Latest / Reformed Thinking / Seeing Christ in the Bow: God’s Covenant of Preservation (Genesis 9:8–17)

Transcript

Seeing Christ in the Bow: God’s Covenant of Preservation (Genesis 9:8–17) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Reformed thinking. Welcome back to the deep dive.
• 0:03
  Today we're looking at an image that's everywhere in our culture
• 0:07
  but its origins. It's truly frightening.
• 0:11
  Origins have mostly been forgotten.
• 0:13
  We're talking about the rainbow. It really is a spectacular
• 0:16
  sight, isn't it? But if you see a rainbow today,
• 0:19
  it's almost always viewed as this Very gentle symbol.
• 0:23
  Right. A harmless emblem of happiness
• 0:25
  or diversity, or just some kind of vague hope.
• 0:28
  Yeah, a feel good visual. Something pretty painted on a
• 0:31
  dreary sky. But the biblical context for
• 0:33
  that huge arc of color is, well, it's much more sobering.
• 0:36
  It requires a lot more thought that rainbow doesn't just appear
• 0:40
  over a beautiful, pristine world.
• 0:42
  No, it arches over a world that has just been completely
• 0:45
  decimated by divine judgment. It's set against the raw memory
• 0:48
  of the Flood, a global act of holy wrath.
• 0:51
  And that's we're going straight to the source material, Genesis
• 0:54
  Chapter 9, specifically verses 8 through 17, we're going to be
• 0:57
  analyzing the passage where God establishes what theologians
• 0:59
  call the No Eica covenant. And this isn't just a weather
• 1:02
  prediction or a nice story. Not at all.
• 1:05
  This text is a divine decree that brings stability to the
• 1:09
  entire cosmos. It sets limits on God's own
• 1:12
  righteous anger. And really, it determines the
• 1:15
  whole timeline of human existence for that point
• 1:17
  forward. OK, so let's unpack this.
• 1:20
  Our goal today is pretty clear. We need to look past all the
• 1:23
  modern sentimentality that's attached to the rainbow.
• 1:26
  We want to understand this sign for what it actually is.
• 1:29
  A sign of God's self restrained wrath.
• 1:31
  Exactly an unconditional universal marker and a necessary
• 1:37
  pre redemptive stage setting for the arrival of Christ.
• 1:40
  It's the divine promise that ensures history even gets a
• 1:43
  chance to happen at all. So to really get a handle on the
• 1:45
  promise, we have to start where the Bible starts, which is with
• 1:48
  the judgment that came right before it.
• 1:50
  We need to set up the theological context right after
• 1:52
  the flood. Why was it so urgent for God to
• 1:55
  institute this covenant right at that moment?
• 1:58
  The urgency comes from the sheer ruin the Noah stepped out onto.
• 2:01
  I mean, the world had just experienced God's righteous
• 2:03
  response to the quote universal corruption of humanity.
• 2:06
  That's detailed back in Genesis 6.
• 2:08
  So we have to see the flood not as some runaway natural event.
• 2:13
  Not at all. It was a deliberate holy act.
• 2:16
  I have heard it called AD creation.
• 2:18
  What does that concept really tell us about how severe this
• 2:21
  event was? It suggests a complete reversal
• 2:24
  of the original act of creation. In Genesis 1, God separates the
• 2:28
  waters above from the waters below to make dry, habitable
• 2:32
  land. Decreation is the collapse of
• 2:34
  that order. The waters were allowed to
• 2:36
  return to their primordial state, which signals a total
• 2:39
  righteous cleansing of a rebellious earth and its people.
• 2:43
  It was an undoing of God's own initial work.
• 2:46
  Because the creatures living in it had become so hostile to his
• 2:48
  standards. That's right.
• 2:49
  So if the flood was a reversal of creation, then it stands as a
• 2:53
  permanent historical marker. Absolutely.
• 2:55
  It's a permanent, objective statement that God is a holy
• 2:58
  judge and that judgement is a historical reality.
• 3:01
  It's not just some abstract idea.
• 3:02
  It pushes back against the modern idea that God is somehow
• 3:05
  indifferent to human rebellion. It does.
