“I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
~ Genesis 9:13
Hi James and Ellen,
When God created planet Earth, God created a bare planet. The first thing that God did with planet Earth was to fill planet Earth’s watersheds with water. God then rooted plants and trees in the land areas that were not covered with water. God then put animals in the land areas, birds in the air and fish in the water. God ended His creation by putting a man in place on planet Earth to oversight His creation. God saw everything that He made as being perfect. How long do you think that God has lived? God has always been and He will always be. There is no beginning and there is no end to the Living God. Before God divinely positioned in His cosmos a planet now known as Earth, God created angels. One of these angels – Lucifer, proudly began to think that he was like God. Lucifer – who also goes by the name of Satan, because of his pride had God unambiguously reject him. Wherever Satan has gone after God unequivocally rejected him, Satan has shrewdly led guys, gals and kids into disobeying and rejecting God. God had the first guy and gal who He created live in a special place. This unique place was called the Garden of Eden. This place had to have been awesomely beautiful. Adam is the name of the first guy who God created. After God created Adam, God created Eve to be Adam’s helpmate and friend. Adam and Eve had God interact with them directly. God told Adam that he and Eve could eat anything that they found to eat in the Garden of Eden with the exception of the fruit of one tree. What do you do when your ma and/or dad tells you not to do something? Satan has ways to show up in your life to tell you to not to listen to your ma and/or dad. This is what happened to Eve. Satan – as a beautiful and beguiling snake, went to Eve to suggest to Eve that it would be good for her to eat fruit from the tree that God had told Adam that he was not to eat. What did Eve do? Eve ate fruit from the tree. Eve then got Adam to eat fruit from the tree. Satan slyly hoodwinked Adam and Eve into disobeying God. Because they disobeyed God’s explicit instructions, Adam and Eve had God remove them from the idyllic garden that He had created for them to be their home. Satan continued to get guys, gals and kids to reject God. The consequence for guys and gals not living their lives for God was to have God with a flood that covered the entire planet Earth land area drown almost all the guys and gals and all the kids who were living on planet Earth along with almost all the animals and almost all the birds.
God saved eight guys and gals from drowning in a global flood. These guys and gals were Noah, his wife and their three sons and their wives. Why do you think that God saved Noah and his family? Noah and his family trusted in God. Noah and his family were obedient to God. God saved Noah and his family by having Noah and his family build a massive boat called an ark. God began life all over again on planet Earth with Noah and his family and with the animals and the birds that were led by pairs by God to go into the ark. It was not long before guys and gals began to do things again which did not please God. It was not long before the guys and gals on planet Earth became like the guys and gals were before the flood. Do you think that God will send another flood someday – to destroy again most all the guys and gals and most all the animals and birds because so many of the guys and gals who are living on planet Earth have rejected Him? God promises you in Genesis 9 that He will never completely flood planet Earth again like He did when Noah was alive. God often sends a visual reminder to affirm the promise that He made that He will never again totally flood planet Earth. Have you ever seen a rainbow? God tells you in verse 13 “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” Do you know what a covenant is? A covenant is a promise or an agreement. God’s promise in this verse is that He will never cover all of planet Earth again with water. What do you think when you see a rainbow? Your grandmaa and grandpaa like seeing rainbows as they think that they are very beautiful. You probably think that they are beautiful, too. The rainbow is to help you to remember God’s promise not to cover the planet Earth again with water. The rainbow is to remind you of why God destroyed with a universal flood almost everything and almost every guy and gal living on planet Earth. Disobedience to God will lead to dire things happening on planet Earth. Faithfulness to God will lead to sensing the presence of God. Disobedience to God will lead to destruction while faithfulness to God will lead to hope.
You will as you get older have questions about the Bible and about God. You will wonder why God allows so many awful things to happen on planet Earth as this does not seem like something a God Who loves would do. You will wonder how God somewhere around five thousand years ago completely covered planet Earth with water. You will wonder why God Who has the power to do it does not stop Satan from getting guys, gals and kids to reject God. The flood teaches you that God will not tolerate guys, gals and kids who reject Him. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have met and talked with guys, gals and kids who have not made a decision of faith to believe in God by confessing their disobedience to Him and through believing what God did for them through the death of His Son – Jesus Christ, on a cross. These guys, gals and kids are letting their evil ways drown them on this earth – just as the flood drowned almost all the guys and gals in Noah’s time. God is putting your grandmaa and grandpaa in places to help save these guys, gals and kids from drowning in their sins. The Bible is what becomes like an ark to these guys, gals and kids just as it has been to you as it teaches you how to live your lives to please and to bless God. Let each rainbow that you see tell you to be obedient to God’s will as you live your lives on planet Earth as God’s specially elected kids.
Genesis 9 (59)