A Rainbow About the Throne

Q: What does the Bible say about God's covenant with His people?

The Bible reveals that God's covenant assures His people of mercy and peace, symbolized by the rainbow. God's covenant is a central theme in Scripture, symbolizing His unwavering commitment to His people. Found in Genesis 9, the rainbow signifies God's promise not to destroy the earth by flood again, representing His mercy and grace. Throughout Scripture, including Isaiah 54, this covenant encompasses God's love, providing assurance of salvation and the preservation of His people. The rainbow around the throne in Revelation illustrates that God's covenant continually surrounds and upholds His sovereignty, ensuring His everlasting faithfulness to those who trust in Him.

Q: How do we know God's promises in the Bible are true?

God's promises are anchored in His eternal covenant, which He remembers and fulfills through Christ. The truth of God's promises is rooted in His eternal covenant, established before the foundation of the world. This covenant is not based on human conditions but is instead fulfilled by Christ, who is the embodiment of God's promise. In Jeremiah 31, God declares that He will establish a new covenant, writing His laws in the hearts of His people, ensuring their relationship with Him is secure. The assurance of these promises brings comfort, as seen in Isaiah 43:25, where God promises to blot out sin for His own sake, demonstrating His faithfulness. Thus, believers can trust in the certainty of God's word and His unwavering adherence to His covenant.

Q: Why is the rainbow significant for Christians?

The rainbow signifies God's covenant of grace and His promise of mercy to believers. For Christians, the rainbow holds profound significance as it symbolizes God's covenant with humanity, first established with Noah after the flood. The rainbow not only represents God's mercy but also assures believers that His wrath has been satisfied through Christ. In Revelation, John sees a rainbow around the throne, illustrating that God's covenant of grace encircles and upholds His sovereignty. This visual representation serves as a reminder that God's promises are unwavering and that believers can find peace in His everlasting faithfulness. The rainbow reassures us of God's mercy and the eternal nature of His commitment to His people.

Q: How does God's covenant provide assurance of salvation?

God's covenant guarantees salvation through Jesus Christ, who fulfills all its requirements. The assurance of salvation is firmly rooted in God's covenant, which is ultimately realized through the person and work of Jesus Christ. As the mediator of the covenant, Christ fulfilled its demands by His sacrificial death, ensuring that all who believe in Him are saved from judgment. Jeremiah 31 highlights God's intention to make a new covenant where He will forgive sins and restore a relationship with His people. This certainty is echoed in New Testament teachings, which affirm that those who trust in Christ possess everlasting life. Therefore, the covenant acts as a foundation upon which believers can rest confidently, knowing their salvation is secure.

