Bacon Rainbow

Walter Henegar | Oct 29, 2023

Genesis 8:20-9:17 (ESV)

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”


9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.


6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,

by man shall his blood be shed,

for God made man in his own image.

7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”


8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”


Sermon Summary

After the flood, God leads us to expect that life and blessing will continue to multiply, but in the shadow of death and judgment. This includes a new relationship to animals where we, the “apex predators” are accountable to God for how we treat animal life and especially human life. It also includes God’s covenant to preserve creation until Jesus returns to make all things new. In the sign of this covenant, God commits to redeem humanity, even aiming his “war bow” at his own heart. Millennia later, Jesus will fulfill this covenant promise on the cross.

Discussion Questions

  1. What stood out to you or stuck with you from the sermon?
  2. Consider how your God-given “dominion” over creation includes a responsibility to treat animals humanely. How might that affect the way you operate in natural animal habitats? What about the food you buy and the way you eat it?
  3. What do you think about the preacher’s claim that we should “fear ourselves“? How could a healthy fear of your own power help you to steward it more constructively?
  4. How do you understand your particular work as part of God‘s commission to “be fruitful and multiply,“ making his wonderful world wonderful-er?
  5. How does the promise of 2 Peter 3:9 help you to trust in the goodness of God despite the brokenness of the world?
  6. When was the last time you saw a rainbow? How did it affect you?

Resources Consulted

  • Africa Bible Commentary, ed. Tokunboh Adeyowo
  • Genesis for Everyone, John Goldingay
  • The Message of Genesis 1-11, David Atkinson
  • Genesis: A Commentary, Bruce Waltke
  • NIV Application Commentary on Genesis, John Walton
  • The Five Books of Moses, Robert Alter
  • How to Read Genesis, Tremper Longman
  • Far as the Curse is Found, Michael D. Williams
  • Christ of the Covenants, O. Palmer Robertson



Walter's 2018 sermons on Genesis 1-3:

Genesis 1:1-2:3 Designed

Genesis 2:4-25 Defined

Genesis 2:21-3:24 Misaligned