6/8/25 Weekly Bible Lessons: The Rainbow Promise

Background of Text — After sin entered the world, it did not take long for sin and death to become the new normal. Cain murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4). Lamech murdered a boy and took multiple wives (Genesis 4:19-24). Though many find it bizarre that Enoch “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24), we see it is life, not death, that has become the exception. 

Lifespans were long — but they ended, a fulfillment of the curse of death (Genesis 3:19). Debate abounds over the sons of God and the Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-4), but there’s no question the result was “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Today we see a covenant established after God’s wrath was poured out in the flood and Noah’s response to being delivered through the raging waters. 

Verses 8:13-19 — What’s the longest drive or flight you’ve ever made? Whatever it may be, it certainly pales in comparison to the year Noah and his family spent aboard the ark! Consider the blend of joy and awe Noah must have been experiencing as he removed the covering of the ark and saw not only land, but dry ground. I’ve only spent one week at sea and in the days that followed I’d get the sensation of rocking and swaying while standing in the middle of my home. How much more disoriented must Noah and his family have been! 

Alongside Noah, his family and all the animals made their way off the ark. God had brought the animals to Noah, provided the means to sustain them on the ark, and preserved them long enough to safely disembark. 

Having passed through the waters, there is a sense of new creation. When God was forming land and sea, He separated the waters and heavens that dry ground would appear (Genesis 1:6-10). That first week, God blessed mankind and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:26). Now, years later, God was doing much the same, separating dry ground from the waters, blessing mankind and instructing them to fill the earth. 

Verses 8:20-22 — Have you ever beheld something so beautiful and marvelous you could not help but praise God? Perhaps you’ve gazed upon the ocean and had your breath taken away by how the horizon and ocean blend together. Or you’ve marveled at snowcapped mountains? 

Imagine what it would have been like for Noah. Everything you had ever known was now gone. God’s judgment had been poured out an all the earth, but you and your family were rescued. For a year, all you could see was water in all directions. Have you ever had a life-changing experience? What about an event that altered the very topography with which you were accustomed? Where there were once mountains, there were valleys; where there had been a forest, now a desolate plain. 

Rescued from God’s wrath, Noah responded with worship, building the first altar referenced in Scripture and offering every clean animal and bird as a burnt offering. Though this came before the Law was given at Mt. Sinai, Leviticus provides insights into Noah’s offering — not only was the offering to be without defect, but it was to be given freely for atonement (Leviticus 1). 

Just as God was pleased with Abel’s offering, He accepted the “pleasing aroma” of Noah’s with a promise — never again would He curse the ground on man’s account, never again would all life be destroyed because of man’s wickedness. Many regard verse 22 as the establishment of reliable, predictable seasons. It’s difficult to envision the antediluvian world and what life would have been like before the waters of the deep opened, but we can trace our own rhythms of life back to God’s promise to Noah. 

Verses 9:11-13 — God’s promises are established with signs. The promise of descendants through Abraham was accompanied by the sign of circumcision (Genesis 17); even Cain was marked out to be spared (Genesis 4:15). God’s bow in the clouds is the sign of His covenant with Noah for all generations. Unfortunately, the rainbow now has connotations with the LGBTQ movement; however, the Hebrew word, qesheth, refers literally to an archer’s bow as used in battle, reflected in the multicolored arch displayed in the sky. Never again would God shoot such arrows. 

Peter weaves these themes of promise, warfare, and water together, writing, “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21a). In baptism, believers are passed through the waters from death to life, an act of spiritual warfare in which men and women declare to forces seen and unseen which side they’re on, resulting in the promise of eternal life. Our God has always rescued man through raging waters. 

Discussion questions: What has caused you to turn to God in worship? We are to live as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2). In what ways is your life a pleasing aroma to God?