DWDP - Gen 9: 8-17 God's Covenant in the Rainbow

A rainbow can feel like a quick, pretty moment after a storm. We take it seriously as Scripture does: a visible sign of an unbreakable promise. From Genesis 9:8–17, we walk through God’s covenant with Noah and his descendants and even with the animals, and we ask what it means that God binds himself unilaterally and unconditionally to never again destroy all flesh with a worldwide flood. That single promise turns the sky into a reminder that God is faithful even when we are not. 

We also tackle a thoughtful Bible question: how could Moses write with such detail about events far outside his lifetime, even recording conversations between God and Noah? We point to the doctrine of divine revelation and the Holy Spirit’s role in Scripture, grounding our confidence that Genesis is not speculation but God’s message to his people. Along the way, we contrast conditional covenants with Israel and the cost of disobedience, so the bigger biblical storyline comes into focus. 

Then we bring it home with providence and evangelism. God’s covenant includes living creatures, and we share a striking mission-trip story from the Yucatán that raises the question of how animals sense danger ahead of time. Finally, we connect the rainbow to Revelation 10, where a rainbow appears again, pointing us to Jesus, his first coming in humility, and his return in glory and judgment. If you want clear Bible teaching on the meaning of the rainbow, Noah’s covenant, and how to share the gospel with your kids and friends, this devotional is for you. Subscribe, share, and leave a review, and tell us: what do you think of when you see a rainbow?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to More Than Medic, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr. Robert Jackson.

