All right, so Genesis chapter nine, and we'll read from verse eight. And God spake unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, 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 beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of a flood. Neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth, and it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud out of the earth that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the birds shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature. of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, this is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. And may God bless his word to us this Lord's Day morning. Some of you are perhaps old enough to remember back in 1987, Bob Hawke made this promise. By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty. Remember that? And so he was hoping to become the Prime Minister, and the people voted for him, and he did become the Prime Minister. So evidently people believed him, but guess what? He didn't keep his promise. His promise was absurd to begin with, and of course he couldn't fulfil it. And children were living in poverty in 1990. Children in Australia are still living in poverty today. So we understand politicians, they don't keep their promises. Remember, Albo said that he was going to reduce the power bills by $275. Remember that? What a lie. What a fake promise. Some people actually believe that. And he got elected again. So we expect politicians to break their promises. But the fact is that every one of us will at some point fail to fulfil what we promised to do. Whether intentionally, through neglect, or through hindrances, through the circumstances, we just weren't able to do it. And we promised it, we said we'd do this, we gave our word, and you know what? We weren't able to follow through. We let people down, and people let us down. And that's the nature of humanity. We're fallen creatures. Man will fail us and let us down. That's why Jeremiah 17 verse five says, Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. And so we need to be very careful. And right now we see in America, a lot of promises being made. And I see the promises that there's gonna be, America's gonna be returned to its former glory, all these things. And people believe that, and that the hype is there. You trust in man, you're going to be let down. And because man is going to fail you. Our trust is not to be in man. But on the other hand, God is not like man. When he makes a promise, he will fulfill it. Numbers 23, verse 19. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? Obviously, the answer is yes. If he speaks something, he will fulfill it. He's not like man. He's not a man. At the end of his life, Joshua gave testimony of God's faithfulness to his word. In Joshua 23 and verse 14, he said, And we should be able to say the same because it's true. Whatever God said will come to pass. it will come to pass. Nothing will fail. You know, in this world, there is nothing certain. But the one thing we can trust with all certainty is the word of God and the promises he has given us in it. This is the only certain thing in this world. And if God makes a promise to us, we can be certain it will come to pass. We can trust it wholeheartedly. Now today we are considering God's covenant made with Noah and his descendants and with all living creatures, all flesh, as it says. After the flood, the people and the animals left the ark, and God gave Noah and his son certain instructions concerning the new world they were embarking upon. And we saw that last week in the first part of chapter nine there, first seven verses we looked at. We saw how this marked the institution of human government, particularly the role of government in punishing evil. God said man is able to punish evil and punish crimes, and particularly the crime of murder. And when God ordained man to punish murderers with death, he was giving human governments the delegated authority to punish every lesser crime for the maintenance of an ordered society. And so this is, you say, well it's only, he's only saying man and governments can punish murder, but every lesser crime is included in that. And so by implication, we can see this is the institution here. Hence we are instructed to submit to the higher powers since they are ordained of God. Romans 13, you know those verses, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. And so therefore God has delegated that authority, his divine authority, to civil governments. And so he explains that if you're resisting the powers, you're resisting God. He says further in Romans 13, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, you must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. And he talks about, in those verses, he beareth not the sword in vain. So he's talking about governments bearing the sword. God has given the government a sword. Now, what do you think a sword is used for in human governments? He doesn't say, I've given the government a key, the prison key to lock people up. He said, I've given them a sword. That implies capital punishment, doesn't it? And because you read about in the New Testament, James was put to the sword, put to death with the sword