​But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2  The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
    and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
 
Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel; 9 and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart: 10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”

11 But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him, and stirs up his enemies.
12 The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. 13 The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts. 14 So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day--
15 the elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail; 16 for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; or everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. 18 For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is scorched, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no one spares another.

20 They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours the flesh of his own arm, 21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh; together they are against Judah. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
 
 
Meditation
Nonbelievers believe personal demonstration of strength, moral performance, wealth, and success contribute to salvation and victory. Christians know salvation and victory are fully accomplished by God who is faithful to the promise of His word.
 
While celebrating God’s salvation we must focus on the all-sufficient nature of God: The zeal of the Lord of Host will accomplish salvation! (7c) God accomplishes every aspect of salvation for those who believe!
 
God’s salvation removes gloom and anguish (1), brings light into darkness (2) and increases joy, harvest, and spoil from the enemy (3). He will break the yoke of oppressing powers (4) by bringing the promised child. (5) Through Him God increases the righteous rule and reign of peace of His eternal kingdom (6). The arrogant of heart will not believe and will not receive these promises (8-21).
 
The zeal of the Lord is God’s passion for His glory. God accomplishes all the work of salvation and therefore receives all glory! Our might, power, desire, or effort is insufficient to bring God’s realities to life in our world (see Zephaniah 4:6; Romans 9:16). The zeal of the Lord is seen in the perfect life of Christ lived on our behalf, His death in our place, and His defeat of death that we might live forever in Him.
 
We are saved completely by God’s work! Salvation is a free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:3-5).  Resist the trap of focusing on yourself and your own contributions and choose to live abundantly in the realities of God’s salvation!
 
Richly Dwelling
-What are ways you subtly attempt to contribute to your salvation? Do you see tendencies to claim credit for your salvation by your strength, moral performance, generosity, or spiritual success?
 
-How does this practice steal glory from God? Conversely, how does ensuring God gets ALL credit for salvation further His glory?
 
-If you are ONLY a recipient of salvation, acknowledging you are saved by the Lord’s zeal alone, how does this transform your day? This is to ask, how will you live for God’s glory in your work, relationships, school, free time, and with your finances?
 
Key verse
7 …from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

When the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
 
5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River,[c] mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
 
9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
    give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
    strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
    speak a word, but it will not stand,
    for God is with us.
 
Fear God, Wait for the Lord
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
 
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
 
 Meditation
Most conspiracy theories are intended to lead to distrust of authority and what authorities reveal. The result is uncertainty and potential fear of what cannot be fully known or controlled. Is Elvis still alive? Is the government hiding secret alien studies? Was Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 hijacked by terrorists, taken to a secret location, and now being repurposed as a weapon in airline disguise?
 
We are not to walk in the way of worldly conspiracies or fear what non-believers fear (11-12). Believers are to fear the Lord, (13) meaning we trust in His sovereignty in every circumstance, looking to Him alone for salvation. To fear God is to believe His word of hope, the promise of His salvation (see ch 7). Believers have God’s promise as our sanctuary of security. For those that don’t believe then His promise will be a stumbling block, tripping up our earthly conspiracy theories (14).
 
Do you understand? God’s promise is both sanctuary and stumbling block (14) and belief is the distinguishing factor. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise is the person and work of Jesus Christ who is revealed to be a precious sanctuary of hope OR a stone of stumbling and rock of offense (1 Peter 2:7-8).  Jesus claims this title in Matthew 21:43-44.
 
The Kingdom conspiracy theory leads to security when we trust the authority of God’s promise. We have certainty in God’s faithfulness, without fear, when we believe. Elvis is not alive but Jesus is! And we find sanctuary in the word of His promise.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Are you more impacted by the fears perpetuated in our culture through media and conspiracy theories leading you to question your future and your security OR the promise of God that He is sovereign over all, bringing salvation? Why?
 
-Jesus is both sanctuary OR stumbling block depending on whether you believe, obeying His message (1 Peter 2:7-8). Does your obedience to His teaching reflect your belief in His promise? Here is a litmus test: Jesus commands us to not be afraid but have peace (John 14:27).  Is your life marked with peace or fear?
 
-How is your day different if in your family, relationships, finances, future, work, and studies you had peace and not fear?
 
Key verses
12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 

O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, 2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. 3 O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
 
6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. 8 The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! 10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.


11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. 12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; 13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. 14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies. 15 He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.
16 His mischief returns upon his own head,  and on his own skull his violence descends. 17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
 
Meditation
Do you have confidence God will deliver you? Are your troubles financial, relational, at work, or a certain sin struggle? Where do you put your courage, looking for protection, provision, and promise in your troubles? This Psalm of confidence is a pasture of provision for those who are in trouble. How can we build our confidence in the Lord?
 
1-Look for deliverance from The Lord alone (1). King David is in trouble while on the run from one of Saul’s men and looks nowhere else for protection. The Lord is His shield (10) and He will save.
2-Look at yourself and honestly evaluate your potential contribution to your situation. (2-5)
3-KNOW the righteous Judge will end evil and the wicked. (6-9)
4-Make room for repentance KNOWING those who do not repent will experience the wrath of God and not His mercy. (11-13)
5-Be patient. Play the long game and wait for God’s time for deliverance. (14-16)
6-Give praise to the Lord for His righteousness and name- NOW, in your current circumstance. He will save! Preemptive praise will promote confidence in the Lord!!
 
Richly Dwelling
-You can tell whether or not you have confidence in God to deliver you when you examine where you look for protection, provision, and promise in times of trouble. How is your life different if you look to the Lord alone for these realities, having confidence only in Him?
 
