16. When The Rainbow Appears Between The Cloud


I WILL NEVER AGAIN CURSE THE
GROUND FOR MAN'S SAKE

The first thing Noah did after the Great Flood was make an altar, and he took some clean birds as sacrifices and gave a burnt offering to God. He smelled a soothing aroma and said, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Why did God promise Noah that He would never again curse the ground for man's sake? Was it because the earth became clean and without sin after the destruction of the sinful people and the survival of Noah's family who had put on holiness and righteousness? Not so. Noah's children had also been evil from their childhood and committed many sins.
In the 9th chapter of Genesis, Ham, Noah's second son saw his father'sf nakedness when he was drunk with wine and became uncovered in his tent. Ham told his two brothers outside and was cursed by Noah. This shows us that, even after the Great Flood, sinful and filthy thoughts continually arose from man's heart and mankind kept on following the way of sin. If Noah's sons committed sins even after the Great Flood, they would surely be caught by the fear, "What shall we do, if God judges us again? Didn't he destroy the earth by the flood?" God knew what was in their hearts and promised, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake." After I was saved, many wonderful things happened to me. The first concerned reading the Bible. Previously, I struggled and strained to read it, not grasping the deep meaning of the word, for I knew that the Bible was a good book which I should read. But it so little impressed me that I would doze after a little bit of reading and close it in the end. Once saved, however, the meaning of the Bible began to touch me, whenever I opened it. Although sometimes I thought, "Now, I am too busy. I have much work to do. OK. I'll read one more chapter and stop." I found myself so absorbed in the word that I would read a chapter and then another and another. I remember that many times I stood up after reading the entire Bible.
One of the most wonderful things was that I could find the heart of God in the Bible, which, beforehand, I had not been able to discover. God not only delivered us from sin by the blood of Jesus Christ but also revealed much about it in every corner of the Bible in order to set us free from the fear of sin.
When the Words took root in my heart, the heart of oppression by sin and the fear of sin shrank from me. I obtained genuine freedom and became holy and righteous. I came near to God. He was no more a fearful Being to me. I could run with faith in Him and He made all the impossible things possible when I went forth in faith. The nearer I came to Him, the more easily God worked through me.
If a stomach ache troubles me, a peptic will make me free from the pang. If insomnia afflicts me, a sleeping pill will release me from the pain of sleeplessness. Likewise, when all our sins become so painful, our faith in the words of God will free us to serve Him peacefully and blessedly.

SATAN WORKS TO BLIND MAN'S HEART

I had read the Bible before I was saved, why then could not I discover the secret of redemption? Why had I been obsessed with my burden of sin? Of course, although I had said, "Jesus forgave all my sins", I was still burdened with guilt and afflicted by my old sins. Once, while reading the Bible, 1 Corinthians 4:3,4 caught my attention. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." The god of this age has blinded the unbelievers's hearts lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ should shine on them.
So even while reading the Bible and praying to God, I was always obsessed with my sins. Outwardly I said, "I can go to heaven, for I trust in Jesus", but inwardly I was still struggling with sin. I had lived a shameful life which blocked my ability to stand boldly before God. As a doctor treats our sickness, so the words of God treat our sin-stricken hearts. They make us overcome sin, cleanse us from fear, shame and the condemnation of sin and give us the faith that we may come boldly to God. Whoever accepts the word with confidence, sin becomes powerless, frees him from sin and helps him to never again be bound by sin.
When unsaved people read the Bible, Satan conceals the secret of redemption and forgiveness which are hidden in the Bible and blinds their hearts. He deceives us that we are still sinners and so works that the glory of the gospel of Christ may not shine unto us. Therefore, many people, who attend church, read the Bible and pray to God, are remain bound and troubled by sin.
Every year, I preach to thousands in the gymnasiums of big cities. The would-be Christians, who said they believed in Jesus, but actually were not free from sins, rushed to the assemblies. Those who repeated their life of sinning and seeking forgiveness heard the gospel of 'eternal redemption' in the gymnasiums. At first, they rejected the words of God, but they later accepted the gospel and were set free from sin.
Salvation does not mean the mere knowledge of Jesus's death on the cross to wash all the sins from the past, to the future, but true confidence from the heart. When saving faith came into me by perceiving the mystery of the gospel, Jesus's blood flowed into my heart and cleansed me from all my unrighteousness, making me free from sin. Many people, however, know that Jesus forgave all their sins, but still remain in their confused condition through the deception of Satan. Because the light of the gospel did not shine on them, they are not freed from sin, no matter how much they read the Bible.