in Acts 12 verse 2. And so the very fact that it says that God has given governments the sword shows that this punishment of death, particularly for murderers, still stands under the new covenant. And we should seek to have that in our governments today. Let me quote here Leupold, he says about this human government here in Genesis 9. By this word, government is instituted, this basis of institution for the welfare of man. For if man receives power over other men's lives under certain circumstances, then power over the lesser things is naturally included, such as power over property to the extent of being able to demand various types of work and service as need may arise. Government then being grounded on this word is not by human contract or by surrender of certain powers or by encroachment of priestcraft. It is a divine institution. So we made that point last week, and it's good to reiterate that. But also we should all say this. On the one hand, we must be careful not to disregard and rebel against human government. We need to submit to the high powers. But on the other hand, we must be careful not to regard it more highly than we ought. To recognize the limits of its power and to resist it when its laws are contrary to God's. So we need to have that balance there. Because some people actually almost elevate government to the role of God. It's statism, they worship government. No, it has limited powers, very limited actually. And when God's laws and man's laws come into conflict, we must obey God rather than men. And so we understand those things. Now, we're talking about covenant here. Now, a covenant in scripture is an agreement or contract between two parties, such as between God and man. A covenant may be conditional, depending on man's obedience, or unconditional, depending on God's faithfulness. So what's this covenant here? This covenant is unconditional. No matter what man does, God is going to keep this covenant, but that's not the case with every other covenant. So I've just given the list of the eight covenants that are regarded as the eight covenants in Scripture. covenant, the Adamic covenant, the Noahic covenant that we're looking at today, the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, the Palestinian, the Davidic, and the New Covenant. And so we see those things and it's a good thing to study those covenants, looking at the different conditions of them, the different signs of them that God established with the covenants, whether they're conditional or unconditional, when they are established, when they come to an end, when they're superseded and so on there. And so it's a good study there. Now, another term that relates somewhat to covenants is dispensations. Dispensations and covenants are not the same, though generally the start of a dispensation is marked by the establishing of a covenant. And so in this case, what we're seeing here is the institution of a covenant which marks the beginning of a dispensation of human government. So you see at the same time this covenant is instituted and a new dispensation is started. So you can see the same thing, for instance, with the mosaic covenant marks the beginning of the dispensation of law. the Abrahamic covenant, the beginning of the dispensation of promise. Lord willing, I'll make a chart up in coming weeks, which will sort of show that visually, make it a bit easier to understand. Now, the first time we saw the word covenant is actually back in chapter six and verse 18. You wanna just turn back a page or two, chapter six and verse 18, and this is God speaking to Noah, But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. So the question is, was this a separate covenant that God made with Noah before the flood? What was the parameters of this covenant? Or is this just a precursor or the promise of the actual institution of the covenant that would be made in chapter nine here after the flood and after they embark from the ark. And I generally see it as it's a precursor to the actual institution of the covenant here in chapter nine, rather than something different, that God is assuring Noah that he's going to be safe, he's going to be preserved on the ark, and that he's going to make his covenant with him, which we read about here in chapter nine. Now, interestingly, God speaks the word covenant to Noah eight times. Once there in chapter six and seven times in chapter nine. Eight is a significant number in scripture. It's the number of newness. the number of newness. For instance, Christ rose from the dead, not on the seventh day, the Sabbath, he rose on the next day, the eighth day. And this is what is often called, yes, it's the first day of the week, but it's the eighth day, the number of newness, the number of resurrection. And it's different aspects with the number eight. And so this is obviously something new. This is Noah embarking on a new world. He's a new covenant God is making with all flesh. And he uses that word eight times. Now, the Noaic covenant is strictly in verses 8 to 17 that we're looking at today, though often interpreters include the previous promises and instructions as part of the covenant. So depending on how you look at it, it could simply be restricted to God promising not to flood the