Psalm 19:1; Genesis 9:8-17
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 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.
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. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow 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; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It is not merely glory that the heavens declare—but the “glory of God.”
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): God gave the rainbow for a sign to all the descendants of Noah, by whom the whole earth was peopled after the flood. Thus the celestial bow speaks a universal language.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): We do not know the atmospheric conditions of the atmosphere that existed from the time that sin came in the fall of man, until God smelled the sweet savour of Noah’s offering. Indeed, before the fall we read, “the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth…But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground,” Genesis 2:5,6. If the whole face of the ground was covered, and no sunshine, there could be no rainbow…If, for the first time when Noah stepped into the new world, the sun shone out as the rain descended—and the covenant bow appeared, as the offering ascended—it would be a most striking figure of the gloom that settled on this earth through sin, and the future glory of God shining on man through the one offering of Christ.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): I think the celestial arch had before existed naturally, but is here consecrated into a sign and pledge; thus a new office is assigned to it.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Now, for the first time, it was made ‘a sign,’ the visible pledge of God’s promise. Mark the emphasis with which God’s agency is declared and His ownership asserted: “I do set My bow.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): As the old world was ruined to be a monument of justice, so this world remains to this day, a monument of mercy, according to the oath of God, that the waters of Noah should no more return to cover the earth…God, by flowing seas and sweeping rains, shows what He could do in wrath; and yet, by preserving the earth from being deluged, shows what He can do in mercy, and will do in truth.
C. H. SPURGEON: Partial floods there have been, and parts of provinces have been inundated, but no flood has ever come upon the earth of such a character as that which Noah saw. Therefore the rainbow, every time it is painted upon the cloud, is an assurance to us that God cannot lie.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): See in the rainbow a token of God’s covenant love.
ADAM CLARKE: The rainbow is an illustrious token of mercy and love.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Consider, how is the rainbow formed? It is the effect from the sun’s beams upon the watery clouds. And Christ, the Sun of righteousness, forms by His shining, the whole effects of the Covenant of Grace, upon all that is cloudy in our nature.
EDWARD PAYSON (1783-1827): In the sun, see an emblem of Christ, the Sun of righteousness; in the rainbow, behold a token of God’s covenant love; in the showers and dews of heaven, see an emblem of the refreshing influences of divine grace.
C. H. SPURGEON: Observe that the covenant made with Noah was a covenant of pure grace, for “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” Genesis 6:8. The Lord will deal with us, also, according to His grace…The lovely rainbow, while it comfortably reminds us of the Divine faithfulness, is also a memorial of that universal depravity of our race which necessitated a Covenant of Grace to stand as a barrier for our protection, lest the righteous wrath of God should break forth upon us…The rainbow in the clouds is the token of the covenant of preservation which He made with all His works—but when you come to the spiritual covenant, that Everlasting Covenant is made of God in Christ Jesus, with His chosen—and with them only! None but His own believing people can be said to be partakers in the Covenant of Grace, ordered in all things and sure—for the Man, Christ Jesus, was the Representative of those who are His own body, His own brethren, of whom He says, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me,” John 17:9.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): But is that all there was to the Noahic covenant?
MATTHEW HENRY: The rainbow has fiery colours in it, to signify that though God will not again drown the world, yet, when the mystery of God shall be finished, the world shall be consumed by fire.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): A fire of love to His people, and a fire of wrath to His enemies.
THE EDITOR: What a fearful awakening God’s Day of Judgment will be for those who have turned God’s rainbow, His covenant symbol of mercy and love, into a banner of arrogant pride under which they annually parade sexual perversities which God clearly condemns as “abominations,” Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:22-27. As our Lord said, “the cry of it, which is come unto me,” Genesis 18:20,21. Such open wickedness will have its recompense, as surely as it did in Noah’s day with a devastating flood, and in God’s fiery judgment upon Sodom.
JOHN CALVIN: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness,” Ezekiel 16:49. God says that they began by pride, and surely pride is the mother of all contempt of God.
JOHN GILL: “They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves,” Isaiah 3:9. They commit it openly, without fear or shame; glory in it, and boast of it.
THE EDITOR: “They are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame,” Philippians 3:18,19.
MATTHEW HENRY: Now observe—they had fair warning of the ruin that was coming upon them for their sins. Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” to the old world; so was Lot to the Sodomites. They gave them timely notice of what would be the end of their wicked ways, and that it was not far off. They did not regard the warning given them and gave no credit, no heed to it. They were very secure, and went on in their business as unconcerned as you could imagine; “they did eat, they drank,” indulged themselves in their pleasures, and took no care of any thing else, but to “make provision for the flesh.”
EDWARD PAYSON: Though they had disbelieved God’s threatenings, they soon found, as sooner or later all sinners will find, that their unbelief did not render them false, nor prevent their fulfilment.
JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758): Wicked men who now doubt His truth and dare not trust His Word, will hereafter, in the most convincing, affecting manner, find His Word to be true in all that He has threatened, and will see that He is faithful to His promises in rewarding His saints.
C. H. SPURGEON: The Lord has mercy in His right hand for those who will turn from their sin; but He has a sword in His left hand for those who will abide in their iniquities…Oh, turn, ye heathens—some of you as vile as the inhabitants of Sodom—turn! turn to God!
