“Then God said to Noah, “Leave the boat, all of you—you and your wife, and your sons and their wives. Release all the animals—the birds, the livestock, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.” So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. And all of the large and small animals and birds came out of the boat, pair by pair. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose.” Genesis 8:15-20 NLT
From the time the first rain fell to the earth to the time the waters receded enough to have dry ground, took a year. Noah began the journey at 600 years old and now he was 601 years old. Human evil had exponentially exploded over the 1,600+ years since creation.
After Noah had left the boat, he sacrificed some designated animals to the Lord. Had the family gone an entire year without an acknowledgment of their own sin? When Noah prepared and offered that sacrifice, it signaled that he understood the cost and consequences of sin. This pleased God. After a complete re-start of human history, God gives a chilling reality. “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done,” Genesis 8:21. Every inclination, every thought and imagination is bent towards sin – since childhood!
Anyone that can’t see that we are still in a battle, does not understand the depth of our depravity. God constantly gets blamed for both being cruel and overbearing and, at the same time, blamed for not eradicating evil. Like we could have it both ways! What evil, whose evil should God start with? What’s the measurement of too much evil and who is qualified to judge it?
God told us, our choices came with consequences! It’s not just the first couple in the garden. It’s every couple, every person that was banished from the garden today. Noah’s sacrifice was critical to acknowledge that he understood this. God’s people were taught and respected the idea of temporary animal sacrifices as a means of obediently understanding the cost of their own sin. When Jesus became the final and perfect sacrifice for all humankind, it allows us to place our trust, our hope, that He is enough. Not just to cover our sin, but forever eliminate the judgment and justice due for us to pay. The escape from our sin, the guarantee of the biggest life do-over ever, is found, not just in believing in Jesus, but living in Jesus.
Prayer
Dad,
I often think about what so many people seem to believe about you. Some want to just deny any and every idea of a creator, or a God to answer to. Others, want to pretend they are a god themselves, attempting to get the good life through a plurality of religious-like activities. And still others have declared themselves as your enemy, believing the lie that they can overtake your throne, side with the accuser and win. All of this is an impossible illusion of being in control of our sin and of our own destiny. I am so very thankful for your gracious life do-over found in Jesus. You alone have saved my life here on earth as well as my eternal life yet to come.