The story of Noah and the flood is so commonplace to many of us that we lose the wonder and awe of this event. The entire earth was flooded and Noah and his family were in some contraption that no one had ever seen or heard of before. What if they run out of food? What if the ark falls apart and they drown. What if the waters never subside?
But God did bring this horrible judgement to an end and the first thing Noah did when he set foot on dry ground was worship. He had every reason to do so.
God brought Noah and his family safely through a horrendous ordeal. For forty days and forty nights it rained. God opened up the waters all around them and flooded the earth to the point where no one could live. But Noah and his family were spared.
The Lord blessed Noah and his family with the same blessing He gave Adam and Eve in the garden. He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” God established a covenant with Noah. A covenant is a promise between two parties. But this covenant that God made was unique. He promised to never destroy the earth and those in it through a flood again. But, in return, did Noah promise God anything? Or his sons? Did they promise to not sin anymore and to follow the Lord all the days of their lives? No, they did not. God made His promise to all of the descendants of Noah, that includes you and me, and what did we promise? Nothing! God entered into a covenant where He promised everything and His creatures promised nothing. It was a promise that depended on God alone. This is beautiful grace and undeserved mercy.
God would pour out His wrath toward sin in another way. He would send His son, Jesus, to take the beating for us, to pay the debt on our behalf, to suffer damnation so we would not have to, to fix what we have broken and to redeem what had been lost.
As a way of reminding us of His covenant God placed a beautiful symbol into the sky so all can see and remember the goodness of God. We all enjoy seeing a rainbow. We take pictures and call our children to come look at this beautiful display of color in the sky, but do we remember the reason it appears from time to time? Do we remember at what cost it hangs there? Do we remember what it means for us?
Let the rainbow trigger a response of thankfulness, awe, and repentance toward God because He is so very good toward creatures who are so very wicked.
Looking to Jesus,
