If you will, open your Bibles
with me tonight to the book of Genesis, chapter eight. We're going to begin reading
in verse 15 of chapter eight and read through verse 17 in
chapter nine. Genesis chapter eight, verse
15. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark thou,
and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring
forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all
flesh, both of fowl and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly in
the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And
Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives
with him. Every beast, every creeping thing,
and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth after
their kinds went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an
altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of
every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
And the Lord smelled a sweet savor, And the Lord said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's
sake. For the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite anymore
everything living as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed
time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and
day and night shall not cease. And God blessed Noah and his
sons and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the
earth. And the fear of you and the dread
of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl
of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the
fishes of the sea. Into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth
shall be meat for you. even as a green herb have I given
you all things. But flesh with the life thereof,
which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat? And surely your
blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every beast will
I require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every
man's brother, will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image
of God made he man. And you, be you fruitful, and
multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. 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, 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
any more be a flood to destroy the earth. God said this is a
token of the covenant which I made 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 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
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. Noah and his family had spent
over a year in the ark, the ark that he built, the ark that God
told him to prepare in which he and his family, his three
sons and their wives and his wife, they were all saved while
all flesh outside of the ark was destroyed. Once outside on dry ground, God
established his covenant with Noah. If you notice in chapter
nine in verse 11, and I will establish my covenant with you."
Once they came out of the ark, God established his covenant
with Noah. And then we see that God gave
the bow, that is the rainbow, as a token of the covenant. Notice in verses 12 and 13 of
chapter nine, the rainbow, it is a token of the covenant that
God made with Noah and his family. And God said, this is the token
of the covenant which I made between me and you and every
living creature that is with you for a perpetual generation. I do set my bow in the cloud. That's the token of the covenant.
It shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Tonight, I'm going to, God willing,
use nine points of a message preached almost 300 years ago. I'm using his outline. This message
was preached over 300 years ago by a Scottish preacher, and it
has nine points, and in the message, I trust it will be a blessing
to all of us, but we will see how the rainbow the bow that
God put in the sky, how it may be a picture of the new covenant,
the everlasting covenant, the covenant of grace, the covenant
by which you and I are saved tonight. How the rainbow, the
bow, may be a picture of the covenant of grace. It's expressed
by the bow in the cloud. Now, before I go to my first
point, Let me give us a very simple definition of a covenant. What is a covenant? God is a
covenant God. You cannot read the scriptures
with any understanding at all and not realize that God is a
covenant God. What is a covenant? Well, it
could be just described as a contract, as a contract. A covenant, this
is a simple definition. I believe I got this from Arthur
Pink. A covenant is the entering into
a mutual agreement. A benefit being assured on the
fulfillment of certain conditions. It's a contract. You have to
have two parties to have a contract. Mutual agreement between the
two parties. There's a benefit assured on
the fulfillment of the covenant. Here's the first point. First,
the rainbow in the cloud was ordered by God. Notice that in
verse 13 of chapter 9. I do set my bow in the cloud,
the rainbow is a picture of the everlasting covenant, as I said,
and just like this bow was ordered by God, so God's covenant, the
covenant of grace, was ordered by God. The covenant of grace
is not a covenant, a contract that man has anything that he
has contributed to. It's a contract between two parties,
and the two parties, of course, are God and the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Psalm 89 in verse three, we
read, I have made, that is God speaking, I have made a covenant
with my chosen. And he who was God's chosen,
God's elect, behold, my servant, mine elect. He who is God's chosen
servant is the Lord Jesus Christ. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. And I know you will remember
the words of David. When he came to the end of his
life, He'd had a very eventful life. He'd been blessed of God.
