The Rainbow Covenant

A rainbow happens because of what light is.

Sunlight looks white, but it is every colour together. When it enters a raindrop it bends — and each colour bends by a slightly different amount, so they fan apart. The light reflects off the back of the drop and comes out again, spread into a band. Multiply that by millions of raindrops and you see an arc across the sky, always at the same angle from the sun, always in the same order of colours, always opposite the sun — which is why you must have your back to the sun to see one.

Now read the verse again and notice who the rainbow is for. Most people assume it is a reminder for us. God says the opposite: *I will look upon it, that I may remember.* God set a sign in the sky for Himself.

He does not need reminding, of course. He is telling us how certain the promise is — as certain as if He had tied a string round His own finger. Every rainbow you have ever seen is God keeping a promise He made to Noah, and to every living creature, in front of the whole sky.

And the promise is specific: never again by water (Genesis 9:11). It has held for thousands of years.