noah

"I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth"

Noah, flood, God judges sin etc. the story had me thinking quite a bit the other day - about how bad our sin really is before God, about how it deserves death...

then there's this bit towards the end. some translations have the word 'rainbow', but the original word (apparently) means the same for 'bow' like the weapon. so God stops his judgement, puts his arrows of lightning away and holds his bow upwards, promising to hold back his judgement.

when talking about Jesus' death, Paul says that "in his forbearance he [God] had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished". with his judgement in Genesis 8 in mind, how great is that 'forbearance'!

Jesus warns that this won't be forever;
"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man" when he returns...