earth again, to destroy the earth with a flood. Or it can include these other points that we looked at previously. in chapter 8 and verse 22, the regulation of the seasons, how they're going to abide continually. And then in the first part of chapter nine, that God's command to be fruitful, multiply, to replenish the earth, to have dominion over the earth as well, in verse two, to the provision of food, meat for man, and the establishment of human government and of capital punishment. So that could be included in the covenant as well, the Noahic covenant. And that's fine. But for today, we're going to be just looking at verses 8 to 17. So we'll consider, first of all, in verses 8 to 10, the parties of the covenant. So who's involved here? Well, God, obviously, is the initiator and establisher of the covenant. Now, we refer to this as the Noahic covenant, but God repeatedly calls it My covenant over and over. Verse 9, verse 11 and 15. He says, it's my covenant between me and you, et cetera, there. So God's saying, this is my covenant. This covenant was not an agreement between God and man. It was an arbitrary commitment by God towards man. So this isn't a back and forth thing. This is God giving his commitment, his promise to man. God alone established his covenant with his creatures. And there's a lot of repetition, like he says, it's my covenant. Likewise, for instance, in verse 9, behold, I establish my covenant. Verse 11, I will establish my covenant. Verse 12, the covenant which I make. Verse 17, the covenant which I have established. So you see, God is reiterating, I'm establishing this, I'm making it. And so you see these things. Now, something else that we need to really point out, and it's significant, is the connection between the burn offerings in chapter 8 and verse 20. that Noah offered as soon as he got off the ark and the covenant that followed. Because God responded to that. Remember back in verse 20 of chapter eight, Noah built an altar under the Lord and took of every clean beast and every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. What immediately happens? And the Lord smelled a sweet savor and the Lord said in his heart, there's a response. And he's promising, well, he's saying in his heart here, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. And he's saying that, but now here in chapter nine, he's actually making that covenant to Noah and to all flesh. And so there is a connection there. There's this offering, this sacrifice under the Lord, and then God makes this covenant. You see, blood atonement reconciles man with God and forms the basis of God's covenant with man. And this foreshadows the new covenant, which was established in blood. Not the blood of the animals, but the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 7 verse 27, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once when he offered up himself. He is the burnt offering and the new covenant is based on the blood of his offering. It's called the blood of the New Testament. So there's the initiator. God is the initiator and establisher of the covenant. Well, who are the recipients of the covenant? Well, we know that they're the human recipients. We have Noah and his sons there. In verse eight, God spake unto Noah and to his sons with him, saying, okay, so they're obviously the initial ones. But then in verse nine, my covenant with you, end with your seed after you, your seed after you. So that's all their descendants. And then, well, how far does it go down? Well, verse 12. for perpetual generations, as long as there is a seed of Noah and Noah's sons, that covenant will stand. So that includes us, doesn't it? We are the descendants of Noah and Noah's sons. And so we are under this covenant. So in essence, what it's saying is the Noahic covenant was given to the whole human race. Noah was the new head of the human race, just as Adam was the original head of the human race. Well, he is a new head of the human race. And he is the father of all who would come after him. So therefore, all his seed, all the human race, are included in this covenant. And so this is relevant for me. This is God making covenant with us. We are part of this covenant. So this should make us very interested. This isn't just something that applies to way back thousands of years ago, this applies to us today. But not only to humans, to animals, they are the recipients of this covenant. And you see that again, this is repeated, reiterated, verse 10, and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, the cattle, every beast of the earth, from all that go forth of the ark to every beast of the earth. Verse 15, between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, Verse 16, at the end of the verse, every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And at the end of verse 17, between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. So it's very clear. This is not just between God and man, it's between God and the animals. That's an amazing thing. God is making a covenant with his animals. That shows us that God has a concern, not just for humans, Now he has a special concern for humans because they are made in his image and human life is very sacred. We saw that in the early part of the chapter