Then God told Noah and his sons, “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will flood waters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant with you and with 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.” Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”

Genesis 9:8-15

A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them.

Genesis 7:16

• We have seen God’s judgment in the Bible multiple times already, in three short days!
• We saw judgment of the sin of Adam and Eve, and God provided mercy through the animal sacrifice. 
• We saw judgment of the sin of Cain, and God provided mercy through the mark. 
• We saw judgment of the sin of mankind, and God provided mercy through the Ark. 
• Noah and his family will be nervous every time the clouds gather, and God gives mercy again. 
• God places His bow in the sky. 
• He sets it down.
• Noahic covenant
• The rainbow now designated the sign of God’s promise not to visit wrath on the earth by way of a flood again. But larger than that, the rainbow is another sign of God’s promise to remove his wrath from his children.
• The Hebrew word for bow in this text is the same Hebrew word used for the kind of bow one uses in battle, as in “bow and arrows.” God is talking about laying down his weapons.
• God is an honest judge.
• He is angry with the wicked every day. If a person does not repent,God will sharpen his sword;he will bend and string his bow.He will prepare his deadly weapons and shoot his flaming arrows.
  Psalm 7:11-13
• The rainbow, then, is a sign of God’s promise that he has hung up his bow, and it’s a reminder to himself of his grace toward the earth. 
• The bow is hung in the sky, not strung tight with arrows ready to be used. 
• He has hung up His bow because its arrows have been spent on someone else. 
• The cross is a sign of God’s promise that he has hung his Son up to die, and it’s a reminder of his grace toward you because Christ has taken the wrath. 
• The wrath is taken.

Look at the bow in the sky, and remember. He laid it down. To tout the rainbow as a symbol of man-centered pride, is to urge the Lord, actually, to take up His bow again, to take it back in hand and draw it back. Remember, Jesus paid it all.