"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. 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." (Genesis 9:15-16)
QUESTION: "unless it is a poor choice of words, why would god, BEING god, NEED anything (a rainbow for instance) to remind him of anything? one may presume that god's long term memory is infinitely better than ours and would therefore not be in need of any external device!"
"Is the rainbow for OUR (that is mankind’s) purpose? in which case why wouldn’t god have said I set my bow (not because I need to remember) but so YOU'LL remember that I won’t destroy you again with a flood?" Howard
ANSWER: The rainbow could be called a sacrament, because a sacrament is a visible sign to which are annexed certain promises. The Passover feast, the brazen serpent, Gideon’s fleece, & in our day baptism & the Lord’s Supper are such signs. Dr. John Peter Lange once made the statement, "God’s eye of grace & our eye of faith meet in the sacraments".
A wedding ring is a reminder of a marriage. Though someone wears it as a reminder, they never once will forgot that they were married, in fact if it wasn’t on their finger, they'd still remember their ceremony & the promises made. But every time they look at it, it reminds them of the vows that they made to the one they love. I believe that, that’s the way God sees the rainbow, but with much more love. So no it’s not a "poor choice of words", but a statement of love from the God who created you, the God who longs for you to know him personally & for you to be His child.
A man once told of a time that he was traveling by plane across the country & going over a storm. The plane was up where the sun was shining, & all of a sudden he saw a rainbow that went all the way around, a complete circle. I guess that’s the way God always sees it. Kind of like a large wedding ring. Cool huh?
Vern
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