GOD'S PROMISE DESTROYS FEAR

Another wicked work of Satan is seducing us to fear. In Revelation, the first ones referred to among those who would be thrown into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone were the cowardly, and unbelieving. When we try to trust God's promise, Satan gives us the fear, 'What shall we do, if we go astray' It weakens our faith toward the Lord, which makes us approach God boldly. The apostle Paul said, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."(2 Timothy 1:7)
Every spirit of fear comes from Satan. David stood before Goliath with the confidence that 'God will protect me from Goliath and I will triumph over him'. Many people asked David, "Aren't you afraid?" but he had not reason to fear Goliath, for he had sure faith, even though Goliath bore the sword and spear.
The sure faith, which settles down in our hearts, shall cast away all the fear in any situation. Our confidence in God's promise, makes us not only free from sin to enjoy true freedom, but also to be freed from all fear and worldly cares. If one, who claims that he believes in Jesus, is still caught up by the cares of this world or the fears of condemnation, he does not yet possess the true and perfect faith.
After the words of God had come into my heart, Jesus Himself began to bear all my burdens instead of me, from that time on. Faith is trusting all my problems to Jesus. If I've entrusted all my sins to Jesus, I don't have to be responsible for them. When I commit all my problems to the Lord's hands, they are no more my own. When I pass my cares over to Jesus, they can not be my own any more. If I am still afraid of my sin and it's condemnation, it proves that I have not yet transfered my sins to Jesus but retain them in my heart. Because when I had no faith, I did not hand over my sins to Him.
Even though we were so weak that we sinned, God wills that we not be the servants of sin, no more living in the fear of sin and condemnation, but rather to be His servants in peace, free from the fears and afflictions by coming to Jesus Christ. So, wherever you read among the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, you can discover the Words of consolation and the precious promises, which free us from sin and all the many fears we are confronted with.
Did Noah and his descendants live godly and holy without sinning after the Great Flood? Never. They soon began to fall deeply into their own sinful lives. It indicates that Noah's righteousness and deliverance out of the judgment of the flood were never due to his own goodness or honest heart. After the Flood, God said to Noah, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man? heart is evil from his youth." Here, 'man' refers to Noah and his descendants, not the sinful people destroyed during the Flood.
If Noah did not sin and lived righteous according to the words of God, He had no need to say that He would never curse the ground. But God said so, because the imagination of Noah and his descendants' hearts were still evil. After the Great Flood, their descendants were born and also sinned. And the imagination of their hearts were also evil from their youth. But God said He would never curse the ground for their sake. Why?
In the 19th chapter of Genesis, Lot escaped from God's fire and brimstone judgment of the city of Sodom and came into the little city named Zoar. Afterward, he was afraid to remain there. The fear that God might destroy the ground again forced Lot to come up to the mountain and live in a cave. Although God had ended His judgment toward Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was so bound by his, and his wife's and daughters' faults that he was afraid of God's judgment.
At first, God commanded Lot, "Escape to the mountains." but Lot said, "I cannot escape to the mountains ... See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there", and he remained in Zoar. His fear, however, made him eventually come up to the mountain and live in a cave with his two daughters.
Likewise, because Satan sows fear in people's hearts, they fall victim to it, even when there is no need to fear. Those who once experienced God's judgment are nervous of it, being afraid that, 'If I am a little wrong, He shall judge me' Noah also feared it, in that God said many times, "I will never curse the ground."

WHEN THE RAINBOW APPEARS BETWEEN THE CLOUD

In Genesis 9:11, it is written, "neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood." and in 9:15, "the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh." Why did He say so? After the great Flood, what would Noah think if he sinned or made a mistake. Whenever a little cloud arose, he might be scared that, 'what shall I do, if God will destroy the ground again with the flood?' So, He promised three times, 'I will not judge the ground by the waters of a flood.' And he added another promise lest Noah should fall into fear. "And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 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."(Genesis 9:14,15)
God put the rainbow between the cloud. A rainbow is an antipathy to cloud, but they coexist. The cloud arose the fear of judgment to Noah and the rainbow was a promise that God would not judge the ground by a flood. He could behold the cloud and the rainbow at the same time. He had to choose one of two things; falling into fear by seeing the cloud or enjoying the peace and the freedom with faith through God's promise as represented in the rainbow.
Today, when we try to go forth with faith, many fearful and doubtful conditions coexist with the promise of God that allow us to go walk with confidence. Whenever we are confronted with a fearful condition, Satan stirs up fearfulness in our hearts and disturbs our ability to trust the word of God's promise. Concerning the forgiveness of sins, it is clear that all my sins were washed, when we look to Jesus'blood. When we are forgiven of sin by trusting Jesus Christ, faith and fear arise at the same time. Faith is that God does not regard me as righteous, despite the actual sin in my heart, but declares me righteous, because all my sins are washed. Fear is the thinking that "I can not but be a sinner, because I sin. God will judge me." Eve heeded the serpent's voice instead of God's. By following the former, she was cursed. If she had trusted the words of God, rejecting the serpent's voice, she would never have been cursed. Likewise, we can hear either Satan's voice which makes us fear, or God's voice which justifies us, we the sinners. Unfortunately, today, many would-be Christians incline to Satan's voice and fall into fear and woe. The true men of faith do not fear, but enjoy the blessing of God, free from sin and fear by trusting the Words of God.
As rainbow exists between clouds, God's promise coexists with fear. Some people are afraid, looking to the cloud, but the others are leading joyfully the life of faith, beholding God's promise. I hope you the reader will be released from all fear and enjoy the blessed life by looking to God's promise, and not the visible circumstance.