After he left the ark, Noah wanted to show his gratitude to God for keeping him and his family safe so the first thing he did was to build an altar to the Lord and offer a pleasing sacrifice on it.
20Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
God was pleased with Noah’s sacrifice and made a promise to him that life on earth would continue, according to his design, for as long as the world endured.
The world would have changed a lot because of the flood. The flood would have left the earth a barren and lonely place since everything on the face of it had been wiped out by the waters. Until the plants and animals reestablished themselves, there would not have been much to eat.
There was no longer a canopy of water vapor protecting the earth from the rays of the sun. The climate would have changed and the earth would no longer have had a perfect and even temperature. There is vast geological evidence that following the flood there was an ice age that lasted several hundred years. In the midst of that altered world, God gave a new command to Noah and his sons that changed it even more.
1Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
4“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
6“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. 7As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
The harmonious relationship that people and animals had before the flood was broken. God had originally designed all his creation to live in a peaceful existence with one another. After the flood that all changed, and the fear and dread of people came upon the animals. Animals that hadn’t been afraid were now afraid of people.
Originally, God told Adam and Eve that they could eat all the seed bearing plants and the fruit from trees. Before the flood, people didn’t eat meat. They were vegetarians. After the flood, God said that people could eat meat.
The damage from the flood and the changes in the earth’s environment meant that there wasn’t an abundance of plants to eat. It may have been that in order to survive both humans and animals had to eat meat. This was a radical change and shows how sin changed God’s original plan for his creation. In spite of all this, God’s love for his creation never changed and he made a promise to Noah and his sons.
8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9″I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10and with every living creature that was with you–the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you–every living creature on earth. 11I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
17So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Because God was pleased with Noah, he made a promise that he would never again destroy the earth by a flood. A rainbow is the sign of God’s covenant with Noah. The atmosphere of the earth must have been filled with water vapor because of the flood causing a rainbow to appear. God said that the rainbow would be a sign of his covenant. Because of God’s promise, people didn’t have to worry when storm clouds appeared in the sky that God would be sending another flood to destroy the earth.
That promise, however, doesn’t mean that the earth will last forever. God has said that one day this world will be destroyed and he will create a new heaven and earth. That heaven and earth will be a perfect place where those who love Jesus will dwell with him. Revelations 2:1-4 describes what it will be like.
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
In the new heaven and earth, Christ will be present there and live with men. There will be no pain and suffering. It will be the opposite of the world we live in. It will be a perfect place where Christ reigns as king.
- Overview Questions: What does a promise mean? What did Noah do when he left the ark? How did God respond to his sacrifice? What was changed about the earth after the flood? What covenant did God establish with Noah? What was the sign of the covenant? What will eventually happen to the earth?
- Thought Questions: What do you think Noah was thinking as he came off the ark? Why do you think God made a covenant with Noah? Why do you think God will destroy the earth eventually?
- Prayer: Thank God that his love for all men and his creation never ends and that he has a plan for a new heaven and earth where all things will be made right again. Thank God that he has made a way for you through Jesus to dwell in the new heaven and earth.
- Memory Verse: Genesis 8:21-22
“Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 22″As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
What was God’s promise to Noah after the flood?
The earth will never again be destroyed by a flood.