Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” (vv.8-13)
The worldwide flood had ended, the waters had receded, and life was about to start anew. God had preserved not only human beings, but also two of every kind of animal in the Ark (Gen. 6:19-21) with which to repopulate the earth. The basis for this fresh start is a new covenant, symbolized in the new phenomenon of the rainbow. The parties to this covenant include every creature that had been on the Ark, in addition to Noah and his family. This is the only time in Scripture that animals are explicitly mentioned as participating in a covenant.
The Flood being universal, affected the whole of the created world. So the promise that there would never be such a flood again (Genesis 9:11, 15) is likewise a promise to all of creation, “an everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth” (Genesis 9:16; note Revelation 5:13). God made the promise because He did things in the post-flood world to guarantee that the exact evil conditions of the pre-flood world would never be precisely duplicated. These things included the imprisonment of the angels who sinned with human women (Jude 6) and shortening the lifespan of man.
For the Christian, the rainbow should act as a reminder of the faithfulness of God in every one of His promises. For God does not only look at the rainbow on earth and remember the covenant; He also looks at the rainbow that surrounds His throne (Revelation 4:3), which also speaks to His Glory (Ezekiel 1:28) It’s comforting that God set so close to Himself a reminder of His promise to man – not that He needed it, but it's there.
The Truth: God’s perpetual covenant of peace. “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.” (Isaiah 54:9-10).
