Genesis 9:1-29

For Reading and Meditation:     Ezekiel 22:1-16

God is powerful in judgment. When He smites none can resist Him, as our text for today so clearly shows. The Flood of Noah's day is one such example, when the entire race - with the exception of eight people - was swept away (Genesis 6:1-9:18). A shower of fire and...

"And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud." Genesis 9:14

Just now clouds are plentiful enough, but we are not afraid that the world will be destroyed by a deluge. We see the rainbow often enough to prevent our having any such fears. The covenant which the LORD made with Noah stands fast, and we have no doubts about it. Why, then, should we think that the clouds of...

Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, "And when ye shall look upon the bow, and ye shall remember my covenant, then I will not destroy the earth," but it is gloriously put, not upon our memory, which is fickle and frail, but upon God's memory, which is infinite and immutable. "The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant." Oh! it is not my remembering God, it is God's remembering me which is the ground of my safety; it is not...

The rainbow, the symbol of the covenant with Noah, is typical of our Lord Jesus, who is the Lord's witness to the people. When may we expect to see the token of the covenant? The rainbow is only to be seen painted upon a cloud. When the sinner's conscience is dark with clouds, when he remembers his past sin, and mourneth and lamenteth before God, Jesus Christ is revealed to him as the covenant Rainbow, displaying all the glorious hues of the divine character and betokening peace. To the...

Whatever the physical cause of the Flood may have been, the moral cause was sin! This is made clear in the narrative in Genesis. It was because of the wickedness of the people - that God determined to destroy the human race! The wickedness hinted at, was startling and vile. We cannot understand the connection between the Divine judgment and

Noah … planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk. § [Abram] said to Sarai his wife, … “Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me.”  § Isaac said to Jacob, … “Are you really my son Esau?” [Jacob] said, “I am.” § Moses … spoke rashly. § The men of Israel … did not ask counsel of the Lord … Joshua … made a covenant with them. § David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his...

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: I set My rainbow 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. § [It is] ordered in all things and secure. § That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have some strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of...

The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. § While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him. § God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to...