From the Pastor's Desk . . . .
My Bow
After the flood, Noah’s feet were again on the solid ground of earth, but the sound of rushing torrents must have left its echo in his ear. The next time he and his family would see clouds gathering and the sky growing dark, their fears would rush in and they
would wonder, “Is God’s judgment about to rain down again? Is He coming again to wipe out the world?”
So God spoke to Noah and his sons, making them a promise and setting out a sign that would quiet their fears: “I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is
seen in the clouds, I will remember My covenant that is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:13-15).
The “bow” that God placed in the sky is not merely a curve of light shining through the rain, as science explains. The sign is an archer’s bow, a weapon. The psalmist described God’s bow this way: “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation
every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet His sword; He has bent and readied His bow; He has prepared for him His deadly weapons, making His arrows fiery shafts” (Psalm 7:11-13).
By setting His “bow in the cloud” (Genesis 9:13), God is saying that even though humans are sinful, He won’t destroy us. The bow is hung in the sky, not strung tight with arrows at the ready, but loose and hanging at the warrior’s side. God is no longer at war.
God can hang up His bow for only one reason. It’s not because Noah and his descendants will no longer sin, and it’s not because God will now overlook sin. He can hang up His bow because its arrows have been spent on someone else. God choose to aim
the arrows of judgment toward an innocent Christ rather than toward guilty sinners. Jesus has had mercy on us in His voluntary death on the cross.
By Pastor Edwards
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