This past Monday, I had the opportunity
to go with Brother John Mitchell, Bruce Crabtree, and I, several
men in the congregation, on a float, a raft, down the Missouri River.
We spent from early in the morning until late in the afternoon trout
fishing. And it's just spectacular, just
spectacular. I've seen lots of beautiful places
in this world. None to compare with this. It's
just a spectacular scenery. But then as we were coming home
in the evening, it had been raining most of the day off and on, clouds
in the sky, not too bad, just dark clouds and every now and
then you get a little shower, but coming in, We saw something
in the westward sky that none of us had ever seen before. A
full rainbow. Not just one, but two. One right over the other. Tried
to get pictures of them, but they didn't come close to doing
it justice. Just spectacular, spectacular rainbow in the sky. And when we saw it, We made several
comments. Folks in the car, Brother Bruce
Crabtree, Brother Glenn Hodge and I were in the car together
and we talked about it a good bit. Immediately I quoted a passage
of scripture and I knew then what I'd be preaching to you
on this morning. Turn with me if you will to Revelation chapter
4. Revelation chapter 4. After this I looked and behold
a door. Oh, thank God there is a door. A door by which sinners may enter
into glory. And that door is open. There
was a door opened in heaven. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
door. Come on in. I am the door. And the first voice which I heard,
the very first thing I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me. That's strange language. A trumpet
talking? A trumpet blasting, yes. A trumpet
playing, yes. A trumpet sounding, but a trumpet
talking? It is as though John is saying, I heard a clarion
melodious voice speaking to me through this door that's opened
into heaven, saying, come up here. God Almighty sends his
servants and says, lift up your voice like a trumpet. Speak clearly,
speak distinctly. Bid sinners believe on the Son
of God. And I will show thee things which
must be hereafter. I'm going to show you how things
are going to turn out. Come up here and I'll show you how this
whole thing is going to end. And after he heard the voice,
he said immediately, I was in the Spirit. If ever God speaks
to you by his gospel, by the power of his Spirit, Immediately
you can be a new man, a new woman. Immediately in the Spirit. That is born of God. John says,
I was in the Spirit immediately and this is the first thing I
saw. This is the first thing I saw. And I promise you, the
first thing God shows the sinner about himself is this. Behold
a throne. God Almighty is Almighty. He sits upon the throne. This
is not something you learn by degrees, this is something you
learn right up front. God's in charge. He who is God
sits on the throne and his throne was set, fixed, unshakable, set
in heaven. I love that passage in Isaiah
14 where Lucifer blows and blusters and said, I will ascend to the
most high. I will take over the God business. I will be like
the most high. I'll ascend to the throne of
God. And God's response is, This is the purpose that is purposed
in the whole earth. No surprise here. God Almighty
sits upon the throne. That is, sit in heaven. Now who
is this God who sits upon the throne? And one sat on the throne. In chapter 5, John speaks of
that one and says he looks like a lamb as it had been slain. Now please hear me and understand
this. The only way you can ever know,
see, or communicate with God, the only way God will communicate
to you is by the Lamb, Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the fullness
of the Godhead. When the scripture speaks of
men seeing God and talking with God, it's talking about seeing
Christ and talking with Him. God's a spirit. You can't see
a spirit. You can't feel a spirit. As a matter of fact, to say God
is a spirit is a poor translation. God is spirit. pure essential
spirit. When it speaks of the eyes of
the Lord, or the ears of the Lord, or the hand of the Lord,
or the arm of the Lord, those are simply condescending human
terms so we can get some idea about God's greatness and power. He doesn't have eyes and ears
and hands and arms. He is spirit. In order for us
to know Him, God must be made known by the Word, the Word who
is made flesh, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's how we
know and see and communicate with Him. John said, I saw the
throne set in heaven and one sat on the throne. And here he
is, he's a lamb who has been slain. He's been sitting on the
throne from forever as a lamb who has been slain because he's
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And he sits on
the throne now as a lamb who has been slain because he has
by his obedience unto death earned the right to sit upon that throne.
Alright, read on. And he that sat was to look upon
like a jasper in a sardine stone. He was glorious, splendorous,
majestic. Now here's my text and my subject. And there was a rainbow about
