knew all the things which had happened to him were because God was and still is in control. God showed great mercy and kindness to Noah’s family. Because Noah had been the last righteous man on earth, they had all been spared.
THE ALTAR OF NOAH
Noah was grateful. He immediately built an altar to express his thanks to God.
Notice that word “immediately.” Noah didn’t wait until two or three weeks later. He didn’t wait until they all got settled into their new places. Noah didn’t need for anyone to tap him on the shoulder and say, “let’s remember to give thanks to God.” Noah remembered God’s provision. He worshiped and thanked God immediately.
A thankful Noah made sacrifices of one of every clean animal on the altar he built for God. God had instructed Noah to bring only seven of every clean animal and every clean bird on the ark. 1/7th of every clean animal of the earth was given to God on this altar. This made Noah’s offerings very precious and costly.
These sacrificed animals would have made delicious food for Noah and his family. However, Noah wanted to give something precious and valuable to God. This was the first and the best he could give. Noah wanted God to accept his sacrifice. He cheerfully gave of the very best that he had. This was similar to the faith of Abel. It is the same as he had done way back at the beginning of our gift of time and humanity on the earth.
The sweet aroma of Noah’s sacrifices came before God and pleased Him. God accepted the first-fruit offerings of Noah and his family.
THE EARTH MOURNS IT HAS NO SEEDS
Old sages speak of how the earth mourned right after the flood. It was ashamed because of the destruction of the great flood. Now the earth was not able to bring forth it’s seeds in time for the harvest sacrifices to be offered to God. The only sacrifices that were given came from Noah’s Ark.
God once again listened to the cries of the earth which had been forced to receive the dead from the flood. Once again God knew the experience of the ground crying out to him. This had happened when Abel was murdered by Cain. Sin meant death and death was always the result of sin.
Before the flood, a once perfect earth had again become corrupt by the evil of mankind. God was forced to intervene. He swept the earth clean and baptized it into a new life. Everything was again fresh, clean and perfect. All of the earth was in the process of beginning again. This pattern required time. God had given the gift of time, but it was a process. Nothing happened instantly with time.
In this new world, Noah and his family did not have time in which to grow grain to offer up to God. This had been their custom in the past. God knew this was going to happen. He had provided His own sacrifices in the form of the clean animals on the ark. God had provided them, but Noah had to decide to offer them.
Fortunately for mankind, Noah used the sacrifices which God had provided himself for the altar.
GOD PROVIDED HIMSELF AN OFFERING
What is it about this last sentence that sounds so sweetly familiar? I’m thinking of Abraham offering up Isaac. At that very last moment Abraham was stopped by the Angel of the Lord. He looked and saw a ram caught in the thicket. God had provided himself a sacrifice. The ram took Isaac’s place on the altar.
I’m thinking of Yeshua being the willing Lamb of God. He is the One who laid down His precious life for all of us. God provided himself a sacrifice.
Are your heartstrings being tugged? I know mine are. Can you see how Noah understood what God desired and he brought it immediately? The word “desired” is key to this statement. An offering that isn’t desirable to God is not an offering at all. Before bringing any offering, one must understand God’s true desires. Have you thought about this? Are your offerings what you want or what God desires? Do you KNOW what He desires?
God wanted the earth, as well as mankind, to be happy once more. He wanted to see His creation and His people flourish. YHVH was still in love with His creation in spite of the fact they had basically destroyed themselves and only the seed of Noah remained.
NEVER AGAIN
As God smelled the soothing aroma of the sacrifices from His faithful servant named Noah, He made a decision and spoke it out loud.
God announced to all the people who had survived on the ark that He would never again curse the ground for man’s sake. He stated this although God knew the imaginations of men’s hearts had been evil from their birth. God said this aloud so that all could hear He would never again destroy every living thing as He had done with the flood.
Moreover, God noted that while the earth remained, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night would not cease. In other words, the earth would now last until the sins of mankind destroyed it again.
As our seasons begin to change we should think of this. We should always remember His promises and consider the mercies of our God. There is a way that creates abundance instead of destruction. God’s ways do not destroy the earth, they replinish it.
CHANGING SEASONS
Some think the seasons did not change until after the great flood. All of the vapors of water over the earth had never been emptied out before. Most likely the stored up vapors of waters had maintained a constant climate balance. The flood brought new conditions creating ecological and climatic changes which had never appeared on the earth before.
Now there would be temperature changes which occurred at certain times of the year. These changes caused the earth to bring forth the four seasons we now enjoy each year in their time. Many believe only one perfect season existed before this change caused by the flood. Now there were seasonal changes for us to notice and enjoy. I think of this and marvel each time I write another article for our “SEASONS” topics.
TIME ON EARTH DECREASED
The lifespan of human beings also became much shorter. This new atmosphere would not allow humans to live up to 1,000 years old. Man’s gift of time on this earth was greatly decreased by the flood. However, this was not all bad.
Each man’s ability to bring evil into the world was also decreased.
All of these changes proclaimed the fact that God was still in control. The new things were meant to bring glory to God. They speak to us of God’s never-ending mercy toward His creation, especially toward mankind.
YESHUA MESSIAH MAKES ALL THINGS NEW
Our Great God was merciful enough to let us begin again. Like every proud Father, Our Heavenly Father continues to have faith that His wayward children will change for the good. All of us prodigals will get that opportunity to come “home.”
All of these thoughts rest inside my heart during each changing season. This season our Torah portion is about Noah. God decided to give Noah another very visible promise. The promise of the rainbow was more noticeable than the sign of the changing seasons. God put the rainbow into the sky as a promise and a sign to remind us that all of His promises were good and true and lasting. I’ve said it a million times and now I will say it again: God always keeps His promises.
PROMISES OF THIS SEASON
This fall season, as the leaves of our trees turn multi-colors, I am grateful. I have nothing to offer but praise. Again, God is doing something new. We can’t see the seeds which are being planted durng this late season. They are the seeds which will outlast the coming winter. For us they remain invisible, but God sees them. He is nourishing them every day. One day they will spring forth. The whole earth will be filled with His Glory. What a mighty God we serve.
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