• 3:08
  We can't read Genesis 9 and think the Judgement is just a
• 3:11
  myth to scare children. The Flood is a colossal,
• 3:15
  objective and terrifying warning that stands against any kind of
• 3:19
  sentimental theology. That helps make sense of the
• 3:22
  architectural analogy that some of our sources use.
• 3:24
  They say it was less like water damage and more like a
• 3:27
  foundational reset. A controlled demolition of a
• 3:30
  condemned building. That's a great way to put it.
• 3:32
  When a building's foundation is compromised not by a small flaw,
• 3:36
  but by a deep, fatal corruption, the only sensible thing to do is
• 3:40
  to tear it down and reset the entire foundation.
• 3:43
  And God was willing to tear down his own habitable order.
• 3:46
  Because human sin had condemned the whole structure, the flood
• 3:50
  is a ruin in the middle of history, reminding everyone,
• 3:53
  even us today, that the architect holds the final
• 3:55
  authority and has acted decisively before.
• 3:58
  OK, so given that severity, the Flood has a very specific place
• 4:02
  in the sweep of history. It marks the first of two great
• 4:05
  crises. That's the critical
• 4:06
  eschatological context, yes. We look back and we see the
• 4:09
  ancient world. Judge by water, that judgement
• 4:12
  is over. It's complete.
• 4:14
  God has sworn never to repeat it in that way.
• 4:16
  But the New Testament Peter specifically makes a direct
• 4:19
  theological link. He says that the current heavens
• 4:22
  and earth are now stored up for fire.
• 4:25
  Right. So Two Peter 3 doesn't just
• 4:27
  mention the flood as a historical fact.
• 4:29
  It sets up a clear contrast between that first judgement by
• 4:32
  water and the final judgement by fire.
• 4:34
  Which puts the covenant in a very precise historical box.
• 4:37
  It does. The Noac Covenant is established
• 4:40
  precisely in this interval, this period between these two global
• 4:43
  judgments. Its function is to maintain and
• 4:46
  preserve the world, protecting it from another Flood style
• 4:49
  destruction until that second fiery judgment arrives.
• 4:53
  So if we're living in that interval, which is secured by
• 4:55
  God's promise, how does that change our view of the covenant?
• 4:59
  It's more than just a guarantee about the weather.
• 5:01
  It means that every single moment of history we live in is
• 5:03
  a grace filled, divinely maintained exception.
• 5:07
  The age we inhabit is protected from both total chaos and
• 5:10
  premature destruction simply because God put his own oath in
• 5:13
  place. It guarantees the time needed
• 5:15
  for his larger redemptive plans to unfold.
• 5:18
  The stage is set, the lights are on and the curtain won't come
• 5:21
  down until the play is finished. So the very fact that history
• 5:25
  exists, that we can plan for tomorrow, that we can build
• 5:28
  cultures, is an act of preservation resting on a
• 5:32
  theological decree made thousands of years ago.
• 5:35
  Yes, that stability isn't inherent to the material world.
• 5:38
  It's grounded in God's self-imposed restraint.
• 5:42
  All right, let's move into the nature of this promise itself.
• 5:45
  We've established that human corruption didn't just vanish
• 5:47
  with the floodwaters. Noah and his family were still
• 5:50
  sinners, so God would be perfectly righteous to just
• 5:53
  sweep the earth clean again immediately.
• 5:56
  What is the specific theological function of the Noaic covenant
• 6:00
  that prevents that from happening?
• 6:01
  Its purpose is very precise. This is a covenant of
• 6:05
  preservation, and this is a vital distinction.
• 6:07
  Is not a covenant of eternal salvation.
• 6:10
  Its role is to secure the physical stage, the temporal
• 6:13
  order on which the saving covenant of grace, the one
• 6:16
  fulfilled in Christ, gets to be played out.
• 6:18
  So it provides the arena for salvation, but it isn't
• 6:21
  salvation itself. That's it exactly.
• 6:23
  It guarantees the continuity of the environment.
• 6:25
  So the story of redemption can move forward Without this oath,
• 6:30
  God's justice might well compel Him to, you know, sweep the
• 6:34
  earth clean again and again because of our constant, ongoing
• 6:38
  sinfulness. But his promise ensures that
• 6:40
  history runs its full appointed course.
• 6:42
  Without being violently cut short by another global flood.
