Who Invented the Rainbow?

You can break up white light into its rainbow of colors using a prism to disperse the light rays. So the rainbow is actually a result of the properties of light (refraction and dispersion) that God created on day one of creation week when he said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). He obviously created the entire electromagnetic spectrum, of which visible light is just a part.

As God invented everything that enables a rainbow to exist, God obviously owns the rainbow. God owns everything.

Now, our eyes are designed to see color with specific wavelengths divided out of visible light, including what we call red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Of course if we consider all frequencies, there are as many colors (invisible to us) as the stars in the universe.

So, God invented the rainbow.

Who owns the rainbow? God!

As God invented everything that enables a rainbow to exist, God obviously owns the rainbow. God owns everything.

Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. (Deuteronomy 10:14)

Who gave the rainbow a special meaning?

After the global flood of Noah’s day about 4,300 years ago, God made a promise. Pay close attention to what he says about ownership of the [rain]bow.

“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.” 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: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.” (Genesis 9:11–15)

Note, God said, “my bow.” He owns it.

We need to worship the One who invented the rainbow and be reminded of its true message every time we see it.

From the One who created light (and its properties designated from that time onward), his rainbow, “my bow” (resulting from light’s created properties of refraction), would serve as a reminder that God would never again judge the earth with a global flood. So, the One who created light—and who created our eyes so we could see the colors that make up visible light—declared that the rainbow would have a special meaning after the flood. God said, “I have set my bow in the cloud.” Yes, God owns the rainbow and gave it special meaning about 4,300 years ago when he spoke to Noah after the flood.

Anytime we see the rainbow and its beautiful colors, we should be reminded that

• God judged the wickedness of man at the time of Noah—and the evidence of that judgment is seen over the whole earth. Most of the fossil record is the graveyard of the global flood of Noah’s day.

• God had Noah build an ark of salvation, and it had one door. Noah and his family went through this door into the ark to be saved. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved . . .” (John 10:9). Noah’s ark is a picture of Jesus, of salvation. In judgment, God provides salvation as a gift for those who will receive it.

• There will never be another global flood as a judgment, but there is another judgment coming: when God will judge with fire and make a new heavens and earth. Also, in Genesis 8 we have a reminder that man can’t destroy the earth; God will do so at the time he has appointed. But in the meantime, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

• God has provided an ark of salvation for those who will receive it so we can spend eternity with our Creator and not suffer the consequences of our sin of rebellion by being cast into hell for eternity. Just as there was one door on the ark, there is only one door by which we can go to heaven: the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to worship the One who invented the rainbow and be reminded of its true message every time we see it.

Be warned, however. The devil is the great liar and deceiver.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:9)

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

The devil takes whatever God has ordained and perverts it so that it is totally corrupted from what was first intended. For example, he perverts

• Marriage—corrupting this from the true created marriage of one man and woman to two men or two women or other perversions.
• Sexuality—corrupting the created rightful place for sex within marriage for one man and one woman to whatever is right in one’s own eyes.
• Gender—corrupting this from the created two genders, male and female, to however one wants to define gender.
• Dominion—corrupting man’s created dominion over the creation to the creation having dominion over man, as seen in the modern climate-change religion.
• Rainbow—corrupting this from the meaning of the seven-color rainbow given by God after the flood to instead be associated with the anti-biblical LGBTQ worldview and other perversions.

Sadly, numerous churches and church leaders have adopted the devil’s perversion of the rainbow and support the sinful lifestyles of those who reject true marriage as God-created (one man and one woman) and reject God’s created genders for humans (only two: male and female). (By the way, you can stand for biblical truth and spark great conversations with our “True Meaning of the Rainbow” resources, including hoodies and T-shirts. You can find all those resources on our online store.)

We must stand boldly against the devil’s perversion of what God created and ordained.

I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 1:3)

God gives us in his Word the true meaning of the rainbow.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.