He was a man, the scripture says, after God's own heart. But what
was his confidence? As he looked out into eternity,
as he faced leaving this world and standing before Almighty
God, what was his hope? What was his confidence? He said
this, although my house be not so with God. In other words,
he had told what was required of a man who is a king, a man
who rules over others. And he said, I haven't lived
up to that. Although my house be not so with God, yet, yet
I have a hope. Not what I've done, yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things And sure,
for this is all my salvation. This is all my salvation. Those
were some of the last words that John Gill spoke as he also was
going out into eternity. That God, this was his confidence,
this was his assurance. God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. Now truly, the preacher said
that I stole his outline from, but he said this, the covenant
of grace could no more have been made by man than he can farm
a bow in the clouds. You see what he said? That man
is incapable of farming a covenant. He could just as soon, man could
just as soon make the bow, the rainbow. You think any man could
do that? No, the same thing is true about
this everlasting covenant. I do set my bow in the cloud. The covenant of grace was ordered
of God. Now men, we are to encourage
men to take hold of the covenant. You read that in the book of
Isaiah, take hold of this covenant. As you hear the word preached
and the covenant is laid out before you, take hold of it. What does that mean? Take hold
of it. It means to trust in Christ, to come to Christ and believe
it in Christ. You take hold of the covenant
and then you too can say with David. Though my house be not
so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, for this is all my salvation. When you take hold of the covenant,
you take hold of Christ. You trust in him. You come to
him. You eat his flesh and drink his
blood, however you want to say it. It's said several different
ways, but it all pictures trusting in Him and in Him alone. Second, the rainbow was set in
the cloud after God smelled a sweet savor of Noah's sacrifice. Notice that in chapter eight.
You see, when this rainbow, this bow was set in the cloud, it
was after Noah, yes, he had come out of the ark, that's for sure,
but it was also after he had taken all the clean animals,
not all of them, but some of the clean animals and the clean
fowls. And he had offered a burnt offering. He built an altar unto
God and burnt, offered a sacrifice, sacrifices unto God. And the
scripture says, God smelled a sweet savor. The point is it's only
after the sacrifice, it's only after the blood was shed, the
sacrifice was offered. that God made this covenant,
that God put his bow in the clouds. When we think about God smelling
a sweet savor. Now, most likely we would not
talk like that, but God does. He does. That's his right. That's his privilege, right?
the smell, to speak about the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
and refer to it as a sweet smell. In other words, we all know what
a stink is. We all know what is obnoxious
to smell. God uses this term of smelling
to picture his satisfaction, his acceptance, with the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ. Look with me in Ephesians 5.
Keep your places here, but look in Ephesians 5 and verses 1 and
2. Paul is here writing to the church,
to believers. Be you therefore Ephesians 5
and verse 1, be you therefore followers of God. Really, that
means imitators. That's what that word, if it
was literally translated, be ye imitators of God. God's a God of mercy, isn't He?
He shows mercy. We imitate Him. Be merciful. Blessed are the merciful, the
scripture says. God's a God of grace, imitate
him, show grace. Don't only believe grace, but
show, live grace. And we could go on. Be ye therefore
followers, imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love
as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. I like to always point this out.
We believe the Lord Jesus Christ from the word of God is our example. But we do not believe in the
example theory of the atonement. We believe in the substitutionary
theory of the atonement. He gave himself for us as a sacrifice,
the scripture says, as an offering and a sacrifice. A priest You
read this in Hebrews, a priest was ordained of God to do what? To offer an offering and a sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's our
great high priest. He didn't offer an animal. He
offered himself. He offered his flesh. He offered
himself a sacrifice for us. And God, the scriptures, tells
us God's satisfied with it. That's what that means when it
tells us that it's a sweet smelling savor to God. God accepted it. God was pleased with it. Every
time that we take the Lord's table, we hear our Lord's words. This is my blood of the new covenant. This is the point the preacher
made, the rainbow. was set in the cloud after God
smelled a sweet savor of Noah's sacrifice. And without the shedding
of blood, there would be no covenant of grace. Without the shedding
of blood, the scripture says, there is no remission of sin. And as we read this passage just
a moment ago, we saw how God Now allowed man to eat flesh
before the flood, only the herbs, only vegetation was he allowed
to eat. But now after the flood, he can
eat the flesh of animals, but only after the blood has been
drained. Why? Because the life of the