• 6:46
  And the power of this promise comes from its unilateral
• 6:48
  nature. Our sources really stress this,
• 6:51
  that the guarantee is absolute. God takes full responsibility
• 6:54
  for keeping it. It's wholly unconditional.
• 6:56
  That's why the promise is so secure and trustworthy.
• 6:59
  God is the sole initiator and the sole guarantor.
• 7:02
  There are no if you then I clauses.
• 7:05
  Not at all. The language contains no.
• 7:07
  If you stop sinning, then I will not destroy conditions.
• 7:10
  The world's preservation is maintained not because humanity
• 7:12
  gets better, it clearly doesn't, but because God has freely
• 7:15
  chosen to restrain his judgement.
• 7:17
  So what specific action does this absolute guarantee
• 7:20
  restrict? What is he promising not to do?
• 7:22
  The guarantee is hyper specific. God pledges never again shall
• 7:27
  all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood.
• 7:30
  So this is a limitation on the method of judgement.
• 7:33
  It's not an end to judgement altogether.
• 7:35
  No judgement remains a historical and future certainty,
• 7:39
  but the universal deluge, that specific method, is permanently
• 7:43
  taken off the table. It's God acknowledging the
• 7:46
  horror of what happened and legally binding himself to a
• 7:49
  different future course of action.
• 7:51
  We rely on this kind of stability every single day.
• 7:54
  Planting, harvesting, the predictability of the seasons.
• 7:58
  Are you saying that these cycles actually rest on this covenantal
• 8:01
  oath? They absolutely are.
• 8:03
  Genesis 9 guarantees the stability of the natural order.
• 8:06
  We are promised predictable cycles, seed time and harvest,
• 8:10
  cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not
• 8:13
  cease. We've.
• 8:14
  Gotten so used to that regularity that we just assume
• 8:16
  it's automatic. But the text tells us this order
• 8:18
  is not the product of impersonal random forces or some kind of
• 8:22
  blind fate. So it's not a deistic machine
• 8:24
  that was just wound up and left to run on its own.
• 8:26
  Not at all. This is promised order.
• 8:29
  It's grounded directly in God's personal faithfulness to his own
• 8:32
  covenant. And think about the scope of
• 8:34
  that. Every time a farmer plants a
• 8:36
  seed expecting a harvest, every time winter reliably gives way
• 8:39
  to spring, that is a testimony to a promise kept, a promise
• 8:43
  spoken in Genesis 9. It demonstrates the reliability
• 8:47
  of the creator. Whose fidelity sustains the
• 8:49
  entire physical structure of life, ensuring survival until
• 8:53
  his redemptive plan is complete. So our confidence that the sun
• 8:56
  will rise tomorrow isn't fundamentally a scientific
• 8:59
  prediction based on observation. Theologically speaking, it's a
• 9:03
  certainty based on God's sworn word.
• 9:05
  It's grounded in the personal faithfulness of God.
• 9:08
  Who said I will keep this world going according to these cycles?
• 9:12
  And his guaranteed stability is the non negotiable framework
• 9:15
  that allows the history of salvation to happen.
• 9:17
  It allows the line of Abraham to produce the Messiah and ensures
• 9:21
  the gospel can eventually be proclaimed worldwide.
• 9:23
  And this framework gives us the intellectual justification to do
• 9:26
  science, to do agriculture, to build cultures, knowing the
• 9:29
  basic rules of existence are fixed, at least for this age.
• 9:32
  It does. It provides the necessary
• 9:34
  structure and time, and it shows that God governs not by whim,
• 9:38
  but by oath and regularity. This brings us to the visual
• 9:42
  token of the promise, the rainbow itself.
• 9:44
  If the promise is unilateral and God centered, binding God to his
• 9:48
  own action, why is a visible sign even needed?
• 9:52
  What's the function of the sign in Genesis 9?
• 9:55
  We have to look at the Hebrew term, which is ought.
• 9:57
  It's not just a suggestion, it's a visible marker that points
• 10:01
  beyond itself to a divine reality.
• 10:03
  It's a concrete sensory token of an invisible promise, and it's
• 10:07
  appointed and interpreted by God himself so.
• 10:09
  It's not something we just decide is hopeful on our own.
• 10:11
  It carries the meaning God gave it.
• 10:13
  Precisely to help you visualize this, think of the sign like a
• 10:16
  piece of jewelry, like a wedding ring.