the throne. A rainbow. Round about the throne. Turn back to Genesis 9. Whenever
you're studying the scriptures and you want to know the meaning
of something, its significance, it's a good idea to find the
first place where it's mentioned. Here's the first place where
the rainbow is mentioned. Genesis 9. God has destroyed
the earth with the flood of water. In his wrath, he destroyed all
flesh, except for eight souls. The Lord commanded Noah to build
an ark, and then Noah and his sons and their wives were brought
into the ark, and God shut them in. And then the wrath of God
fell upon the earth, all the earth. God's holy anger and wrath
beat upon the ark, and beat upon Noah and his family in the ark. They endured all the wrath of
God, but it never touched them. Because that ark represents Christ
Jesus our Lord. He who suffered the wrath of
God in the room instead of his people, and we endured all the
wrath of God in him. But blessed be God, it will never
touch us. Now, the flood's over. The waters
have dissipated. Noah and his sons have come out
of the ark. And God makes a promise. Genesis
9 verse 11. The Lord says to Noah, 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 the earth. And God said this
is the token of the covenant which I will 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. When I bring a cloud over the
earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. More about
that in a little bit. 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 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. Now,
turn to Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. Ever since this first revelation
God gave concerning the rainbow, ever since the days of Noah,
the rainbow has stood as a perpetual reminder of God's covenant. When
Ezekiel saw the throne of God in Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 28,
he saw the rainbow about the throne. Here in Isaiah 54, the
Lord God speaks of his afflictions and chastisements of his people.
And he says in verse 9, 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. Oh,
for a small moment, he forsakes you. He hides his face from you. In a little wrath, he chastens
you. Little wrath, thank God he uses
that word. Seems like terrible wrath, but
it's not wrath at all. It's loving chastisement. He
hides his face for a small moment, but he says, listen now, when
it looks like I'm about to kill you. When it looks like I don't
care. When it looks like I've utterly
abandoned you. When it looks to you like everything's
going contrary to any declaration or revelation of my mercy, grace,
and love. Remember, I will not be wroth
with thee, nor rebuke thee. For you don't. For the mountain
shall depart. The hills shall 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
upon thee. It'll never happen. It'll never
happen. It stands, this covenant of mine,
as a bow in the sky. And as the waters of Noah overflowed
the earth, my wrath will never overflow you. And so when John
sees the throne, he sees the throne of God in heaven, set,
and one sitting on the throne, and encircling the throne. Not
an arc. We saw this rainbow that reached
from as far as we can see this way, up and arched over, and
as far as we can see this way. Not this one. This rainbow encircles
the throne of God. Now let's see what it means.
As the rainbow circled the throne of God, so the covenant of God's
grace circles the very throne of God, assuring us of peace
in the everlasting purpose of our God. Look at a passage with
me in Isaiah chapter 49. Isaiah 49. I'm going to be talking
to you about the covenant of God's grace, His mercy and peace. But understand when we talk about
the covenant, that God again accommodates Himself to use condescending
human language. We speak of the Father proposing
and the Son accepting, and those terms are set forth in the Scripture.
We read it in Psalm 89, I have laid help upon one that is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen out of the people. Covenant language
is only intended to show us something about what God has done for us
from eternity and his purpose of grace toward us in human terms,
so we can get a handle on it. God never thought anything. Not in terms we think of. God
never learned anything. We think in logical sequential
terms, or at least we try to. We try to think one thought after
another. God Almighty is omniscient. Now that's a mighty big word
to help our little bitty brains know that God knows everything
always at once. So when he speaks of covenant
terms, he is simply declaring to us that which he has purposed
from everlasting to save his people for the glory of his name
and our everlasting happiness. The covenant is Christ himself. The covenant. Christ is the mediator
of the covenant. He is the one with whom the covenant
is made as our substitute. He is the fullness of the covenant.
He is the one who fills the covenant with blessings and grace. He
is the one who brings all the blessings of the covenant to
us. But more than that, Christ is the covenant. He is the surety