because man is made in the image of God, therefore to take man's life is to take an image bearer of God, take the life of the image bearer of God, different to kill an animal. But God still has a concern for the animals and he's made a covenant with them And so we understand God has a concern for all life, including animal life. And he sees the animals, and he provides for them, he cares for them. And he doesn't want them to be treated brutally or inhumanely. And we should regard the life of our beasts and so on there, because God has a regard for his creatures. And so God is a benevolent God, and he made all things, and he cares for all things, and he makes a covenant with all flesh. But not only that, not only humans and animals, if you look at the end of verse 13, a covenant between me and the earth. So even the earth itself, the planet earth, God has made a covenant between himself and the very ground we stand upon to what? To not send a flood upon the earth. And that's a remarkable thing. And so what a broad covenant this applies to both living things and to the planet. Now this is often called God's common grace, God's common grace towards men. God's common grace is his benevolence towards all mankind regardless of their election, both saved and unsaved. God is gracious to all people. What does Psalm 145 verse 9 say? The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. I mean, that really warrants meditating upon. Just that first phrase there, the Lord is good to all. I mean, just think about who God is good towards. You think of the wicked people in this world that God is good towards. You think of the most wicked person, mass murderers, criminals who do the most unspeakable crimes. God is still good to them. He gives them air to breathe. He allows their heart to beat and he allows them to live because God is good to all. And he doesn't send a flood upon them, though they deserve it. Matthew 5 verse 45 in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus said that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. He makes his son to rise on evil people and gives rain to the unjust. See how different God is to us. And Acts 14 verse 17, nevertheless, he left not himself without witness in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. He's talking to unbelievers there that aren't even safe. And he's saying, God has done all these kind things to you. He's giving rain, he's giving you food, and filling your hearts with food and gladness. That's his common grace. And what should be the response of man? To look heavenward and give thanks to God for being so kind and being gracious to such undeserving people. But how few people do that. How few people in the world who every moment of every day are receiving His grace upon them, and they are either just apathetic towards it or they're actually hostile towards God. And they rail against God when he's been so gracious to them from the moment they were conceived. Yes, God is a gracious God. The Lord is good to all. Now this common grace is distinguished from his special or saving grace that only pertains to the elect. And so there's a special grace for believers. And that grace is saving grace and applies to our spiritual welfare and our eternal life. Obviously, the recipients in this world, the unbelievers, they receive all those temporal blessings and everything else, but they will still perish in hell unless they repent. Now, in the Noahic covenant, God promises all mankind, including the most wicked ungodly reprobates, that he will not destroy the earth again with a flood. This is his common grace. So we see there, first of all, the parties of the covenant. We'll consider, secondly, the particulars of the covenant. We see that in verse 11 and also in verse 15. What's it about? Well, he's not going to destroy all flesh. He's not going to destroy the Earth with a flood. This is a message of reassurance. Now, you try and picture the scene here. Here's the eight people. Eight people of all the billions that used to be on the Earth. You've got eight people, and they're coming forth from the ark. The whole planet has been rearranged, and all these people have been drowned. All these animals have been drowned by a flood. And so there must have been some questions in their minds as they departed the ark. Questions like, what will happen if humanity turns wicked again and the earth becomes corrupt and filled with violence again? Will God send another flood to wipe out mankind? Will the ark be needed again in case there is another flood? I mean, we'll need to just not go too far, just in case we need this ark again and we don't want to maybe dismantle it. And these questions might have arisen in their hearts and minds. Will God in his covenant kindly assures them that there will never be another flood of that nature, putting their minds at ease and allowing them to confidently spread out and begin their new lives in the new world. And so this is God being kind and putting their minds at ease. And God does that for us. And when we have questions and when we're in turmoil and we're having anxiety, we should turn to the Lord and seek God to give us that assurance. And he will speak to us through his word. And this is what he does for Noah