The Rainbow
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Last week I had the pleasure of spending time with some of my grandchildren who live about 2 hours west of London. Always the teacher I looked for and created purpose-filled opportunities to plant some small seeds of truth in their lives. This past Sunday I woke early and set my heart to seek the Lord as to what I could share with them that day.
As I was listening to the Lord I felt His direction to use Noah as the Bible character. I prepared my lesson and was able to find a website that had pictures I could show on my phone to make it more interesting and hold their attention. Later I asked my young grandsons to join me in their room with the intent to teach them in such a way that they would be able to repeat it to the rest of the family during the day.
They sat with me, one on each side, and I told them the brief story of Noah leading up to the flood and how 8 people lived on the Ark for a year. The pictures were a plus. When I got to the last picture, the rainbow, I drew their attention to the scriptures I had studied:
Genesis 9 NJKV
14 “It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud;
15 “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.
16 “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.”
Afterwards I gave them 3 Things to Remember:
1. Roy G. Biv (The visible spectrum of the rainbow.)
2. The rainbow is a sign of our covenant with God.
3. We are all family – Red, Yellow, Black and White – We are all descendants of Noah and his three sons.
a. Every person on the earth: Indians; Asians; Arabs; Africans; Europeans; Eskimos and Aborigines are all brothers and sisters.
b. We are all the same. We may eat different food, speak different languages, wear different clothes and believe different things, but we are all the same and created by God to be family.
They saw it immediately and accepted it completely. We rehearsed what we had learned several times and then we prayed for all the people in the world and thanked God for His covenant.
Throughout the day and until we left to return to the US I found these two young men telling the rest of the family, and the friends who visited, about the things they had learned. They repeated those three points over and over. It was a good and fruitful Sunday afternoon lesson from granddaddy.
This morning I have planned to use a different passage in the Old Testament that also mentions Noah and rainbow to teach us some things I hope you will repeat to others this week. Are you ready? Let’s begin …
About 700 years Before Christ, the prophet Isaiah was chosen by God to be a spokesman. Isaiah would often open his heart and be filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesy God’s promises concerning the coming Messiah and the Church age which we now enjoy. Such was the case when he wrote:
Isaiah 54 NKJV
9 “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
This prophecy concerns us … we can repeat its promises with confidence.
1. God is not angry with you. (God will not rebuke His children in anger)
2. God is kind and merciful. (He is the God who gives and forgives)
3. God is a covenant God. (You can trust His promises – Hebrews 6:18)
Psalms 89:34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Noah’s only message for 120 years was about getting right with God. Acts 17:30 says that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. Let’s all begin this New Year by getting right with God. Pray with me now!
