Evangelism Every Day

The Story of the Rainbow

There is a lot we could say about the Noah movie that comes out today.

We could talk about the fallen angels trapped in giant rock bodies who help build the ark, the stowaway who gets on board after the battle or how Noah spends most of the film keeping his sons from marrying and then wanting to kill his grandbabies.  Russell Crowe sings again, the special effects of the Ents and Transformers are back again, and once again, we have Hermione Granger to thank for saving the world.

But this is just a classic example of missing the point.  I mean, the movie is.

We should not be surprised when director Darren Aronofsky is quoted in the March 17, 2014 edition of The New Yorker magazine saying:

“It is the least Biblical Biblical film ever made.”

After seeing the movie last night, I’ll testify!  Amen! Aronofsky tells the truth about not telling the truth.

Unfortunately, the movie left out the most important character:

God.

Now, God is mentioned in the movie. He is referred to as the Creator.  (The most interesting sequence in the film is Noah retelling the creation account to an artistic time-lapse that seems to be showing us evolution.)  And we do get the sense the flood is something God is doing to judge mankind for our sin.

But God is not an actor in this film.  He does not have one line.  It is the saddest of ironies that a movie about God’s word does not give God a word to speak.

When Noah is told there will be a flood it is in a dream.  Russell Crowe finds himself underwater with an army of corpses.  Yet, it is unclear what God is saying and so we are off to the mountain to get the final word… from Grandpa Methusaleh.

Most of the movie is Russell Crowe looking to the sky for God to say something.

Even the bad guys seem legitimately angry that God has been silent for so long.

So if you saw the Noah movie here is one thing you need to know: GOD SPEAKS!!!

The narrative of Noah and the Ark comes from the Bible, the book that claims, and is believed by many like me, to be inspired by God.  As in, God moved men to write every single word.  And if you read the specific chapters of Genesis 6 to 9, most of it is God speaking straight to Noah.  He tells him about the flood.  He tells him to build the ark.  He tells them they will survive so “Be fruitful and multiply.”

This is God’s story to tell.  Obviously artistic license needs to be taken to make a movie but not to the point of leaving out the Artist.

This isn’t just a problem with the movie, it is a point about life.  God is not silent.  He speaks. He is speaking to you today in the pages of Bible which you can choose to open or not.  He is warning you judgment is coming.  He is offering you mercy even now if you will listen to his voice.  He wants to save you before the end comes.

And who is the savior of this story?  Well, it is the man the movie is named after: Noah.  In the film, Russell Crowe thinks mankind must not be a part of the new world.  It is only for the innocents, the animals.  His sons must not marry and even when his adopted daughter is pregnant by his son Shem, he says he will kill the baby if it is a girl.  But when the moment comes, Noah cannot go through with it.  All there is in his heart is love.  And so he says at the end to “Be fruitful and multiply.”  Cue rainbow.

The movie makes man the hero of God’s story.  It is our “goodness” to not kill that gives us a new world where we can “do better.”

So if you saw the Noah movie here is another thing you need to know: GOD SAVES!!!

God is the one who decided to save Noah and his entire family from the flood and he is the only one who can save us today. “Be fruitful and multiply…” is God’s line not Noah’s.  And the rainbow at the end of the story is the symbol God gave planet earth a second chance.  He will not judge the world again with water.  Every time it rains we can see the radiant colors of mercy spread across the sky.  The rainbow shows us God loves us.

It may seem like I am fired up about the movie, but really I am fired up about the story of Noah and the ark being an example for us today.

Jesus says in Matthew 24:

37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,

39 And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Just as judgment came long ago in Noah’s day, so it will come again.  Jesus is referring to his second coming when he like a “Son of Man” will come riding on the clouds and every eye will see him.  The question is are we ready?  Are you ready for the judgment day of the Lord?

You can scoff at the story of Noah’s flood.  You can scoff at the judgment to come.  But that is exactly what God said you scoffers would do so once again you prove him to be true.  Not only is the story true, but there is a reason God is telling you now. God wants to save you too.

If you know Noah’s story, then do what Noah did.  2 Peter 2:5 says, “If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…”  Noah was a preacher of righteousness in his day and how we need people who will herald this news in the world now.  Judgment is coming.  Today is the day of salvation.  Instead of a wooden ark, God has given us a wooden cross.  Look to Jesus taking judgment for you and you will find mercy.

This is the story the world needs to be told.

Yes, you can even use a movie to talk about it.

This blog was written while I was the High School Pastor at Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo.  When the Noah movie came out we did a series of campus lunches at local high schools where students shared the real story of the rainbow from the Bible.   All of the high schoolers who came to the lunches were invited to a special event at our church where I preached THE STORY OF THE RAINBOW as a way to present the gospel of Jesus to them.  Those were great days in my life evangelizing high school campuses, preaching the gospel to high schoolers and seeing Jesus save young people to the praise of his glory.