The Rainbow is a Sign of God’s Faithfulness in Keeping His Covenant with Man

This week we are on the last great crystal in chapter 1 of Ezekiel, which is the rainbow – the consummation of the experience of the Christian life and the church life, and today we want to see that the rainbow is a sign of God’s faithfulness in keeping the covenant!

Ezekiel 1, the deepest chapter in the Bible, starts with the opened heavens and seeing the stormy wind coming from the north, and ends with a vision of the throne of God and the rainbow around the throne, the appearance of a rainbow.

Ezekiel is a book of visions, and there are many aspects of these visions. In our Christian life we need to have two main prayers, in principle: we need to pray, Lord, let me SEE, and, Lord, let me BE!

We need to ask the Lord to let us see the heavenly visions; it is here that all spiritual experiences begin. But this prayer is incomplete; we need to pray, Lord, let me be! In Eph. 1 Paul prayed for sight and revelation, wisdom, in seeing the vision; then in Eph. 3 he bowed his knees again not for sight but for all that we have seen to be worked into us and in all the believers as the members of the Body of Christ.

In God’s economy and in His way of operation, He shows us visions not only to satisfy us or broaden our view, but so that in the end we can become them – that is, we need to become the visions that we see.

The great vision is always the God-man on the throne, and along with this vision, the living creatures that are the product of God’s particular visitation as the wind, the cloud, the fire, and resulting in the electrum.

The consummation of the experience of the Christian life and the church life is the rainbow – Lord, may we see this, and may we become this!

When it comes to the rainbow, we need to see what is God’s definition and view of the rainbow, and recover the matter of the rainbow from being dragged through the mud (with the LGBT and other things like this) to being a bright spiritual reality to us.

The enemy uses all kinds of people and institutions to make the wonderful matter of the rainbow be something detestable, despicable, even abominable and unclean, but we need to restore the rainbow to its rightful place – from hell to the heavens.

We need to see the rainbow as God designed it, realizing that, right at the end of the Bible in Revelation, the holy city has twelve foundations of precious stones, which include all the spectrum of the colors of the rainbow.

The New Jerusalem is the city of rainbow – it is a rainbow city, and in Ezekiel 1 we see a snapshot, a condensed view of the entire Scriptures unfolding to us God’s economy, consummating in the New Jerusalem!

The rainbow shows us the consummation of the experience of the Christian life and the church life; the final product of our Christian life and our living in the church life is the rainbow.

Lord Jesus, cause us to see the matter of the rainbow as You see it, and bring us into a proper and deep appreciation of God’s faithfulness! Recover the matter of the rainbow, and bring us into the experience of the rainbow so that we may become a sign of God’s faithfulness, the holy city, the New Jerusalem with foundations!

The Rainbow is a Sign of God’s Faithfulness in Keeping His Covenant with Man

After the deluge, the great flood, Noah and the ark rested on a mountain, and God made a covenant with Noah, saying, I will set My bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth (Gen. 9:13).

The rainbow is a sign that the very God of life and redemption is the One who establishes and keeps His covenant (Gen. 9:12-17); the covenant He made with Noah and the earth and all the animals was for the sake of the earth, and it specifies that God will never judge the earth again by means of water.

The rainbow declares to us that God will keep His covenant for the sake of the earth. In order to assure mankind that there would never again be a flood to destroy them and the earth, God made a covenant with Noah, with his seed, and with every animal.

God is in charge of protecting man, the earth, and all the animals; we don’t have to “protect the whales” and “hug the trees” but trust in God and in His covenant. The rainbow is a sign that God is the One who establishes and keeps His covenant; the rainbow declares to the whole earth that God will keep His covenant.

Hallelujah, praise our covenant-establishing and keeping God! We need to know that our God is faithful in keeping His covenant, and we need to praise Him and exalt Him as the covenant keeping God!

Every time we see the rainbow we must exult, praise, and be reminded as God is reminded of the covenant He made with man through Noah. In Genesis 9 God spoke seven times concerning His covenant, assuring Noah and all mankind that He will never again cut off the flesh by the waters of the flood.

As we see later in the Bible, God will have to judge or destroy the earth, but no more with water – it will happen by fire. The rainbow, a token of God’s covenant, signifies God’s faithfulness; God’s faithfulness is in the rainbow.

Later in Revelation 4:3 we see that there’s a rainbow around God’s throne. God’s faithfulness remains forever; He cannot deny Himself, but He will always be true to His word, and the rainbow is in the clouds to assure us of God’s covenant (2 Tim. 2:13).

Once God has spoken, He will keep His word, for He Himself is faithfulness.