of the covenant. He is the blessing of the covenant.
And He is the covenant. Look here in Isaiah 49 verse
7. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One,
to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth,
to a servant of rulers kings shall see, and arise princes
also shall worship, because the Lord is faithful, and the Holy
One of Israel, and He shall choose thee. Thus saith the Lord. In an acceptable time have I
heard thee. In the day of salvation have
I helped thee. And I will preserve thee and
give thee for a covenant of the people. To establish the earth. To cause to inherit the desolate
heritages. Now look at verse 13. In response
to this, sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break
forth into singing, O mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his
people. The Lord says, I will give you my own son in all your
glorious being for a covenant to my people. Oh, what consolation. Now, did you hear what God declared? Christ is God's covenant. When Brother Bruce Crabtree and
I were talking Tuesday morning after seeing this spectacular
sight, we were still talking about it. I was kind of working
on this message and we were talking about Genesis and God's first
declaration, promise to Noah and his sons with regard to the
rainbow. He said, isn't it something, Brother Dodd? than anybody on
the earth, passing through a storm, reminding them of the terror
of judgment and of wrath, could look on that rainbow and be assured
that God would not destroy them in a flood of his wrath again.
Anybody in the world, including no reprobate ham. What a word. Hear me now, my
friends. God help you to hear me. Hear
me. Any sinner in all the world,
any sinner in all the world, that takes in you and me. who
looks on Christ, who trusts the Son of God. may rightfully claim
and possess the assurance that God Almighty will never pour
out His wrath upon you. Look unto me and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth. That means you look to Him and
He saved you. You look to Him and He is yours. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Folks say, well, what about election,
and predestination, and reprobation, and the decrees of God? Make
it your business to look to the Lamb. Look to Christ. Trust the Son of God. And any
sinner in this world who looks to Him was predestined, and has
been chosen, and redeemed, and called by the power of His grace. Your looking's proof of it. Look,
and live. Look unto me, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God, and beside me there is none else. All right. Let
me wrap this up, and I want to show you four or five things
revealed about this rainbow. First, the rainbow is an emblem
of mercy and peace. An emblem of the covenant. The
rainbow we saw spread before us in all its colors with such
brilliance caused me to think to myself how magnificently those
colors remind me of the fullness of God's mercy and grace in Christ
Jesus. Y'all may have seen these things
before and I may have passed through it and just been ignoring
it, but I've never seen such. If I can remember correctly,
that rainbow started off with purple blue to green faded into
yellow and red and yellow and green and purple again in full
array. And each color has an interdependence
upon the other. Each shade an interdependence. Will you hear me? All the promises
and blessings of God's grace in Christ Jesus have an interdependence
upon one another. Take away one and you destroy
them all. But none can be taken away for
God has purposed his grace toward us in Christ. This covenant of
grace is described for you in Jeremiah 31. Let's look at it.
There are many places we could look at it. We'll read Jeremiah
31 again. It's a familiar text of scripture.
But in this passage, we know that God's speaking to you and
I, the Israel of God, his church, because in Hebrews chapter 8
and chapter 10, the Holy Spirit tells us that that's what Jeremiah's
talking about here. Jeremiah chapter 1, in verse
3, the Lord appeared to Jeremiah and said, I have loved thee with
everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Now in verse 31, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke,
although I was a husband unto them. I made a covenant of law
and of works with them. I said, you do it, I will. You
don't, now curse. Now then, he said, they broke
my covenant. This is not the kind of covenant I'm making with
them. Verse 33. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my law not on tables
of stone, but in their hearts, in their inward parts. I'll write
it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my
people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord. They shall all know me from the least of them unto
the greatest of them. You are kings and priests unto
God. You don't need someone to bring
you to God. Christ is our only priest, and
in Him we are priests unto God, a royal priesthood. They shall
all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them,
saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more. Now do you remember what was
