“And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.’” (Genesis 9:12-13)
The book of Genesis records how God created the first humans, but also how they fell into sin and their descendants behaved even worse. The sobering conclusion follows in Genesis 6:5: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Therefore God decided to blot out man from the face of the earth — except for Noah and his family.
When the flood was over and the earth had dried out, Noah left the ark. God made a covenant with him and his descendants, and with every living creature. He promised that a flood will never again destroy all life on the earth. As a proof of this agreement, God put a rainbow in the clouds. In the midst of all the destruction caused by the flood, this rainbow was a sign of hope and encouragement.
Nowadays, the traces of the flood are no longer visible in everyday life. The sign of God’s covenant is. Let it remind you that God takes sin seriously and punishes the guilty, but also that He is kind and merciful and full of love for hopeless sinners.