The Promise of the Rainbow

"I do set my Bow in the Cloud." Genesis 9:13

 When Eve had listened to the evil spirit in the garden, sin entered the world. As the people multiplied in the world, the sin grew worse. God brought a great flood over the earth and the wicked people all drowned in the flood. But God saved Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. They were in the Ark for a whole year. They watched the rain come until they  couldn't see anything but water. Now the water had gone down and they left the Ark, along with all the animals God had saved with them, and stepped onto the fresh green grass. 

God spoke to them. He made a promise to Noah.  He promised that he would never drown the world again. He world would go on, year after year and season after season, until he would burn it with fire. He promised this so that Noah and all of us after him would feel sure that God, in his mercy, will go on preserving us day and night. He gave us something to look at as a sign of his promise. He ordered the rays of light so that when they shine upon drops of water in the air they make beautiful colors in the shape of a bow. 

So when the sun shines on a cloud as it rains, the bright rainbow is seen as a pledge to us of God's mercy, love and care for us. 

There is a rainbow around the Throne of God in Heaven. The lovely rainbows we see when the sun shines and the rain stops are to remind us we are safe in His care because of His promise to Noah and his family, who then multiplied and spread over the whole earth. 

We are the children of his sons - Ham, Shem and Japhet, and all that was promised to them belongs to us also. 

We should remember and put our trust in Him, and be thankful when we see the beautiful arch that the Hands of Almighty God bended, looking out from the dark, watery clouds.  

      QUESTIONS

1. What beautiful sight do we sometimes see after a rain shower ?

2. What is a rainbow like ?

3. Who put the rainbow in the cloud?

4. Who was the man to whom God showed the rainbow ?

5. What promise did God make Noah?

6. What had God just done to the wicked people ?

7. Whom had He saved?

8. What did He say should always go on?

9. What did God put in the sky to show that He will not send another flood ?

10. What are we to think of when we see a rainbow?

11. Who takes care of us?

12. Where is there a rainbow in Heaven above?