God's Promise

God had finally gotten His fill of mankind's rebellion and sinfulness, and brought that massive flood that covered the whole earth and that was twenty feet deeper than the top of the highest mountain. His wrath had wiped out every living human and every animal on earth except for the eight people and 50,000 to 75,000 animals on the ark. His wrath had caused Noah to become the new father of all mankind.

After God brought Noah and his family and all the animals off of the ark, He made a few more changes. For one thing, mankind had been totally vegetarian up until the time of the flood (Genesis 9:2-4 NIV). Because of this, animals had no fear of man. Now, God added meat to mankind's diet, and placed a fear of man in all animals since they had suddenly become a new link in the food chain. From all evidence, the flood had brought about a large number of environmental changes to the earth - beginning with the first rain ever to fall. It's possible that man did not need to eat meat prior to the flood, but the environmental changes caused man to need the nutrients found in meat that can't be found elsewhere. At any rate, for whatever reason, God said that mankind was no longer to be vegetarian after the flood.

He made another change. a change in how He would deal with sin in the future. God made a covenant ("binding promise") with Noah that passed down through all generations. a covenant that He would never again bring a flood to wipe out all the earth. He created the rainbow as the sign of His promise. And He opened up the future for all mankind so that He would deal with sin in a redemptive way - through Jesus.

So, the next time you see a rainbow, don't just admire it for its beauty, even though it is an awesome thing to behold. Instead, when you see a rainbow, remember two things. first. you don't ever have to worry about a world-wide flood, and second, but more important. God loves you enough to have provided His Son as the final sacrifice for your sins. Awesome, isn't it?

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