The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Closer Look at the Weird and Wild Parts of the BibleSample

The Flood and a Rainbow

Yesterday, we looked at the story of the Fall and saw how that part of the story reveals the character of God as a loving Father who wants to give good gifts to His kids, and how He responds to our wrongdoing with justice, mercy, and grace.

The downward spiral of humanity started in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve, but it certainly didn’t stop there. In fact, the next few chapters of Genesis illustrate how, as human beings multiplied, sin multiplied with them. The very next chapter, Genesis 4, opens with the account of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son, murdering his brother Abel. From there, we read verse after verse and page after page, showing the escalating nature of sin and the unraveling of morality as people double down on their rebellion against God.

In Chapter 6, we read just how bad things have gotten:

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6:5-8 NIV

Because of Noah’s righteousness, God chooses to save him and his family. He instructs him to build an ark and prepare for a great flood that will wipe out the people and their wickedness. So Noah does. The rains come, the earth floods, and Noah’s family boards the ark. After 150 days, the waters go down. Noah and his family exit the ark, and God makes a covenant with them.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” Genesis 9:8-16 NIV

Most people first learn about the flood as little kids, which is why there are way more pictures in children’s books and peoples’ minds of animals getting on a boat, and far less emphasis placed on God wiping out humanity. But, the older we get, the harder that part of the story gets to ignore—which is a good thing. Because even though it’s difficult and unsettling, it’s essential to understanding how good God really is, how bad we can be, and how ugly the world becomes when sin runs rampant.

As a reminder, if we want to read the Bible wisely, we need to remember that Jesus is King and context is everything. Jesus believed His Father was good and true, through and through. So, as His followers, we should too. Jesus believed the Old Testament was authored by the Holy Spirit. So, as His students, we should too.

This brings us to the question: How can God eradicate the majority of the human race and still be considered good?

The answer: The cancer of sin had spread so far that the only way to save us was to remove it.

The vileness of human behavior had become so extreme that slavery, racism, human trafficking, murder, hate, gossip, exploitation, abuse, child sacrifice, and so much more had become normal.

God saw how far His world had fallen, and He regretted creating people. But because of how much He loves us, He refused to give up on us. So, like a doctor who steps in to perform invasive surgery on a patient with malignant cancer that’s destroying their body, God performed surgery on His creation to remove the tumor of sin that was destroying the world.

Even with that context, you may still think God’s response was an overreaction, which is because we often struggle to fully grasp how ugly sin is. God’s response wasn’t an overreaction. It was justice. Things were so bad that “... every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5 NIV).

His response was just and it was merciful. He had every right to eliminate the whole human race and start over from scratch. But He didn’t. He chose to save Noah and his family and work with them to start over.

And then, after all was said and done, God graciously entered into a covenant with Noah and the rest of creation. With this covenant, God made a promise to never wipe out the human race again. And He gave a preview of how He would one day deal with sin.

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” Genesis 9:12-13 NIV

This is more than an explanation of where rainbows come from. In the original language, the word translated as “rainbow” is the same word used for a “bow,” as in a bow and arrow. So God is placing His bow in the clouds.

Think about a rainbow, but imagine a giant bow and arrow in the sky. The bow is pointing up, meaning the arrow, if shot, would fly into the sky, away from the earth and toward the heavens. God is saying that He will never use a weapon of violence against His creation again.

Instead, the violence will be unleashed against Him.

This small detail found at the end of the story is a sign pointing toward the day when God would flood the world with grace and forgiveness through His sacrificial death on the cross.

Even as violence escalated to the degree where every thought in the human heart was evil, God was looking ahead to the day when He would flood the earth with His love—the only force that can truly change the human heart. In Jesus, God took the violence of sin on Himself and unleashed the power of grace into the world.

God, thank You for being a God whose love is big enough to hold justice, mercy, and grace together perfectly. This is what makes You so holy. Your love is better than anything anyone else can offer. Teach me to notice Your goodness in everything. In Jesus’ name, amen.