flesh is in the blood. And God commanded man not to
eat the blood. Okay, let's go on to the third
point. The rainbow set in the cloud
is a divine security that the waters would never again destroy
the earth. This is what God says here in
chapter 9, verses 14 and 15. And it shall come to pass when
I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow 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. The rainbow set in the cloud
is a divine security that the waters would never again destroy
the earth. And the covenant of grace is
the security that every believer has, that the deluge of God's
wrath will never touch him. It will never touch him, those
who have an interest in this covenant. Why? Because God's
wrath was poured out upon our surety, the surety of the covenant. And he suffered in our place
and in our stead. Look with me. Well, let's let
me just read this these words in Isaiah 54 in verse 9. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me this covenant. This is as the waters of Noah
unto me. For I have sworn that the waters
of Noah should no more no more go over the earth. So have I
sworn that I would not be wroth angry with thee. This is part
of the covenant. And that bow was the security
that the flood would never again destroy all flesh. And our security
tonight, the security of the covenant of grace, we are assured
that God's wrath. Now there's a difference between
God dealing with a person as a judge and God dealing with
a person as a father. Right? A father. He's our father. He will chasten us. The scripture
tells us that. And if we be without chastisement,
then are we not sons? He does, a father does. But God does not deal with us
as our judge. He dealt with our charity, our
substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, as a judge. Now, he says, as
the waters of Noah are to me, I've sworn, just like we see
here, that the waters of Noah should no more, never again,
destroy all flesh over all the earth. So have I sworn. that I would not be wroth with
thee. Those who are named in this covenant,
God said, I will not be wroth with thee. He loves us, doesn't
he? Now, here's the fourth. The rainbow
set in the cloud must have the physical sun, S-U-N. If the sun, if the sun, in our
universe and our firmament, if it somehow could be removed,
we'd never see another rainbow, would we? You've got to have
the sun to have a rainbow. And the covenant of grace, the
everlasting covenant, it all depends upon the sun. Not the S-U-N, but the S-O-N,
the sun of righteousness. That is the son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Without him, there would be no
covenant. Everything in the covenant has
to do with Christ. Just like without the sun in
the firmament, there would never be another rainbow. So without
the Lord Jesus Christ, there wouldn't be this everlasting
covenant. He's the messenger of this covenant. He's a mediator
of this covenant. He's the charity of this covenant. He is the covenant. Look with me in Isaiah chapter
49. Turn over here to Isaiah chapter 49. Verses seven and
eight. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despiseth. Who is it that men despise? Who is it? Who is it that men
despise? Look over a few more pages, we'll
come back there, but look over to Isaiah 53. You know who this
chapter speaks about? The Lamb of God, look at verse
three. He is despised and rejected of
men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. That's all men. When it says
he was despised, that's you, that's me. That's every man by
nature. We despised him. All men despise
Christ, the Savior, until God does a work of grace in your
heart, and then he's the altogether lovely one. He's the desire of
your heart then. But back here in chapter 49,
And God is speaking to the man despised, to him whom man despises,
to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers. Though
he was equal with God, he took upon him the form of a servant. Isn't that what Paul tells us
in Philippians? Who thought it not robbery to
be equal with God? Because he is God. every bit
God as the Father is and as the Holy Spirit is. And yet, to become
the surety of this covenant, he became a servant. He took
upon him that body that was prepared him by the Holy Spirit. Princes also shall worship because
of the Lord that is faithful and the Holy One of Israel. He
shall choose thee Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time
have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee,
and I will preserve thee. Now notice, and give thee. Who's he talking to? Who's God speaking to here in
this passage? To the man who's despised, to
his son, his servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. and give thee for a covenant
of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit the
desolate heritages. The rainbow set in the cloud
must have the sun and the covenant must have Christ. No covenant
without Him. Fifth, the rainbow set in the
cloud is arched high above us, but the ends of it stoop down
to the earth. We see the rainbow, and if you
see the whole rainbow, you see it on this end, touching down
somewhere and touching down somewhere here, but it's high. So the Lord
Jesus Christ, we know, He's lifted up on high. He's on high. exalted to the Father's right
hand. And yet, through the gospel,
he stoops down. He stoops down to you and he
stoops down to me, to every sinner that he saves. He stoops down.
