Rainbows: God’s Covenant with Noah
By John Keller | July 13, 2019
Why Doesn’t God Stop All Injustice? The Bow in the Sky Answers Why.
Have you ever questioned why God doesn’t intervene to stop all the injustice in our world? When grappling with the complex issues of faith, Christian theology typically points to the Fall of Man as the root cause of injustice. While this explanation holds merit, there exists a deeper covenantal reason for God’s restraint against terrorists, murderers, and unjust nations—it’s rooted in the Noahic covenant. In essence, God remains active in the world; His action consists of upholding His covenant promise not to destroy the earth due to humanity’s wickedness and violence.
In today’s society, those who reject the notion of a Creator often pose the question, “Why would a just and loving God allow such horrendous injustices to occur without intervening?” This mindset suggests a passive, uninterested God, a notion addressed by the Noahic covenant—God’s promise never to again destroy the earth with a flood. But why this restraint? The Noahic covenant prevents God from executing judgment on humanity’s wickedness as He did in the days of Noah. However, once the level of wickedness in our time mirrors that of Noah’s era, God will act to judge all injustice, a divine reckoning that will commence with the second coming of Christ.
The Noahic covenant established in Genesis 9 is often overlooked; rarely is it preached, taught, or understood in depth. (I base this on my thirty-plus years of church and Sunday school attendance at large Baptist and non-denominational churches.) While contemporary biblical commentators may highlight its relevance to human governance, God’s grace, and the promise of no further global floods, it’s vital to recognize that the implications of the Noahic covenant extend to our present day. Historically significant in church teachings, the Noahic covenant remains crucial today. God once annihilated humankind due to their rampant wickedness and faithlessness. The rainbow, the sign of this covenant, should serve as a solemn reminder that He will again judge the earth for its transgressions against His everlasting covenant.
In Western Christianity, this truth is often eclipsed by a focus on personal improvement (a glance at popular Christian self-help books will confirm this). For instance, digital native focused worship services emphasize concerts and TED Talks over substance, diluting the message of urgent repentance. By neglecting the gravity of impending judgment, the good news of salvation loses its significance.
Noahic Covenant Outline
At the heart of the Noahic covenant is a command from God to Noah and his descendants: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1). Eleven key aspects of this covenant are revealed in Genesis 9:1-16, which can be categorized as commands for humanity to obey (verses 1-6) and promises from God (verses 7-11):
1. Procreation – “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth…” (v.1; repeated in v.7)
2. Dominion Over Animals – “The fear of you shall be on every living beast…” (v.2)
3. Dietary Changes – “Every moving thing shall be food for you…” (v.3)
4. No Consumption of Blood – “You shall not eat flesh with its blood” (v.4)
5. Prohibition Against Murder – “Surely for your lifeblood, I will demand a reckoning…” (v.5)
6. Consequences for Shedding Blood – “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed…” (v.6)
7. Covenant Establishment – “I establish My covenant with you and your descendants…” (v.8)
8. Promise Against Destruction – “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood…” (v.11)
9. The Rainbow Sign – “I set My rainbow in the cloud…” (v.12)
10. Remembrance of the Covenant – “I will remember My covenant…” (v.15)
11. Everlasting Covenant – “The everlasting covenant between God and every living creature…” (v.16) Understanding these eleven aspects is essential for grasping the depth of the Noahic covenant within the Christian worldview.
The Global Apocalypse
The rainbow imagery of today’s culture stands in stark contrast to the apocalyptic imagery of the global flood narrative in Genesis 8. Regrettably, modern church materials often downplay the gravity of this biblical narrative, adopting a child-friendly approach while neglecting the sobering truth that God once judged the entire world due to its evil wickedness. Perhaps this oversight contributes to the alarming trend where about 80% of young people raised in church abandon their faith upon entering college. As we explore such precepts, we must remember that omitting the “bad news” diminishes the significance of the “good news.”
Sunday school materials sometimes treat Noah’s story as a tale of cuddly animals and rainbows, obscuring the catastrophic judgment that unfolded. Imagine discussing the apocalyptic imagery of the Holocaust in an irrelevant, trivialized manner; such a disservice is akin to how we often treat the flood narrative today. While teaching children, we must grasp the reality of judgment and God’s demand for accountability. The Noahic covenant admonishes us to recognize God’s authority and the dire consequences of disobedience. This covenant shapes the entirety of the biblical narrative and is vital to understanding God’s profound message of both judgment and mercy.
