Costly Sacrifices and God’s Promised Grace

Genesis 8:20-22 

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. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

When God delivered Noah and his children with their families, along with all the animals, Noah thanked God as his ancestor Abel with burnt offerings which cost him something (2 Samuel 24:24).  Abel sacrificed animals given to his father Adam as helpers, and Noah sacrificed some of the seven remaining animals and birds which remained after the flood of judgement.  This cost him much, and God honored the sacrifice of life for life, just as He set the pattern in the beginning by killing the first animal to cover their sin (Genesis 3:21).  Their own attempts to cover with leaves was not sufficient (Genesis 3:7) just as Cain’s offering from the plants grown out of the earth were not enough, but the blood offering of life for life in these sacrifices were pleasing to God.  His heart therefore was moved to never curse the ground again because of man’s sin.  He determined this while knowing the sinful bent of man’s fallen nature, evil from birth, and covenanted in Himself to show grace instead of just judgement.  This agreement of promise would hold as long as the earth remains; the cycles of planting and harvest from the dirt would continue through all seasons and weather until the end of the earth as we see later in Revelation.