Noah Part 3 - The Rainbow Connection

Photo Credit: Marcheta Gibson

My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky.  William Wordsworth

I remember waking up the morning after a rain-storm aboard a yacht in Desolation Sound, British Columbia. My wife had died seven months earlier and despite the majestic beauty of the scenery, the name Desolation Sound echoed the recent deluge of loss in my life.

As I raised the deck hatch that morning I stared up at a magnificent double rainbow arched across the sky above the shrouds and mast of our boat. My heart leapt as those rainbows silently but eloquently proclaimed promise and hope to my soul.

The ancient story of Noah and the Flood is crowned with a rainbow.  By sheer mercy and grace the ark and its inhabitants survived the devastating flood. And by sheer mercy God does this over and over again in our lives. There are experiences in life that overwhelm us and change our world forever. But God is a master of new beginnings.

Nothing graces the landscape quite like a rainbow, especially after the gray-sky of storm.  Physics explains a rainbow as the effect of sunlight refracted through the prism of water molecules such as mist or failing raindrops. Every water particle causes the light waves to bend – and since each color has a different wavelength, each portion of the spectrum is bent through the raindrop at a slightly different angle. So, when the light emerges from the drop, the colors are separated and we see - a rainbow!

That’s the hard science, but the visual spectacle of violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red, arching across the open sky beggars analysis and definition.

God turns this natural phenomenon into a promise to Noah and the whole of creation, vowing that,
"never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; . . . Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures." Genesis 9:8-16.

The world was re-born, and God the Judge and Destroyer pledged to be forever the earth’s protector. The rainbow is not just a pretty ribbon in the sky. The bow is a warrior’s weapon - and God was unilaterally disarming. No matter how vile or violent human society may become, God refused the option to wipe out the creation again. Heaven is intimately connected with earth's well-being - and the rainbow signals that pledge.

Here was God as Peace-maker, pre-figuring the day when swords everywhere will be beaten into plough-shares, and spears into pruning hooks, (Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3), when agriculture will replace aggression and nations invest their resources in life-giving enterprises and mutual support - when peace - not blood - will flood the earth.

Noah’s rainbow tells us something about Yahweh’s nature as God. This deity is not in love with raw power. Yahweh is a God we can trust; all-powerful, yes, but whose nature and character dictate limits to that infinite capability. The rainbow is a pledge that ties the hands of God. God will not be reckless with the creation; it is sheltered and safe. If only we human beings would seriously embrace God’s example!

So Noah and his family left the protection of the ark and headed out into the renewed world with the strong promise of this Peace-making God.

Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of the Jesus Storybook Bible for children notes that
. . . It wasn’t long before everything went wrong again, but God . . . had another plan - a better plan. A plan not to destroy the world but to rescue it – a plan to one day send his own Son, the Rescuer.
God’s strong anger against hate and sadness and death would come down once more – but not on his people or his world. No, God’s war bow was not pointing down at his people. It was pointing up into the heart of Heaven.

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Ahh! the wonder of water, hidden in the form of a rainbow!  No wonder the Bible says "the heavens declare the glory of God!" (Psalm 19) And no wonder rainbows cause the heart to leap with joy!

I wonder . . . am I the only one – or have you ever had a breath-taking rainbow experience?

Photo Credits:
Double rainbow ... Rainbow colors ... Painting by Joseph Anton Kock 1803.