June 26 Daily Devotional

God's Bow in the Sky

Charles and Norma Ellis

Bible Reading

Genesis 9:8-17

⁸And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
⁹And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
¹⁰And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
¹¹And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
¹²And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
¹⁴And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
¹⁶And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
¹⁷And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Devotional

God made man with a remarkable power to respond to visual imagery. And He, the First Teacher, used this characteristic of man as an opportunity for teaching His truth. God employed visual aids.

In figures of speech-"simile, metaphor, allegory, parable-"God took things in the visible world, in the experience of man, and used them to illustrate spiritual truths. The very fact that He made man in His own image was a way of teaching the creature something about the nature of the Creator. As the years went by He used many other things to make clear to our sin-darkened intellects the great and wonderful things of the Spirit. He used marriage, the sheep and the shepherd, the potter and the clay, the vine. He used the Passover, the tabernacle and the whole sacrificial system to teach man of His redemption through the Christ.

And here we read of the rainbow. God set a bow in the sky, a bow fashioned of light and color, faint, fragile, exquisite, real. The rainbow-"drops of water transformed by the rays of God's sun-"was placed in the sky to remind man of the promise of the Sovereign God never again to destroy mankind by water! Only our God could have thought of that!

What kind of students are we in God's school? Are we learning His truths so aptly taught? And are we wise enough to emulate His methods and His figures as we teach our own children about our Heavenly Father? Do they know about the rainbow? About the Lamb without blemish?

We are happy to have obtained permission to post as our current daily devotional Heirs Together of Life: Daily Bible Reading for Husbands and Wives, published by The Banner of Truth Trust. Don't be misled by the subtitle. As the book's "Preface" indicates (see below), although Heirs Together of Life is "especially prepared for couples,"the authors declare, "Since the basis for this guide is God's Word, we believe it would have value for any reader."

Charles and Norma Ellis are husband and wife and the authors not only of Heirs Together of Life (which was first published in 1980 and continues in print today), but also of Wells of Salvation (first published in 1985, and likewise still in print today). The latter contains a series of short studies covering the entire book of Isaiah, while the former contains a series of almost 200 short studies covering the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Both books by the Ellises can be ordered from the publisher, The Banner of Truth Trust. We trust that these daily Bible readings, posted daily on our site, will be helpful to you in your Christian walk before God. Whether married or not, all of us are members of families and members of the family of God.

Charles Ellis was educated at Wheaton College and Westminster Theological Seminary. Upon graduation from Westminster (where he earned not only a Th.B. but also a Th.M.), he was ordained to the ministry in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and pastored a number of OPC churches, including Immanuel OPC in West Collingswood, New Jersey; First OPC in Cincinnati, Ohio; Covenant OPC in East Orange, New Jersey; Knox OPC in Silver Spring, Maryland; and Lakeview OPC in Rockport, Maine. Less biographical information is available about his wife, but it is known that they served as parents of seven children. After retiring from the ministry, Charles Ellis went to be with the Lord in 2003, but he and his wife left us with a beautiful legacy in the two books they have given to the world, and we are proud to share the daily Bible readings from Heirs Together of Life here with you.