Now, if you'll take your Bibles
and turn with me to Genesis 9, I want to begin reading for you
here in verse 9, and I'm going to read through verse 17. Let's
begin with verse 8. And God spake unto Noah and his
sons with him, saying, And 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,
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
be any more a flood to destroy all 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 bowl 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 bowl 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, under Noah, this
is the token of the covenant which I have established between
me and all flesh that is upon the earth. And that's what I've
titled my message this evening, A Token of Covenant Mercy. And I want to talk to you for
the next little bit tonight about God's covenant token, the rainbow. The rainbow. I don't think there's
anybody in here that hasn't looked up and seen a rainbow. But have
you thought when you looked at it of God's covenant mercy? Because
that's why it's there. And in keeping with the context
of the bowl, there's three senses in which this bowl can communicate
this token of God's covenant to me, if I understand the bowl
correctly. And this afternoon, Even a fourth
thing came into my mind. This bow that's in the sky is
a half circle. It's a half circle. When God turns a man, He turns
him 180 degrees. He turns him a half circle. He
turns him from going this direction to going that direction. And
so this bow shows you the way. He shows you how God turns in
that covenant. How He turns a man and sends
him the other direction. Another sense in which this bow
communicates to me is the bow is a weapon of war. It's a weapon
of war. And a bow is an arch, the strongest
of all building designs. We were talking about building
before the service tonight. The strongest structures of old,
those big stone heavy structures like the Coliseums in Rome and
all of that, all designed on arches. The whole building is
set on arches. And a bow also represents to
me a bridge. Up where Brother Don used to
live, they built the largest clear-spanned arch bridge in
the country. It spans from one mountain to
the other without a single support in the middle, just one big arch.
It covers that New River Gorge, 860-some feet in the air. And a bridge, what does a bridge
do? It enables us to pass from one place to another. And as
I pointed out in our past studies about Noah and the ark, God's
favor that came unto Noah and his house was altogether of God
and altogether a revelation of God's covenant. Back in chapter
6, in verse 17, he said, I, even I. Boy, that ought to strike
fear in the hearts of all men when God says, I, even I. do bring a flood of waters upon
this earth, upon this earth to destroy all flesh wherein is
the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is
in the earth shall die." This is God speaking. This is God's
Word. He's not going to change. This
is going to happen. This is going to happen. But,
he said in verse 18, "...with thee will I establish my covenant,
and thou shalt come into the ark." Thou and thy sons and thy
wife and thy sons' wives with thee." Why? Because God established
His covenant. How did He find this covenant? How did God establish this covenant?
It says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This is
a covenant altogether of God and altogether of grace. And because of this covenant
and the promises, the terms and the provisions of it, because
of its surety and His power and His position to keep it, God
was able to come to Noah, come to him in those days of darkness
when the imaginations of men's minds were only evil continually. And God remembered Noah and every
living thing on the ark and preserved them through this flood. Gave
him the design to build it, the will to enter into it, a sense
of sufficiency to rest in it, and a good sense to stay in it
until God told him to get out. But God remembered Noah, and
He remembered every living thing on the ark, and He caused the
wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. And
there's a message there all by itself. All by itself. May Lois was asking me before
the A question about the Holy Spirit of God. Well, the Holy
Spirit of God is that wind that blows as a result of those covenant
terms being fulfilled. Because of satisfied judgment,
because of the wrath of God is exhausted, this wind is now sent
with a cause, and the cause is to drive the ground that was
once destroyed. Take that judgment away. Take
it away. Take every evidence of it, every
sign of it away. and wash it away. It blows because
God is satisfied, because His wrath is appeased and His righteousness
established in the earth. And the gospel we preach and
the Holy Spirit of God that He sends to attend it, they come
as a result of the storm that has passed. That's why we're
able to preach. You read 2 Corinthians 2, And
you read in there about that reconciliation of God. And he
said, this is why we go forth with this message. It's because
this wrath has been appeased and this justice has been satisfied.
God has been reconciled. Now you can go reconcile men.
Now you can go reconcile men. By the commandment of God, the
wind makes it possible for the ark to rest on the mountain of
God. And Noah and all that are within
the ark are commanded to go forth of the ark." Now, here's another
message. We may get into these things.