-Look at the trouble of your life today. How have you contributed to the trouble? Where do you need to look to the Lord for mercy?
 
-Give praise to the Lord in advance of your deliverance, thanking Him for proving Himself worthy of our confidence.
 
Key verse
17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.
 
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
 
Samuel's Warning Against Kings
10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him.11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
 
The Lord Grants Israel's Request
19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”
 
Meditation
One of my friends growing up used to jokingly justify his poor middle school decisions saying, “If it feels good, how could it be wrong?” Our culture sees this mentality as no laughing matter as feelings rule decisions. Today we live in an uber-autonomous world where feelings are king.
 
The people of God rejected God as king (7), forgetting they had been redeemed by His grace (8). They rebelled against God, rejecting God and His rule (8) to welcome the perceived independence of having a king “like other nations.” (5, 20)
 
God’s provision and design for a king was rejected (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). The people felt a desire to have a king “like other nations,” rejecting God and His design, doing what was right in their own eyes. God warned them of the truth (10-18), being governed by what feels good would lead to oppression, but Israel continued to rebel.
 
When we join our culture and reject the authority of God and the rule of His word for the authority of what feels good then we reject Him as King. Being slaves to our feelings is not freedom. Jesus is the true King who gives the independence we long for, accomplished through His suffering and death. Jesus was rejected so we could be accepted. Jesus does not conquer with power but by grace and His rule restores.  Will His love rule you? He loves you, whether you feel it or not.
 
 Richly Dwelling
-The root of Israel’s rebellion was not remembering God’s redemption, leading to rejecting God and His rule. Reflect on how Christ has redeemed you- How rebellious were you before He ambushed you with His grace? We should never forget what it was like being lost.
 
-Where do you allow your feelings to rule over you more than the beneficial rule of Jesus? Be specific.
 
-The rule of God is beneficial and restorative. He says, “Come to me and I will give you rest… (Matthew 11:28). How can His rule restore your relationships, work, studies, and family?
 
Key verse
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
 
8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
 
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
 
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus[b] to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
 
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
 
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt;[d] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
 
 Meditation
One day at work Lisa had a harmful solution get into her right eye. In blinding pain Lisa felt an urgency to wash and be cleansed. She tried several options to ease her pain and restore sight but only eye washing and time helped.  In this chapter Jesus uses a physical miracle to make a spiritual point- If you want to see you must wash with faith, believing Jesus is the Son of God.
 
​Jesus never answers our questions the ways we anticipate or works how we expect. To show the works of God Jesus spits, makes mud, and anoints a blind man’s eyes. (6) After washing in Siloam the blind man could see. (7) The religious folk wanted to disqualify the miracle on a legal technicality, breaking the Sabbath (13-17), and the Jews disqualified the work of God on grounds of intellectual comprehension, specifically not knowing Jesus’ origin story. (18-29)
 
Jesus asked the man born blind- Do you believe? (35) In vs 11 he knew Jesus’ name, in vs 17 he understood Jesus was a prophet, and in vs 33 he knew Jesus was from God. But until Jesus fully revealed Himself the man did not believe Jesus was the Son of God (35-38). When the man saw with eyes of faith he believed and worshipped Jesus, fully seeing Jesus.
 
Those who thought they could see were blinded by their own self-righteousness and intellectual comprehension, not believing, and their guilt remained. What you wash your eyes out with matters! We must wash with faith in God, His work, and His word. Lord, help us believe!
 
Richly Dwelling
-Jesus works in surprising ways- spit, mud, and washing. Where do you see Jesus working in surprising ways in your life?
 
-How does your self-righteousness blind you from seeing Jesus and the wonderful works of God? Are you too pre-occupied with justifying yourself to see Jesus?
 
-How do you know you believe, fully seeing in faith? This passage shows us it is marked with worship. Jesus came for the blind to see and worship. How can you worship Jesus with eyes of faith today in your relationships, work, studies, and leadership?
 
Key verse
36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”

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.”
 
Noah's Descendants
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.
 
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father's nakedness.24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.” 26 He also said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem and let Canaan be his servant. 27 May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant.”
 28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.
 
 Meditation
Every time you see a rainbow God’s desire is for you to know His covenant love and commitment. I wear a wedding ring Lisa gave me as a sign to the world that I exclusively belong to her. Over 20yrs ago we exchanged covenant vows and sealed them with rings on our wedding day. When people see my wedding ring they know I am in covenant relationship with Lisa. In covenant God makes vows to His people and seals His promise with a sign that displays His covenant love and commitment. The rainbow is a sign of God’s covenant love and commitment.
 
The blessing (1) of God’s covenant is re-creation, an opportunity to begin again, emphasized with echoes of Eden (8:17; 9:1,7). God stresses His covenant commitment through the repetition of the covenant nature of his promises (9, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 17). God’s covenant is not a contract to be broken but a promise guaranteed by His word. 
 
God’s covenant commitment is not broken by the performance of His people. Noah responds to God’s covenant love by getting drunk (20-27). God will remain faithful but He must deal with the heart of the matter, the sin nature of humanity.
 
Jesus Christ brings the New Covenant through His blood (Matthew 26:28). Jesus was flooded with the judgment for our sin so by His blood He can forgive us. Through Christ’s finished work we can walk in a newness of life.  God keeps His promises!
 
Richly Dwelling
-What do you think of when you see a rainbow? God wants you to think of His covenant love and commitment to keep His promises.
 
-God’s covenant faithfulness is not dependent on our performance. This is a relief! Where do you see God’s faithfulness in your life in spite of your unfaithfulness (2 Timothy 2:13)?
 
-What does an appropriate response to God’s covenant faithfulness look like in your day today? Be specific.
 
Key verse
13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.