The Promise Of The Rainbow

Genesis 9:8-17

When powerful thunderstorms come crashing in, they bring with them large, fierce, angry-looking clouds, strong winds, and plenty of lightning.  For some, like myself, these are fascinating to watch, and we go out on porches to watch them come by.  For others, though, they prefer to be inside, as far away as they can be.  Too much rain in a short period of time can bring much destruction and even death to communities in an area.  In our reading today, from the Lectionary for the First Sunday in Lent, we read of the promise God made to Noah and his descendants.

Prior to where our account picks up, Noah and his family had lived through to the most powerful storm this world had ever seen.  There had never been rain before, let alone a terrifying storm.  Prior to the flood, Noah went through the world was watered by mist that came up from the ground (Genesis 2:5-6).  God had destroyed everything living with a flood, because of the immensity of the sin of man except for Noah and his family.  When Noah came off of the ark, he and his family were the only humans on earth.  That might have been a bit scary, and they might understandably have been afraid that there might be another massive flood.  God immediately set that fear to rest by making a covenant with Noah and to every one of his descendants, which would be all of us.

The covenant that God made with with Noah and all of his offspring had three parts.  The first part was that He would never again destroy the whole world, nor all of mankind, with another flood of water (vs. 11).  That was not to say that there wouldn’t be devastating and deadly local floods anywhere around the world, but there would not be one that would destroy everything, like the one Noah had just witnessed.  This covenant promise was an unconditional one, meaning that there is nothing we have to do on our part.  God has promised, and that is it.  There are also covenant promises that are conditional, meaning we have to fulfil our part, and then God will fulfill His.  This one, though, is an unconditional one.

The second part was that there would be a token of God’s promise as a reminder for all of us to see, and that was a rainbow in the sky (vs. 12 - 17).  The rainbow is a perpetual, symbolic reminder of this covenantal promise promise. The rainbow will be visible when it rains, as a sign of God’s promise.

After a storm, when the rainbow appears in the sky, God has said that He will look at the rainbow, and He will remember the promise He made to us (vs. 15 - 16).   As humans, we can be a forgetful bunch. Not only do we forget where we put our keys, or forget an anniversary, or an important appointment, but we often forget the promises God has made us.  Fortunately God has said that He will remember!  He remembers His commitment to keep the promises He makes.

The third part of this covenant promise is that the seasons will continue, unceasingly, as long as the earth remains (Genesis 8:22). There will always be a spring, summer, autumn, and winter.  The time for planting, and then for harvesting will always come.  There will always be morning and evening. Sometimes it seems that winter lasts so long and will never end, but God has promised that it will, as spring will follow.

Rainbows are usually only seen after storms and rain.  We love seeing the rainbows, but don’t like the storms that bring them.  In order to see rainbows in our life, sometimes God needs to bring us through the storms.  Every rainbow we see should remind us of God’s covenant.  All of His promises are equally unbroken and unending.