read in Psalm 89? If his children forsake my law, if they keep
not my statutes, then I'll visit them with stripes. Nevertheless,
my mercy will I keep with him forever. You see the covenant
made for us was made with God's Son our mediator and he fulfilled
all the requirements of the covenant so that no matter What we experience,
no matter what we do, be it good or bad, in the eyes of men or
of God, God's covenant, He will not break. He keeps it forever. Somebody says, and I hear folks
say this all the time, well, the way you folks preach, you
talk like that God's so gracious we can go out
and live any way we want to. Just go out and live like hell.
Most people I know live like hell. But I'm telling you free
grace doesn't promote licentiousness. It doesn't promote ungodliness.
Ungodliness in Bobby Estes you have no trouble promoting on
your own. Oh no. Faith showed up this morning.
I'll embarrass her a little, put her on the spot a little. I've been a pretty good daddy,
I presume. Pretty good. There's nothing I wouldn't do
for that girl. Nothing. Nothing. I'd give my life for
her that quick. That quick. And I proved it. I proved it over and over again.
Over and over again. Now, wouldn't it be most reasonable
for her to respond? My daddy loves me so much. He's
such a good daddy. His love for me is absolute.
Let me see how much I can dishonor him. Let me see how much I can
displease him. Let me see how I can muddy his
name. Does that make any sense to you?
The only person that makes any sense to is a self-righteous,
legalist, religionist who says, well, you preach free grace,
then I'd rather live like I want to. I wish I could live like
I want to, don't you? Oh, to live for his honor and
for his glory. God said, my covenant will I
not take from Christ. It ain't going to happen. The
covenant is eternal. It's absolute. It is a covenant
made between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit before the world
began in which our salvation was a done deal when God struck
hands with His Son, our surety, our blessed Savior, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. This covenant in time
was ratified by blood, by the sacrifice of God's own Son. And
when God comes in saving power, to chosen sinners, he seals the
covenant to you. In whom also after that you believed,
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. The seal of
the covenant is the gift of the Spirit. Believing on Christ,
all covenant blessings are sealed to you. Sealed to you. What does that mean? They were
fixed from eternity. They were fixed from eternity.
No possibility wouldn't come to pass. They're sealed to you
when you believe. How do you know that you're chosen
of God? How do you know Christ redeemed
you? How do you know that you're justified? How do you know God's pardoned
you of all sin? How do you know that God smiles
perpetually upon you? Because I believe His Son. That's
all. That's all. Not my experience. Not my feelings. Believing Him. Alright, let me show you something
else. The rainbow is that which declares
the security and preservation of the earth. God said to Noah,
I will never do this again. Never. I like to think about things
and try to imagine circumstances when I read through the scriptures
particularly. And I've tried putting myself often in Brother
Noah's boots when the first cloud popped up over the horizon after
the flood. I can picture him. He's sitting
out on his front porch, quiddling and sipping some lemonade. And he sees a cloud. And his
heart begins to tremble. He doesn't say anything to Sister
Noah. And he doesn't say anything to Shem, Ham, and Japheth and
their wives. But he's fearful. Because he's
done used the ark for kindling. It's gone. Don't pay any attention
to these folks who think they're going to find Noah's Ark. It
ain't going to happen. I promise you. If God Almighty destroyed
the Ark of the Covenant, you can be sure He destroyed that
Ark. If folks found it, they'd carve crosses out of it and worship
it. Noah doesn't burn the Ark up.
He doesn't burn it up because God said you don't need it again.
You don't have a use for this thing again. And here comes a
cloud. But then the cloud gets bigger.
It starts to sprinkle. And Noah gathers all the family
and goes to find whatever shelter they can. And then the sun breaks
out. The clouds beginning to dissipate,
and the sun shines through those clouds, and Noah sees a rainbow. And he says, oh, God, forgive
me for not believing you. You see, you can't see the bow
and you will forever forget God's goodness and God's mercy and
God's promises until he causes a dark cloud to come and a storm
to come. And then as the cloud begins
to dissipate, Now it's going all together. If it's going all
together, you couldn't see a thing. But the son of righteousness,
Christ Jesus, shines through the mist. God says, remember
my covenant. Remember what I promised you.
God promised I won't destroy the earth in that covenant symbolized
