Genesis chapter 9. I must admit, I really enjoy, always have,
God's creation. I remember Tommy Robbins telling
Melinda and myself when we were actually vacationing together,
down at Gulf Shores, just describing how beautiful that was. And Tommy
made a comment, he goes, if anybody can enjoy God's creation, it's
got to be the believer. And every time I see stuff, fall
colors, the fields full of corn and beans, you know, it's just,
I just, I just enjoy it. And this morning we're going
to look at the rainbow, which I've always loved this story,
this lesson. We try to explain to our daughter
that every time you see this thing, it's a promise. It says
it in here, it's a covenant. But I saw something in here that
I've never seen before, so I hope it does bless you as well. Genesis chapter 9, we're going
to start in verse 18, and we're going to end in verse 17. Did
I say 18? Genesis 9, verse 8 through 17. 8 through 17. And God spake unto
Noah and to his sons with him, saying, Behold, I established
my covenant with you and with your seed after you. and with
every living creature that is with you of the fowl and the
cattle and 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 anymore by the waters of a flood. Neither shall there
be any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This
is the token. 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, and that could
be a rainbow, 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, rainbow, 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 water 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
and 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. Now,
as a side note, I thought I saw more in here than was, so I thought,
boy, this is gonna be, so that word token, it's ensign, well,
you know who our ensign is, and it's, another word for it is
sign, and Christ is a sign that is spoken against, and it was
some other things, and I thought, oh, this is all, this all pictures
Christ. I think it had six definitions and only half of them, so I'm
not gonna go there. But this, what I think I've seen
here is, I think it's remarkable. We see the gospel in here for
sure. I wanna draw our attention to
two verses, verses 14 and verses 16. Verses 14, let me reread that.
And it shall come to pass when I, says God, bring a cloud over
the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. Verse 16,
and the bow. shall be in the cloud, and I,
says God, will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting
covenant between me, or God, and every living creature of
all flesh that is upon the earth. Now, I want us to notice, this
order is not here on accident. Every word of God is pure, and
all scripture is given by inspiration of God. God breathed. But I want
us to first point, look at verse 14. Notice the specific order
This is the way of grace, I believe. This is the approach of our Heavenly
Father. This is the approach that He
takes when He sets His love and mercy upon sinners. What do I
mean by that? Verse 14, the first thing, when
I bring a cloud, when I bring a cloud, then He
reveals the bow. It's not the other way around.
And Melinda and I, we were thinking about this. I've never seen a
rainbow on a pure sunny day without anything, clouds or rain or tempest
happening first. This is God's method. This is God's way of grace. Now
I know we desire salvation for our children and we hope that,
oh, it's just instantaneous. And who's to say that that may
not take place but God usually brings he will bring us down
He will bring us in the clouds He will bring us down. He will
bring us to the end of ourselves Before we he reveals Christ this
is Zechariah chapter 12 every family apart will mourn and What? For their sins. Every child,
every mom, every father, every brother, every son, they will
mourn every house apart. And then, and not until then,
in chapter 13 verse 1, then there'll be a fountain opened. You know,
that's just God's way. He brings us down. He's got to
empty us, empty ourselves, before He fills us. Turn with me to Lamentations
chapter 3 regarding this cloud. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse
37 and 38. Who is he that says, and it comes to pass when the
Lord commands it not. Out of the mouth of the Most
High proceeds not evil and good. Job, turn to Job chapter 34 and
verse 29, Job 34 and verse 29. When he, that is God, gives quietness,
who then can make trouble? And when he hides his face, perhaps
behind a cloud, a cloud in your life, a cloud in your situation,
it's not going well, humanly. And when God hides his face,
who then can behold him, whether it be done against a nation or
against a man only? Job chapter 33. Job chapter 33 and verse 13. Why do you strive against him,
your maker? For he gives not account of any
of his matters. Whatever God does, he's right.
Whatever he does. Whatever trial you're going through
right now, if you're a believer, it's going to be blessed of God.
