Rainbow

The story of Noah begins with an ending. God casts His gaze upon the earth and sees all that was once good had been corrupted by the continuous evil of man. The first promise given to Noah is of coming judgement upon all by a flood. As God commands him, Noah builds an ark and is given a portion of the creation that he will guide as mediator from the old world to the new.

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The description of the flood is patterned in a reverse order of the creation week. It begins with this great gathering of creatures, man is lead into the ark, then animals of the land, then swarms of the air; the heavens open, giving forth flood waters instead of light; the land is covered by fountains of the great deep; the firmament collapses as the waters prevail. All is darkness and endless prevailing waters as it was in the beginning and just as Spirit hovered above the waters, only the Ark floats among the face of the waters. The creation is unspooled by the Creator, piece by piece.

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Once judgement has passed, all that is destroyed is reconstituted again; the waters withdraw, the firmament, land and heavens are reestablished, the birds and animals are released from the ark to be fruitful and multiply, as well as a new Adam- the man Noah. All is uncreated, then recreated. As the story began with a promise of judgement, so too does it end with a promise of mercy, sealed with a symbol of light refracting through fragmented waters- a rainbow.

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Throughout Scripture, the rainbow continually manifests these dual promises of God. The rainbow emanates from the throne of Christ in Heaven, radiating outward into the multitude of God's people. It is also the banner arrayed on Archangel Michael as he brings the scroll of judgement upon the spirit of antichrist. To the saints, it is the glory of the living God and life abundant; to the unrepentant, the same light is agony from eternal dissonance, souls desperate for life yet unable to bear the Life Giver. The rainbow therefore remains an inescapably Christian symbol: it is the fulfillment of God's promises to man, that He is a God of ineffable beauty and light, of both justice and mercy, resisting the proud and giving grace to the humble.

Part 8 of 12 of the Creation Days series