My theme for this devotional is the promise of the rainbow. It was inspired by a rainbow I saw in the sky recently while traveling in my car. In Genesis chapter 9 verses 13-17, God is speaking. “I will 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 waters 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.”
After the flood spoken of earlier in Genesis, which we shall return to later, we see that the rainbow in the sky is a reminder to us of a covenant between God and man that he will not flood the earth again.
Recently I was travelling back from Lutterworth to Gloucester and as I approached Gloucester a vivid rainbow appeared in front of me and these words came into my mind (I believe from God),” this rainbow is my promise to you that I will always be with you.” These words brought comfort to me. My wife took a picture through the windscreen of the car and sent it to my daughter who was traveling North from Lutterworth to Doncaster. (We had met up in Lutterworth for a family party). She texted back to say, “We have just seen a rainbow as well.”
Strange, I thought – two rainbows at the same time some 150 miles apart. It was later I learned a friend had also seen a rainbow near Bristol at the same time and, to her, it was just what she needed, reminding her that God was with her.
As I reflected on this, I wondered is God trying to tell me something? I felt God was reminding us that He is faithful to His promises, and that He is always with us whatever we are going through, and, from a world perspective, we are going through troubled and unsettled days.
References to rainbows appear three times in The Bible, in Genesis 9, Ezekiel 1, and revelation 4 and 10. In Genesis 8:22 we read, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat summer and winter shall not cease.” A promise that the seasons will duly come year by year while the earth remains, despite the extremes of weather. In fact each year, despite famines, the earth produces enough food for all. It is due to the injustice of mankind that many go without.
In Matthew 24:7 we read, “for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places”.” We see in these verses that Jesus prophesied that these things will be part of life in a fallen world. As we see them intensify, we must be ready for our Lord’s return, but we can be positive knowing that in the fullness of time Jesus will return to take us to be with Him.
He has promised in John 6: 1-3, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
So, despite tough days, we as Christians look forward to better days when we will be forever with the Lord. In the meantime, as the song says, “Thank you oh my Father for leaving your spirit till the work on earth is done.” What a promise. We have within us the indwelling Holy Spirit to equip us for service and a peace that the world cannot have. It is the gift of God that fills us with assurance and hope.”
Let us move on to Ezekiel 1. “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 a voice of one that spake.”
Of this passage, John Gill says, “Ezekiel saw the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, … The rainbow, which is no other than the reflection of the rays of the sun in a thin watery cloud on a rainy day. So often as a rainstorm passes, a ray of sunshine, as it shines through the rain, a rainbow appears.”
Ezekiel could see despite dark times for God’s people the glory of the Lord would eventually shine through. In these days, God is still saying, “I am still with you although the best is yet to come.”
As we move into the passages in Revelation John Gill has this to say about the completed rainbow. “Christ is represented as clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow about his head, (Revelation 10:1”, which is a token of the covenant of grace, in which Christ is concerned; it is round about him; he is the head mediator, surety, and messenger of it; all the blessings and promises of it are in him; and he is that itself, which is only a reverberation of him, the sun of righteousness; and it is also about the throne on which he sits, which is upheld by mercy and truth; and it is ever in his view and he is always mindful of it”. This part of the vision agrees with Revelation 4:3
John Wesley Says, “The bow was like appearance of Christ in a surrounding brightness, as of the rainbow you have, Mercy, and truth, and both according to covenant are about the throne of Christ. It was not the full glory of God, but such as the prophet might bear. I fell – With deep humility and reverence.”
So just as Ezekiel saw a glimpse of the fullness of the glory of God, the best is yet to be fulfilled when we will see it in Heaven. But in the meantime, just as that rainbow I saw reminded me of the promise of God and that He is with us, we press on with heads held high and a positive position in Christ, living in His blessings and sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God in the belief that souls will be saved.
PS, As I finished this article Russia has just invaded Ukraine, I am not getting into the issues of all that is involved, but much of the conversation is about what is happening. I pose a couple of questions. Are we doing too much talking and not enough praying? And how does this affect us? Or are we than looking to the God in whom we can trust? A couple of questions to get our old grey cells thinking it through.