and his family. But it's a twofold promise. Firstly, God would never again destroy all flesh by flood. And then secondly, God would never again destroy the earth by flood. And so there's two things there, all flesh and the earth. Now this promise confirms that the flood was global, not local. And I think of all the arguments that there had to be a global flood, not local, I think this is the strongest. It just comes down to this. there have been many local floods since the flood of Noah's day. So therefore the promise can only hold if the flood was global, otherwise God is lying. Because if this was just a regional flood and God said, I'll never send a flood like that again, he's lied because there've been regional floods, innumerable regional floods over the thousands of years since. And so therefore, it had to be a global flood. And God has never sent another one. He never will. But of course, in a world subject to the curse, there will be local large-scale floods causing tragic loss of life, but never another global flood. And you've probably seen what's happening in Spain at the moment. I mean, it's just the floods they've had there. They said they had a year's worth of rain in one day. And just people without warning, just this wave of water, just sweeping cars and people and hundreds dead. And, you know, I think that just what a tragedy. How awful would that be? But, you know, God's not talking about that sort of flood as awful as it is. He's talking about destroying the whole planet and every person with a worldwide flood. You know, those floods, they come and go and the rain stops and the floods, waters assuage. But this was a flood that covered the whole earth. And so we see those things now. God, through the prophet Isaiah, he confirms that. This is Isaiah 54 verse nine. He says, I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth. And in that context, he's actually, he's saying, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. He's applying it to his oath towards his people. But he's actually saying, I've sworn, he's made an oath there. And this shows the strength of the covenant, that God has actually sworn, I will not do this again. And so you see the certainty that God has in this promise. Now, God's promise to never destroy the earth again only applies to destruction by water. He will certainly destroy this earth in the future, but this time by fire. And we've talked about that. Second Peter three talks about that, that he's going to. He's going to destroy the heavens and the earth. The elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. But he's saying specifically he's not going to destroy the earth by flood here. And that promise stands forever for perpetual generations. Now, the Noahic Covenant teaches man two basic truths, firstly about ourselves and also about God. It teaches us that we are sinners in need of God's mercy. You recall back in chapter eight, verse 21, after Noah offered the burnt offerings, the Lord smelled a sweet savour, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for, or we could read, though the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite anymore everything living as I have done. And so he's making the point, man is evil. That's why I sent the flood. That's why I destroyed the earth because of the evil of man's heart and the evil works that came from that. And that hasn't changed. He said that after the flood. He said the imagination of man's heart is still evil, even from his youth. And so he's pointing out that man is still a sinner. The flood, the ark, and the covenant were all necessary because of the great sin of man. If man hadn't sinned and corrupted the earth, there would have been no need for a flood, no need for an ark, no need for even this covenant to say, well, I won't send a flood again. It's all there because man is a sinner. And that's a great truth here in this covenant, that man is a sinner in need of God's mercy. So there's one lesson we can learn from the Noahic covenant. The second is relating to God, that God is merciful towards undeserving sinners. You see, God has had every right to justly flood the earth many times again, but instead he shows mercy. Now, you look at the world today. We can ask the question, is this world today in any better moral state than the world before the flood? I think it's worse. It's corrupt. It's evil. It's filled with violence. Every imagination of man's heart is evil continually. And just the things that are going on around the world. And I think it's worse than the pre-flood days. And yet God says, I'm not going to destroy him again with a flood. What mercy. What a God who says, I see this evil. He sees man's heart and he will still not destroy the earth. Lamentations 322, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. We deserve to be consumed, but God is merciful. You see, God's predominant disposition towards man is mercy. It's not anger and judgment and wrath, it's mercy, that's the preeminent one. Hence judgment is called his strange work and his strange act in Isaiah 28 verse 21. It's a departure from his disposition of mercy when he comes in in anger and judgment and wrath and so forth. Let me quote here Matthew Henry. This promise of God keeps the sea and