“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “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 destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 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: 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.” Genesis 9:8-16

“Under the weather”

Here we have another nautical term. Originally, sailors used the phrase “under the weather bow,” referring to the side of the ship that would get the brunt of the wind during storms. To avoid getting seasick when the waves got rough, they’d bunker down in their cabins—literally under that bad weather—to let the storm pass.

Greek mythology attributes the rainbow to the goddess Iris who was the daughter of Thaumas and Elektra, the sister of Harpies and a messenger of the gods of Olympus. The rainbow is also said to be the belt of Iris or a footpath between heaven and earth.

When Noah and his family finally disembarked from the ark, the first thing they did was build an altar and make a sacrifice to G-d for saving them from this watery catastrophe. And of course, God did not forget them. And to make sure they would remember what G-d did for them, G-d made a covenant with Noah – and with all of creation. And the sign of that covenant is the rainbow. G-d is known as a covenant-making G-d who is faithful to keep His covenant. And here you have the first covenant that G-d makes. He makes it with Noah’s family which constitutes all of humanity, so, really, it is a covenant or a promise that He gives to all mankind – G-d cares for the environment, and will not forsake nor destroy it by flood until Christ comes again to establish the New Jerusalem.

Next time you see a rainbow, that’s G-d’s bow. He hung it up because this is not a sign of judgment, this is the time and a sign of peace. So G-d hung His bow as a sign of His mercy toward a world of sinners. Every sinner on the planet that sees the bow sees a sign of peace. You will not find a pot of gold, but you will feel G-d’s unconditional love, peace, mercy and Grace in believing and trusting in G-d’s promises.

Pastor Dave