“The Blessings of Sonship” No. 7 by Rev. Toru Asai

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth (Gen 9:13).

Note the pronoun "my" in "my rainbow," which indicates that this rainbow is something God possesses. The Hebrew word qesheth means both 'rainbow' and 'bow' because the two have the same shape. A bow in the Bible is a symbol of victory over battles. The greatest battle that humans came to face was the battle against death, yet it was impossible for them to have victory over it. So God sent his Only Son to this world, let him die and go to hell, laying all the sins of the world upon him, and from there, he raised him, and exalted him to the highest place in heaven. It is as though God, using his own bow, pulled an arrow down as low as hell, and released it to shoot up into heaven. The arrow broke through the wall of hell, and blew away the clouds of death (according the Babylonian astrology, the Arrow-star, Sirius, measures the depths of the sea, and lowers the level of water in the floods as it rises high in the night sky in summer time. A bow is the weapon that Ishtar, the goddess of war, carries, and she is also called 'the Bow-star.').

He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken (Isa 25:8).

The expression, "forever," has a nuance of victory, and can be also translated as "in victory."

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Cor 15:54)."

The expression, "in victory," indicates that there was a battle, and it is connected with the "rainbow" or the "bow" that came up in the sky after the flood. Death has no longer power over us, and we will be only transferred from the perishable earthly body to the imperishable heavenly body. The resurrection in this meaning does not simply mean rising from the dead, but it also means ascending to heaven. Jesus often referred to his resurrection in this meaning as follows:

What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before (John 6:62)!

Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned (lit. ascended) to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, "I am returning (lit. ascending) to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God (20:17)."

The same idea with the same emphasis is found in the epistles as follows:

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name (Phil 2:8-9).

For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence (Heb 9:24).

Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us (Rom 8:34-37).