“And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
And with every living creature 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.

And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall the waters of a flood cut off all flesh anymore; Neither shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between you and Me, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
I set my bow in the cloud, which shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.

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 between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh upon all the earth.

And God said unto Noah, this is the token of the covenant I have established between Me and all flesh upon earth.” Genesis 9:8-17

From Noah’s days, after the flood, and for millenniums, most people in every generation worldwide have had some knowledge of or belief in the covenant that God made with mankind concerning His absolute promise never again to bring a universal flood upon the earth.

Throughout history, God has dealt with man through covenants or agreements. Later, the Jews regarded this covenant between God and Noah as the basis of God’s relationship with mankind. Still, the covenants with Abraham and Moses at Mount Sinai formed the basis of God’s special relationship with Israel.

Of course, the rainbow has a place among religions other than the Christian and Judaic religions and means more than the simple truth that God clearly stated in His Word. The rainbow has also taken its place in mythology.

There is also a place for those who can’t believe there is a God who exists. They can accept the scientific data that a rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the sun shines on the droplets of moisture in the earth’s atmosphere.

Rainbows are among nature’s most beautiful spectacles. They speak to me about God’s faithfulness to His creation and the faithfulness of His Word.

The rainbow in the picture above was taken in January 2010 from a prayer ministry residence established on December 7, 2009, in Rechavia, Jerusalem.

The large building in the center of the rainbow is the Israeli Knesset. I was the only one at the residence when the picture was taken.

I was at the other end of the residence in the master bedroom in intercessory prayer moments before this picture was taken. While in the third hour of prayer, I felt I should get off my knees while continuing to pray and walk around to give my back a little break.

I walked to the living room and stood by the glass doors leading to the terrace. I prayed for those in the Knesset, especially lifting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

I felt the pressure he had to be under concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the tough decisions that he had to make for the country.

While looking at the Knesset and lifting the Prime Minister to the God of Israel, it began raining so hard that I could not even see the railing around the terrace.

It was surreal. There was no rain, and then, in seconds, the sky opened up, and torrents of water came down. I continued to pray, and in about 10 minutes, the rain stopped as quickly as it had started as if a faucet had been turned off.

This beautiful rainbow was right over the Knesset in place of the rain.

While still praying in the Spirit, I turned to my left to go back to the master bedroom to grab my camera, but to my surprise, I saw my camera in the big chair right next to where I was standing.

I had forgotten to put the camera away the day before. I didn’t notice it as I walked through the living room and up to the glass doors because I was praying and focused on the Knesset.

I quickly opened the door, took several pictures, shut the door, and continued praying while still looking at the rainbow over the Knesset.

The moment was inspirational to me for a couple of reasons. First, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and those in the Knesset who had to stand with him were key prayer directives. Second, I wanted to know if the Rechavia residence was where the Lord wanted me to be for the next intercessory prayer mandate.

While still praying, looking at the rainbow, and having these inspirational thoughts, I felt that the God of Israel was not only confirming that the intercession I was accomplishing was exactly what He wanted me to do but also that Rechavia was the place that I should return to when I came back to Jerusalem.

If that wasn’t enough, several minutes had passed, and I could still see the rainbow. Suddenly, another torrential downpour came and lasted for about ten minutes.

The rainbow was gone, but I continued to pray. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t see the rainbow anymore, but I was very satisfied that I could take a picture to remind me of God’s faithfulness.

I stayed at the door, continuing to pray, and when the rain finally stopped, there was another rainbow. Two or three witnesses shall establish a thing.

I returned to the Rechavia residence and fulfilled a 55-week intercessory prayer mandate from May 1, 2010, until May 21, 2011.

Thousands of people have seen this picture on the Jerusalem website and Facebook but never really knew the story behind it. I will take a line from the great Paul Harvey: “Now, you know the rest of the story.” What a Mighty God we serve!

Bishop Greg Stevenson