The Rainbow
Genesis 6:9-22; 8:15-22
"...only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also...by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
(1 Peter 3:20b-21)
One day when my children were small, we stepped out of the library at the exact time to see two perfect rainbows in the sky - a blessed "teachable moment." God's word of hope has come to us from the time of His very first rainbow.
It deeply grieved God to see what people had done to creation with their wickedness. Only Noah still walked with God. Thus, Noah was entrusted with the job of building a boat for surviving the flood - a cleansing for creation. In obedience to God, he made the ark and filled it with pairs of every animal, and the eight members of his family. God sealed the vessel and started the rain.
Over a year later, God finally brought them out on dry land. Noah's first act was worshipping God. God's response was a promise - sealed with a rainbow - to never destroy His creation again "as long as the earth endures."
The story of Noah foretold God's coming plan of salvation, sealed not with a rainbow but with His Son Jesus. We're cleansed through His death and resurrection when we trust in Him.
INSIGHT
"EVERY TIME I SEE A RAINBOW SHINING IN THE SKY ABOVE, I REMEMBER GOD'S GREAT MERCY, AND HIS FAITHFULNESS AND LOVE."
(JOHN W. PETERSON, 1959)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Esther 3-4
Psalm 39
Luke 2
Genesis 6:9-22
New International Version (NIV)
Noah and the Flood
9 This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all around.[d] Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark —you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Footnotes:
a. Genesis 6:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
b. Genesis 6:15 That is, about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high or about 135 meters long, 23 meters wide and 14 meters high
c. Genesis 6:16 That is, about 18 inches or about 45 centimeters
d. Genesis 6:16 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
Genesis 8:15-22
New International Version (NIV)
15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though[a] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”
Footnotes:
a. Genesis 8:21 Or humans, for
SEVEN KEYS FOR THE CHRISTIAN RACE
After their race, nearly every Olympic runner answers the same question, "What was your strategy?" Have you ever thought about your strategy for running the Christian race?
No comments:
Post a Comment