• 10:18
  The ring is visible, it's physical, and it confirms a
• 10:21
  legal and relational agreement that's already been spoken, the
• 10:24
  marriage vows. The ring doesn't create the
• 10:26
  bond, but it acts as a constant, tangible token of that legal,
• 10:29
  invisible agreement. The rainbow confirms and seals
• 10:32
  the promise of preservation. Now this is where the imagery
• 10:35
  gets really striking, and it's something we miss when we just
• 10:37
  say rainbow. The Hebrew word that's used,
• 10:40
  queschit, is military terminology, yes.
• 10:43
  Queschit is the standard term for a warbow, the weapon of an
• 10:46
  Archer. This is a very intentional
• 10:49
  choice of language. God is taking the instrument of
• 10:52
  destruction that He had just used, the very weapon of His
• 10:55
  judgement, and purposefully turning it into a sign of peace
• 10:58
  and restraint. And here is where the meaning
• 11:01
  becomes truly, well, significant.
• 11:04
  By using the warbow and placing it in the clouds, God is making
• 11:08
  a clear symbolic gesture about the status of his hostility
• 11:12
  toward the earth. He is symbolically hanging up
• 11:14
  his weapon, and the visual orientation really matters.
• 11:17
  The bow is unstrung, and it's pointed upward, away from the
• 11:20
  earth, not down toward it, right.
• 11:22
  This signifies that the direction of wrath has been
• 11:24
  turned aside, at least regarding the method of a global flood.
• 11:27
  It's a pledge of restraint about the means by which he judges the
• 11:30
  world. So when we look at that arc in
• 11:32
  the sky, we aren't just seeing pretty colors refracted through
• 11:35
  water, we are looking at a decommissioned weapon.
• 11:40
  A sign of a terrifying judge was chosen by his own oath to
• 11:44
  restrain his devastating ability.
• 11:46
  Think about the analogy of a retired soldiers sword or an
• 11:50
  ancient King's spear that's ceremonially hung above the
• 11:52
  mantle in the royal hall. That weapon was using great,
• 11:56
  necessary and terrible battles, the flood being the most recent
• 11:59
  one. By hanging it up where it's
• 12:00
  constantly visible, the king is making a public declaration.
• 12:04
  I have the ability to destroy again, but I have chosen by my
• 12:08
  own free oath to put my weapon aside for now.
• 12:11
  That arc in the sky shows both God's terrifying power and his
• 12:14
  solemn, voluntary self limitation.
• 12:16
  If the sign is such a clear pledge, then why does the text
• 12:19
  say that God sets the bow so that he will see it and
• 12:22
  remember? And it sounds a little
• 12:23
  counterintuitive. I think most listeners assume
• 12:25
  the sign is for our comfort. Why would an omniscient God need
• 12:28
  a visual reminder? This is a deep linguistic and
• 12:30
  theological point. The sign does function primarily
• 12:33
  for God, yes, but for a specific purpose.
• 12:36
  When the text says God remembers, the Hebrew term is
• 12:40
  zakhar, it doesn't mean a psychological recall.
• 12:43
  It's not as if he momentarily forgets his creation and then
• 12:46
  suddenly remembers the promise. God knows all things always.
• 12:50
  So if it isn't about memory, what is divine remembrance?
• 12:53
  Zakhar is a covenantal action word.
• 12:55
  It means to bring a promise to bear, to act faithfully in
• 12:58
  accordance with a prior word or oath.
• 13:00
  The rainbow acts as the visible token that prompts God to
• 13:03
  execute His standing agreement of preservation toward the
• 13:06
  earth. So the visual presence of the
• 13:08
  bow confirms that God is actively regarding his own oath
• 13:11
  and it triggers the action of keeping his self binding
• 13:14
  promise. Precisely.
• 13:15
  The text states it from His perspective.
• 13:17
  When I see the bow, I will remember my covenant.
• 13:20
  Our human assurance rests entirely on that divine action.
• 13:23
  Our security is not based on our memory of the story, but on
• 13:25
  God's active, unwavering regard for His own Word.
• 13:29
  It is God centered security. The bank trustee analogy is
• 13:32
  useful here. The trustee knows the contract
• 13:34
  exists, but the sign, the rainbow is the signal to execute
• 13:38
  the standing order. It's the.
