If you stand with your back to the sun, and if you look up into the sky at around a 40 degree angle, and if there are droplets of water suspended in the atmosphere, you may see a rainbow. Rainbows occur because every individual water droplet plays catch and pitch with waves of light. The light enters the droplet and bends (refraction), then bounces off the back of the droplet (reflection), then bends again on it’s way back out of the droplet (refraction and dispersion) like a prism. In other words, a ray of light hits the droplet, slows down, turns around, and speeds up on exit. Since sunlight includes different wavelengths that travel at different speeds, each wave refracts and reflects at a different angle on the visible spectrum. That’s why a rainbow always has red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet bands in that order from top to bottom. The hues appear as an arc because our eyes catch certain angles of the visible light. Under the right circumstances, a pilot could see a complete circle of a rainbow, the earth blocks the bottom half for those on the ground. It’s amazing how Nature came up with all of that.

Or, rainbows occur because God invented them and uses them to communicate His overarching grace to every living being on earth since Noah. The fact that we can explain how a rainbow forms in scientific terms does not mean that God doesn’t do it, it means that God causes natural causes. He tells red light to speed up, green light to go a little slower, and tells liquid where to stand in the sky for our comfort.

The waters of the flood have abated, everyone who had been on the ark is off (8:13-19), Noah has worshipped the LORD with a splurge of sacrifices (8:20-22), and God has renewed the mandate to men to multiply, fill the earth, rule all the animals and even eat some of them (9:1-7). These are all life givens, including the protection of valuing every image-bearer right down to his blood. Men are not to destroy other men under consequence of their own death.

In Genesis 9:8-17 God promises protection to men from Himself. He will not destroy all of humanity again with a flood. God blesses men into fruitfulness but—and this must not be forgotten—this is not because of their faithfulness. The rainbow is a sign of God’s self-restraint toward their sinfulness. When Noah saw the rainbow it didn’t mean that everything was good again, back to the Garden State, it meant that God purposed to be patient when things on earth were most definitely not good.

The reason God sent the flood in the first place was that “every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually” (6:5). But man’s spiritual condition was not different after the flood: “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (8:21). It isn’t that men don’t deserve punishment bur rather that God will exercise long-suffering. That’s what He said to Himself (“in his heart,” see verses 21-22), and now He says it to Noah and sons.

Three speeches shape this paragraph as we see “God said” in verses 8, 12, and 17. Seven times God uses the word “covenant.” So there are three parts to God’s unconditionally common covenant, and His grace is the overarching theme.

The Covenant Stated (verses 8-11)

Noah has not said a word in the story up to this point and neither he or his sons make any contributions to the covenant now.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” (Genesis 9:8–11)

A covenant involves partners and terms, associates and an agreement between them. The who are identified: God, Noah, Noah’s sons (verse 8), all their offspring (verse 9), every living creature including birds, bugs, bovine, and beasts (verse 10). In other words, the covenant is with “all flesh” (verse 11) and, borrowing a phrase from the next section, “for all future generations” (verse 12). This is an agreement between all creatures of our God and God that extends to all places at all times to all kinds.

The contract, however, is unilateral. One side takes all the responsibility and does all the promising. It is an independent, self-determined decision on God’s part. This is why we call it an unconditional covenant. There are zero ifs, thens, or or-elses. Men are not required to do anything or avoid anything; that the covenant is also with animals bears witness to the fact that it only depends on God. It’s all gift. In fact, it assumes men should be destroyed. We already heard God’s assessment of men’s hearts. He’s not promising peace based on a vision of improved morality. The nature of the covenant itself is holding Him back from exercising deserved judgment, at least on a global and cataclysmic scale via water.

Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood does not depend on men’s virtue let alone a moral majority. God’s covenant expects depravity, iniquity, obscenity, barbarity among men.

There are no conditions for men to keep and there are no men for whom this covenant does not apply. This is why it is *common** in terms of something that all flesh in all generations shares together. God has made an undeserved promise to spare every person drowning in deserved death for their sinful intentions. This isn’t a promise of no judgement at any time or in any way, but it is nevertheless a common, gracious, *tempered* goodness from God.

Apart from such a merciful word from God, every darkening cloud might have caused fear. “Here we go again.” Every storm may have sent them running back to the ark. Storms and rain would come, they are necessary to make the sign, but they could only do so much damage.

The Covenant Signified (verses 12-16)

Four more times in this second speech God corroborates His covenant as He gives a sign and as He explains what the sign will do.

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:12–16)

The sign is the bow , what we call the rainbow. The Hebrew word (qešeṯ) is the same as a bow that is a weapon. There are not different words to distinguish between meteorological and military bows. Some suggest that this bow is pointed away from the earth and is therefore a sign of peace. I’m not convinced that’s the best connection, though the arch is a great covering.

Originating from the effect of the sun upon a dark cloud, it typifies the willingness of the heavenly to penetrate the earthly. Stretched between heaven and earth, it is as a bond of peace between both, and, spanning the horizon, it points to the all-embracing universality of the Divine mercy. (Delitzsch)

The rainbow is beautiful, refracting all the different visible hues in the light spectrum. Because of God’s Word that explains the sign, it is also reassuring. But it is not a time of precious moments. All three times that the bow is mentioned, the bow is in the clouds . Rainbows don’t occur on clear, sunny days (unless it is a micro rainbow around a garden hose stream in the backyard). Rainbows come when water is in the air, after and sometimes during a rainstorm. The sign requires sunlight, but it also requires clouds. For Noah and his family, the reassurance of peace was tied to the remembrance of death. The sign of grace couldn’t be separated from the memory of judgment.

That said, the sign was only for Noah (and us) indirectly. God made the rainbow as a reminder for Himself. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant (verse 16). Of course, on one hand, God doesn’t forget. On the other hand, God doesn’t have hands. But we are to learn from this that His holiness doesn’t sit still. His holiness leans against sin. Evil hearts, let alone wicked works, do not go unnoticed by Him. The reason mankind is not so quickly destroyed is because of God’s commitment to be gracious and not because He doesn’t care about it. This is a permanent pledge, an everlasting covenant .

I mentioned this past summer the irony of the homosexual’s chosen branding of the rainbow. They really don’t know how good they have it. The colors of their ribbons symbolize God’s grace to not immediately flood the earth to stop their pride parades. We understand that, in another way, homosexuality itself is a type of God’s righteous wrath as He abandons men to self-destructive lusts. But they are still living under a temporary protection because God is kind.

The Covenant Summarized (verse 17)

The final speech from God puts it all together one more time.

God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:17)

There is nothing new here, though the audience is back to Noah by himself. He had been through a lot in a year’s time, and God reassures Noah personally that the arch in the sky meant no more need for the ark in the sea.

Conclusion

The rainbow is an aesthetically beautiful and scientifically precise sign that represents God’s unconditional, common covenant to wait with His wrath. This promise is not a dismissal of judgment but it is a delay of it. Such patience on God’s part is meant to lead to repentance on man’s part.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)

God has revealed His righteous judgment on the cross and He is also storing up judgment on the ungodly.

For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:5–7)

Let us preach fire and brimstone, and let’s preach rainbows. “Count the patience of our Lord as salvation” (2 Peter 3:15). God’s grace is not less effective because terrible sins are committed. For now, that He withholds a flood of wrath against the terrible sins is one of the great demonstrations of His grace. Men tire of God’s patience towards others only after receiving it themselves.