April 21, 2025 - Genesis 8:21 - "A Sweet Smelling Savor"

Genesis 8:21

"And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite anymore every thing living, as I have done."

In this verse, we behold a moment of divine satisfaction—a sweet-smelling savor ascending from Noah's altar after the flood. It is the first mention in Scripture of an offering bringing pleasure to the LORD’s heart. But this sacrifice, though offered by Noah, was accepted not for the sake of the man, but because of Who it represented—the Lamb slain from (since) the foundation of the world, Christ Jesus our Lord.

Noah’s offering was a burnt offering, wholly consumed, picturing substitutionary atonement. In the Old Testament, these sacrifices were but a covering for sin until the LORD Jesus came and fulfilled all righteousness by His obedience unto death. The first use of the word in the Bible is in Genesis 6:14, where it is translated by the word pitch—a type of tar used by Noah to cover the ark inside and out. From this, then, comes the idea of a covering, which is a good representation of what the Old Testament sacrifices signified. Hebrews 10:4 says, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Therefore, the meaning of atonement as a covering is a more accurate understanding of the word in its Old Testament usage, rather than using it, as is often done, to refer to the expiation, satisfaction, or canceling of sin, which only the LORD Jesus' death accomplished. Those animal sacrifices were but types and figures of the one true Sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ would make in laying down His life. Christ's sacrifice was not an atonement—a mere covering for sin—but the actual putting away of sin, as stated in Hebrews 9:26: “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

Nonetheless, Noah's sacrifice prefigured the offering of Christ, who gave Himself “an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor” (Ephesians 5:2). The fire of divine justice fell on Him as the Divine Substitute. God was forbearing with Noah—as with all those of the Old Testament who were God’s elect—not because their offerings had any merit in themselves, but because they typified the perfect righteousness and obedient sacrifice of His Son, who would pay for Noah’s complete sin debt and that of all God’s elect people throughout the Old Testament era until the cross, when the LORD Jesus came and fulfilled all Righteousness as declared in Galatians 4:4–6: “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

Note the wonder of the Lord’s declaration in Genesis 8:21: “I will not again curse the ground anymore for man’s sake.” Why? Because of some improvement in man? No! “For the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” God’s determination to withhold judgment is not based on man’s reformation, but on the satisfaction of Divine justice through the satisfactory Substitute. This is sovereign grace—God’s gracious disposition toward sinners, not because of anything in them, but entirely because of what He sees in the Sacrifice. God smells a sweet savor, not in man, but in Christ. Justice is satisfied, wrath is turned away, and mercy flows freely because the Offering has ascended and been accepted.

Noah’s altar points us forward to Calvary’s cross, where the true Burnt Offering was made. Christ gave Himself willingly, and His Sacrifice rose to God as a sweet savor, perfect in love, spotless in obedience, the complete redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction before God for those sinners whom the Father chose. And God, seeing the travail of His soul, was satisfied, as it is written in Isaiah 53:11: “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”

If we are in Christ, we know this: God sees us not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Him Who gave Himself in the place of chosen sinners. The curse is lifted, judgment is past, wrath is gone—because Christ has made Satisfaction of God the Father. We are “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). His offering is ever before the Father—a perpetual sacrifice that gives us complete peace and pardon forever.

May this Truth ever be settled in our hearts, and our hearts ever settled and established in this Truth —Christ and Him crucified. The ground of our depravity and sin debt is no longer cursed for Christ’s sake. The fire of judgment has already fallen on Another. And now, from the cross, a fragrance rises eternally before the throne—a sweet-smelling savor.