January 3 - Genesis 9:13

The Lord said,

"I have set my bow in the clouds,

and it shall be a sign of the covenant

between me and the earth."

Genesis 9:13

 

I came across an interesting Jewish reading of this passage just the other day. Some say that the "bow" that God set in the skies is symbolic of his setting down his "bow and arrows." The flood, in other words, was an act of war.

 

Now, most of us would prefer more peaceful images of God and his kingdom. And that's God's goal! God graciously promises that each of us can discover "shalom" in the midst of daily circumstances and true peace in the heavenly end. But ... in the meantime ... we miss the whole point of the divine drama in scripture when we fail to admit that we are in a kingdom at war.

 

In the battle against sin and unrighteousness, most of us would prefer a swift victory -- "If only God would just sweep away the unrighteous, then ..." The problem is that the story of Noah reminds us that WE are the unrighteous. Swept away would be all of us. (And even if we think we're the most righteous person in the whole world, how did the most righteous person in the world -- Noah -- fare when he got off the boat? He got drunk and humiliated his family.)

 

Therefore, I'm glad that God set down his archer's bow in the sky. Indeed, I'm glad he declared that this is a battle that will not be won by killing sinful humans -- i.e. each of us -- but through, instead, the sacrifice of his Son.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who needs crayons

(I want to color a picture of the cross

in the colors of a rainbow)