God's Reason for Rainbows
Since the 1970's, Western society has wrongfully affiliated the rainbow with an unbiblical agenda, using it to symbolize a lifestyle that God condemns (1 Cor 6:9-10). As a result, Bible-believing Christians may lose appreciation for the real significance of the rainbow, which continues to be a beautiful, meteorological, and God-given phenomenon.
A rainbow occurs when water droplets in the sky reflect, refract, and disperse light, generating a fabulous multicolored arc in the sky. When is the last time you saw a rainbow? Not a rainbow flag or decal, but a real rainbow in the sky? Did you pause to admire it? Did you take a picture? Here's one that my son spotted outside our dining room window recently!
Moses introduced the rainbow to us in Genesis 9:8-17 in the first book in the OT canon. He tells us that God placed the first rainbow in the sky following the worldwide flood, through which he had judged human civilization for rampant, wicked thoughts and behavior. The rainbow provides all people with a perpetual reminder that God will never judge worldwide civilization with a flood again. Never. This was not a promise for Noah alone, nor was it a promise to the Jewish nation or to every person who knows God as Father. It was a promise to every person forever - including you and me today.
The rainbow provides all people with a perpetual reminder that God will never judge worldwide civilization with a flood again. Never.
The next and final time we see a rainbow in Scripture is when John mentions it in Revelation 4:3 and 10:1, in the last book of the NT canon. Revelation 4:3 is especially significant. It says:
"There was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald."
This rainbow doesn't appear on the White House, but it appears at the throne of God! I find this especially significant because Revelation 4 marks the beginning of a cataclysmic series of worldwide judgments.
Like the flood in Noah's day, God will judge civilizations worldwide again for the very same reason - rampant, wicked thoughts and behavior, especially behavior that is despicably violent and sexually immoral. But a cursory study of all of the judgments portrayed throughout Revelation reveals that in all of his judgments, God will refrain from using a flood. He will use many other forms of judgment (hail, famine, locust, water turned to blood, and many other things), but never a worldwide flood.
In Genesis, God gave the world a promise and sealed it with the sign of a rainbow. In Revelation, he reminds us that he will keep this promise to the very end.
The rainbow has nothing to do with the ungodly lifestyle that adopts it as a symbol. Yet knowing its true significance, may we continue to admire every rainbow that appears in the sky. Above all, may we praise God for keeping his promise to every generation - even when we don't deserve it and for continuing to liberate and transform the lives of those who embrace the symbol of a rainbow in wrongful ways (1 Cor 6:11)!
