Genesis 9:13
"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the
sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a
cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will
remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of
all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the
everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is
on the earth.” And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant
which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth." Gen 9:9-13
The original
rainbow was not a flag, but it served the same purpose. When a flag is raised
it declares a message; it sends out a call; it inspires those who know what the
flag stands for. These days the rainbow has been reduced to a bumper sticker,
and it’s message is “diversity” and those who support the homosexual movement
are inspired by its message. But the first rainbow was not a bumper sticker, or
a flag. It was a natural phenomenon…it still is.
Author Donald
Ahrens in his text Meteorology Today describes a
rainbow as “one of the most spectacular light shows observed on
earth". Indeed the traditional rainbow is sunlight spread out into its
spectrum of colors and diverted to the eye of the observer by water droplets.
The ‘bow’ part of the word describes the fact that the rainbow is a group of
nearly circular arcs of color all having a common center.”
But the
traditional meaning of the rainbow has always been the Biblical one that God
promised never to destroy the earth with water again. In Revelation 4:3 and 10:11 the rainbow is found very close to
God because Revelation is a vivid picture of God’s faithfulness in history. He
will keep His promises and nothing we can do will prevent that, anymore than we
can interfere with the sun and the rain. We must understand that God will judge
this world again, only this time with fire, not water.
“…knowing
this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to
their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of
creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the
world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and
the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:3-7
God does indeed love all of His
creatures, and He offers us all a chance to repent of our sins and be saved.
One of those sins is homosexuality. God did not provide the rainbow to forgive
homosexuals or any other sinners. He provided His son for that, but without
repentance there is no sacrifice for sins. (Hebrews 10:26)
Hell
will certainly be a place of great diversity. Heaven is for those who repent
and are baptized into the ONE Body of Christ, where there is ONE Spirit; ONE
Hope; ONE Lord; ONE Faith; ONE Baptism; One God and Father of all who is over
all, through all and in all. (Eph
4:4-6)