• 13:39
  Action that confirms a prior agreement.
• 13:42
  The sign assures us that the maintenance of history is not
• 13:45
  dependent on our faithfulness, but on divine fidelity.
• 13:48
  When the storm clouds gather and the light hits the water
• 13:50
  droplets just right, the appearance of the bow is God
• 13:53
  basically saying yes I see the contract and I am honoring it.
• 13:57
  And that would explain why the rainbow is so large.
• 14:00
  It encompasses the whole scope of the weather event.
• 14:02
  It's a comprehensive, objective sign for the judge.
• 14:05
  It covers the sky. It visually encompasses the
• 14:09
  entire scene of potential destruction, asserting the reach
• 14:12
  of God's restraint over that whole atmosphere.
• 14:15
  OK, the unilateral nature of this oath means its benefits are
• 14:18
  distributed incredibly broadly. This is where we get into the
• 14:22
  central theological concept of common grace, which really
• 14:25
  springs right out of Genesis 9. How widespread is the scope of
• 14:29
  this blessing? It's universal and
• 14:31
  indiscriminate. The Covenant embraces all flesh,
• 14:34
  and that includes the totality of humanity, even unbelievers,
• 14:38
  the animal Kingdom, and the entire physical ecosystem.
• 14:42
  The benefits are not restricted to those inside the Covenant of
• 14:45
  Grace. No, they're extended to everyone
• 14:47
  living under the sun. Everyone.
• 14:49
  So let's try to nail down a clear definition of common grace
• 14:52
  in this specific context. Common grace is God's non saving
• 14:57
  goodness, His patience, His undeserved favor that restrains
• 15:01
  the full measure of wrath and allows for life, culture,
• 15:04
  civilization and history to continue.
• 15:07
  It's the reason why a world that justly deserves immediate
• 15:10
  destruction doesn't get it. Yes, it is God's preserving
• 15:14
  kindness covering every living creature regardless of their
• 15:16
  spiritual status or moral behavior.
• 15:18
  And what specific tangible temporal blessings would fall
• 15:21
  under this category? The list is huge.
• 15:24
  It covers everything needed for human society to function.
• 15:27
  It includes the ability to enjoy family relationships, the
• 15:30
  establishment and maintenance of governments that hold back
• 15:32
  chaos. Cultural achievements.
• 15:33
  Material prosperity. Long lives and the fundamental
• 15:37
  regularity of the physical world.
• 15:38
  Seed time and harvest. These benefits are enjoyed by
• 15:42
  every single person, whether they praise God for them or
• 15:45
  curse Him. And this delay and final
• 15:47
  judgement this patients were experiencing, it's a divine act.
• 15:50
  Our sources are very clear on this.
• 15:52
  It's a deliberate choice, not an accident or a sign that God is
• 15:55
  too busy to notice sin. It is a profound strategic
• 15:59
  decision. God's patience is absolutely not
• 16:01
  a sign of moral indifference or laxity towards sin.
• 16:05
  In fact, it's the opposite. It's a deliberate, highly
• 16:08
  intentional choice to hold back the full, immediate wrath that
• 16:12
  the fallen world deserves. It shows an astonishing divine
• 16:15
  forbearance. If the world deserves immediate
• 16:17
  judgement, what's the strategic purpose behind this delay?
• 16:20
  Why is God using so much faithfulness to preserve a
• 16:22
  wicked world? The current era is defined
• 16:25
  precisely as a season of mercy. The preservation of history is
• 16:28
  designed specifically for two reasons.
• 16:31
  First, so that the Gospel might be preached to all nations, and
• 16:33
  2nd, so that the Church, what we sometimes call the full harvest
• 16:37
  of the covenant of grace, might be gathered in.
• 16:39
  So God is granting time for repentance and faith to happen
• 16:42
  across the whole world before the final day.
• 16:45
  That's the theological heart of it.
• 16:47
  The preservation of the world allows the drama of redemption
• 16:50
  to complete its full run. The delay is a divine strategy,
• 16:54
  making sure that the day of the Lord doesn't arrive until every
• 16:57
  person intended for salvation has had the necessary space and
• 17:00
  time to hear the good news and flee to Christ.
• 17:03
  The. Analogy of the professor helps
• 17:05
  us grasp the temporary nature of this.