Why? Because we know the end of the story. But we often, we
often, And I've read so many people that it bears out in scripture,
whether anybody says it or not. The believer, the true child
of God, grows most when he's in affliction, when he's in trial,
when he's in temptation, because if everything is going easy and
smooth, and this goes for salvation too. We will not look to Him. That's our nature. We're so corrupt,
we're so vile, we're so selfish, we're so full of self, we will
not look outside of ourselves until He does so. But look at chapter
Job 33 and verse 29 and 30. Lo, all these things worketh
God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, back
his soul from the pit, to bring, to be enlightened with the light
of the living. Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me, hold thy peace,
and I will speak. If thou hast anything to say,
answer me, speak, for I desire to justify thee. If not, hearken
unto me, hold thy peace, and I shall teach you wisdom." Our
wisdom is mostly learned when we're in the fire. Why? Because
that vessel comes forth the pure, more like Christ. Now if you
would, turn to Acts chapter 22. Let me show you what I mean.
Henry Mahan preached this message down at Crossville in the early
90s, and I've got it outlined in my study Bible. I don't have
it here, but you'll see what I'm saying. This is Paul's conversion. He went through the clouds first. He went through the clouds. Look
at verses 6 through Well, verse three, I am barely
a man which I'm a Jew born of Tarsus. He was taught the manner,
perfect manner of the law and fathers and was zealous towards
God and all that this day. And yet he persecuted this way
unto death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women. So you can be religious. And
most people are religious and not know God. He was zealous
after the traditions of his father. He was a high priest. I'm sorry,
also the high priest, bear witness with him, and all the estate
of the elders for whom I received the letters to the brethren,
under the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them which
were to their bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished. And it came
past that as I made my journey and was come nigh to Damascus,
about noon suddenly there came, there shone round about me a
great light. God's crossed his path. God's
crossed us. He's going to cross your path.
And he's going to use the truth. And I fell to the ground. He
was humbled. That's what we all are humbled.
And we say, Lord, who art thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
whom you persecuted. He said, what shall I do? See,
there's submission. He was trying to kill Christians,
and now he's submitting. What must I do? When I could
not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of
them that were with me, I came to Damascus. And one Ananias,
a devout man, he's going to send you a preacher. Or he's going
to send you a believer, somebody who knows the truth. It's all
right here. In verse 14, the God of our fathers
have chosen thee. He wasn't afraid to tell them
about election. The God of our fathers, capital G, he wasn't
afraid to talk about the sovereignty of God. You're going to be his witness.
That's what every believer is. They're not a witness. First,
we're a witness to ourselves. I did this. I did that. I built
this with my own hands. I've done this. I've done all
this. And then we're a witness unto him. Why tarryest thou? Be baptized,
worst way thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. I don't
know why, where we've gotten away from baptism. Baptism is,
if you're a believer, you're gonna do it. It's disobedience
to Christ. I understand what you're saying.
Be baptized. It doesn't save you, but it publicly
identifies. Paul did. This is God's method
of grace. Back to our text in Genesis 9,
and there's a whole bunch more in that outline, but you understand
what I'm saying. He's going to bring you through
clouds. In our text, it is He who brings the cloud of trial,
and the cloud of conviction, and the cloud of our sin ever
before us and before Him. Yes, He brings us into the cloud,
and mercy will lead us through it, and then we'll see the bowl
which will appear marvelous as Christ in our eyes. God is sovereign
over all our times, Psalms 31, my times are in your hand, Psalm
31, 15. Our ups and our downs, all are
used to bring us to an expected end, Jeremiah 29. God who cannot do wrong towards
his chosen people says that he will bring the cloud over the
earth, It will come to pass when I bring a cloud. I, God, brought
the whole thing to pass. We said he is led and fed all
the way. I will bring the cloud over the
earth. I will do this. Let us not blame
secondary causes. Well, if I'd have been there
at this time, if I'd have done this or that, no, no, no, no,
no. Let us not blame secondary causes.
Let us ever seek to know God's sovereign will, in that may we
know that His will is for us, it's never against us. May our
wills merge to His will, and therefore we can say, as they
said in Mark 7, He has done all things well. Bless the Lord, that we say as
David in Psalm 103, all that is within us, bless His holy
name. I can give you a few examples. Remember when David was running
for his life from Saul? He brought a tender and merciful
man in the name of Jonathan to help him. I think he said he
encouraged him in the Word. What about a distraught Naomi?
She receives a loving Ruth. What about in the book of Esther,
on the verge of Jewish annihilation, Esther raises to the throne.
The Lord used her for protection. So too, in the cloud, I bring
a cloud over the earth that the bowl shall be seen in the cloud. He's not finished with us. I
hope he's not finished with us here. Now we look at the sin,
the bowl, sin is conquered, sin put away by the sacrifice of
the Son of God. Let us plead the blood this morning. Let us, as the old timers say,
sue for mercy in the beloved. May we sue for mercy. Now, as
this gets better, verse 16. So we've seen that cloud, and
that cloud could be afflictions, could be trials, could be temptations.
