What the Rainbow Really Means
Who isn't familiar with the arc of colorful bands known as a
rainbow? Throughout history, this bow has stood for something. Its colors are
often portrayed on a flag as a symbol of a particular political or cultural
idea. Along with the peasant's boot, such a flag signified a new beginning of
hope and social change in Germany during the German Peasants' War in the
sixteenth century.[1] Created in the 1920s, the rainbow flag known
as the Wiphala quispemanta has
represented freedom in South American countries such as Peru and Ecuador.[2] Five
decades later, the colors of this wonderful bow were seen once again waving in
the wind as homosexuals fought for equality with heterosexuals.[3] June 2015 brought an abundance of rainbow paraphernalia as a
result of the Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriage is constitutional.[4] The
rainbow has become a very common sight; for all its prominence, however, people
have virtually forgotten what the rainbow really means.
The first book of the Bible reveals
the origin of the rainbow. We read in Genesis that men eventually became so
unlike God in character that everyone, except a man named Noah and perhaps his
family, was altogether evil. They were so evil, in fact, that God had no choice
but to destroy the world with a universal flood. He commanded Noah to build and
ark in preparation for that day, and told him to seek to have as many people to
go in with him as he could. Noah faithfully labored on the ark for one hundred
twenty years, while entreating people to heed the divine warning; but because
the idea of rain, let alone a flood, was foreign to the world at that time,
almost everyone mocked him and thought he was strange. When those years were
over, and the construction of the ark completed, the message of mercy sounded
no more. Since no one else had listened, Noah and his family as well as the
animals, boarded the ark. The door was shut, and the deluge began, killing
everything and everyone else.[5]
In the eighth chapter of Genesis, we read of Noah leaving the ark at the
end of the Flood and offering a sacrifice to God. This sacrifice was a
"sweet savour" to the LORD, and He decided that the ground would not
be cursed again due to man's ever-rebellious nature, and that seedtime and
harvest would continue while the earth remained.[6] After
giving instructions to Noah and his sons on how to live,[7] God
said: "And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed
after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of
the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of
the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with
you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood;
neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.[8]
In His mercy, our Maker declared that
He would never again destroy the whole planet by water. More than that, He made
a covenant, or an agreement, with our world on this point.[9] So that
no one would doubt His Word, He gave us a sign, or token, that it was indeed
true. "And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make
between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual
generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between Me and the earth."[10] The
phrase "in the cloud" surely denotes the rainbow. In Ezekiel 1:28,
speaking of the "brightness round about" God's throne, the prophet
states that it is "as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in
the day of rain." Instead of declaring that sin is all right, as the world
likes to think, clearly the rainbow is there to remind us of God's judgment
against sin and of His love and grace for humanity.
Our subject is not mentioned in the
Old Testament only. The book of Revelation in the New Testament also speaks of
it. Chapter four verse three is particularly noteworthy. When he described the
throne of God, John the apostle wrote: "And He that sat was to look upon
like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the
throne, in sight like unto an emerald." It was not by accident that John
employed the emerald to convey his point.
Colors often mean different things in
the Bible. Generally, the color of an emerald is green. Green is a combination
of the colors blue and yellow. Numbers 15 gives us an indication as to what
blue refers to. God told Moses to instruct the children of Israel to "make
them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and
that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be
unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the
commandments of the LORD, and do them."[11] In
other words, blue stands for the law of
God. In Psalm 68:13, we find the expression "yellow gold."
Searching for more references for gold, we find that Jesus counsels us to buy
"gold tried in the fire" from Him.[12] Peter
tells us what this signifies: "That
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be
found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."[13] It signifies faith. The law of God and faith in Him are parts of the foundation
of His kingdom, and they are blended together in the green of the bow of
Revelation four. The apostle Paul explains how the two fit together. "Do
we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the
law."[14]
It is faith, "faith which worketh by love"[15] that
enables us to keep the law.
Far from referring to one of the sins
that demanded the Flood, or anything else man decides upon, the rainbow points
us back to the results of such transgression—and simultaneously to God's love
and mercy, and His promises. As we look at the rainbow, we should remember that
the earth is still here—God has kept His Word concerning the earth; and He will
fulfill His other promises to us if we will but trust and obey Him. Yes; if we
do this, we may "be partakers of the divine nature"[16] and
overcome every defilement—even homosexuality. Faithful is He that has promised. This is the real meaning of the
rainbow.
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow.
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag.
[3] Ibid.
[4]
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/supreme-court-gay-marriage/).
[5]
(Genesis 1-7).
[6]
(Genesis 8:20-22).
[7]
(Genesis 9:1-7).
[8]
(Genesis 9:8-11).
[9]
(Genesis 9:11).
[10]
(Genesis 9:12-13).
[11]
(Numbers 15:38-39).
[12]
(Revelation 3:18).
[13]
(1 Peter 1:7, emphasis added).
[14]
(Romans 3:31).
[15]
(Galatians 5:6).
[16]
(2 Peter 2:14).