• 17:07
  The exam room is technically supposed to close, but the
• 17:10
  professor is keeping the doors open and the lights on.
• 17:12
  That's the preservation to give students time to finish their
• 17:15
  work, which is repentance and faith before the absolute
• 17:18
  deadline. It is a temporary extension, an
• 17:21
  act of grace. The open door is not a sign that
• 17:24
  the rules have been waived. It's a sign that mercy is being
• 17:26
  extended until the last possible moment before the final,
• 17:30
  irreversible judgment is executed.
• 17:32
  We have to use this distinction between common grace and saving
• 17:35
  grace to talk about a very popular theological error that
• 17:38
  affects how a lot of people view their lives, the prosperity
• 17:42
  gospel. This covenant gives us the
• 17:44
  crucial doctrinal framework to reject that error.
• 17:47
  Temporal blessings, whether it's long life, financial success,
• 17:50
  physical health, or even cultural stability, are displays
• 17:54
  of common grace. They are not and should never be
• 17:57
  interpreted as proof of saving favor.
• 17:59
  Or God's approval of 1's spiritual standing.
• 18:01
  This means we cannot equate earthly success with eternal
• 18:04
  status. Just because someone thrives
• 18:06
  under the no way at covenant they get rich, they live long,
• 18:09
  have a healthy family, that does not mean they are secure under
• 18:12
  the covenant of grace. That's the hard truth.
• 18:15
  Our source material makes it clear that many who prosper
• 18:17
  under common grace perish under final judgement.
• 18:20
  The blessings we see, like rain falling on the just and the
• 18:23
  unjust alike, are an invitation meant to lead us toward
• 18:26
  repentance. They are not a code for who is
• 18:29
  loved salvifically. So worldly success is by itself
• 18:33
  a non saving goodness. It is, and without that
• 18:36
  distinction, people mistakenly believe that their ease or
• 18:40
  material gain is evidence that they're eternally secure, and it
• 18:44
  distracts them from the true source of safety.
• 18:47
  It's a critical error. The existence of common grace
• 18:50
  means the wicked can and often do thrive in this life precisely
• 18:55
  because God's oath preserves the stage for everyone.
• 18:58
  Mistaking temporary comfort for eternal security is dangerous.
• 19:02
  Our focus has to always be on Christ who provides the ultimate
• 19:06
  saving provision. And that focus on Christ brings
• 19:09
  us to the end of this whole narrative arc, Genesis 9 and the
• 19:12
  ark. They're not the conclusion.
• 19:13
  They're prefiguring their shadows, pointing to the
• 19:16
  substance that's still to come. Yes, Christ Himself is the
• 19:19
  ultimate reality that was prefigured by the physical Ark.
• 19:22
  The Ark was in its time, the only safe place from the
• 19:25
  judgment of water. This sets up the necessary
• 19:28
  typology. The physical boat that saved one
• 19:30
  family from a temporary water based judgement is the Shadow.
• 19:33
  And Christ is the substance, the true ark.
• 19:35
  He is the perfect ark and the only secure refuge from the
• 19:38
  final, decisive, fiery judgement that awaits this current world.
• 19:42
  The typology holds with terrifying clarity.
• 19:44
  Everyone outside Noah's ark perished without exception.
• 19:48
  Likewise, only those who are sheltered in him, in Christ,
• 19:52
  will pass safely through the final judgement.
• 19:55
  Survival is not earned by moral merit or good intentions.
• 19:58
  It is based entirely on God's provided means of escape.
• 20:02
  And the protection Christ offers is described in dramatic
• 20:05
  substitutionary terms. He bears the storm we deserve.
• 20:08
  He literally steps into the storm that we deserve at the
• 20:12
  cross. Christ endured the full flood of
• 20:14
  divine indignation. He absorbed the universal wrath
• 20:17
  and righteous judgments so completely that those sheltered
• 20:20
  in him can survive the final judgement without facing
• 20:23
  condemnation. The ark was lifted above the
• 20:26
  destructive waters. And Christ, through his finished
• 20:28
  work, provides the path to safety from the wrath that is
• 20:31
  stored off the world by. Fire.
• 20:33
  It's incredible to trace this sign from the post flood earth
• 20:36
  all the way to the throne room of heaven.
