Genesis 9:1-19 NKJV
9 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
The Lord told Noah before entering the ark, “I will establish My covenant with you.” In chapter 9 the Lord establishes the promised covenant. God promises, “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (11). Having lived through a worldwide flood that destroyed all humanity, this promise encouraged the hearts of Noah and his family. God also attaches this promise to a visible sign, the rainbow. When God sees the rainbow, he “will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth” (16). When Noah and his sons saw the rainbow in the clouds, it would also remind them that although God punishes sin, His mercy is on those who fear Him and His salvation is with those who trust His promised mercy.
The sinful world, which seems to always pervert the gifts God gives, has assigned a different meaning to the rainbow. The world has rebranded the rainbow as a placard of pride in one’s defiance of God’s created order for sexuality and marriage. It is a sad irony that the sign of God’s covenant not to destroy all flesh for its sinfulness has been appropriated as a sign to celebrate and encourage mankind’s sinfulness.
But as St. Paul writes in Galatians 6:7, “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” The rainbow reminds us that God truly destroyed all flesh on account of sin, except the believing remnant, and that creation is “reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). Those who celebrate their sin—any sin—and despise God’s promised mercy in Christ will be cut off from God. The rainbow also reminds us that God is merciful to those who repent of their sins, trust the promised redemption earned by Christ, and walk by the Spirit rather than the flesh. Let the rainbow remind you to fear God and trust Him, so that having escaped destruction by water, you may persevere in true faith and escape the coming destruction by fire, and so enter eternal blessedness.
Let us pray: Teach us to fear You, O Lord, that we fight against sin, and to trust You, that we confidently believe Your promised mercy and walk according to Your Spirit. Amen.