The Rainbow Part 1
As we saw the evil in the world it grew and grew and this led to a great judgement, the flood. Obviously apart from one family (Noah’s family) humanity lost its way and in a sense the image of God, which humans were supposed to be became corrupted to such a level that judgement was the only way to save humanity from itself. Even Noah wasn’t a perfect example because later Noah grows a vineyard getting drunk, and this leads to him cursing one of his sons. As with the creation story that we looked at there was a move to demythologize the gods of the surrounding nations.1 Here the rainbow is a sign (symbol) of God’s commitment of mercy for a sinful humanity.
Thus, for me the rainbow represents God’s compassion for the whole of the human race and it is a pointer to the other covenants God has made. Each covenant points to the long road of history for us to become the ‘image of God’ again.
Covenant with Adam
This verse shows our status before a Holy God:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27
Although a Fall happened in Christ by faith this is our eschatological destiny to become more like the image of God (Namely Christ).
Covenant with Noah
I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; 13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. Genesis 9:11-13
Covenant with Abraham.
This covenant was given to Abraham and his offspring and it finishes off with that through him the all the nations would be blessed.
Sinai covenant with Moses
God gives a moral code of the 10 commandments to Israel to live by. This became the foundation for Western civilization to prosper. In its purity the underlying basic element is to love God and to love our neighbour. This covenant is ethical in character and will be in force until the eschaton.
Covenant with David
It is through the line of King David that the greater than David (namely Christ) would come into the world to save us from our sins. The story of Christmas has two genealogies that proves this promise.
The covenant with Christ
For Messianic Jews and Christians, the Last Supper is the final covenant God has made with his Church and the realization of all these covenants with be at the eschaton and at the end of time and the completion God work with the marriage feast of the Lamb of God and the Church (the bride of Christ).
Christians are not superior to non-Christians as we have all sinned. Every human being except Christ have sinned. A holy God demands holiness from his people. Holiness is about separation from the world of sin, and it is impossible for even a follower of Christ to reach these high demands from God. It is only through the life and work of Christ as:
- Prophet
- Priest
- King
- & sacrifice once and fall all as the book of Hebrews tells us that there can be any salvation at all.
For the Judaeo Christian line of thought the rainbow in the above context shows the compassion of God for sinful humanity. The rainbow is a sacred and holy meaning for many religious people and should never have been taken for political ends. The rainbow has ethical and moral foundations set in place by a holy God. As Calvin would tell us and many other theologians there are to realms in society:
- The sacred (Things set apart for God’s service)
- Profane (Things in everyday life)
The Sacred
God gave the rainbow as a sign of security to all peoples that he would not destroy the earth again in this way.
The Profane
Politics is a profane earthly element. For Christians it does not have a profane meaning and it certainly should not be used in politics by any group.
In fact, certain minority groups in the UK, I believe such as:
- The Jewish Community
- The Islamic Community
- The Christian Community
Have grounds to protect the symbol of the rainbow and its original meaning from a profane use.
Reflection
True religion flows with love from God to us His creation and reciprocally this love flows back to God. This common grace and God’s sign of his warriors bow in the sky is a reminder of His promise towards his creation. This is a beautiful reminder of God’s promises towards us. The three great Abrahamic religions believe and accept this truth.
Europe and the Western world unfortunately when accepting Secularism espouse that they stand up for the rights of everyone. Secularism was supposed to stand outside as a non partisan judge for all the different views. However if I were to look at the data; Would there be a correlation between the rise of secularism with the rise of atheism, agnosticism and consumerism (including global warming)?
Secularism has not freed humanity to be free but it has made us prisoners of our own human greed and selfishness. With secularism God cannot take the blame for all of the ills of society (as it rejects the existence of God(claiming to be non-biased)).
The rainbow shows us another way; Gods way. This common grace means that all of the resources are for the human race to share and respect them. God’s way is unselfishness and is filled with love and compassion. God is personal, secularism is a system. A person can show empathy, a system can only churn out impersonal solutions. By no means was Noah a perfect human. Indeed after he got out of the boat one of the first things he did was to grow a vineyard and get drunk! The effect of the Fall (Adam’s disobedience) was so great that even with the Great Flood Man can’t help but sin. This points us to the greater story of the Person and work of Christ but we will go into this possibly in two Weeks.
Notes
The following are some of the Rainbow related deities around the world:
“Rainbow deities
In Mesopotamian and Elamite mythology, the goddess Manzat was a personification of the rainbow.[1]
In Greek mythology, the goddess Iris personifies the rainbow. In many stories, such as the Iliad, she carries messages from the gods to the human world, thus forming a link between heaven and earth.[2] Iris’s messages often concerned war and retribution.[3] In some myths, the rainbow merely represents the path made by Iris as she flies.[4]
Many Aboriginal Australian mythologies include a Rainbow Serpent deity, the name and characteristics of which vary according to cultural traditions. It is often seen as a creator god, and also as a force of destruction. It is generally considered to control the rain, and conceals itself in waterholes during the dry season.
In Chinese mythology, Hong is a two-headed dragon that represents the rainbow.
In Mesoamerican cultures, Ix Chel is a maternal jaguar goddess associated with rain. Chel means rainbow in the Yucatán Poqomchi’ language. Ix Chel wears a serpent headdress and presides principally over birth and healing.
Anuenue, the rainbow maiden, appears in Hawaiian legends as the messenger for her brothers, the gods Tane and Kanaloa.[5]
Several West African religions incorporate personified rainbow spirits. Examples include Oxumare in the Yoruban religion Ifá; Ayida-Weddo in Haitian Vodou, as practiced in Benin; and the pythons Dagbe Dre and Dagbe Kpohoun in West African Vodun, as practiced by the Ewe people of Benin.
In Māori mythology there are several personifications for the rainbow, depending on its form, who usually appear representing omens and are appealed to during times of war. The most widespread of these are Uenuku and Kahukura.[6][5]
For the Karen people of Burma, the rainbow is considered as a painted and dangerous demon that eats children.
In Muisca religion, Cuchavira or Cuhuzabiba, who was called “shining air” is the rainbow deity,[7] which in the Andes rain and sun were both very important for their agriculture.
Amitolane is a rainbow spirit from the mythology of the Zuni, a Native American tribe.
In Albanian folk beliefs the rainbow is regarded as the belt of the goddess Prende, and oral legend has it that anyone who jumps over the rainbow changes his sex.[8]
In pre-Hispanic Andean cosmology, the rainbow was related with both the sacred serpent or Amaru and the thunder god” (Taken from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_in_mythology)
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