I do set my bow in the cloud

Genesis 9:13

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

The Lord is a God of promises. From the beginning to the end of time, from the Alpha to the Omega, from the first to the last, God is continually pronouncing promise after promise on His children. This is one of the first promises in the Bible, but not the first. For the Lord had given that great promise, that, although spoken directly to Satan, speaks to all of humanity. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The Seed of the Woman! The Lord Jesus Christ appears in the third chapter of Genesis! And will He not bruise Satan under your feet shortly? That is the promise! Christ was wounded on the cross—His heel being bruised, as it were. But through death He conquered! Through the grave He reigns victorious! Through defeat He brought triumph! Through hatred He brought love! Through sin He makes us righteous. He bruised the serpent’s head! He has gotten the victory over the great enemy of our souls! What a promise that is!

But today, the promise listed is the promise that the Lord would never again destroy every living thing with a flood of waters as He did in Noah’s day. He will, one day, destroy them which are left of the earth after His millennial reign, but He will not cause global judgment to come again as it did then. He will have grace and mercy. He will not any more curse the ground for man’s sake. For the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth. Instead of destroying the known world, when it was once again ripe for judgment, He sent His Son, made of a woman, to redeem us. What an interposition, a glorious intervention! Christ, the Son of God, mediated on our behalf. But even since that time, the earth has degraded itself time and again, and even to this very day, with the most debased and corrupted inventions and imaginations. The perversions and the evil are at great heights. And yet! And yet! He will not destroy the earth again with a flood. He will only burn the earth up, and will melt all the elements with fervent heat, when mankind is no longer on this earth. All the natural world will be incinerated. But until then, He will not destroy us again that way. But instead! In the most wicked places, and in the most debauched and profligate cities, you can see the bow in the cloud! When it rains, the promise is displayed again! To the most heathen man, to the most atheistic woman. To the most unbelieving heretic, and the most ungodly sinner as you and me, the bow can be seen! The Lord’s smile! His own reminder of His grace and mercy that He promised to bestow on us! What a beauty this is!

Today must be a day in which we are also reminded of God’s great promises. You may see a rainbow today. You may not. But just look around! Your Bible, your bed, your basket of bread! His promises have come true! He has given us His eternal Word, has provided our needs, and has been gracious unto us! He has kept His promises. Don’t think God forgets. He has set the bow that He may not forget what He has said. And He will not forget! This is His holy promise—to make promises and to keep them. Enjoy His promises today. Enjoy the bow in the cloud. For it is a token of the covenant that has been made between the God of the universe and the whole of mankind and all creatures of this world. The bow in the cloud has been set!

“Father, we thank you for your great promises. We thank you for the bow, that reminds us and You of your great promises. Keep us meditating on these wonderful promises today, and may it lift us to a higher plane of encouragement and joy. And we shall praise Thy name continually. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”