How Moses Knows The Details

God’s Unconditional Covenant Explained

God’s Care For Animals

The Rainbow As Covenant Sign

Sharing The Gospel Through The Rainbow

Closing And How To Follow

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Papa, can you tell me a story? Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go get your brother and your sisters, and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr. Papa. Gather round, grab your Bibles and let us look into the written word which reveals to us the living word, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we're in Genesis chapter nine verses eight through seventeen. Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, Now behold, I myself do establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth, I establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood. Neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth. God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you, and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations. I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. It shall come about when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you, and every living creature of all flesh, and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. May God add his blessing to the reading of his word. If Moses wrote the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament, how did he know precise details of things that happened a thousand years ahead of his time? Well, the answer is the same as how the Old Testament prophets and John the Revelator in the New Testament knew what would happen in the future. Holy Spirit revealed it to them. In fact, Peter in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 2 tells us, but know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. So we understand that these prophets spoke when they were moved by the Holy Spirit. They spoke from God. And Moses did the same thing when he wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. And when he spoke of things that happened way, way before his time, he was informed by the Holy Spirit. No doubt Moses had the written records of Adam and his sons, and Noah and his sons. But Holy Spirit revealed to him precise details and actual conversations. And aren't you glad? I'm sure there are things that God will reveal to us much later in glory. But there are many things that we now know by no other way but by divine revelation in His holy Word. How else would we know about this conversation between God and Noah? How else would we know about this covenant between God and all succeeding generations? Except for God's divine revelation, we wouldn't know at all. So let's begin. In verse 8, God speaks to Noah and his sons. Does he speak with an audible voice? Or do they just hear him in their head, like I hear my wife calling my name even when she's not home? Nobody knows. But they knew it was God, and they got the message loud and clear. Now in verse 9, let's read verse 9 again. Now, behold, I myself do establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you. Now, some of you will be old enough to remember when Newt Gingrich and the Republican Party established the contract with America in the 1980s. And they promised to do about eight or ten things that really connected with the American people. And the Republicans and Ronald Reagan were swept into office all over the nation. And it was because of this contract where they promised to do these things that really appealed to the American people. Well, in verse 9, God offers a contract, but it's a unilateral, unconditional contract. It's a covenant. The Hebrew word is berith, and it's a contract with Noah, his sons, the animals, and all succeeding generations. It was unilateral and unconditional, because it was binding on God, but had no obligations on Noah and his descendants after him. Now what does it mean by unilateral? You know, unilateral decision making is what husbands do when they buy big ticket items like firearms or new computers or new motorcycles without consulting their wives. It's what wives do when they purchase furniture or new Easter dresses without consulting their husbands. And then they say, Oh honey, I've had this dress for ages. You just haven't noticed, and you never notice any of my new clothes. And besides, don't I look really good in this old dress? Well, that's unilateral decision making by humankind. Now God only has to consult with himself. You see, the Father looks at Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and they all three smile and nod, and the decision is made. That's called the counsel in heaven. The great three in one makes a unilateral decision. Lots of covenants in the Bible are conditional, unlike this covenant that God made with Noah, which is unconditional. For example, conditional covenants were made with God and the Israelite people, where God promised the people of Israel to bless them, provide for them, and protect them if they obeyed him and worshiped him only. It was a conditional covenant, which over time the Israelites could not live up to, and they ended up in captivity. The northern kingdom went to Assyria, and the southern kingdom ended up in Babylon. But this covenant with Noah was unconditional, perhaps because of Noah's faith and sacrificial offerings, and God promised to never again send a universal flood to destroy all flesh as long as the earth remained. Now I think it's significant that the covenant was not only with Noah and his descendants, but also, did you notice, with the animals going out of the ark and their descendants? Wasn't that interesting? Even though the animals do not possess an eternal soul and spirit as men do, their creator cares for them. You remember Jesus told us in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount that the birds of the sky do not sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, but yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Even the wild beasts are mentioned twice, indicating they are under his providential care and will never have to face another worldwide flood. Let me tell you an interesting story. When I was on one of my mission trips down to Mexico to the Yucatan, the missionary there told me that 20 years ago, when the last great hurricane went through the Yucatan, that the meteorologists predicted that the hurricane would turn north and go towards Mississippi or Louisiana, but instead it turned west and went straight into the Yucatan. And it hovered there for a day or two and then went back out into the sea. But it created a great deal of devastation and flooding in the Yucatan. The people noticed that two days before the hurricane struck, that the thousands of flamingos that live in the Yucatan picked up and flew away two days before the hurricane had a landfall there. Nobody thought anything of it. But then ten days later all the flamingos came back. Now, who told the flamingos that the hurricane was going to come to the Yucatan? Who warned them in advance? How did they know? Well, I'm just telling you that their heavenly Father watches over them. Their Creator cares for them. Now look at verses eleven and twelve in chapter nine. It says, I establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth. God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations. And the sign, of course, was the bow that he set in the cloud, which would be a sign or a token, as the King James Version says, a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. The word covenant barit occurs once again. In fact, it occurs eight times in these verses. This is a really big deal that God makes this promise to never again send the Mabul, the worldwide flood. And yet, brothers and sisters, most people today deny that the flood ever happened. And they don't even know the meaning of the token, the sign that God placed in the sky, which means this is a great evangelistic opportunity for you and me. Every time you see a rainbow, which is the sign of God's promise, you and I can fill in the blanks for our children, our grandchildren, and our friends who don't know the story. Just remember, don't forget to put Jesus in the middle of it so that it comes alive. And we're going to get to that in just a minute, and I'm going to help you out with that. And then verse 13, God's sign, God's token of the covenant was the beautiful rainbow in the clouds. And it's not just that it would that we would see the bow, God said it would remind him of the covenant, like God ever forgets anything. He called it my bow, likely referring to the fact that conditions for a bow didn't even exist before the flood. The water vapor canopy that existed before the flood was now gone. And now, after a rainfall, the water droplets in the sky would refract refract the sun's rays that could not previously penetrate the water vapor canopy. And now it would produce a rainbow for the first time ever. Local floods could and would come, but God promised there would never ever again be another universal worldwide Mabul, a worldwide flood. And the bow in the sky was a comforting reminder of God's promise. As you can imagine, the physical evidence of the flood remained for probably decades, if not longer. The stories of the flood were passed down from generation to generation, and every heavy rainstorm produced anxiety in the heart of the fearful. But then after the rain came God's bow in the cloud to remind everyone of God's promise. Every time you and your children and grandchildren see a rainbow stretch from horizon to horizon, you should say to them, Look, God's bow that reminds us of his promise to never again destroy the world by a flood. God is faithful, even when we are not faithful. And God keeps his promise to a thousand generations, from eternity to eternity, from beginning to end. The rainbow reminds us of God's grace, that he found favor with Noah and extended grace to him and his family in the midst of his great wrath toward the wicked world of that day that was so filled with violence and corruption. In wrath he remembered mercy. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound. Now here is where we get to share the gospel with your children and grandchildren and friends. Let me read you a verse from Revelation chapter ten. I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven. Now many theologians think this strong angel is actually the Lord Jesus, a strong angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book which was open. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land, and he cried out with a loud voice as when a lion roars, and when he had cried out the seven peals of thunder uttered their voices. Did you catch which was on his head? It was the rainbow. Did you know that when Jesus comes back for judgment in Revelation ten, he will be wearing a rainbow crown on his head when he judges the earth? And it's not just any crown, but it's the rainbow, God's bow upon his head. At his first coming, he wore the crown of thorns as he bore the curse for each one of us. At his second advent, when he returns wearing the rainbow, he will cry out, and the seven thunders of judgment will follow. When we next see our king, he will be clothed in glorious apparel, and the rainbow upon his head, and crowned with glory and honor. Blessed, blessed be his name. You're listening to devotions with Dr. Papa. If you like what you hear, I pray that you will follow, like, or share, and tell your friends about it. And until next week, I pray that the Lord will bless you real good. And remember that Jesus loves you and your doctor loves you.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Doctor Family Ministry or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, Instagram, or website at Dr. Family Ministry.