Have you ever been outside after the rain, looked into the sky, and seen a beautiful rainbow? What a thrill it is to see a bright, colorful rainbow that arcs across the sky. You might have even seen a double rainbow! When we see a natural phenomenon like a rainbow, one of the first things we want to know is: What caused that? What is happening in the sky that makes a rainbow?

Rainbows occur when light shines through water droplets at a certain angle. Normally, sunlight shines through the air, but when it goes through a water droplet, it slows down slightly and changes direction. This change of direction is called refraction. When the light comes out of the water droplet, it has been separated into different colors. 

If you look closely at a rainbow, you will see that there are seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. They always appear in the same order, with the red starting at the top, except in a double rainbow where the light is reflected twice. When this occurs, the colors are reversed, and the red begins at the bottom. One way to remember the colors in order is to think of the name Roy G. Biv. This is an acronym. Each of the letters in the name is the first letter of the colors in order. Red, Orange, Yellow, etc. 

You may have heard the old Irish legend that there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. If you tried to find the end of a rainbow, you would quickly get very frustrated. Rainbows do not have “ends.” When you are looking at them from the ground, you only see a part of the rainbow, approximately half of it. 

If you were in an airplane, high in the sky (shown below), you would see that a rainbow is actually a “raincircle.” It is a complete circle that does not have ends. So, don’t rest your financial plans for the future on finding a pot of gold at the end of any rainbows. 

Another interesting fact about rainbows is that they do not occur only when it rains. You probably already know this, because you have seen rainbows in other places. If you have played outside during a warm summer day and sprayed water from a hose into the air, you may have seen a rainbow. Any time sunlight shines through water droplets in the air, a rainbow is possible. 

Have you ever heard of a moonbow? Moonbows occur when the light of the Sun reflects off the Moon and shines through water droplets. These are much more rare than rainbows. Moonbows are also not normally as bright as rainbows, and the colors are difficult to see.

Rainbows are beautiful and fun to look at, but they also are very important for another reason. When God first created the world, everything that He made was very good (Genesis 1:31). Tragically, the first two humans, Adam and Eve, sinned and brought death into the world. Many years after Creation, almost all the descendants of Adam and Eve had become so wicked that they only thought about evil and sin all the time (Genesis 6:5). Because humanity was so evil, God decided to flood the entire Earth. God chose to save a righteous man named Noah and his family. He instructed Noah to build a huge boat (the Ark) to save his family and the land animals and birds. When it was finished, God sent the Flood that lasted about one year. 

When Noah and his family got off the Ark, God made an agreement with them that He would never flood the entire Earth again. God called this special agreement a covenant, which is a special promise. He said to Noah’s family: 

God then explained that the rainbow in the sky was a sign of this promise. God said to Noah’s family: “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” 

This idea of a “sign of a covenant” is actually pretty common. For instance, when people get married, they often exchange wedding rings. Each spouse, the husband and wife, wears a ring on the third finger of their left hand. When they look down at their wedding ring, they are reminded of the promise they made to “love, honor, and cherish” their spouse for their entire life. 

In a similar way, when we see a beautiful rainbow in the sky after a bad storm, we are reminded of God’s promise. That rainbow lets us know that God will never again flood the entire Earth. While there might be some severe thunderstorms in some places, and even bad flooding, there will never be another global Flood. 

Unfortunately, some people have forgotten what rainbows are supposed to remind us of. Have you ever seen a picture of a rainbow with a unicorn walking on it? These two pictures are often put together to make us think about happy, positive, carefree, and “magical” things. In truth, however, unicorns do not exist, and this is just a way to use art to symbolize an idea. 

Other uses of the rainbow are not so innocent. Some social movements have adopted the rainbow as a symbol of a sinful lifestyle that God is not happy with. They use the rainbow to symbolize the idea that marriage is not between one man and one woman, like Jesus says it is in Matthew 19:1-9. Sadly, in many of the places that you may see a rainbow—in a picture, on a bracelet, or on clothing—it is being used as a symbol of a group saying they are proud of living in sin. 

When we see a rainbow, we should remember two important ideas. First, sin is very destructive and dangerous. God sent the Flood to cover the Earth, because humans had become so sinful. 

Second, God is a loving God and has promised not to Flood the Earth again. He loves us so much that He sent His own Son, Jesus, to die for the sins of all the world. God wants all people, including all those who are in sinful lifestyles, to change their ways. The Bible explains to us that “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). 

The rainbow reminds us of God’s covenant that He will never flood the Earth again. It can also help us understand that the world will not last forever. When the apostle Peter wrote about the Flood, he explained that “the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water” (2 Peter 3:6). He was talking about the world during the time of Noah. Peter went on to write: “But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7). 

When Jesus comes again, all the physical things of this world will be burned up, not flooded. All of those who love Jesus and are following His commandments will be given wonderful new bodies and taken to heaven. It will be an exciting and amazing time for Christians. That is why Peter says that Christians should be “looking forward to these things” (2 Peter 3:14). Let’s all decide to live in a godly way so we can look forward to the time when Jesus comes to take us home to heaven.

Doc’s Corner: Aliens & the Big Bang

Do aliens exist? Well, if the Big Bang Theory were true (and it isn’t), then it would be virtually certain that they do—an idea explored in the “Star Trek” TV shows and movies. Those who believe in the Big Bang think that life sprang into existence and evolved on our planet. If there are billions upon billions of other planets in the Universe, why wouldn’t there be many other life forms that sprang into existence on many other planets? After all, according to them, the Universe has existed for over 13,800,000,000 years. So, why wouldn’t there even be aliens much more advanced (that is, more “evolved”) than we would be (if evolution were true), who would’ve had the ability to populate our corner of the Universe? Believe it or not, this problem was recognized by Big Bang-believers many years ago and called the “Fermi Paradox”—a major problem with the Big Bang that continues to falsify it. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth,” not a Big Bang.

Published June 9, 2025

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