Noah: The Offering and the Rainbow

Genesis 8:20-9:17

From the time Noah and his family entered the ark until they walked out onto dry ground, more than a year had passed. Can you imagine entering the ark when the land was full of people and lush with vegetation, then emerging into a new world with only you, your wife, your three sons, and their wives? That must have been a strange reality. Certainly, all humanity can be traced back to Adam, and Noah is also part of our genealogy.

What’s striking to me is Noah’s first action after leaving the ark. “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD . . . and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20). 

Our introduction to Noah describes him as a man who found favor with God. Living in a time of corruption and violence (Gen. 6:11), Noah stood out as “righteous”—he lived by God’s standard—and “blameless”—not sinless but marked by consistent obedience. Noah was “blameless in his generation” and “walked with God” (Gen. 6:9). Just as two friends would walk together, enjoying one another’s company, so Noah was a great friend of Yahweh Elohim. 

After a year on the ark, the first thing this godly man did was offer a burnt offering in appreciation of God’s salvation and to renew his fellowship with the Lord.

The burnt offering is one of the oldest and most common sacrifices throughout biblical history, and Noah’s offering is the first recorded instance. We will see this type of offering mentioned many times as we study God’s story in God’s people. Let’s spend time understanding its importance. 

An Old Testament believer could offer a burnt offering at any time. The sacrifice acknowledged one’s sins and expressed a desire for a renewed relationship with God. The book of Leviticus provided the instructions (Lev. 1; 6:8-17). The worshiper would offer a bull, a sheep, a goat, or birds. The animals had to be male and without defects. The person would place their hand on the animal’s head and kill it, thereby identifying with the animal’s death and acknowledging that it was dying as the worshiper’s substitute. 

Then the animal's blood was drained and sprinkled on the altar, and the animal was skinned. The skin was given to the priest as payment for his service. However, the carcass was cut into pieces and placed on the altar to be burned—totally surrendered to God. 

Noah’s sacrifice predates the writing of Leviticus, yet he knew what to do. He built an altar and took “some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20). Noah sought cleansing from his sins to restore his relationship with God. Most likely, the offering was also made on behalf of his family. 

As the smoke from the sacrifice ascended to God, “the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma” (Gen. 8:21). Throughout the Old Testament, the burnt offering, presented with a sincere heart, is described as “a pleasing aroma to the LORD” (Lev. 1:9). This indicates that God accepts the worshiper’s sacrifice. 

Today, we can look back and see how the burnt offering prepared the believer for the completed, one-time-for-all-time sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. Jesus’ sacrificial death was a pleasing aroma to the Father. As Noah walked with God, so we are to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2). 

In response to Noah’s act of worship, God made a promise. 

Genesis 8:21-22
And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. 

In Genesis 1:28, God told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it….” In this new beginning for humankind, he gives Noah the same instructions. God “blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” (Gen. 9:1, 7). 

The first covenant God made with humanity was a covenant with Adam. This is called the Adamic Covenant, in which he explained to Adam the blessings of creation and warned about the forbidden fruit (Gen. 1-2). God’s second covenant is with Noah (the Noahic Covenant). 

Genesis 9:12-17
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”  

Now, every time we see a rainbow, we are to remember that God will never again destroy the earth by water. But the apostle Peter urges us not to stop there. After reminding his readers that the earth was once “deluged with water and perished” (2 Pet. 3:6), he goes on to say that the earth will be destroyed by fire on the day of judgment (2 Pet. 3:7, 10-12). 

As God’s children, we know the best is yet to come. Peter says, “According to [God’s] promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). One day, God will restore all things to how they were meant to be. This is because of Jesus, who “gave himself up for us.”  

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD 
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on Genesis 8:20-9:17.

Talking to God: The burnt offering symbolized complete surrender. What areas of your life is God inviting you to fully place on the altar today?

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SAVE THE DATE: Bible Immersion trip to Israel: November 4-14, 2026.