I don't know exactly where I'm going to go in this study, but
as I see these things, I'm going to point them out to you and
you can go home and read about them. Maybe the Lord will open
some things and bless your heart with it. But it says here, and
it was of particular interest to me, I was struck by this phrase,
of the ark. Now, there's a lot of You could
say that Noah and his sons left the ark, or you could say that
they climbed out of the ark, but that's not what it says.
It says they went forth of the ark. Of the ark. All that survived the flood were
of the ark. The only people that walked in
this new world were people of the ark. All that the future And all the
generations which would come through which God would call
out His elect came forth of the ark. They were all of the ark,
just as we are of Christ Jesus. They came forth of the ark. Paul
uses a similar language over here in Colossians chapter 1
and verse 15. He speaks of Christ as the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. You think
about that. Noah came forth from that ark,
him and those creatures that God preserved through him on
that ark. He came forth from that ark,
the firstborn. The firstborn. He is before,
it says, all things, and by him all things consist. And he is
the head of the body of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead. that in all things he might have
the preeminence. And as all things were created
by him and for him, and he then having authority over all things,
even so God says to Noah his type, listen to this, the fear
of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth
and upon all the fowl of the air and all that moveth upon
the earth and upon the fishes of the sea. Into your hand they
are delivered. Boy, is that a picture of Christ.
The grace of God that found Noah before the storm made provision
for him to preserve him from his power and death. And then
raises him up to be a king, a prince in the earth. All that is in it, everything
that's in it has been given into his hands. he's of the Ark. Down in the
church at Corinth, they were arguing and fussing, pride raising
up in their hearts. This one said, boy, I really
like this guy Apollos. Man, nobody can speak like Apollos
can speak. He's an I was born of him. His words has impact. His words wrestle down the heart.
His words bring you down to the ground. And then another one
said, I'm a Paul. Old Paul with a scale over his
eyes and you couldn't hardly look at him. Offensive in his
looks. God brought that proud man down
and gave him that thorn in the flesh lest he be puffed up because
God had a great work for him. He authored nearly half the New
Testament. And so God gives him a thorn in the flesh to keep
him humble before Him. And some of them said, I'm a
Paul. And Paul said, oh, he said, you're foolish. You're foolish
in what you're saying. He said, don't you understand
that all things are yours? Don't you understand that? All
things are yours. The grace of God that found Noah
before the storm, made provision for him to preserve him, and
raised him up to be a king and a prince in earth, everything
given over into his hands. He is of the ark, Christ Jesus,
and because he is of the ark, he is of God, and because he
is of God, he is an heir of God. and a joint heir with Christ.
And all things have been given into His hands. And Paul tells
those Corinthians over there who talked about Apollos, and
he said, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life
or death or things present or things to come, all are yours
in the year of Christ, and Christ is God. That man whom God brings through
the storm, he's the living air. How would you think about that?
I've never seen that in the story of Noah before. Noah was the
living air. He stood alone. He walked out
of that ark and he stood alone, air of all things. Air of all
things. Before the flood, if you read
back there and you recollect our studies that we had when
I talked to you about those, it says there was giants in the
earth back then. And he was intimidated by their
power and their might. And these great cities and nations
were built. And this nation warred against
that nation. And all these things went on.
And Noah was no doubt intimidated by their size and their force
and their cities and their reputation. He was intimidated, but not after
the flood. He stood a king after the flood.
Where's all the powers? Where's all the principalities
now? Where's all the nations now? Under the flood. God taught Israel the same thing,
didn't he? Moses was intimidated by Pharaoh. Where'd Pharaoh wind up? The
bottom of the sea. You see where Noah stands? A man with whom God establishes
His covenant has a contract written of God in blood, made sure by
the person of his son, his surety, and swore to by an oath of his
own name. It's ordered, David said, in
all things and sure. It guarantees by the predestination
of God, by God's predestinating counsel and will. And it cannot
fail or be defeated. Noah stood on dry ground, holy
ground, ground cleansed by the righteous judgment of God and
obtained the same as the Ephesian church obtained. Listen to this.
He obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Don't you know Noah stood there on that dry ground
alone in the earth except for his sons and their wives, just
a handful, eight souls, and that little handful of animals that
come off that ark, every how many there was, there couldn't
have been that many compared to what was in all the world
before. And he stood there alone and don't you know he wondered,
what am I doing here? How did I get here? And I'll
tell you what he figured. He figured it was all of God
and all of grace, because as soon as he got off that ark,
he built an altar. And he offered sacrifices unto
God. And he worshipped God. He worshipped
the covenant God. The covenant God. Oh, he stood
on dry ground, holy ground, ground cleansed of God and obtained
and inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. And I thought as I wrote this
this afternoon how pitiful we are in our thoughts and expectations
of God. How pitiful we are. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Noah entered that ark with an
understanding that entering that ark would preserve him from the
flood. Entering into that ark at the
word and promises of God. But when he came out of that
ark, God made him to know he was the king. He was the king. Oh! If the judgment of God be passed,
then there's nothing left but blessings. The flood was gone. The enemy
was gone. Principalities were gone. There's
nothing left but blessing. Nothing left but blessing. If
the day looges past and we're yet standing, then bless God
we're of the ark and go forth of it into the world as kings
and priests unto our God. But I tell you this, as he stood
looking at that terrible wall cloud moving away from him, it
has to be there to see a boat, I know that. That terrible wall
cloud, that black covering that must have been there that caused
the rain to consume the whole earth. I can't even imagine what
this thing must have looked like. But as that storm moved away
and he stood there on dry ground worshiping God, God hung his
bow in the sky. He hung his bow in the sky. Standing in that new light of
the sun, God sets his token in the cloud. Genesis chapter 9
verse 12. He 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 the covenant between
me and the earth. Now the token of the bow to me
is a picture of the gospel of the resurrected Christ. the resurrected
Christ. He is the eternal surety of the
everlasting covenant of God. He is the mediator and the testator
of God's eternal will and testament. And God does not keep Him in
heaven where He cannot have cause or effect on men, but He brings
Him into the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Nor does He leave Him in the
world as only as an example or as a martyr in things which men
point to Him that He is. He doesn't leave Him in the earth
as only an example. But He puts Him to death in the
room instead of chosen sinners. Nor does God leave Him in the
grave with doubts and fears and speculations about our sins or
the value of His sacrifice. But He raises Him up from the
dead and sits Him at His own right hand. There's the token
of the covenant. Seated at the right hand of God.
And how does that token sing? The Holy Spirit of God comes.
And He gives that evidence in your heart. Paul said you're
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Noah looked at that
bow and what did he see? He saw the faithfulness of the
promises of his God. Every time he looked at it, he
thought about it. The rainbow is not seen on the
front side of the storm. because its darkness has hidden
the sun. And it can't be seen in the middle
of the deluge because justice must be carried out and righteousness
be established in the earth. But God has wisely placed His
bow on the passing cloud as the token of His faithful covenant
pledge to save His elect. And that bow stands as a bridge. I thought about this. I don't
even remember who I read now that made mention of it. But
his bow stands like that ladder of Jacob that spans earth to
heaven. So it's bow. It spans from darkness,
from whence he took him, into this marvelous light. From the
storm and fears and doubts and trembling, it takes him over
here, air of grace, standing in that marvelous light. Just
like that gospel does. That gospel finds you a sinner
ruined. ruined, totally depraved, with
no understanding, an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, without
God in the world. And He finds you there and He
delivers you here, heir of all things. It's a bridge. It's a bridge that spans that
gulf that cannot be spanned. It connects the storm that has
passed with the fair skies of a promised future. And by His
bow in the sky, He binds in our hearts all the gloomy recollections
of the past with the bright expectations of the future. You stand and
look at that bow. Look at that bow. It's like a
mighty bridge. God's bow, the token of His covenant
grace, connects heaven and earth and testifies what His gospel
now plainly declares, that where sin did once abound, grace does
much more now abound. I look upon God's bow and I find
comfort. Not so much in the bow itself
as in the God that put it there. Not so much in the picture, but
in that covenant surety that it represents. I want you to listen to a couple
of scriptures here. The first one is in Ezekiel chapter
1. You remember what the Lord called
Ezekiel? He called him the Son of Man.