in the rainbow. And God Almighty promises you. In Jesus Christ the Lord, fury
is not in me. It's not in me. We saw a third
thing. Again, this is something I've
never seen before. Those two double rainbows. But
just a little ways off, there was another something that
looked sort of like a rainbow. But by comparison, it looked
like it was just about that high. It was just a column with some
colors in it. And Brother Crabtree said, there's
no arch in that one. And Brother Glenn Hodge, he said,
there's no cloud back yonder. There's no cloud back yonder.
You can't see the bowl except God bring the cloud. And the Lord God graciously brings
storms and trials and heartaches and dark days and troubles to
cause us who are so prone to unbelief, so prone to forget
our God, to see Him and look to Him and believe Him. Now,
let me show you something else. John said this rainbow that he
saw is a rainbow round about the throne. Round about the throne. I like that. God Almighty, omnipresent,
infinite, incomprehensible God is pictured as one sitting on
the throne. Sitting on and completely encircling
the throne. Completely encircling the throne
is rainbow. His covenant. The throne is a
symbol of his sovereignty, his power, his dominion, his kingship,
his godhood. Completely encircling the throne
is the symbol of his covenant. What does that mean? Well, it
means at least these things. God is ever mindful of his covenant. No matter which way he turns. No matter which way he comes
to me. No matter from what direction he approaches me. He does so
according to the covenant. This is the oath and promise
by which God has bound himself. Oh, hear me children of God.
Our Heavenly Father The God of all grace, the God of all glory,
justice, truth, holiness, righteousness, the habitations of his throne,
never does anything except in accordance with covenant mercy
for the good of his people and the saving of his own elect.
He has bound himself by his covenant. Here's the second thing. No man
can come to God But through this covenant. You can't come to God
except by means of this covenant, Christ Jesus the Lord. By means
of His righteousness. By means of His blood. You come
to God with your works like Cain did, you'll perish like Cain
did. You come to God with the strange fire of your own religious
ritualism as did Aaron's sons, you will perish as Aaron's sons.
Oh, but blessed be God. We can come to God on his throne
by a new and living way, through the blood of his cross, the blood
that he shed for the atonement of our sins, and come to God
in full assurance of faith. Believe on the Son of God, no
matter who you are. No matter what you have done
or are doing. Believe on the Son of God. And
God Almighty assures you that acceptance with Him is yours.
That's what He said. But preachers don't have to have
some feelings. No. No, your feelings will deceive
you. Somebody talked to me about preaching with some power. And
I said, well, my thoughts about that are that normally when I
think maybe I've had a little power to preach, I hadn't done
nothing but shake the walls. And when I think I haven't done
anything at all, folks haven't heard a thing, maybe God might
have used his word in power. Our feelings don't mean a frazzling
thing when it comes to things of God. Nothing. Our feelings
will just deceive us. The Word of God we believe. He
that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. It's assured. Here's the third
thing. God's government of this world
is but the fulfilling of his covenant. He always has respect
to the covenant. He never does anything outside
terms of the covenant. You remember the picture we see
of the Lord Jesus in Revelation 10? That great angel who comes
having one foot on the earth and the other on the sea with
a book in his hand? The book that he took from the
throne? The book that he took because
he's the Lion of the tribe of Judah who prevailed to open the
book? He has in his hand the book of
God's eternal purpose, the book of God's decrees written inside
and out and sealed with seven seals. He opens the seals and
here he stands. Ruling the universe. Turning
the pages of the book. Fulfilling the purpose of God.
That's what he's doing. Fulfilling his own eternal purpose. Do you remember what was around
his head? Now forget the silly, idolatrous pictures of you see
of that little limp-wristed thing they call Jesus. He didn't have
a halo around his head. No, no. He had a rainbow about
his head. He rules the universe, fulfilling
the purpose of God according to covenant mercy. Everything he does, he does for
his own. People talk about common grace.
They do everything they can to try to make the grace of God
palatable to unregenerate men. Do you know the only reason God
raised up Egypt? The only reason God raised up
Egypt was to take care of Israel for 400 years. The only reason. He said, I gave Egypt for you.
God raises up nations and treads down nations according to his
purpose for one nation. Now you listen carefully to your
pastor. I believe I am a genuine patriot. I'm thankful for this nation
