What Do Rainbows Really Mean?

Posted on Mar 22, 2018 Topic : Inspirational/Devotional, Men's Christian Living, Prophecy

The most visible reminder of the Flood today is, of course, the rainbow. So it's not surprising that one of the most common questions people have about the Flood is: Why did God give the sign of the rainbow anyway?

Noah and his family had just come through an unimaginably frightening experience. It’s possible they had never even seen a storm, and certainly not one like this. It would remain constant in their memories for years to come. During the Flood, the winds howled incessantly and the thunder pealed continually as the Ark pitched and rolled in the waves. Earthquakes rocked the planet without stop, sending pulsating tsunamis in every direction. Underwater volcanoes and the spreading “fountains of the great deep” (Genesis 7:11) heated the water surrounding the Ark, making life on board almost unbearable. Continuous rainfall pelted the Ark’s roof, as if it were passing under Niagara Falls.

This was not merely a Category 5 hurricane. Creationists speculate about hypercanes—storms dozens of times greater than present-day hurricanes. Surely the pre-Flood world fully “perished” (2 Peter 3:6) under such an onslaught.

As Noah and his family stepped off the Ark, they entered a world totally unfamiliar to them. The geography had all changed. Plant and animal life had been devastated. Weather patterns were chaotic. Gone was the pre-Flood stability they were accustomed to. Contrast that to the relative stability we enjoy today. It would perhaps have taken several centuries for Earth to settle down to the present pseudo-equilibrium. After all, the jet streams would have needed time to stabilize. The ocean currents had to find their “paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:8). The continents had to halt their rapid horizontal movements and cease their vertical uplift. In particular, the oceans would have needed time to give up their excess heat, which would have caused further violent storm patterns.

It was into this unstable world Noah and his family disembarked. No doubt earthquakes were common. Of necessity they lived in tents because it was not possible to make structures that would have withstood the earthquakes. Wood was in short supply, and rock structures were the least safe.

Rainfall continued with swollen streams and violent storms. Calculations show that the ocean’s heat would have taken at least 600 years or so to dissipate, and that during this period the Ice Age dominated. Job lived soon after the Flood, and his book contains more references to ice and snow than the rest of the Bible put together. Up until perhaps the time of Abraham, the world was quite a dangerous place on account of many natural catastrophes.

No doubt Noah’s family needed reassurance that there would never be another Flood like the one they had just experienced. Thus, it was out of God’s grace and mercy that He instituted this beautiful reminder of His protection. And every time they saw a rainbow, it would serve as a majestic reminder of the security they have in Him. (Genesis 9:9-17)