16th October 2024

What do you think of when you see a rainbow?

The physicist in me sees sunlight reflecting off the back of raindrops. The different colours of light being refracted through different angles and appearing to come from slightly different directions. Sometimes you can see a second rainbow, the sunlight having bounced around inside each raindrop for a second time. Rattling around in the recesses of my memory are the beautiful equations of electromagnetism that link the science of this rainbow with distant starlight and even with fibre-optic broadband. But I fear there are not many of you who see rainbows in quite the same way!

So how about rainbows in scripture? A quick search found biblical rainbows in two contexts. The first is the appearance of the rainbow after the Flood. God sets the rainbow in the sky as a sign of the covenant he makes with Noah and all living creatures. “Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth” (Genesis 9:15-16, NLT).

The second group of biblical references all associate the rainbow with the presence of God. At the beginning of his prophetic ministry, Ezekiel has a vision of God where “around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day” (Ezekiel 1:28, NLT). In the book of Revelation, John is shown a vision of God in heaven where “the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow” (Revelation 4:3, NLT).

As Ezekiel put it: “This is what the glory of the LORD looked like to me”.

Ian Waddington