And this is Leslie Curran saying hello once again and welcome to the program. I'm delighted you're tuning in and joining us and I do hope you'll be able to stay with us for the next 15 minutes as today the Reverend Philip Gardner is with us to let the Bible speak. Today I want to read some words from the book of Genesis chapter 9. Genesis chapter 9, these words were spoken by the Lord unto Noah after Noah left the ark and built the altar unto the Lord.

We'll read from the verse 12. And God said this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth and it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow shall be seen in the And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of flesh and the waters shall no more come afloat to destroy all flesh and the bow shall be in the cloud and I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

And God said unto Noah this is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. Amen we trust the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his own word. One of the central themes in the whole account of Noah and the ark is that of a covenant.

In chapter 6 in the verse 18 the Lord said with thee will I establish my covenant and I shall come into the ark thy and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons wives with thee. Those words were spoken to Noah when the Lord first warned him concerning the coming off a flood and concerning the necessity of constructing an ark. Now these years later after the flood had taken place the Lord reminded Noah of that covenant.

The word covenant became the key word in the Lord's address to Noah in Genesis chapter 9. The word is used seven times in these verses 8 to 17. The concept of God dealing with man by means of a covenant is one that lies at the very heart of the gospel of Christ. A covenant is an agreement, a bond, a promise.

The word of God teaches us that the Lord deals with his people on account of a great promise the covenant of God's grace. What we have before us in Genesis chapter 9 is a revelation of part of that great covenant of grace. The covenant that the Lord made with Noah was not restricted to a promise that the Lord would not destroy the earth again by a flood, although that was certainly included in it, but we have set forth before us great promises in the gospel.

As God made this covenant with Noah the covenant was sealed by a or by a sign, that of the rainbow. So the Lord was saying I have pledged the world will endure right until Christ's return. You can be sure that that is my covenant promise by looking to the skies and seeing the rainbow.

What is the significance of the rainbow in light of God's great covenant with his people? The rainbow is a wonderful picture of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Revelation 4 in the verse 2 the apostle John said immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven sat on the throne and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone and there was a rainbow round about the throne. We can see then that the rainbow relates to more than this promise in regard to a flood.

The rainbow points to Christ and to his great glory. So as the Lord spoke of this covenant I want us to think for a few moments about God's covenant of grace. I want to see first of all the cause of the covenant.

I've already pointed out the Lord spoke twice to Noah on this issue of the covenant. He spoke to him when the Lord sent him to build the ark and then he spoke again on the covenant in more detail after the flood had taken place. On both of those occasions as the Lord spoke to Noah, the Lord was dealing with Noah in grace.

It becomes very evident that the covenant with Noah was one that was totally undeserved. In Genesis chapter 6 in the verse 5 we read of how the Lord saw the wickedness of man on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In the verse 8 but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

So in a world that was filled with great wickedness the Lord looked graciously upon Noah. Though he did not deserve God's favor yet the Lord looked favorably upon him. The Lord then said to him in the verse 18 with thee will I establish my covenant.

In the latter part of chapter 8 when Noah built his altar we read there again that the Lord saw that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Only a few verses later then we read the Lord saying to Noah I will establish my covenant with thee. The Lord did not formulate this covenant on account of anything he owed to Noah.

It was an act of greatest

“Radio Planet Nepal shared a profound message centered on God’s covenant with Noah and its significance, as revealed in Genesis 9. This covenant, marked by the rainbow, symbolizes God’s grace and faithfulness, assuring humanity of His promises. The rainbow is a vivid picture of Jesus Christ’s redemptive work, where God’s justice and love meet harmoniously at the cross. Through Christ’s sacrifice, God’s wrath against sin and His boundless love for humanity converge, offering forgiveness and eternal life. The message emphasizes the importance of looking to the cross for salvation, as it stands as the ultimate token of God’s covenant of grace, ensuring hope and reconciliation with Him.”

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grace and that is the same with God's covenant promises to his people today. God does not owe the sinner anything. The Lord could have cut us off long before now and cast us into hell but the Lord said I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.

I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Dear child of God how we ought to humbly thank the Lord that all eternity the Lord looked in us in favor not on account of anything in us but only on account of his great grace. That being true dear sinner it shows the folly of you seeking to gain merit before God.

God demands that you would come before him today as the publican came before him in the temple saying God be merciful to me a sinner. No longer parade your greatness before God for you have none. The heart of man is only evil continually.

You ought to come and acknowledge your sin before him today. So there is the cause of this covenant. I want to see then the center of the covenant.

For when we think of the covenant that was made with Noah the rainbow was given as a sign of this great day of the Lord. In the verse 16 and the bow will be in the cloud and I will look upon it. The Lord said that he look upon the rainbow.

In verse 14 it says and it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud of the earth that bow shall be seen in the cloud. The inference is you see the rainbow. So the Lord was saying I will look at the rainbow as a token of my covenant.

You too upon the rainbow as a token of my covenant. The rainbow then was at the very center of it. All eyes were to be fixed upon that rainbow.

That surely brings us to see that the rainbow is a beautiful picture of Christ and his work. God and man are reconciled which is the whole purpose of the covenant. That can only take place through the work of Christ.

He stands as the one and only mediator between God and man. He is the mediator of the new covenant. His mediatory work is very evident when we consider the formation of the rainbow.

For a rainbow is formed when sun shines on raindrops. There are two basic requirements then if there is to be a rainbow. There must be raindrops or some other form of precipitation and there must be the rays of sunshine.

Those two aspects of nature rain and sunshine would seem in our mind to be opposing. Generally we enjoy the sunshine but dread the rain. But when they are together the rainbow is seen.

Is there not a beautiful picture in this of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. As we think of the rain surely it brings to our attention the awfulness and severity of God's wrath. On the other hand as we think of the sunshine it speaks of God's favour of his great love.

Those two details the wrath of God and the great love of God seem to man to be irreconcilable. For that reason many ignore one and consider only the other. Many have a habit of only considering God's love.

They will say how could a God of love send a soul to hell. They ignore God's justice. They look only upon the sunshine as it were.

How can God's justice and his love meet and be at peace with each other. Only through Jesus Christ at the cross. The cross then is the rainbow of God's great covenant for his people.

Surely at the cross we see the severe God's wrath. In Isaiah 53 in the verse 4 we read we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted. When Christ was brought to the cross awfulness of the sin people that load was laid on Christ.

God took the wrath of his great hour his great wrath and smote his own dear son. So we can certainly see God's wrath of us. But there is also there the greatest expression of God's love.

God commended or God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. John said here in his love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The definition of God's love is not that he just ignores the sin that there is in man's heart and says I'll let you off the hook.

God's love does not result in a compromise with his justice. Rather it has resulted in the fulfilling of that justice. The cross was a demonstration of God's providing Christ to be the sacrifice.

It was a demonstration of God's wrath where his wrath was poured upon that sacrifice. At the cross then God's love and his wrath meet. Mercy and truth are met together.

From the cross then shines the beautiful rays of God's rainbow his great grace. How can you be prepared for God's great eternity? How can you be prepared to stand before God on the great day of judgment? Dear sinner the Lord would say to you look to the rainbow of the cross. Make sure that the cross is the very thing that you're depending upon and the only thing that you're depending upon.

There is pardon offered to you today. How foolish if you would presume that just going on your own way doing your own thing could make right before God come God's Jesus Christ.