My Bow

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 saw clouds gathering and the sky growing dark, their fears surely flourished as they wondered, 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 placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life” (Genesis 9:13-15).

The “bow” that God placed in the sky is not merely a curve of light shining through the rain. This sign is an archer’s bow, a weapon. The psalmist described God’s bow this way:

God is an honest judge.

He is angry with the wicked every day.

If a person does not repent,

God will sharpen his sword;

he will bend and string his bow.

He will prepare his deadly weapons

and shoot his flaming arrows. (Psalm 7:11-13)

By setting his “bow in the cloud” (Genesis 9:13, KJV), 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 is 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 chose to aim the arrows of judgment toward an innocent Christ rather than toward guilty sinners.

You have set your bow in the heavens not only as a sign to me of your mercy but also as a sign to yourself of your promise. So I need not fear a storm of judgment even though I know I deserve your arrows. You have spent your arrows on Christ and hung your bow in the heavens so you can pour out your mercy on me.