The Rainbow Promise

May it please Almighty God to bless the reading of His holy words to the Prophet of our souls this evening. Let's turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 9, and reading verses 8 to 17. This is the account when the Lord very graciously brought into being the rainbow. So Genesis chapter 8 and reading verses 8 to 17.

And God spake unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you. and with every living creature that is with you, the fowl of the cattle and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark to every beast of the earth, and I will establish my covenant with you.

Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. Well it's a concise account that we have in Genesis of the occasion when God told Noah and his sons that he would place the bow in the sky.

And ever since that day until the present time and we know it will be until the end of time we have the wonderful evidence of God's promise God's promise that he will not flood the earth again. You may think, well, that's obvious. The blessing is that it should be a wonderful encouragement to us every time we see the rainbow to realise the faithfulness of God. And that should be an encouragement to us in our own lives as well as those which we meet with, and indeed the whole Church of God.

And he tells us, Behold, I establish my covenant with you. A covenant, really, we can define as a sworn conditional promise. And it was a sworn conditional promise by none less than Almighty God. And God graciously spoke to Noah and his sons. You may realize that, of course, Noah was 600 years old when the flood came upon the earth. So he lived on the earth. 600 years and there never been a flood and now suddenly he witnessed this terrible flood and no doubt he was fearful and that's why God in his love spoke to Noah and his sons that he would not flood the earth again and that must have been an encouragement and a strength to him and so the Lord says and I will Establish my covenant with you.

Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood. Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. Well, God has been faithful. And no floods have covered the earth. There have been floods, but they've never covered the earth and never covered any more than just a very small part of the earth.

So we have the evidence of God's faithfulness. And as we see that, and I hope when we do see the rainbow, which we do sometimes, it always reminds us of God's promise and it reminds us of the faithfulness of our God. And as we see it in the rainbow to realise that God likewise can do those things which you and I need in our little lives, that he may establish with us his promises. He may speak to us and perhaps confirm to us those special things with regards to his grace and his mercy and his love, which is so true as it is that the earth's never been flooded again.

And therefore he tells us, and I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood. Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, this is the token of the covenant.

It wasn't just words. Words would have been perfectly adequate. But we see how kind and gracious He is. gracious is to us and to the whole church of God that he gave them this token. And what a blessing it is in our lives if God gives us tokens that he will look upon us, that he will remember us, that he will bless us. And to realize that the God that gave this covenant to his ancient people is the same God that speaks to encourage his people today. And so he says, neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is a token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations.

What a promise. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the earth." Well, I'm sure as we see the rainbow, how wonderful it is, and how vivid the colours are sometimes, and what a glorious reminder that is, that God is faithful. when I ever see the rainbow. Personally, I'm always encouraged to realise here is the wonderful evidence of the faithfulness of our God. That which he covenanted with mankind, that is still true today. And God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

You see, God could have just said, I will not. again flood the earth and that would have been adequate but it's wonderful to realize that God looks upon us in love to our souls and gives us this wonderful token this evidence of his promise and therefore when we see God's bow in the cloud remember we have a faithful God a God who's promised. And if he's promised in such things as that, we can believe he also will look upon us, and perhaps he's spoken to us, and perhaps he's encouraged us to realise that what he said to us as individuals will come to pass. all God's promises will be fulfilled. They don't fail. The rainbow has not failed and God's promises have not failed.

And so he tells us, I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a token of a covenant between me and the earth and it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth and the bow shall be seen in the cloud. Must have been a wonderful occasion when that first occurred, when God's promise was shown forth in all its glory. And those of God's people who had heard about this could look up and see this wonderful token of God's faithfulness and promise. and it shall come to pass. You see, good, isn't it, to read that? And it shall come to pass. God's promises do come to pass. They come to pass in this way, and his promises come to pass in our little lives. That's very humbling, isn't it?

And he says, remember, this is God speaking, and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh, and the water shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And then he reiterates, and the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I, this is God speaking, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. God's promise on this occasion was everlasting. God's promises to his people today are the same. They don't fade away. They remain. As God is, we know the same yesterday and today and forever. God does not change. He is faithful.

So he tells us the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token, the evidence of the covenant which I've established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Again, just to repeat, it's wonderful, isn't it, that God's given us the rainbow, just to confirm to us that we may remember our God. Remember His faithfulness. Remember His goodness and mercy. It's a wonderful blessing, isn't it, to be able to see the evidence. The Word of God here describes it as a token, when it was a token. And it's good in our lives if sometimes God gives us tokens. to confirm his promises toward us. And we might see those promises, how strengthening it is when those tokens appear to our heart and we can bless God for it.

Well, God's given us the rainbow and he tells us that he might remember and also, of course, that we might remember. It was established between God and all flesh that was upon the earth. Well, may God just enable us to ponder these things and realise the goodness and faithfulness of our God, and to truly thank him and praise him for it.

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The Rainbow Promise

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