The Rainbow

magine the sight that greeted Noah and family as they exited the ark – a beautiful arc of colors in the sky. This splash of color welcomed them after 54 weeks in a dark box with only some shafts of light penetrating the dark from a high window.  It has been a hard, hard year.  Nothing like imagined – just so glad it is over.

When they entered the ark they left behind a great number of animals, peoples, houses/dwellings, and vast amounts of vegetation.  They left a thriving civilization and world of bounty.

So, pause at the door of the ark for one last look at the world known for 600 years.  See friends, dinosaurs, huge leaves on large plants, and the house being left.  Pause and remember that for over 100 years you have been telling the people that God was going to flood the earth in order to destroy evil.  You have been unable to explain what a flood is nor where such massive amounts of water might come from. You have been accused of being radical, wrong, and in need of mental health counsel.  And this thing – this ark – supposedly God told you to build it and of this size and shape.  As you pause at the door – you don’t know what is ahead for you or for them, you are just certain that it is God’s will to enter and trust Him to take you through whatever is about to come.  Good-bye to neighbors, family, old friends and the pet lizard and wolf.  Enter and God shut the door!

For a week they sat in silence – in expectation. Then boom, crash, flash, winds and RAIN!  In a few days they experienced movement.  The ark was moving!  The massive box was being moved!  Might it break apart and where might it go or what might it hit?  For a number of days the rains continued in torrents.  Then they stopped and the ark was moving about on the top of the water with no leaks – Whew!  About 140 days after first feeling movement the movement stopped.  The ark hit ground and stopped and now came a 220 day wait.  Just sitting and waiting.  When?  Why?  What’s next?  And finally, after some bird experiments, the day arrived for exit.

Stand at the door again and ponder.  It is a radically different world.  The only animals are those that traveled with you for over a year.  The country is green but only of short grasses and very small bushes and trees. And NO people – none!  They are all gone!  Ponder!

Furthermore, on entrance the sky overhead was deep with water while the exit sky has white, puffy clouds carrying the irrigation for the plants.  Now the sun is stronger and the stars so many more and much brighter!  Then this splash of color – never seen before the flood!

God marked this “new” world with a rainbow which was His promise that He would not destroy life with a flood as He had just done.  The rainbow was a wonderful sight for weary eyes used to the dark.  What a beautiful piece of art by God!

The rainbow, while pretty and marking a promise of hope, is also a statement to man about God’s holiness, presence and power.

God is sinless and has called men to not sin and takes note when men do sin (Genesis 6:5, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually).  God is moved by the sins of men.  He knows and is troubled (Psalm 7:11, God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day) and eventually must deal.  And deal He will!  He will not destroy men and their civilization with water, but He will do so with fire (II Peter 3:10, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.)

So, the rainbow was a blessing to his faithful servants back then.  Today we should marvel at God’s artwork, remember His grace to save Noah and mankind, and know that a great worldwide judgment is coming on those who insist on living contrary to His will. May the rainbow point us to God and remind us of His holiness and dealings.