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth. That is the word of
faith which we preach. That's what the Apostle Paul
said. You don't have to Say, who will
ascend up into heaven to bring him down, or who will ascend
into the depths to bring him up? No, Christ came from heaven,
he was buried, and he's ascended on high, but his word is nigh
thee. Even in thy mouth, when you take
this book and you hear me preaching, or you read the scriptures, the
word is in your mouth. The word of faith that we preach. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Here's the sixth thing. The rainbow
set in the cloud is very extensive. It stretches from one end of
heaven to the other. So the covenant of grace, it
reaches from the very first center, whoever it was that God saved,
from the very first center that God saved to the very last center
that God will save. This rainbow is extensive, so
the covenant of grace is. Not only in that sense, but also
it's extensive over all the nations of the world. Our Lord told the
religious leaders in his day when he was here in the flesh,
he said, people are going to come from the north and the south
and the east and the west and sat down with Abraham in the
kingdom, sat down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom,
and you're going to be on the outside. I don't want to be on
the outside, do you? I sure don't. I want to be on
the inside with Christ. I remember reading one of Lloyd
Jones's books. He illustrated that by coming
to a man, a beggar man, a poor man, coming to a palace-like
house, and it's cold, and he's cold, and he goes up to the window,
and it's frost, or not frost, but shaded, and he kind of moves
and looks in there, and there's a big table spread, and people
are fine-dressed, and food, everything, Oh, he wished he could go in
and be warm and be fed. And then a young man came out
to him and said, come on. Come on. Oh, but I don't have
a right to go in there. He said, my father owns this
house. You come on. I'll take you in
there. Isn't that what Christ has done
for us? He's come to us to save us and make us heirs and join
heirs with him so that we have a place at the table and all
of our needs are met. Here's the seventh thing. The
rainbow set in the cloud is security against a universal flood. but
it also foretold of showers. There will be showers. God is
not saying that he's never going to rain. It's never going to
rain. He's never going to send his rain on the earth again,
but he's never going to flood the earth like he had done. So
the bow of the covenant, which encircles the throne of God,
you can read this in Revelation four and verse three, John saw
there was a rainbow. Remember, he saw that throne,
the 24 elders, the four beasts, and then upon the throne, there
was a rainbow around that throne, secures against God's wrath,
but it also assures us and gives us assurance of rain, that is,
of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit coming upon us. Oh, that's
what we need. That's what this church needs.
That's what this preacher needs. That's what this country needs.
We need an outpouring of God's Holy Spirit. Moving of His Spirit. That's what we pray for. That's
what we long for. And that rainbow assured, there's
going to be showers. And we sing that hymn, there
shall be showers of blessing. Oh, that today they might fall.
Mercy drops round us are falling. God saves one here, one there,
but for the showers we plead for an awakening when hundreds,
thousands may be brought in. The eighth thing, the rainbow
set in the cloud, usually it only appears for a short period
of time and then it's gone. You know, you look out the window,
you say, oh, there's a rainbow. And you call someone else and
everybody looks at the rainbow and it isn't long before it's
gone. It's gone. Likewise, when we are enabled
and blessed of the Lord to think about the covenant of grace,
how lovely it is, how precious it is, and how we have an interest
in that covenant, but just for a short while. And then our mind
is off on something else. Just a little time we spend together,
like tonight, thinking about the covenant of grace. But before
we go to bed tonight, it'll be out of our minds, most likely. just like that bow. It appears
for a little while, and then it's gone. You see it for a little
while. And the last thing, the ninth, the rainbow set in the
cloud disappears. As I said, it appears for a little
while, and then it disappears. But listen, when it disappears,
we don't assume, well, the rainbow's gone. God's going to destroy
this earth. by flood. No, we don't think
like that, do we? No. Our views of the covenant
of grace may have long intervals between them when we see them
and remember them, but our remembrance of the covenant doesn't change
the covenant. We may live to the day that we
don't even know which way's up. Right? We may end our days in
some home and we're just sitting there in a wheelchair or something
like that. We don't even recognize our loved
ones, people we've lived with for 50 and 60 years. We won't
see the covenant. But I think about this, just
like when God said, when he passed over Egypt that night, he didn't
say, when you see the blood, I will pass over you. He said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And God's not
going to forget his covenant, that's for sure. I will make
an everlasting covenant with them, this is Jeremiah 32 and
verse 40, that I will not turn away from them to do them good,
but I will put my fear in their hearts. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom, isn't it? That fear, no doubt, has
reference to faith. I will put my fear in their hearts
and they shall not depart from me. That's a double promise,
isn't it? We will not depart from him and
he will not depart from us. Those are named.