in which we live. I pray for those men who serve
our nation and give their lives for it. But God Almighty only
cares for one nation, and the United States of America ain't
it. The only one he cares for is
that holy nation called the Church of God, Jerusalem, which is above,
the mother of us all. And he raises up nations and
treads down nations for the building of that nation. I love what Spurgeon
said. Listen to this. He said, I believe
that when kings and potentates meet in the cabinet chamber and
consult together according to their ambition, did you hear
that? When kings and mighty rulers meet together in cabinet chambers
and consult together according to their ambitions, a counselor
whom they never see, pulls the strings and they are only his
puppets. Only his puppets. Did you hear
me? Your worst enemy is just one
of God's puppets. The fiend of hell is just one
of God's puppets. God Almighty does what He does
through the counsel of men according to His purpose, fulfilling His
counsel for the saving of His people. By sweet, Almighty, irresistible
force, God works all things together for good to them that love Him,
to them who are the call according to His purpose. We're told also that John saw
this rainbow and it was emerald green in color. Emerald green. That sounds strange. The rainbow
has a full spectrum of colors. It does. Bray hits. Bray hits. But the base color Emerald green
in color. Green. At the long winter, how
beautiful the green fields look. They're not near as pretty when
you've been mowing them all summer long. But at the long winter,
oh, how pretty they are. What's more peaceful, more fresh,
more full of symbols of life than green? Oh, John says, I
saw around the throne of God that which is full of life and
joy and peace to my soul. The Lord has made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, and that's
everything I want. Everything I want. And let me
show you one more thing. You turn if you go to Isaiah
43. When you get home, read this
again. Genesis chapter 9. You remember what God said? He
said, the rainbow, when I look on the rainbow, I will remember
my covenant. I wonder why he didn't say, Lindsay's
going to remember my covenant. He said, I'll remember my covenant.
But God doesn't need to be reminded of anything. He's omniscient.
He speaks in human terms. So we can understand something.
The Lord God allows Himself to condescend to put the rainbow
in the sky so that He might look upon it and declare to you as
you see it that He remembers His covenant. You see, It's far
better for me to know that God remembers His covenant than for
me to know that I remember His covenant. Some of you are like
I am. You get a little bit past 20
and you start to forget things. You get a little past 50 and
you can be easily convinced that things you remember you just
dreamed. I had an experience, I'll tell you about it another
time, while I was away, middle of the night, motel room, and
Shelby was telling somebody about it. It didn't frighten me or
anything, it was just an experience. I think it was Saturday, he said,
it might have been a dream. And I began to think, well, it
might have been. It might have been. Because, you see, my memory
is not what it used to be. And I can be easily confused. But not my God. Not my God. And he says, I'll remember the
covenant. And then he says to you and me,
you put me in remembrance of it. Look in Isaiah 43 verse 25. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. Put me in remembrance. What? Lord God, you promised to do
me good. You promised to be gracious.
You swore that you'd be my God and I'd be yours forever. He
says, put me in remembrance. Let us Clean together. Speak the same thing. Declare
thou! Declare what? What you said!
That thou mayest be justified. God says, I will remember my
covenant. All those sacrifices in Leviticus. God says, now,
you do this, you do this, you do this, because I want you to
know that I will remember my covenant. The Lord says, now,
there's a day coming. when I will make known my holy
name to you, and you shall remember my covenant. Then you'll be ashamed,
and then you'll know me. Oh God, teach us. to remember your covenant. And we bless you. We praise you. We thank you that you are ever
mindful of your covenant. Amen. Let's sing hymn, Lindsay. It'll be a benediction. Take your Psalms of Grace book
and turn to number three.

A Rainbow About the Throne

What does the Bible say about God's covenant with His people?

How do we know God's promises in the Bible are true?

Why is the rainbow significant for Christians?

How does God's covenant provide assurance of salvation?

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A Rainbow About the Throne

What does the Bible say about God's covenant with His people?

How do we know God's promises in the Bible are true?

Why is the rainbow significant for Christians?

How does God's covenant provide assurance of salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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