God makes His covenant with Noah, his descendants, and with all living creatures. Genesis 9:11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” This is important as the whole earth deserves another judgmental washing. The Lord received Noah’s burnt offerings after the flood and responded with this promise Genesis 8:21, I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
Man is so depraved, the image of God so ruined, that global judgment is still deserved. But Noah, the man of peace, offered up “soothing” offerings. (“Soothing” is a play on the name, “Noah” which means peaceful rest.) So God gives this poetic promise Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.” God is just and He is merciful. He promises to providentially care for His image, man, and all of creation. God offers a sign in the cloud for us to see. By this sign, the rainbow, He will remember His covenant. God will not destroy all flesh by a flood again.
In the breaking of the storm, where the sun disrupts the evening rain shower, look there to the east! There is an arched entrance, a rainbow. (Rainbows more commonly appear in the east.) The entrances to the garden of Eden, the tabernacle and temple are all east. To look to the east and see the entrance means we are already on the inside. As Noah’s descendants, made in God’s image, we have been brought into this covenant by the kindness of our good Creator God. We do not deserve it, but He provides for us and keeps us. Jesus makes much of this in Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The violent men who lived prior to the flood (as well as those who live after) must surely recoil from this word of Christ. Violence, apparently, was the only way for the antediluvians (pre-flood-people) to settle matters. This violence became all the more prevalent as the sons of God became more corrupt (Genesis 6:1-12). Soon, only Noah (the man of restful peace) was left. Noah, being dead, still speaks of Christ. (Noah, filled with the Spirit of Christ, preached Christ to those who are even now in Hell. 1 Peter 3:19) Christ says in Matthew 5, “if you want to be true sons of God, think of how He gives His sun and gives His rain on the undeserving. He preserves life on earth by these graces. And when God sends His sun and His rain at the same time, He places His rainbow in the sky.”
Of course, Christ says more than this as He is the fulfillment of all righteousness. Our sonship does not depend on our behavior but on Christ’s own merits. He is the true man of rest Who sends forth the Dove, the Spirit of peace, to bring about a new Creation. As the firstfruits of the Resurrection, all who are born again into Christ are seated with Him in the Heavenly places. Being with Christ, we are surrounded by the rainbow around His throne, kept by Him Who wears the rainbow on His head (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:20; 2:6; Revelation 4:3; 10:1). All judgment has been spent. We are forever preserved.
