9 "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
10 and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth.
11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,
15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."
Devotional:
Our world exists under the rainbow. God's covenant with creation, made in the days of Noah, is valid today and will last until Christ returns to save and to judge. Clouds symbolize the threat of destruction, but the rainbow is the sign of God's mercy. Together they form the arch over all human existence on the planet.
The rainbow is God's sign to all nations. It says that this is still a time of mercy. To those who know God's sign language, the rainbow speaks of God's reliable covenant with creation.
We tend to forget, however, that the rainbow is first of all God's reminder to himself. "Whenever I bring clouds over the earth"�and clouds hold the potential for great devastation�"and the rainbow appears in the clouds"�light refracting into a beautiful ribbon of colors�"I will remember my covenant." The rainbow will remind God of his own promise.
The wickedness of the earth is so great that God needs to restrain his wrath. Unrighteousness, criminality, impurity, and indifference cry to high heaven. And when God's anger rises like clouds filled with a violent flood, the rainbow says: not yet, not yet, it is still the hour of mercy.
All people live every day under the threat of destruction and the rainbow of mercy. As long as this world lasts.
