We will begin with:

Genesis 9:7-17 KJV
[7] And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
[8] And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
[9] And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
[10] And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
[11] And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
[12] And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
[13] I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
[14] And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
[15] 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.
[16] And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
[17] And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Genesis 9:7
And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

This is a repetition of God’s instructions in verse 1.

Genesis 9:8
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

GOD communicated by talking to them.

Genesis 9:9
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

God has already told Noah, with thee will I establish my covenant, found in Genesis 6:18, the first time the word covenant appears in the Bible. Following the great flood, God addresses not only Noah but also his three sons, found in Genesis 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; and 9:18.

God’s covenant includes not only them but their seed, or descendants. Therefore the covenant about to be explained embraces all human beings. “With your seed after you” includes all the human race.

Genesis 9:10
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.

God’s covenant also applies to every living creature. Therefore the prohibitions and warnings that were given earlier regarding these creatures and humans are balanced with the establishment of a special covenant with both parties.
The nature of that covenant is explained next.

All of God’s creatures are included in this covenant. Isaiah predicts that someday the lion and the lamb will lie down together and that they will not hurt or destroy each other. In Paul’s Epistle to the Romans he mentions that the whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain in this present age.

May I say to you that God has made this covenant with Noah and with all of His creatures until the time His Kingdom comes on earth. It is for all of Noah’s descendants and “every living creature that is with you.”

Genesis 9:11
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

The specifics of the Lord’s covenant are provided: never again will He use the waters of a flood to cut off life and destroy the earth as He has just done. The next destruction of the earth will be by fire, not water found in 2 Peter 3:6-12.

This is God’s promise. His purpose is that He will not again destroy the earth with a flood. The next time His judgment of the earth will be by fire. We find that stated in 2 Peter 3. In the next few verses we see the picture of the covenant, and in my opinion, really a spiritual meaning of the covenant.

It is sort of a sacrament, if you please. The thing which makes it that, is a visible sign to which are annexed promises.

Genesis 9:12
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

Once more the all-inclusive nature of the covenant is emphasized: it is for Noah and his sons along with every living creature. Moreover, the covenant is for perpetual generations, which is another way of describing, your seed after you, in Genesis 9:9.

Genesis 9:13
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

The visual reminder of the bow, or rainbow, is the token of that covenant. The noun bow generally describes an instrument of death, used for hunting or warfare, as found in Genesis 27:3; 48:22; etc.
Genesis 9:13, 14, 16 and Ezekiel 1:28 are the only places in the Old Testament where this word signifies a rainbow.

Perhaps the symbolism in God’s declaration lies in the fact that He is laying aside an instrument of destruction in keeping with His promise not to destroy the earth again by means of a flood. Some believe that this is the first appearance of a rainbow, marking its significance as part of the covenant that God is establishing.

Others maintain that the rainbow has already been seen on previous occasions after rainfalls, but the rainbow becomes the token of God’s covenant only after He speaks the words in the verse before us.

Genesis 9:14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

A bow speaks terror, but this has neither string nor arrow; and a bow alone will do little hurt. It is a bow, but it is directed upward, not toward the earth; for the seals of the covenant were intended to comfort, not to terrify.

Genesis 9:15
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.

God’s memory never fails, of course. So the phrase I will remember does not imply that God might somehow forget certain details and needs a rainbow to be reminded of them. In a passage such as this, the phrase I will remember carries with it the idea that God is about to act to fulfill a promise He has made.

A similar usage is found in Exodus 2:24, where God hears the cries of the Israelites in bondage in Egypt, and remembered his covenant. God’s response in Exodus 3 is to call Moses to be Israel’s deliverer.

In the case at hand, God takes personal charge of being the deliverer as He continuously ensures that the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Genesis 9:16
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

This verse reemphasizes what has already been stated. Notice that God says, “I will look upon it” and “I will remember.” God didn’t say that you would see it; He said that He would see it.

He said He would look upon it and it would be an “everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” That ought to be the encouragement whenever you look at a rainbow.

Genesis 9:17
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

A final reaffirmation of the rainbow’s importance is given to Noah himself. This is only fitting since this account of the flood began with God’s message to Noah about how corrupt the earth had become, as found in Genesis 6:13, and of God’s intention to establish His covenant with Noah, found in 6:18.

When Noah is first introduced in Scripture, he is called, a just man and perfect in his generations, as found in Genesis 6:9. Because Noah faithfully did, according to all that God commanded him, found in 6:22, he is now given the privilege to witness God’s, re-creative, activity and to hear God announce the terms of a covenant with all flesh that is upon the earth.

It is still true that those who faithfully obey and serve God receive numerous blessings, privileges, and insights that remain only mysteries to those who, like the vast majority in Noah’s day, remain entrenched in their wickedness, as found in Matthew 13:10-16 and Colossians 1:26.

This is God’s covenant, not merely with Noah but with all flesh that is upon the earth. Let me say again that the rainbow could be called a sacrament because a sacrament is a visible sign to which are annexed certain promises.

The Passover feast, the brazen serpent, Gideon’s fleece, and in our day, baptism and the Lord’s Supper are such signs.

God makes a promise and attaches a sign to it.

Now the rainbow is God’s answer to Noah’s altar.

It is as if God says, “I’ll remember, and I’ll look upon it.”