The End of the Rainbow

Introduction

Genesis 9:8–17 NIV

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

When I was in seminary, we lived in Kansas City, Missouri for about 4 years. Kansas City is known for some incredible thunderstorms and beautiful displays of lightning in the sky. But it is also a place where rainbows are equally stunning. The storms and the rainbow go hand in hand. One day, after one of the powerful thunderstorms had moved through, I was at work. My workstation was close to the door where everybody came to clock in and out for the day. I could tell that it had stopped raining, so I opened the door to look outside, and people were in the parking lot looking up into the sky.

I stepped out and looked up myself, and saw what to this day is the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen. The colors were bright and powerful - it was a full rainbow as far as the eye could see, but it wasn’t just a rainbow - it was a double rainbow - both were full and complete - both were bright and intense in color - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet - Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and finally Red! It was stunning! All of these years later, I can clearly recall that beautiful picture in my memory.

You probably have a similar story somewhere in your memories. To this day I look for a rainbow whenever it is raining and the sun is shining. There is a sense of comfort just in seeing it. There is this reminder that God is good, and that He remembers His people. It seems to have no beginning, no end. It just is. There are some interesting ideas that have grown up around the rainbow. We have all heard the folklore that there is supposedly a pot of gold buried where the rainbow meets the ground - but we all know you can never reach the end of a rainbow. The end will never appear.

The rainbow will forever be a sign of hope because of God’s covenant with Noah. When we see them a rainbow, it is always in conjunction with a promise. That’s what the rainbow is, a promise, a reminder between God and man forever! God said to Noah that He was placing His bow - which was a symbol of aggression and war in that time - God said He was going to put His bow in the clouds to remind Himself of this covenant that He was making with Noah. The truth is that God doesn’t really need reminded, but I believe this was more for us to remember than God.

If anyone needed a promise or two, it was probably Noah! Can you imagine being told by God to build an ark, gather your family and two of every kind of living creature, get in and close the doors and wait. Building an ark in an area that had never seen rain seemed like a task of futility. Then it starts to rain and it keeps on raining for 40 days and 40 nights. That would be like if it started to rain today and didn’t stop until the day after April Fools Day. We have seen some cold and snowy days over the past several weeks - but can you imagine not seeing the sun at all for 40 days? That’s a long time to never see the sun shine. But that’s exactly what Noah endured. He obeyed God’s commands. He built the ark, he gathered his family and all the creatures and he floated around aimlessly over the waters as they rose high above the earth. He saw some horrendous things - he was surrounded by death and decay. You have to wonder if he ever gave it a thought that he might die on this boat.

God is a god of promises. We know that because we have the Bible to tell us that. Noah learned that by living it. That rain did stop and the sun did reappear and the water subsided so that eventually the doors of the ark could be opened and Noah, his family, and all the creatures could step out on solid ground. That wasn’t the end of the story, though - If it was the end of the story - we would always be looking over our shoulder, wondering when God would do such a thing again. When we see the state of affairs in our world today, we would be expecting Him to do it all over again. But that’s not going to happen. I am not a predictor of the future, but I believe God, and His covenant that He made with Noah still stands!

“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you – the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come; I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

That rainbow in the sky that we see today after a storm is a sign of God’s promise to us never to destroy all of life again. We may deserve it - but we have a God that is full of grace. We are eternally grateful for His incomparable grace. But is there more to this covenant? Peter recalled this story in his first letter. Let’s look together at

1 Peter 3:18–22 NIV

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Peter looks back on this Old Testament passage, and links the covenant that God made with with Noah to God’s grace in saving people through the use of water. He talks about how Noah and his family were saved from certain death - as all those around them perished in the flood. We also have been SAVED from a certain death - not by drowning in a flood, but here he is talking about spiritual death. We have been saved because Christ died for our sins. He did it once and he gave His life for ALL mankind. That’s every person here in person - every person watching us online - He died, so that you might live! We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Every one of us is guilty and we have earned eternal punishment. But Jesus is the perfect one, the perfect sacrifice. Only an exchange of the righteous for the unrighteous would suffice. So Jesus did what he had been sent to do. He went to the cross in his perfection to pay for us in our imperfection.

That rainbow in the sky is more than a promise that God will never send a flood again. Through Peter’s linking of this Old Testament message to the message of God’s grace in Christ, we can now see the rainbow as the reminder of our baptism through water & our salvation in Jesus Christ, AND God’s promise to us that we will receive eternal life.

Oh, and one more thing about a rainbow! Have you ever seen one on a bright sunny day picture perfect day? No? You haven’t and you won’t either. Do you know why? It’s because a rainbow appears in the sky at the end of a storm. It’s after the thunder and the lightning are all over and the rain is beginning to subside and the sun comes out. That’s when you see a rainbow. You have to weather the storm first. It’s not much different in our walk with Christ. We see the greatest riches of our God after we have weathered the storms of life. When things are going good and life is easy, the rainbows just don’t appear. BUT, when we go through difficult times, when our faith is tested and we keep our trust in God, that’s when we really see the full effect of his grace, mercy, and love. That’s when we see and experience the riches of living a life grounded in him. That’s when we see our rainbow.

We can never reach the end of the rainbow to find the pot of gold, but we can experience the hope that one day we will receive our reward - and we can live knowing that we are on the side of God.