Genesis 9:8-16 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And 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. 11 And 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. 12 And 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: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And 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. 16 And 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.
It’s been said that the rainbow God placed in the sky was of the style reminiscent of those used in battle. It was a battle bow that God chose to aim at Himself as a reminder that never again would He flood the earth to destroy all that was on it. The thought comes to mind. . . Is this the very reason the enemy of our souls duped the so-called LGBT movement into using these colours? Is this his way of mocking God by wrapping the modern-day homosexuality movement in the colours of God’s own battle bow? Is this his way of flaunting God’s own promise against Him?
If this is the case, and it’s looking that way more and more, someone forgot that the next time God cleanses the earth, it will be with fire!
2 Peter 3:4-14 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
While I see a world-wide effort to discredit God’s promise to never cleanse the earth by flood again, and while I see efforts to challenge God to keep this promise, I do not see a world-wide movement mocking God’s coming cleansing by fire! Those who mock will find themselves on the wrong end of the stick if they have not repented by the time God comes with fire. God will keep His promise no matter how much mocking He receives. Where will the rainbow flags be when the fire comes?
Everyone would be wise to read the passage in 2 Peter and read it attentively, paying attention to Peter’s question, “In light of all this, What manner of persons should we be?” His answer is not popular within the Christian community. However, it is the only answer that will spare in the day of judgement.
The King James Translation uses the terms “holy conversation and godliness”. The definition of “conversation” in this version of English, means how one conducts themselves in everyday life, how they live Monday to Friday at work, at school, on the field, by the beach, in their home, etc. So what does this phrase mean? Holiness is the act of setting one’s self apart from whatever would soil them and thus remove them from use in the Kingdom of God. God says to be holy as He is holy. Engaging in the various aspects of holy living without having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ is a setup for either failure, or legalism. Both can happen together. True holiness comes about when one wishes to set themselves apart for their lover and their lover only. They won’t deliberately soil themselves with things they know drives their lover away.
In human terms, we engage in personal hygiene because we know that showing up to our lover’s face smelling like dead fish will not earn an intimate greeting! Engaging in sin because we feel the freedom to do so, will not earn an intimate greeting when we walk into our prayer closet to meet with the Lover of our soul! Sin stinks just as badly, if not far worse, than dead fish in God’s nostrils!
Godliness involves so many aspects of who God is and how He longs that we imitate Him in the world around us. However this too is something that can lead to legalism when removed from an intimate relationship with Christ. True godliness is found within that relationship and is a byproduct of choosing to allow the Holy Spirit free reign in our lives. Christ was able to eat with sinners without becoming one of them or condoning their sin. He was set apart, yet He was able to reach out to a lost world. imitating this behaviour without the Holy Spirit active in a person’s life, leads to problems. Only the Holy Spirit’s work in the life of the believer can truly imitate Christ’s interactions with those who engage in willful sin. Christ did not condone immoral behaviour, rather He admonished those caught in sin to go and sin no more. He accepted gifts from sinners and they converted from their sinful ways.
Too many within the Church have chosen to condone sin rather than say “go and sin no more”. They have mixed up love and forgiveness with acceptance of sin and condoning of its outcomes and behaviours. This is not what God had in mind at all. The world hated Christ when He walked this earth, and He told the disciples that the world would hate them too. Today’s Christian society doesn’t want to be hated and sees hate as a barrier to sharing the Gospel. Christ did not see that barrier, and neither did God the Father, as God the Father allowed great persecution to come upon the Church, scattering them and the Gospel into many corners of the then-known world! God uses persecution to shake Christians out of their complacent pleasure-ridden comfortable lives and scatters them to where the Gospel will be received with open arms. Along the way, some die. But through their deaths, others come to Christ even as we’ve heard reports of among the ranks of ISIS and others around the world.
While the enemy of our souls brandishes God’s own battle bow in His face, God patiently waits for the appointed Day of Judgement! God is looking for a Bride Who will care less about public perception and more about intimate relationship. God longs for a Bride set apart from the ways of the world, reaching into the world to pull out all who will call on the name of Christ and be saved. God isn’t asking His Bride to embrace sin, least of all any sinful movement mocking Him every chance they get. No. God wants a Bride free from such stains, spots and wrinkles.
If we call ourselves members of the Bride of Christ, where does that leave us? Just how soiled are our Robes of Righteousness? Do we have laundry to do? You do know that doing that laundry will cause people to hate, rail, cry foul, claim you don’t love them anymore, even disown you or cause you to lose your livelihood! Others of your brothers and sisters in Christ are already paying this price. Will you shake God’s own bow in His face? Or will you seek to rescue as many as possible before the fires of judgement come?