• 20:38
  The rainbow doesn't just disappear from scripture, it
• 20:40
  actually encircles the throne itself.
• 20:42
  This is the escalological trajectory of the sign moving
• 20:46
  from Genesis all the way to Revelation.
• 20:49
  In Revelation 4, John sees the very presence of God surrounded
• 20:52
  by a rainbow. It has migrated from the post
• 20:55
  flood sky to the immediate presence of the Judge.
• 20:58
  What message does that shift send about God's nature during
• 21:01
  the end times? It's placement around God's
• 21:03
  throne signifies this truth. The God who executes the final
• 21:07
  judgement is also the God who keeps his covenants even as the
• 21:11
  escalating judgements begin to fall upon the earth.
• 21:13
  In the end times described in Revelation, the very throne of
• 21:17
  cosmic authority is encircled by a sign of covenant mercy.
• 21:21
  So it assures us that God's actions, even his judgments,
• 21:24
  aren't arbitrary fits of anger. No, they're surrounded and
• 21:27
  defined by His promise to redeem and preserve His people.
• 21:29
  So if the rainbow on the throne is like the King's signet ring
• 21:32
  confirming the treaty, it means even the final fiery judgment is
• 21:36
  framed by the principles of this earlier promise.
• 21:39
  It is the ultimate reassurance. It confirms that the righteous
• 21:42
  authority executing the final sentence on history is the same
• 21:46
  authority bound by the original oath of mercy that preserved the
• 21:49
  world to begin with. The purpose of stability was
• 21:52
  always to lead us to the Redeemer, who is the central
• 21:55
  focus of every covenant God makes.
• 21:57
  This preservation of the world, then, is definitely not the
• 22:00
  final goal. It is a temporary state, a
• 22:03
  powerful warning and an urgent invitation, a summons to safety.
• 22:07
  That is the essential application for the listener
• 22:10
  today. The very stability of this
• 22:11
  preserved world acts as a solemn plea for sinners to flee to
• 22:15
  Christ. The true ark, before the next
• 22:18
  storm breaks the rainbow, tells us that the first judgement is
• 22:21
  over, the second is guaranteed, and in between there is a season
• 22:24
  of mercy secured by God's own vow.
• 22:27
  So we're called to use this space wisely.
• 22:29
  For repentance and faith, the hope is not in the permanence of
• 22:32
  this physical theater, but in the provision God has already
• 22:35
  secured for us in His Son. For the final day, the world is
• 22:38
  mercifully preserved solely to provide that space for
• 22:41
  repentance before time runs out. This deep dive has certainly
• 22:44
  stripped away any sentimental notions we might have had about
• 22:47
  the rainbow. We now see it for what it is, a
• 22:51
  war weapon put away by a holy God who preserves the entire
• 22:54
  world by an oath. That's common grace,
• 22:57
  specifically to secure the history leading directly to
• 22:59
  Christ, the true Ark. And the stability of nature,
• 23:03
  which we rely on every day, is entirely contingent on God's
• 23:06
  sworn Word. Which leads to a powerful
• 23:08
  application for us as we live out our days.
• 23:10
  We are pilgrims residing in a preserved but temporary world.
• 23:14
  Because we understand this, we're neither paranoid about the
• 23:17
  world ending tomorrow nor naive about its eternal status.
• 23:21
  We can live, build and work knowing that history is held
• 23:24
  together, not by random chance, but by the personal faithfulness
• 23:27
  of God until the full harvest of the Church is gathered in
• 23:30
  Christ. Before we close, here's a final
• 23:32
  provocative thought for you to consider as you reflect on
• 23:34
  Genesis 9. Since the basic stability of
• 23:38
  nature see time and harvest, the guaranteed regularity of the
• 23:41
  seasons is maintained by God's promise only until redemption is
• 23:45
  complete. How should our clear awareness
• 23:47
  that the theater is fundamentally a temporary
• 23:50
  influence how we value the temporal blessings God provides
• 23:53
  through common grace? Things like family, culture,
• 23:56
  wealth and prosperity. Remember that the design of
• 23:59
  preservation is not permanent worldly security, but rather
• 24:02
  preparation and space for eternal safety in Christ.
• 24:05
  Thank you for joining us for this deep dive.
• 24:06
  I. Will speak with you next time.