Pastor's Voice
GOD’S COVENANT WITH NOAH
The Sign of the Rainbow
Dear brothers and sisters,
In the last few “Pastor’s Voice”, we have been expounding on God’s Covenant with Noah according to Genesis 9. 9.9-17. And now, we have come to the last part of God’s covenant with Noah.
Firstly, God gives to Noah a sign of the rainbow as a token of God’s covenant with Noah, his family and the entire creation. The rainbow is something new after the flood. Before the flood, there was no rain, and therefore, no rainbow. After the flood, God said, “I do set my bow in the cloud (Gen. 9.13). The language of the rainbow is in its colours. The one white beam of light symbolises the covenant God, who is the light in whom there is no darkness at all. That light is reflected into the seven colours that symbolise his manifold covenant of grace.
Furthermore, the language is antithetical for the bow is set in the midst of the clouds, and it appears through the rain. That cloud reminds us of God’s wrath breaking out in the flood. But in the bow, we behold God’s grace breaking through his destroying wrath and the language of the bow is its span. The span of God’s bow symbolises God’s covenant is all embracing and universal, testifying that the whole creation is included in God’s covenant of grace, which will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Secondly, the rainbow is the divine sign. It is a visible manifestation of the invisible wonder of grace. The rainbow is a sign because it is seen. God promises to look at it and remember his covenant with his people (Gen 9.16). And God’s people look at it whenever he puts it in the cloud. Seeing it, they are reminded of God’s glorious pledge that he will remember and be faithful to his everlasting covenant of grace. That same rainbow set against the black turbulence of the storm clouds, proclaiming woe to the wicked. But it proclaims blessings to the righteous, both for this present time and for eternity. For it tells God’s people that he has bound himself to maintain his covenant, to save his people in Christ Jesus and to bring them together with the whole creation into everlasting glory. The End. Amen.
Pastor Paul Goh