clouds in their decreed place and sets them gates and bars. Hitherto they shall come. So if the sea should flow but for a few days, as it does twice every day for a few hours, what desolation would it make? And how destructive would the clouds be if such showers as we have sometimes seen were continued long? But God, by flowing seas and sweeping rains, shows what he could do in wrath. And yet, by preserving the earth from being deluged between both, shows what he can do in mercy and will do in truth. Let us give him the glory of his mercy in promising and of his truth in performing. It's a display of God's mercy. What a merciful God we have. We should read this covenant and say, God is a merciful God. But you know, the mercy shown in the Noahic covenant points to the greater mercy shown in the New Covenant, where God says in Jeremiah 31, verse 34, I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more. I mean, it's one thing for God to say, I'm not gonna destroy the earth again, though man be completely evil, but this is next level. I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more. That's the new covenant and that's established by Jesus Christ and that's the covenant that we look to. Now, we've seen the parties of the covenant, we've seen the particulars of the covenant, and we'll look thirdly at the pledge of the covenant. So God not only made the covenant, he gave a token and a sign. And this is what God often does when he makes a covenant with man. He often gives a visible sign as a mark and reminder of it. The Abrahamic covenant has a sign of circumcision. The Mosaic covenant has a sign of the Sabbath. The New Covenant has the visible signs of the ordinances of baptism in the Lord's Supper. So they have these visible signs. And here, three times God describes the rainbow as a token, a token of his covenant. verse 12, verse 13, and verse 17. And this Hebrew word for token corresponds very closely to our English word sign. And so what you think of when you think of a sign, this is what that Hebrew word indicates. It's used of the signs of the sun and moon and the heavenly bodies when they are created on the fourth day, let them be for signs. And it's also used as a mark that God put on Cain in chapter 4 and verse 15. It's used elsewhere of miraculous signs such as the plagues on Egypt and Aaron's rod that budded, it was going to be a sign and so forth. So you get the idea of what this token or sign is. But in this case the token or sign is a rainbow. the rainbow. Now, some think that there were no rainbows before the flood, and that this is the first appearance of a rainbow. It suggested that the different atmospheric conditions on the pre-flood Earth meant that rainbows were not visible, and that there might have been a different hydrological cycle back then. Everything was changed with the new climate and topography, hydrological cycle, and everything else. And then this is the first time they could see rainbows. But the text does not state that this was the first rainbow, and it's not necessary that it has to be, it might have been. There may have been rainbows previously, but from now on the rainbow would have special significance as a token of God's promise to never flood the earth again. And so this now has a special significance. What is a rainbow? Here's a quote from Wikipedia. A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection, and dispersion of light in water droplets, resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. A rainbow takes the form of a multicolored circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of the sky directly opposite the sun. So there's a scientific definition of a rainbow. It's the visible spectrum, but it's the refraction of light, and it's separated into its seven different colours of the visible spectrum. Now this word we read here for bow is the same used for the archer's bow used in battle. So when you read about the bow used by the archers and so forth, it's the same word because it's the same shape, isn't it? But here, if we think of it in that sense, here is a picture of God having rained his arrows of wrath upon a corrupt and wicked world. He's shot that bow and he's shot those arrows and the flood has destroyed the earth and destroyed all people. But now he ceases from his anger. and hangs up his bow in the clouds of heaven to assure us that the flood is past and will not come again." So there's a different thought. That bow arching across the sky, that's God's bow and he's hung it there as a token that he's no longer going to rain down his arrows of flood and destroy the earth with the flood. So there's one way of looking at it there. But it's God's rainbow. God claims the rainbow as his own personal possession, calling it, in verse 13, my bow. I do set my bow in the clouds. Not just the bow, not just the rainbow. He says it's mine. It's mine. The rainbow belongs to God. And the reason we can say that is because there's actually a rainbow in heaven. It surrounds his throne in heaven. Ezekiel, he beheld God's glory in heaven. This is Ezekiel 1 verse 28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face and I heard the voice of one that spake. And so he's seeing the glory of God, but surrounding The throne