Anything the flesh does not like. And the bow shall be in the cloud. And who looks at it? God, I will
look upon it. I will look upon it. It kind
of sounds like the death angel when he went through Egypt, right?
God says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over. It's just kind
of a similar thing here. I will look upon it, what? He's
talking about the bow, his rainbow, his covenant, or the Lord Jesus
Christ, the just for the unjust, his dearly beloved son. Emmanuel
his name is, the Christ child, the propitiation, the atonement,
the rock, the ladder which goes up and down to heaven. Or as
Hebrews 8 says, our mediator of a better covenant. How do
I know that this rainbow is Christ? I didn't until yesterday or day
before. Well, textually and scripturally, look with me in Ezekiel chapter
one. Ezekiel chapter one. I just about came out of my,
I did, I stood up, came out of my, the disgust in my back was
bothering me, so I got up. It happened to be during this
reading Ezekiel chapter one, verse 26 through 28. And above the firmament that
was over their heads was the likeness of a throne as the appearance
of a Sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the
throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon
it. And I saw the color of amber
and the appearance of fire round about within from the appearance
of his loins even upward and from the appearance of his loins
even downward. I saw as it were the appearance
of fire and it had brightness round about as the appearance
of the bow. Hmm, rainbow. That is in the cloud, hmm. in
the day of rain. So was the appearance of the
brightness round about. This was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell
upon my face and I heard a voice of one that spake, that's Christ. So when God sees Christ, literally
the clouds, You know, and even thinking about all the rainbows
I've seen, some really spectacular doubles, double rainbow. And
sometimes there, the backdrop is the cloud, but the sun hits
it. So the clouds may not, he may
not remove all the clouds, but by the grace of God, you say,
I am what I am. Where sin abounded. Grace, the
rainbow, did much more abound. That's not all. Turn with me
to Revelations chapter four. Revelations chapter four. And verses one through three. Revelations four, verses one,
two, and three. Sound very similar to Ezekiel.
And after this, I looked and behold, a door that was open
to heaven. And the first voice, which I
heard, was as it were a trumpet talking with me, which said,
come up hither, and I will show thee things, which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the
spirit, and behold, a throne was set up in heaven, and one
sat on this throne. And he that sat was to look upon
like a jasper, and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow
round about the throne, in sight, like unto an emerald. There's
that rainbow again. There's that rainbow again. And
what happens? Well, in verse 8, the beasts,
they all shouted, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which
was, which is, and is to come. But that's not all. Revelations
chapter 10. Revelations 10 and verse 1. And I saw another mighty angel,
an angel of the covenant, but you know who that is, come down
from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head,
and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars
of fire. Who's that? That's our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is why our great, holy,
and pure God can and does receive sinners. It's only because of
his worth and his accomplishments of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
I pray that we, brethren, we sinners, may Jehovah God May
we view that rainbow in our room and in our stead. May we view
him, Christ, taking my sins upon himself and burying them on the
cross. The glory and the resplendent
honor, everything is just talking about this throne and all these
different colors and visuals. I think Linda looked up how many
colors. It seemed like we usually see three, but I think she said
there are six. Well, the first one is red. You know, we could
start going on a typology, but I'm not very good at that. But,
you know, the blood. But it's beautiful to behold. It'll stop grown men, this rainbow. It'll stop grown men. the wisest
of men, the most intellectual of men, to stop and see the wonder
of this rainbow. Not many people know that it's
Christ. Not many people know what it
means. Talk about global warming and flooding. No, according to
what we read in Genesis, that ain't gonna happen. So somebody's
right, somebody's wrong. I pray that we would view this
rainbow in our room in our stead. I pray that he would break us
and then save us all of the praise of the glory of his grace. And
may we bow like these here in chapter five, and I'll just
read it in close. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne. And the beasts and
the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000,
and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength,
honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as were in
the sea, and all that were in them, heard I saying, blessings,
and honor, and glory, And power began to him that sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four
beasts said, Amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshipped him that lives forever and ever. One day, we will have such a
clear view. We won't look through a glass
dimly. We'll have pure vision, sweet
sight, I wonder if all these pictures, if we'll see that in
heaven, a wonderful, glorious rainbow that when God saw, he
took note of his covenant, which covenant is all ratified, satisfied
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. Bruce, would you
close this please?