The Rainbow Connection

God's Covenant with Mankind

Bible Study Lesson from Genesis 9:1-17  

This Biblical disaster begins with a warning to build the ark and ends with a promise. When the great flood was finally over, God made a promise to Noah, and to all of us, that water would never destroy the earth again and sealed the covenant with a rainbow. Next, time we see the beautiful spectrum of colors, let's think of God.

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The Great Flood and the Rainbow

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

 

2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.

 

3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

 

4 "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

 

5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

 

6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man,

 

by man shall his blood be shed;

 

for in the image of God

 

has God made man.

 

7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."

 

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him:

 

9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you

 

10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.

 

11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

 

12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:

 

13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

 

14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

 

15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.

 

Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.

 

16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

 

17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

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This is the Word of the Lord - It is meant to change the way that we think, and the way that we live.

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Commentary by Bob Pardue

Noah and the Rainbow Covenant

In the first of these verses God is establishing two things.

1. He is basically setting up a system and bringing order to a new society out of all the chaos following the great flood.

2. God was also reestablishing a law that says we can not do wrong to another person without ultimately answering to Him. This means that justice will prevail in the end on a personal level.

A footnote to the second statement is that God wants us to see others as one of His creations and murder is wrong because killing a human being is destroying one who was made in God's image. We can only strive to see people as having God's image within them and know that He also offers them eternal life through Jesus Christ just as He does for us.

The Rainbow Covenant

After this Biblical disaster of the great flood, God made a covenant (promise) with Noah that can be sectioned into three parts:

1. God promised that the earth would never again see this kind of total destruction by a flood

2. The second part of God's covenant is that, as long as the earth exists, the seasons of the year will come on a timely schedule

3. The rainbow is a reminder of the first two promises God made with Noah and a reminder to us that God will be faithful and keep His covenant.

In part number two of this covenant notice that God said, "as long as the earth remains" which lets us know that the world as we know it will not always be here.

But, the comfort and good news is that GOD will always be here for us and we can live with Him for eternity if we only accept His offer in John 3:16.

Love in Christ

- Bob

Genesis 5:1-32 - Descendants of Adam - The Descendants of Adam Including Noah