Over and over and over He called him the Son of Man. And before
Ezekiel can give his prophecies, before Ezekiel can stand up and
preach to the people and be the faithful servant and witness
of God, God must first show him his glory. Now listen to this. This is in Ezekiel 1, verse 28. He said, As the appearance of
the bow that is in the cloud 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 the voice of one that spake." You reckon Noah saw Christ in
that bowl? I think he did. I think he did. Abraham rejoiced to see his day
and saw it and was glad. I think Noah did too. The Lord said this to Isaiah. He said over in Isaiah chapter
54, He said, For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with
great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Now listen, For
this is as the waters of Noah unto me, For as I have sworn
that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so
have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke
thee. For the mountains shall depart,
and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." That's what you see
when you see the boat. You see that bridge. That bridge. This world has a bridge and it's
wide, but it don't span the gulf. It includes everything and everybody,
but it don't cross all the way across. This bridge is narrow,
but it goes all the way. This bridge is narrow and you
don't see the vast multitudes going across the bridge, but
the bridge connects. The bridge goes all the way.
This bridge will take you from darkness to light, from damnation
to salvation. It goes all the way. And I see
this bow as a bridge. And I see it in connection with
darkness and damnation and sin, but also the light and the glory
of God in Christ. And then secondly, this bow is
a picture of a weapon. I'll just read this to you over
in Revelations chapter 6 and verse 2. And Revelations speaks
in pictures. You just have to read through
the Scriptures and over time the Lord will show you what these
figures mean. And the best thing you can do
is just listen to a preacher when he tells you what they stand
for. But if you won't find that on
your own, you go dig through the Scriptures and you'll find
a revelation of what it means in its context. And whatever
you find it to mean, it will mean that all the way through
to the end. But here's what he says here in Revelation 6, verse
2. John saw him who sat upon a white
horse, and he that sat upon him had a bow. And a crown was given unto him,
and he went forth conquering and to conquer. But, oh beloved,
get this picture in your minds. That bow that God sets in the
sky after the storm is over is an empty bow. It's an empty bow. And it ain't pointing down at
you. It's pointing up at Him. Up at Him with whom the arrow
has already been spent. Look at that bow, it has no arrow
in it. Where'd that arrow go? It pierced the heart of the Son
of God. And there sits that bow, just
like he left it when he shot the arrow. Already spent. Justice is being appeased. Over
in Deuteronomy chapter 32, The prophet speaks like this, he
said, I'll make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall
devour flesh. And he talks about this vengeance
of God that must be executed in the earth. God is a just God,
and He will wet, he said, His glittering sword and take hold
of judgment. And he said, I'll render vengeance
to mine enemies, and I'll reward them that hate me. But does not
the Scripture say this too? Doesn't it say this too? And
you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled. How did he do it? By the blood
of his cross. The token bow suspended in the
cloud is an empty bow. It points itself upward to where
its arrows have been spent. Judgment is satisfied. That's
the good news. And God's bow is held up empty
and pointed in the opposite direction for war. It's peace. And all through the times, you
look on these, I think we have some symbols in our country that
has that empty bow. But you see that symbol throughout
generations. You see it in the history of
these nations. You see that symbol as a symbol
of peace. And then thirdly, the bow of God is as a mighty arch
in the temple of God. resting in the earth where his
covenant terms were accomplished. Everything in heaven above is
carried and supported by this arch." You think about that. Think about that. The church
of the living God rests on the great cornerstone of Christ.
And when it is fitly framed, framed upon that arch, framed
upon that foundation, fitly framed of God and built. All things
are supported by Him. The strength of it is beyond
your imagination. It cannot be broken. Founded
on His holiness, upon His justice, and upon His righteousness, upon
His omnipotence. And what we preach and rest our
expectation on is not the wisdom and potential and decisions of
men, but upon the covenant mercies of our God, whose surety has
fulfilled all its demands and now sits in heaven dispensing
all His blessings. Think about that. God set His
bow in the sky. Why? Because His justice was
fulfilled. His righteousness was honored.
