THE Noachian, or Rainbow Covenant is an unconditional covenant – a promise that God made to the race (Genesis 9: 12-17) (Isaiah 54: 9). There had been a canopy of water around the earth before the flood, and this canopy was the last of the seven canopies that dropped upon the earth during the creative process. It was of pure water and therefore it fell down during a rain of forty days and forty nights. After this flood God caused a rainbow to be visible for the first time, because before that canopy of water dropped no rainbow could have been visible.
Therefore, 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 cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood 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 [symbol] of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth” (Genesis 9: 12-17).
God’s Promise Symbolized by the Rainbow
While the canopy of water was above the heavens, no cloud could be formed under it; and no rainbow could exist, because of that water making somewhat of a darkened condition on the earth. But once that water had fallen down, as it did over a space of forty days and forty nights, it was possible that there should be a rainbow, and this rainbow was the first one that had ever been seen. It was a proof to Noah and his family that never again would there be a flood of water to destroy the earth. While God will destroy society by the symbolic wind, earthquake and fire at the end of the Gospel Age, He will never again destroy the earth with a literal flood, as society was destroyed by Noah’s flood. That flood, therefore, gave to Noah, to us and to the whole race the assurance that God would never again cause a flood to cover the whole earth, because there is no canopy of water above the heavens to fall down any more in such a continued outpouring of rain. While, of course, we have rains now – and occasionally local floods – none of them are sufficient to cover the whole earth.