Reclaiming the Rainbow

A stream of bright colours which emerges triumphantly out of and over the darkest of clouds: the rainbow makes a brilliant and evocative emblem. 1960's hippies painted it on their VW campers. A recent political equality movement adopted the spectrum of colours to represent their understanding of diversity. Now many children are putting images of rainbows in their windows as a symbol of hope amid the crisis of a global pandemic.

This 'new' use of the rainbow is actually very 'old'. In the ancient biblical story of Noah, God saw that the world was getting lost in an ever increasing whirlpool of sin and depravity. He decided to put a stop to this self-imposed cycle of human violence by sending a great flood which would destroy everything except a boat full of people and animals. There was plenty of warning but, tragically, in the end only Noah and his family boarded the rescue ship. To keep them safe, God locked them into this 'ark' for 40 days and 40 nights. (If you are currently trying to provide emergency crisis-schooling for a herd of wild children you have some idea of how this must have felt!).

When the flood subsided, as Noah offered many prayers and sacrifices, God made a covenant with Noah and all his descendants (a covenant is a formal, legally binding promise). God would never again bring such a widespread and inescapable 'judgement' on the world as this flood - at least, not until Christ returns at the very end of time. God determined that the rainbow would be the official symbol and reminder of His promise. Whenever storm clouds gather, God wants us to remember that He has already set the limits on their destructive power.

"And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between

me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future

generations: 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. When the bow is

in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between

God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”"

The wisdom of children has recovered something of the original symbolism which God put into the rainbow.  We would all do well to listen to the voice of God whispering quietly through these childish actions. Because God is good there is always hope even in the worst crises which beset a fallen world.

So I cannot agree with the Christian doomsday voices who are interpreting this Covid-19 pandemic as some kind of unique, unprecedented judgment on the world. There have been many pandemics and plagues far more devastating than this one. The end of the world might be nigh but it is wrong (theologically and historically) to jump to that conclusion from the arrival of this particular virus. Prophetic conspiracy theories and end time speculation have been popular for centuries but have, so far, always prove entirely fruitless.

Nor can I agree with the Christians who draw back from recognising any kind of judgment in this tragic crisis. I understand their reservations because the word 'judgement' is loaded with all kinds of negative connotations and is likely to be misunderstood. However, Christians of the past had less qualms about seeing a more ‘nuanced’ form of judgement in dangerous and dramatic events. They saw God's judgments clearly in illness, famine, and war. These things are a result of the fall, destructive of life and order, and indications that the world is still full of sin. In that sense, it is still under God's ban. Whilst there is a lot about God's will which is shrouded in mystery, throughout the Bible God permits temporary and limited suffering to warn people of greater, permanent (big 'J') Judgement whilst there is still time to change course.

The greatest example of this is Jesus death on the Cross. The suffering that Jesus went through reveals how God responds to sin, given that He is absolutely righteous and holy. He cannot tolerate it. God is like a red hot fire and sin is like dry grass. If you want to know what big 'J' Judgement looks like, consider the hours of pain, darkness, and utter isolation that Jesus experienced when He was crucified. This is a 'sneak-preview' of the eternal Judgement which the Bible says will one day come. But it is more than that. Jesus surrendered His own sinless body and died in physical, emotional, and spiritual agony, as a sacrificial offering weighed down by other people's sin , and  crying out to God that sinners would be forgiven. The 'rainbow' in this story is that three days later Jesus rose back to life. Jesus is alive and, as He is proclaimed as a Saviour for people of every nation, tribe, and family, the life-giving power of resurrection shines in multicolour against the dark clouds of eternal death and final Judgement.

In comparison to this, the disasters which periodically hit the world are small 'j' judgements. This is not to minimise their significance, the pain they cause, and the difficult questions which they raise. It is just to say that even the most devastating events are temporary and localised tragedies which, because of God's goodness, are always restricted and mixed with grace and hope. Along with those stories which make us weep, in the coming weeks we can expect to hear tales of heroes and sacrifices, remarkable recoveries against all odds, and people meeting with God through Christ at their lowest point. There will be kindness and compassion mixed in the cup because the prayer which Habakkuk prayed is a prayer God delights to answer: "In wrath remember mercy".

To recognise that 'natural disasters' are 'acts of God' and 'judgements' is not the same as being 'judgemental' or jumping to the wrong conclusion that some people deserve to have it worse than others. You, me, and everyone else - we are all sinners who deserve far worse than we have. What it means is that we are recognising that the situation is not just economically, socially, and biologically serious. It is spiritually serious too. For Christians and non-Christians alike it is time to humble ourselves and pray. It means squarely facing the fact that these clouds are very, very black. However, against this stark backdrop, God's rainbows still arc across the sky. There is still hope.

That hope is seen most vividly in Jesus Christ. Jesus never promised to take away the sufferings of this life but He does promise to deal with the root cause of sin and suffering. He is the personification of all God's promises to save people from sin. He is the sacrifice which delivers sinners from Judgement. He is the voice which invites people to respond to God's 'judgements' by turning from sin and coming back to Him in faith. To those who hear and believe He promises eternal life beyond the grave in a place where God:

"...will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be

no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more,

for the former things have passed away" (Rev 21:4).

The book of Revelation portrays Jesus sitting on the throne of heaven encircled by a rainbow, engulfed in a stream of bright colours which emerge triumphantly out of and over the dark clouds of our death and sin. This rainbow never fades because it shines from its own innate radiance:

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the

glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb (Rev 21:23).

The children are right to reclaim the rainbow as a symbol of hope amidst crisis because the symbol points to the eternal reality of a sure and certain hope, the reality of Christ who is the Hope amidst the crisis of sin.