there around the glory of God is this rainbow. He says it's the same appearance as what you see in the cloud in the day of rain. And so there's Ezekiel seeing that in heaven, but also in Revelation, John likewise saw God on his throne. And it says in Revelation 4 verse 3, and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. And so he says it's round about the throne. And so the rainbow in heaven seems to be a complete circle indicating the eternity of God. And he says it has a predominant color of emerald, might be somewhat different to the rainbow we see. Maybe in heaven the visible spectrum is different when you see it through spiritual eyes, we don't know. But he said it's likened to Emerald there. But the point is there's a rainbow in heaven and God says this is my rainbow. And the seven colours of the rainbow point to God's perfection. Seven is the number of divine perfection, isn't it? And those seven colours. Of course, that middle colour is green, emerald. And so maybe there's some connection there with that rainbow in heaven, the emerald colour there. Not really sure. But of course, how do we see the rainbow used today? When you see a rainbow out in society, what's your first thought? It's not, unfortunately, sadly, it's not thought of God and the new covenant. It's something completely opposite to God, isn't it? It's depravity. It's the most wicked abominations, unspeakable abominations of sodomy. You see what they've done? They've taken something that belongs to God, something beautiful that speaks of God's faithfulness and mercy, and this is what the devil always does, and he corrupts it to bring it to something awful and abominable. Satan knows what he's doing, and Satan's people know what they are doing. And they've taken this emblem, and they've made it into something polluted and perverted. And of course, their rainbow, you understand, is not a seven-coloured rainbow, it's a six-coloured rainbow. It's six is the number of men, isn't it? Falls short of God's glory. See, they know exactly what they're doing, but they fail to realize that rainbow represents God's mercy not to send a flood again, but it's also a reminder that God judged a wicked world. and he destroyed the earth, he destroyed all the sinners and he will destroy it again. And they fail to realize that that rainbow is a testimony against him and a warning of the judgment that is coming. We should reclaim the rainbow and that seven colored rainbow and the true significance of it, of the covenant that God made with all flesh. But notice that also when he speaks about this rainbow, Let's see, in verse 15 and 16. Look at the start of verse 15. And I will, well, verse 14 says, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember, verse 15, my covenant, which is between me and you, et cetera. Verse 16, and the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature. of all flesh that is upon the earth. So God's saying that he will look upon the rainbow and remember his covenant. we need to realise this is God speaking. And the language here is in anthropomorphism, that is, attributing human characteristics to God. God is not like us, needing to be reminded of anything. It's not like this is, it's gonna, he's forgotten, oh now I remember, I'm not gonna, no, of course not. This is just using language to help us to understand God better. This is a statement of God's complete faithfulness to keep his covenant and promise. We saw that in chapter eight in verse one. God had sent the flood and destroyed everything. And it says, and God remembered Noah. What does that mean? God was going to be faithful to Noah and preserve him and bring him forth through and out of the flood. God remembered. And we talked back then about how we should use that in our prayers, as the saints did, Nehemiah particularly, remember me, Lord, for good, and so on there, and reminding God, as it were, of his promises. Now, the sign of the covenant is not for God's remembrance or benefit, but really for man's to remind us that our God is merciful and faithful. And that's what it should do. When we see that rainbow, not just we say, oh, that's beautiful. It's God is merciful. God is faithful. And he made a promise. And that is the sign of his covenant that's with all flesh, with me. and a reminder of God's mercy and faithfulness. But what are some lessons from the rainbow that we can take? It's such a beautiful emblem, a magnificent and striking element of God's creation. God made that and God set that up. Yes, we can explain it scientifically as the scientists do and how light refracts and everything and the spectrum is all those things. But the fact is God made it. Without the hand of God, there would be no rainbow. As a covenant sign, it teaches us many useful lessons. Here's a few thoughts we can take from it. The rainbow spans from the height of heaven all the way down to the earth, showing us that God in heaven not only regards the children of men, but has bridged the great gulf between us through the offering of his son. It's the connection of heaven to earth, that great gulf. that was separated by sin and estranged us from God and made us enemies of God. How could that gulf be bridged? Through Christ. The rainbow points to Christ, doesn't it? And