And He sets His bow. I have for you a promise tonight.
If you're here and you're a sinner and you seek Him, the war is
over. The war is over. Christ died
for our sins, but He died according to the Scriptures. He didn't
just die to make salvation possible. He made to make it dead sure.
To make it dead sure. He paid the debt. That's why
I don't believe in free willism. That's why I don't believe in
universal salvation. Because whatever he did, he did.
Whatever he accomplished, it was accomplished. If he died
for all men, then all men are going to be saved. And since
that's not the case, then he must have just died for some.
And those for whom he died shall be saved. God tells his righteous servant
that this token of his covenant He said, it's going to be with
you for perpetual generations. That's Genesis 9, verse 12. The
token is to remind us throughout our lives and throughout time
that salvation is of the Lord. Now, won't you listen to me for
just a minute. That rainbow is a perpetual token because these
storms continually come. The only way you can see the
rainbow is for a storm to appear. That's the only way you can see
it. The only way you can see it. It is the ever-present appearance
of the cloud by which this bowl is perpetually seen. He said,
and my bowl shall be seen in the cloud. There is a message
for you. His gospel is going to be seen.
His testimony, when God makes testimony, somebody is going
to hear. Somebody is going to hear. He said, My token shall
be seen, My bow shall be seen in the cloud. And if God's bow
stands as a token of His everlasting mercy and grace, should I not
look for the bow in every cloud that arises in my life? Should
I not look for the bow? Listen to what Paul says over
here in Romans chapter 5. Standing in that free and sovereign
grace of God and rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God,
Paul said in Romans 5 verse 3, he said, I glory in tribulations
also. I look forward to the storm.
That's what he's saying. I look forward to it. I know
what the storm's all about. I glory in tribulation. That word is trouble. Our glory
in the trouble also, knowing this, that tribulation worketh
patience. Who works that? God does. Huh? Boy, don't feel like it's
for good when it's on you, does it? No. Tribulation worketh patience,
and patience worketh experience, and experience hope. And hope,
this hope of glory in us, it never leaves us ashamed. It never
leaves you cashed out. It never leaves you in the storm.
But it always delivers you. Always delivers you. Because
in this preservation through the storm, the love of God, he
said, is shed abroad in your heart through the Holy Spirit.
That's how it gets there. He lets you get yourself in a
bind. And he lets you struggle for
a little while. He leaves you out there and lets you tread
water for a little while. And then he pulls you out. And
you get back in again. You go in through that storm
of trouble and temptation and doubt and whatever it is. You
get in there over your head. And he pulls you out again. And
after a while you start to... Boy, I'm looking forward to the
trouble now. Because I know what's coming
at the end. At the end of the trouble I can
see the boat. You can't see it before the storm, and you can't
see it in the storm, but you always see it after the storm.
Always see it. The bow in the cloud is the evidence
of good news and the goodwill of God toward His covenant people.
The bow in the sky is an evidence of divine stability. He said,
I am God. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not concerned. I'll tell you why Noah didn't
drown in the flood, because God doesn't change. I'll tell you
why He didn't leave me hanging out there in religion, hanging
out there in false doctrine and falsehood. Left me out there
in my fallen refuge because He's God and He doesn't change. And
He set His love on me before the world would, and nothing
is going to keep Him from showing it. Nothing. There's a remarkable harmony
also in this thing of the bowl. You look up there at it, And
you can see those distinct colors. You can see them. I've done forgotten
how many colors there is. There's a certain number that's
broken down in that prison. Probably seven to show the perfection
of God. But if you look at it, or five
to show His grace, I don't know how many colors is in there,
but whatever it is, it's significant. I can tell you that. But you
look in there and you see those distinct colors, yet they're
in perfect harmony. I can't pick two colors out in
my house without one clashing with the other. God sets this
division of color up in the sky and it's all in perfect harmony.
And I tell you this, in the face of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished
in fulfilling these covenant demands, these covenant accomplishments
of Christ, He breaks down the attributes of God and He shows
you the distinct attributes. He shows them to you in full
glory yet they're in full harmony. To me, that's what that bow represents.
Perfect harmony. with the character.