Sunday: Remembering the Rainbow
The first time the word “remember” appears in the Bible is in Genesis 9, when — after the worldwide flood — the Lord told Noah that He would put the rainbow in the sky as a sign of His covenant with all earth, that He would never again destroy all the earth with a flood.
Read Genesis 9:8-17. How is the word “remember” used here, and what can we learn from its use for how we should remember what God has done for us?
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Of course, God doesn’t need the rainbow to remember His promise and His covenant. He just spoke in language that humans could understand. If anything, the rainbow is for us, as humans, to remember God’s promise and covenant not to destroy the world again by water. In other words, the rainbow was to help people remember this special covenant that God had made; each time the rainbow appears, God’s people would remember, not only God’s judgment upon the world for its sin but also His love for the world and His promise not to flood it again.
Hence, we see here the importance of the idea of remembering: remembering God’s promises, remembering God’s warnings, remembering God’s action in the world.
The rainbow in the sky becomes even more important today when, based on the continuity of the laws of nature, many scientists reject the idea that there ever was a worldwide flood to begin with. How fascinating that Ellen G. White wrote that before the Flood came, many people had the same idea that the continuity of the laws of nature ruled out the possibility that a worldwide flood could ever happen. She wrote that the wise men argued that nature’s “laws are so firmly established that God Himself could not change them.” — Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 97. So before the Flood, people argued, based on the laws of nature, that it couldn’t come; after the Flood, people argue, based on the laws of nature, that it never came to begin with.
However, God in His Word told us about the Flood and gave the world a sign, not only of the Flood, but of His promise not to bring one again. Thus, if we remember what the rainbow means, we can have the assurance, written across the sky in these beautiful colors, that God’s Word is sure. And if we can trust His Word on this promise, why not trust His Word on all that He tells us, as well?
| Next time you see a rainbow, think of God’s promises. How can we learn to trust all of those promises? |
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I have reached that age where remembering is a bit of a problem. I was going to tell you a funny story about what I forgot yesterday, but this morning I forgot what it was about. Yet I can remember that I arrived in Australia on February 13, 1969 on the ship Wanganella. I put out reminders, to do something, but when I see the reminder, I ask myself what did I put that there for. And I do remember when Carmel's birthday is, and conveniently forget how old she is by about 30 years.
One of the best ways to remember things is to create special events. When I was involved in education, I became involved in school events like "Weeks of Prayer". We typically had guest speakers and some of those speakers went out of their way to ensure that the event was memorable. It was more that just a series of meetings about the goodness of God and his direction in our lives. They added fun activities that would always be associated with the week of prayer and special message that went with it. Even now, I still meet students who remember the week of prayer run by Pastor What's-his-name and how it became a pivot point in their lives.
God wanted the Hebrews to renember the Exodus and his leading. One of the problems though, was that while they certainly remember that, even today, they have often forgotten the lessons that went with it. It is a bit like my ability to remember that the scissors I placed on the keyboard last night means I have got to remember something, but I have forgotton what it was that I needed to remember.
Which reminds me! We believe in and practice a number of "reminders". Have we too focused on the reminders and not what they represent?
Maurice Ashton,
I totally agree with your statement that we can be so focused on what we are to remember that we lose sight of the importance of those things we are to remember. For instance the Sabbath. I have to remind myself "why" I am to remember the Sabbath. I enjoy a rainbow as much as anybody, but I can't remember the last time I seriously thought about "what" the rainbow represents and "why" it's there in the first place.
Thanks for reminding why I need to remember! 😮
Wow. Bless that thought!
Wow! I have enjoyed everyone's comments. I just discovered this today and can't wait to share with you too! Happy Sabbath to all!
Welcome, Lisa. Looking forward to you joining the conversation.
Speaking of remembering, it is perhaps worth remembering that this quarter's lesson is entitled "Present Truth in Deuteronomy". It is easy to forget that what was present truth for those who were alive at the time of Deuteronomy is not automatically present truth for us today in the same way it was present truth for the original hearers. Present truth is responsive to the particular needs and characteristics of a person or group of people at a particular point in time and cultural/sub-cultural etc context.