his offering to reconcile us to God, to restore that connection. The rainbow is visible furthermore to every person on every part of the earth. You think that's, it's a remarkable thing. Here we are in Australia, all these centuries later, And yet that rainbow that was seen there in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago, we see it here thousands of years later in Australia, the other side of the world. And every person in every part of the world can see the rainbow. It's an amazing thing. It's universal. Well, it shows us that God's mercy is extended to all people and that the gospel is to every creature, not just to the Jew, it's to the Gentile, not just to one race, but to all people. You see, God makes his covenant with all people. And then next, the rainbow only appears when? After rain. showing us that if we wish to enjoy the blessings God has for us, we must endure the clouds and the storms he sends to us, you see. There's no rainbow without the rain, is there? We'd like life to be no storms, no dark clouds, but then you get no rainbow, don't you? See, if we want the rainbow, we need the rain. And then when the clouds do come, What should we be thinking of? We should be anticipating not the terrible storm, but the rainbow that God is about to send upon us, and the beauty and the blessing, and that God has something wonderful in store for us, and we sang it before. in that hymn, O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee, I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promises not vain that mourn shall tearless be. And that's the key there, it's not waiting for the rainbow for the joy, it's saying the rainbow is coming, and we anticipate the joy, and even as the Lord Jesus, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. That joy was set before men and we can endure the cross for the joy that is set before us. We can trace the rainbow through the rain. What else? Well, the rainbow is beautiful. Isn't it beautiful? And how often, you know, when you see that rainbow, everyone says, oh, we need to get a photo of that. Come out here, see the rainbow. And unbelievers do that. Everyone does it because it's such a magnificent sight. And we see it reaching for, you know, and we think, and of course, some people think, you know, if we could get to the end of the rainbow, there might be a pot of gold there and all these things and all these legends. But it's captivating, isn't it? There's few things more beautiful than a rainbow, and especially in its brightness and the vividness. And then sometimes you see a double rainbow, and it's like, man, and it's so hard to capture with a camera because how do you get the whole thing? But to behold it, there's such beauty. Well, it shows the beauty of our God. God's hand in nature and all the beauty and the beauty of the rainbow, that's a reflection of the one who made it. The invisible things of the invisible God are seen by the visible things that are made. They're a reflection of his mind, his wisdom, and his beauty. the beauty of our God and that we as God's people ought to love and promote those things that are objectively beautiful. God loves beauty and we should love beauty too. There's a lot of ugliness in this world, isn't there? And so much ugliness, what people are promoting there and what people are doing to their bodies. You think of the art in this world, whether it's fine art or music or literature, it's just ugly. This world hates beauty, but we as God's people, we should love beauty. We should promote beauty. As Philippians 4 verse 8 says, Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely. of good report. There's beauty in that. There's things that are objectively lovely. And we should promote those things. We should think on those things. We should have them in our lives. And the rainbow, it really points to the beauty of God. And just as Ecclesiastes says, he hath made everything beautiful in his time. And so we should see that rainbow. We should think of the beauty of it. We should think of God's covenant, his mercy and his faithfulness. So let me ask you just two questions. Have you thanked God for his mercy towards you? This is just a description of God's mercy towards man, towards all flesh. I'm not going to do it again. Nothing compelled God to make that promise to say, I'll never flood the earth again. But it's nothing but his mercy. That's what drives him. Have you thanked him for his mercy? Have you said to God, God be merciful to me a sinner? He answers that prayer. He is merciful towards repentant sinners. And have you thanked God that he is faithful to keep all his promises? Has he kept this promise? Though the earth has been corrupted and filled with violence and man has corrupted the earth, yes, he's kept his promise. And he keeps all his promises. And you can go through all the promises that he's made in the scripture, especially those ones that he's made to his people who are redeemed. He will keep every promise. And we should thank God that he is a faithful God. As we started the sermon saying, man, you cannot trust man. You cannot trust man's promises and man's word. He'll let you down, but God will never let you down. He is faithful to every promise he makes. Let us pray.