The Meaning Of Life

The Rainbow

If you read Genesis 9, you will never look at a rainbow the same again.

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 

God truly was sorrowful that He had to start over because of the sin in the world. This probably should have been said a lot sooner, but God doesn’t get angry with you, He gets angry with sin. Just like a father and a child, a good father never really gets angry with their child, but they get angry at the disobedience of their child, and it is usually because what they did jeopardized their safety, or if not corrected might lead them to continue the bad behavior. God is angry at sin, He doesn’t like sin, but He still loves us very, very much.

And as we read, much of the meaning of this text is a repeat of Genesis 2. God tells Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply. They are the only ones on earth now, and if earth is to survive, to have a successful restart, they have to fill the earth again. He also tells them that they will have dominion over the animals, the same as He told Adam. In other words, we’re starting over.

4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

And though most of us don’t realize it, even those that may not be believers, but when we butcher animals, they are hung up and their blood is drained out. I don’t know if there is a reason for this other than the age old tradition of the draining of the “life blood”, or not. I just kow it is a practice.

And later, God will command that all boys will be circumcised of their foreskin when they are 8 days old. Scientists will discover that the blood clotting agent in our system is the highest it will be at 8 days old, then it slowly starts to decline. Is that a mere coincidence? Or as I believe, is it further proof of the Divine nature of God; He ordered the circumcision at the time He knew, that blood clotting agents were in the blood. I’m guessing He knew this when he created man.

That said, is there something about the draining of the blood that has to be done in order for the meat to be edible? I honestly don’t know, I’m not a butcher. The only thing I’ve helped butcher were chickens at my sisters farm when I was at a young age. My brother-in-law would cut the head off the chicken, then throw it and let is blindly run through the yard as its heart continued to pump the remaining blood in its body out, to bleed it.

I’m guessing there is a reason God doesn’t want us to eat the blood.

And God sets up some other laws.

6“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God He made man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”

8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 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.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

God swore He would never cause a great flood to occur again, to cause death upon everyone. This covenant, which is a binding promise between God and man, is remembered by the rainbow. I know when I used to see a rainbow, I had that earthly mentality, “Oh, that’s pretty!” But after finding God once again, now when I see a rainbow I think about this chapter of the Bible, God’s promise to us to never flood the earth again.

God leaves constant reminders of His existence if we open our eyes and pay attention to them. I wear some Christian tee shirts. I wear a cross necklace. I have a ring with a cross on it. I don’t wear those things because I’m “proud” of being a Christian or because I want to force Christianity on you. I wear them because I am weak, I’m a sinner, and I need these things as a constant reminder of who I should be and how I should treat others. I doesn’t always work…after all, I’m still a sinner.

But there are times that I am convicted, when I do something bad and I catch a glimpse of that cross on my finger, or I commit a sin and immediately after, I feel the cross around my neck poke me in the chest. God loves us, wants a relationship with us, and sends us reminders if we simply pay attention.

Praise God, and thank Him for His covenant and promises with us.