Today's lesson includes a statement that links directly with the broader issue of discerning present truth. The lesson stated:
This statement is important to take note of. God is 'limited' to attempting to help us in our 'lower ways' try to progressively grow in our understanding of His 'higher ways' (Isaiah 55:8,9). Consistent with what the lesson rightly points out, God therefore starts with language and concepts we are familiar with. But, like analogies and metaphors, this is only the start point. Therefore, we then also need to grow our understanding further beyond that start point - or we run the very real risk of instead misunderstanding. Thus, frequently, the language used in the Bible will be in some ways reflective of God's higher ways and in other ways reflective of our lower human ways. The words (concepts) 'anger/wrath of God' and 'fear of God' are but two examples.
Again, I am not implying we need to be a qualified theologian first before we can study and unpack God's Word in order to identify present truth application of what we are studying. The Holy Spirit will aid us as per John 16:13. All the Holy Spirit needs from us is a willingness to learn and an awareness of our need to learn.
As the years pass I forget somethings that have happened and where I put somethings, but God is His love reminds me early each morning to awake and talk with Him. I love that He has given us a reminder of His love with a rainbow in the clouds. I thank God that He sends reminders and He is always there for me.
There is much knowledge bound up in God's creations. In studying nature we see many promises and gems of concepts that help our faith. Using a rainbow to impress His promise to Noah may help us understand we have a choice. We can remember God's promises to His people or we can simply brush off such wonders as natural phenomena, the result of this or that. I prefer the insights into God's character...a closer look.
When seeing the rainbow, one can also be prompted to remember the reason why God destroyed the earth - Gen.8:21 "....I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for [though] the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. Together with humans, every thing living was destroyed as well. When we "remember", we might want to start with acknowledging that the Creator of earth found it necessary to destroy life on it because of man's evil deeds, and that it cost every living thing its life.
..."and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake" - Gen.8:21KJV, and He established the Covenant with man 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 best of the earth." Gen.9:9-11KJV. Remembering might humble us to recognize that all life was destroyed because of man's sinful state, prompting us to be good stewards of all things living.
Scientists might want to speculate if there was a rainbow before the Flood, since it only takes sunlight and water in the air to form a rainbow; both were present at that time. Well, seeing the rainbow will assure us that sunshine is on the way.
We also know from Scripture that the earth awaits another *end*. Generations living now know of the new *Ark* God offers to save mankind; an Ark of Faith in the form of the Life of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, awaiting all who believe and want to be saved to enter in.
Next time I see a rainbow, I remember that God warned mankind twice, and twice offering an 'Ark' to hold man save from impending destruction.
I think of God's promise to Noah and all his descendants through time which includes me, whenever I see a rainbow! God even mentions all the birds and animals in this promise never to destroy the entire world by flooding. By the way, last year we visited Missouri and saw one or two rainbows every day we were there!
During my prayer this morning, before opening the lesson, I was speaking to God of His promises, my fears and remembering and thanking Him for all the good things He had done for me.
The rainbow is very special to me because through it God has always communicated to me fear not and it gives me assurance that He was with me that He had heard and answered my prayers.
While driving on my 60th birthday, we turned west on 60th St. and there was a beautiful rainbow. Immediately I knew God was telling me not to fear my sunset years because He was with me and He would provide for me.
When I opened the lesson this morning and saw the title, it was a joy and further confirmation.
That’s true my friend we should not fear.god has promise to never live us on forsake us. God love us john 3:16
God promises are good so we should trust and obey and fellow him.arean😢😃😀🙏👍
Why should we be remembering rainbow all the times?
Through the rainbow God admonishes us to remember that there is no reason to fear what the future may bring, whether we be in our sunset years or just getting a grip on life in our 20's. God will not forsake those who turn to Him. Deuteronomy 4:30-31.