Gen 8:22 | KingComments | STEP | It is impressive to see what the soothing aroma of the burnt offering does with the LORD. This gives rise to thoughts in Him which He also makes known to us, so that He allows us to share in what concerns Him on the basis of the offering. He says to Himself that He will no longer curse the ground on account of man. The reason He gives for this is almost the same as He gave in Genesis 6 ( ). There He says that He will destroy the earth, because the thoughts of man’s heart are only evil. And now He says that He will not destroy the earth for exactly the same reason. We see the solution when we pay attention to context. The first is said before the flood, the second after it. First comes the judgment about man because of his evil. After the flood, the LORD takes into account that the heart of man is evil “from his youth”. Evil is innate to man and that makes him all the more dependent on the grace of God. Therefore, after the flood, God takes another ground for His relationship with man. Judgment has not changed man’s heart, but God now looks upon the earth on the basis of the soothing aroma of the burnt offering. The LORD smells the soothing aroma of the offering. “Soothing aroma” is literally ‘the smell that gives peace’. God has found His joy and rest in the offering of the Lord Jesus, His Son ( ). He still finds it, despite the immutability of man. On the basis of the offering He will not destroy the earth again through water. Through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, which always stands before God’s attention, God maintains the cycle of . On the basis of that work God still “causes His sun to rise on [the] evil and [the] good, and sends rain on [the] righteous and [the] unrighteous” ( ).

‏ Genesis 8:22

God’s Answer to the Offering

It is impressive to see what the soothing aroma of the burnt offering does with the LORD. This gives rise to thoughts in Him which He also makes known to us, so that He allows us to share in what concerns Him on the basis of the offering.

He says to Himself that He will no longer curse the ground on account of man. The reason He gives for this is almost the same as He gave in Genesis 6 (Gen 6:5-7). There He says that He will destroy the earth, because the thoughts of man’s heart are only evil. And now He says that He will not destroy the earth for exactly the same reason. We see the solution when we pay attention to context.

The first is said before the flood, the second after it. First comes the judgment about man because of his evil. After the flood, the LORD takes into account that the heart of man is evil “from his youth”. Evil is innate to man and that makes him all the more dependent on the grace of God. Therefore, after the flood, God takes another ground for His relationship with man. Judgment has not changed man’s heart, but God now looks upon the earth on the basis of the soothing aroma of the burnt offering.

The LORD smells the soothing aroma of the offering. “Soothing aroma” is literally ‘the smell that gives peace’. God has found His joy and rest in the offering of the Lord Jesus, His Son (Eph 5:2). He still finds it, despite the immutability of man. On the basis of the offering He will not destroy the earth again through water.

Through the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, which always stands before God’s attention, God maintains the cycle of Gen 8:22. On the basis of that work God still “causes His sun to rise on [the] evil and [the] good, and sends rain on [the] righteous and [the] unrighteous” (Mt 5:45).