Sacrifice

 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.
Genesis 8:21 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/gen.8.21.ESV

The pleasing aroma was Noah's sacrifice of clean animals to God. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. The blood of animals can't wash away our sins however.

Noah's animal sacrifices were a pale shadow of God's sacrifice of His Son on our behalf. It is because of Christ's crucifixion that we're not in hell as we deserve. If we trust in Him, we are no longer under a curse, but are blessed with eternal life.

God knows our hearts' intentions are naturally evil. Yet He can perform spiritual heart surgery to remove our evil hearts and replace then with hearts that respond to His love towards us in Jesus. We don't need to deceive ourselves that we don't face death, but we can be delivered from destruction.

The earth will never be flooded again, but it will be burned up before the new creation is inaugurated. Only through faith in the Lord can we make it to glory. May God have mercy upon us.

'All Glorious God, have mercy upon us we pray, in the gracious name of Christ we pray, and for Your honour, amen'

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