Covenant-Breakers
As recent historians have noted, the 20th century bore witness to mass genocide, claiming 60 million lives; in addition, millions of those deaths were children. Now consider, even graver is the reality that approximately 43.8 million unborn children are lost to abortion each year, an appalling figure that brings to light the severity of humanity’s disregard for life. In just over two months, the (WHO) World Health Organization, recorded that the number of lives lost to abortion matches that of the Holocaust in the past century. These statistics emphasize humanity’s deep and troubling trajectory in defiance of God’s everlasting covenant.
Pride Movement and the Rainbow Symbol
The sign of the covenant—the bow—is arrogantly used as a symbol of spiritual apostasy by those who ignore their Creator and worship the creation. The symbol of the covenant is the rainbow. Culturally, the rainbow is now universally recognized as a symbol of the pride movement—an ultimate rejection of the Noahic covenant, God’s law, the laws of nature, and, most importantly, honoring the Creator.
How does this presumptuous use of the rainbow by the pride movement break the covenant?
Procreation – “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth…” (Genesis 9:1).
Homosexual relationships and gender transformation cannot result in procreation and therefore cannot fulfill this command.
Misrepresentation of the Covenant Sign
The rainbow, a divine symbol of God’s covenant, is now falsely associated with the pride movement. A news article by Forrest Wickham explains how the movement adopted the rainbow flag and what it symbolizes. “In 1978, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed what is believed to be the first modern gay pride flag by combining eight stripes, each a different color with its own symbolism: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for the human spirit.” Wickham does acknowledge, however:
“Of course, rainbows and rainbow flags carry significance outside the LGBT community. The rainbow is an important symbol in the Bible, representing a promise of peace from God to Noah.”
The Bow
Importantly, in the Bible, the “bow” has nothing to do with the variety of colors. To the dismay of many, including 1960s-era hippies who used the rainbow as a peace symbol, the Hebrew word for “rainbow” is the same word used for a weapon—a bow. There is no separate word for “rainbow” in Hebrew; the word used simply means “bow,” symbolizing a weapon that God has laid down as a sign of peace. The Hebrew word in Genesis 9 “qesheth” primarily refers to a bow, a weapon used for shooting arrows. God hung up his bow until the time of judgment.
Tom Wells offers a crucial insight into the nature of divine covenants: “The point is that a covenant given by God is imposed on men. It is entirely from God.” To take a covenant sign and ignore its origin is evidence of a reprobate mind—a mind that refuses to acknowledge God, deliberately rejects His Word, and twists His warnings into justifications for a lifestyle He condemns. This is the ultimate blasphemy of our age. To put it in context: imagine the Nazi swastika being used as the symbol for the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is just as nonsensical and arrogantly outrageous.
The Sign that the End is Near
Now we must ask: how much longer will God tolerate this violent and malicious generation before enacting judgment? The New Testament warns that the last days will echo the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37). In Noah’s time, “The earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11). It’s evident that today’s society mirrors that corruption and violence. The late Mother Teresa poignantly expressed that abortion is a fundamental threat to world peace, highlighting the moral decay in a society that permits a mother to kill her own child. If such an act of violence can occur, what does it say about our humanity?
The Judgment
The age will culminate in divine wrath as a result of humanity’s covenant violations. The tribulation will unleash judgment far more severe than the flood, lasting seven years rather than just 40 days. Isaiah paints a vivid picture of this impending devastation, proclaiming, “The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant” (Isa. 24:1-5). The church today must return to a proclamation of the complete message, much like in Noah’s days: God will judge the world and punish sin. Ignoring the reality of impending judgment is unwarranted. The balance of good and bad news in the biblical narrative is crucial, especially as we find ourselves nearing perilous times resembling those of Noah. It is essential to reclaim the original meaning of God’s covenant sign, the rainbow, acknowledging it as both a reminder of past judgments and of God’s promise not to destroy the earth by flood again. However, the next time will be by fire. As Peter warns, “the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:10).
In light of the violence and disregard for life prevalent today, the world stands on the brink of judgment. “They will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5). It is imperative for us to recognize the gravity of our actions and the urgency of the gospel message. Now more than ever, we must dust off the truths of Scripture, proclaim the urgency of repentance of unbelief, and remind the world that the Kingdom of God is at hand. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 3:23).