God is faithful, through whom we were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9); He is faithful to bring us into the participation of the riches of Christ! And if we have sinned, God is faithful to us, if we confess our sins, to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Hallelujah, our God is faithful!

Lord, we praise You and thank You for Your faithfulness. You are our covenant-keeping God, and You are faithful to us in Your word. When we see the rainbow, we praise You Lord for Your faithfulness, for You will do what You promised to do, and You will spare us from God’s judgement! Lord, even when we are faithless, You remain faithful to us in Your word concerning Your covenant. Thank You for establishing a covenant with us and for keeping that covenant! We worship our covenant-establishing and keeping God!

God is Faithful to us in His Word, and the Rainbow is a Sign of His Faithfulness

God Himself is faithfulness; He is not only faithful, but He Himself is faithfulness, and He is faithful to His word (see 1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Thes. 5:23-24). We may say that God is faithful to us, but actually, God is faithful to His word and His covenant.

By His covenant He must be faithful to you and I to forgive us our sins, cleanse us from any unrighteousness, and save us to the uttermost.

A covenant is a formal, serious, solemn, binding agreement for the performance of some actions; God set a covenant between Him and mankind, and to this unchanging covenant, God is faithful.

We need to realize that God is faithful to us because He is faithful to His own word, and He will spare us from God’s judgement not merely because of His love for us but because of His own covenant. We have been spared by God’s faithfulness, and now we have a rainbow as a sign of God’s faithfulness.

In the midst of His judging the earth, God spared a family of eight – in anticipation that, in His economy, when He has to judge man, He will save and spare a certain number, His believers, and He will also spare some among the nations who will walk in the light of the holy city as the nations in the new heaven and new earth.

Hallelujah, God always keeps His promise, and His rainbow is here to assure us of this! We are all here because God kept His promise; He spared us, He saved us, and even made us part of His faithfulness, part of the rainbow.

Our Christian life and church life are absolutely a covenant life. We are under the covenant. In verse after verse of the New Testament, we find God’s promises….There is a verse for every circumstance that you face. If you hold on to God’s covenant, I can promise you that, regardless of what happens to you, there is a verse as a living promise for you to rely upon and live by. We all need to learn how to live under God’s covenant. We should not be threatened or frightened by the clouds of our convictions, feelings, and environments. We are under God’s covenant, fully under His blessing. There is no more condemnation, no more judgment, no more curse. Death has been abolished. In the church, we continually enjoy life. Everything is life. Do not be frightened about losing your job or your health. Do not be threatened by any dark or negative thing. We are the covenanted people, and we have a verse of promise to meet every situation. We must stand under the covenant and not believe in any failure, weakness, darkness, or negative thing. Our destiny is under the blood-sprinkled covenant. Hallelujah, we are the covenant people! (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 436-437)

What an encouragement! We are the covenant people, and our destiny is under the blood-sprinkled covenant to enjoy God and express Him for eternity!

Today in the church life we should not fear the future or worry about losing our job or our health; we should not let any anxiety of life threaten us but read the Bible, stand on God’s word, and enjoy God’s promises, knowing that our God is faithful!

We have so many promises in the Bible, and there’s a living promise of God for every circumstance and situation in our life! We need to take God at His word, read the Bible, hold God’s promises, and enjoy the covenant of life in the church life!

Praise the Lord, our Christian life and church life are absolutely a covenant life, for we are the covenant people! Lord, we do not look at our circumstances and we refuse to believe anything negative: we trust in You and we stand on Your word! Praise the Lord, we are under God’s covenant, fully under His blessing; here there’s no more condemnation, judgement, or curse, but God as life is everything to us! Lord, thank You for all Your promises in Your word which are Your covenant to us to assure us of Your faithfulness!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Minoru C. for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis, pp. 281-286, 431-438 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel (1), msg. 9 (week 9), The Rainbow — the Consummation of the Experience of the Christian Life and the Church Life.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # How steadfast is Thy faithfulness! / For this I worship Thee; / It is established in the heav’n, / And ever stands for me. / The rainbow round about Thy throne / Thy faithfulness declares; / This attribute forevermore / The holy city bears. (Hymns #18)
  # God has set His sign, a rainbow, / Midst the rainy clouds above; / ’Tis the token of His cov’nant / With the man and earth He loves; / Ne’er again to send a deluge, / Hence His faithfulness is told! / He is true to every promise, / And His changeless word we hold! (Song on the rainbow)
  # Feed on His faithfulness, my soul, / Who chose thee for His own, / Who bears thy name in Love’s pure flame / Before the heav’nly throne; / Lay at His feet thy fear, / Thy burdens, thy distress, / Prostrate embrace thy Fount of Grace— / Feed on His faithfulness. (Hymns #655)