The rainbow was only a fragment of an arch because the needed sunshine
was withheld. Had the sunlight been permitted to permeate all the
atmosphere with its golden glow, the arch would have spanned the entire
heavens.
This is the reason why, in hours of sorrow, we do not grasp the
fullness of God’s promise; we permit the denser clouds of doubt and
faithlessness to keep the light of God from shining through our griefs;
or, with a little faith, we get a gleam of light that gives us but a
tiny fragment of the bow.
While all the operations of this natural world are tokens of God’s
unfailing thoughtfulness in keeping his covenant with man, a great
event has made the rainbow peculiarly the embodiment of that thought.
Looking from the narrow window of the wave-tossed ark, upon the
silent grandeur of a world slowly arising from the waters of an
universal flood, Noah beheld the rainbow and rejoiced in the blest
assurance, that, while the things of man are subject to the ravages
of time and destruction of contending elements, the things of God
are always stable and secure. The most permanent products of man’s
hand and mind are soon swept away, but the things of God endure, and
continue faithful, in working out their appointed courses. Through
storm or calm, events march with steady, unceasing tread, knowing
that God’s roads are never worn, and God’s bridges never tremble and
fall. Above the placid, mysterious world, calmly emerging from the
muddy, wreck-strewn waters, was the peaceful, radiant bow, smiling
in confidence upon him and his companions. The world had changed,
but the rainbow was just as it had always been, stately, serene,
and unaffrighted. The crumbling, flood-torn earth had not weakened
its foundations, the drenching rains had not faded its colors, the
hurrying, wind-swept clouds could not disturb it. Though it were made
out of hurrying light and drifting mist it would not be swayed or moved
even a little. Under its archway walked the guarding angels of God.
Over the waters came the clear voice once heard in Eden, uttering the
promise, “And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the
earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember my
covenant.”
That is a sweeping promise that is literally fulfilled in nature. All
clouds carry rainbows. Most of them are never seen by us because we
lack the necessary keenness of vision, or the proper point of view
to behold their woven colors; many are only partially seen because
something intervenes and prevents a perfect intersection of heavenly
sunlight with our earth-born mists; many are within the vision of
all observing men; but, whether we see it or not, for every cloud
there is a scarf of red and orange and yellow and green and blue and
scarlet and purple. So, in spiritual matters, we find that for every
sorrow there are beautiful assurances of God’s presence and unwavering
covenant-keeping power. If we do not see them it is not God’s fault,
for the light of his faithfulness transfixes every cloud that arises
above his earth-born children.
There are the clouds of bereavement. The Death Angel defied your
love-locked doors and bolted windows. Heeding neither your cry nor
your pleadings, he entered your home and pushed aside the doctor and
attending nurses and friends, and touching the heart of your loved
one, stilled it to sleep. Your grief was such that you did not see how
you could live. The home seemed empty and strangely silent. The entire
pathway seemed shrouded in the somber shadows of your grief. Life was
a desolation. But you did not give up in despair. There was a bow in
the cloud. An arch of seven brilliant hues reached from one horizon
to another horizon, and you knew that the One in whom you had placed
your trust had proven true. He had not forgotten you. Looking at the
rainbow, the token of his covenant, you read in its mingled colors the
words of the Lord Jesus, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” In your sorrow you found
that the bow of God’s promises never trembles.
You were facing financial disaster. All your investments had proven
bad. You had been misled by false counsel. The savings of years had
been swept away by one fell swoop of disaster, and with them had gone
all the fond plans for the future of your family and loved ones. Your
head reeled as you felt the earth giving way beneath you; you were
about to close your eyes in despair, when suddenly, in the darkest
part of the overshadowing cloud, you saw the rainbow. God had not
forgotten you. Amid the whirl and destruction of things his promises
never trembled. Its gleaming colors told you that you were not alone,
and spelled such a message of hope and inspiration to your soul, that
you smiled in the face of adversity. Here was the promise, “There is no
want to them that fear Him.” You had never seen the beauty of those
words before. You felt the thrill of a new life and the confidence that
you once placed in riches, you now centered upon God.
There were the dark clouds of misplaced friendship. You were confident
that the one in whom you were placing your trust was worthy, but
through that friendship you were betrayed, and misrepresented, and
made the object of scorn and criticism. No cloud is darker than that,
no sorrow is harder to bear, and yet you did not lose confidence in
man. Above the feathered edges of the cloud was the rainbow of God’s
promise, and you knew that if even father and mother forsook you, the
Lord would take you up. The rainbow, as the symbol of God’s promise,
said: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
But some one says, “I have never been able to grasp the _fullness_ of
these promises. Amid life’s clouds I cannot see the presence of the
Almighty.” That is not God’s fault, but because one hinders the coming
of the light. If you do not permit the Spirit of God to shine upon
your sorrow with its golden light, the ministration of the rainbow
to your sorrow-smitten soul will never be complete. The comforts
of God are known only by those who are willing to receive his holy
ministrations. The rainbow is never finished for the one who refuses
to receive Christ fully and completely into his life. He is the Light
of the world, and his presence always brings the promises of the
Father to their fullest possible earthly revelation and application.
His revelations are always complete and as comforting as they are
beautiful. His clear light of goodness has always been making battle
against the darkness of sin’s mists and fogs. He is never satisfied
until his love has intercepted every overshadowing cloud so that when
you behold the streaming banners of the bow, that always follows and
never precedes a storm, you may know that you, through him, have
already gotten the victory. Light triumphs. The overshadowing cloud is
pierced. Instead of somberness there is beauty.
The earthly rainbows will never be complete. Here we behold at best
only a segment of a perfect circle. We have but a one-world view and
therefore can behold but half the rainbow. In heaven we shall see the
completed circle, as John beheld it in his vision and exclaimed, with
rapturous delight, “There was a rainbow round about the throne.” So
glorious is the light of the great, white throne, and the face, and the
raiment of Him that sat upon it, that to angelic vision it is nestled
in the center of a perfectly rounded bow of brilliant hue.
The rainbow can never be destroyed, for the light of Christ can never
fade. Ever about the throne of God, in perfect circle, shall gleam the
steady, colored token of God’s faithfulness through all time and all
eternity. The multitude of white-robed ones that worship before the
throne are those who have come out “of great tribulation,” they are
those who have “overcome through the blood of the Lamb,” therefore it
is fitting that the one choicest treasure saved from the natural world
in which they fought their battles, and won their victories, should be
the rainbow, the richly colored symbol of God’s faithfulness and mercy.
What emotions thrill our souls in this world when we look upon the
rainbow! What memories shall sweep through our souls when we behold the
rainbow that is ever round about the great white throne of God!