Jude 18-19 – They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.
Two of the most iconic and prolific symbols scattered throughout western culture are the cross and the rainbow.
The cross has long served as the symbol of Christian faith, reminding believers in every generation following Jesus’ death and resurrection in our place for our sins the depth of our sin and love of our Savior. While the early church embraced several symbols, including the fish and the loaf, the cross symbolized the believer’s connection with the death of Jesus. The church father Tertullian (155–230) tells us of the early practice of believers making the sign of the cross over their bodies with their hand and adorning their necks and homes with crosses to celebrate the brutal death of Jesus.
In the Bible, the rainbow is a symbol of God’s holiness and divine judgment, just like the cross. In the first book of the Bible, after God flooded the earth in the days of Noah in judgment of constant and unrepentant human sin, God placed a rainbow in the sky as a symbol of the Noahic covenant promise that He would not bring that flood again (Genesis 9:12–16). In the ancient world, a bow was the weapon of choice for skilled warriors. When a battle was concluded, and the warrior entered into peacetime, they would hang their bow on the wall in their home as a symbol that war had ended. God was doing the same thing hanging the rainbow in the sky. The rainbow also appears in the last book of the Bible, surrounding the throne of Jesus Christ ruling and reigning from His throne in the unseen realm while being worshipped by divine beings and departed saints. Revelation 4:3 says, “he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow…”
Satan has been in Heaven, before he was cast out and in days since like in the story of Job, and seeing Jesus’ rainbow, he has tried to steal that icon for himself. Because what God creates Satan counterfeits, today, the rainbow symbol has been stolen and repurposed as a mockery of God and celebration of sin. The rainbow flag, as is currently used throughout culture, especially in June for Pride month, began in 1978. A gay drag queen artist created the now-iconic symbol with hot pink denoting sex, red representing life, yellow reminding of the sun, green pointing to nature, turquoise celebrating art, indigo symbolizing harmony, and violet serving as an ode to the spirit world, which includes the demonic.
What else, besides the rainbow, have you seen stolen from God or the Bible and repurposed by the demonic in our culture?
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