Some Drops of Sweetness

“It is said of Noah, Genesis 8:21, that he offered a sacrifice after the flood, and “the Lord smelled a sweet savor of his sacrifice”, and thereupon he says, ” I will not curse the earth again.” So God loves and delights in Christ as he offered himself a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor wherein God rests; he felt such a sweet savor in the sacrifice of Christ, he is so delighted in it, that he will never destroy mankind, he will never destroy any that believe in Christ. The sacrifice of Noah was a type of Christ’s sacrifice.

Now, that Christ’s sacrifice was so acceptable to God, there is a direct place for it in Eph. 5:2 “Walk in love as Christ has loved us, and has given himself an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smell.” And indeed how many sweet savors were there in the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross! Was there not the sweet savor of obedience? he was “obedient to the death of the cross,” Phil. 2:8. There was the sweet savor of patience, and of love to mankind. Therefore God delighted in him, as God, as man, as mediator God-man, in his doings, in his sufferings, everyway.”– Richard Sibbes

Richard Sibbes [“The Sweet Dropper”]: Works of Richard Sibbes, The Description on Christ, Vol.1 , Loc. 310(Kindle) [Language slightly modernized]