The Scofield Bible (1917), note says, “The bow is not said to have come into existence at this time, but only to have been here invested with the character of a sign,”  

THIS IF FALSE!  We must NOT let “experts” lead us astray.

I’m a Scofield fan, but this note is WRONG. Look at the King James (KJB) passage above.  It rightly shows God saying “I do set,” and “It SHALL be seen.” 

God means future tense -- "It shall be seen."  That is -- future from the moment God made the statement.  It was NOT already in existence that it could be "seen."

God CREATED the rainbow, THEN and THERE as a token-sign.  It was NOT SEEN BEFORE, because it did NOT exist before. IT WAS SEEN FOR THE FIRST TIME, THEN.

Genesis 2:5-6 KJB gives a HUGE clue: 

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

The Bible (Genesis 5) shows that many pre-flood people lived to 900+ years old. The pre-flood world was very different. Some believe the atmospheric pressure was much higher, making living things much larger and more robust.

Zillions of fossils, vast sedimentary rock layers, and huge coal, oil, and, gas deposits, and many other evidences, give extremely strong witness to Noah’s Flood and the true history the Bible tells.  Ninety + % of all fossils are marine organisms. 

Darwinism or Evolution, began taking hold about 1870 and proceeded on to profoundly capture and pollute the academic world. 

Modern Bibles, teachers, and commentaries, have been very ill affected and show wrongful skepticism of God’s supernatural works. 

Genesis 9:13-17 English Standard Bible

13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 

14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.

And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."  

Note, above, that the wording of the ESV (English Standard Version) Bible ALLOWS for the rainbow pre-existing as the Scofield note suggests.

This is horribly wrong -- this shows the serious naturalistic bias of this version - others are similar.

Thank heaven, for the "forgotten Bible" -- The Geneva Bible (1599) that was so popular with the American Pilgrims and with many Europeans too, of course.

Wikipedia, the free (internet) encyclopedia says, “A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. They take the form of a multicoloured arc, with red on the outer part of the arch and violet on the inner section of the arch.  A rainbow spans a continuous spectrum of colours.

Traditionally, however, the sequence is quantised. The most commonly cited and remembered sequence, in English, is Newton's sevenfold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. "Roy G. Biv" and "Richard Of York Gave/Gained Battle In Vain" are popular mnemonics. Another one is "Read Out Your Green Book In Verse".  Rainbows can be caused by other forms of water than rain, including mist, spray, and dew. 

Rainbows can be observed whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind a person at a low altitude angle (on the ground). The most spectacular rainbow displays happen when half of the sky is still dark with raining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky in the direction of the Sun. The result is a luminous rainbow that contrasts with the darkened background. The rainbow effect is also commonly seen near waterfalls or fountains.

The effect can also be artificially created by dispersing water droplets into the air during a sunny day. Rarely, a moonbow, lunar rainbow or nighttime rainbow, can be seen on strongly moonlit nights. As human visual perception for colour is poor in low light, moonbows are often perceived to be white.  It is difficult to photograph the complete semi-circle of a rainbow in one frame, as this would require an angle of view of 84°. For a 35 mm camera, a lens with a focal length of 19 mm or less wide-angle lens would be required.

Now that powerful software for stitching several images into a panorama is available, images of the entire arc and even secondary arcs can be created fairly easily from a series of overlapping frames. From an aeroplane, one has the opportunity to see the whole circle of the rainbow, with the plane's shadow in the centre. This phenomenon can be confused with the glory, but a glory is usually much smaller, covering only 5°–20°.

The light is first refracted as it enters the surface of the raindrop, reflected off the back of the drop, and again refracted as it leaves the drop. The overall effect is that the incoming light is reflected back over a wide range of angles, with the most intense light at an angle of 40°–42°. The angle is independent of the size of the drop, but does depend on its refractive index.

Seawater has a higher refractive index than rain water, so the radius of a 'rainbow' in sea spray is smaller than a true rainbow. This is visible to the naked eye by a misalignment of these bows. The amount by which light is refracted depends upon its wavelength, and hence its colour. Blue light (shorter wavelength) is refracted at a greater angle than red light, but due to the reflection of light rays from the back of the droplet, the blue light emerges from the droplet at a smaller angle to the original incident white light ray than the red light.

You may then think it is strange that the pattern of colours in a rainbow has red on the outside of the arc and blue on the inside. However, when we examine this issue more closely, we realise that if the red light from one droplet is seen by an observer, then the blue light from that droplet will not be seen because it must be on a different path from the red light: a path which is not incident with the observer's eyes. The blue light seen in this rainbow will therefore come from a different droplet, which must be below that whose red light can be observed.

A rainbow does not actually exist at a particular location in the sky. Its apparent position depends on the observer's location and the position of the sun. All raindrops refract and reflect the sunlight in the same way, but only the light from some raindrops reaches the observer's eye. This light is what constitutes the rainbow for that observer. The position of a rainbow in the sky is always in the opposite direction of the Sun with respect to the observer, and the interior is always slightly brighter than the exterior. The bow is centred on the shadow of the observer's head, or more exactly at the antisolar point (which is below the horizon during the daytime), appearing at an angle of 40°–42° to the line between the observer's head and its shadow.

As a result, if the Sun is higher than 42°, then the rainbow is below the horizon and cannot be seen as there are not usually sufficient raindrops between the horizon (that is: eye height) and the ground, to contribute. Exceptions occur when the observer is high above the ground, for example in an aeroplane, on top of a mountain or above a waterfall.”

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6 KJB).

Rainbows are beautiful. Even our scientific understanding of them does not detract from their beauty.  Isaac Newton showed, in his famous experiment, that white light is a mixture of colours, which can be separated.

Because different coloured lights have different wavelengths, they can be refracted, or bent, when travelling into or out of a glass prism.

(http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/

articles/life/Gods_Rainbow/27258/p1/)

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold (Revelation 4:1-4). 

GOD IS TRULY ALMIGHTY.  The rainbow is one of God’s many beautiful and awesome creations.  Let us serve him joyfully.    

The New Testament uses Noah's Ark for an object lesson in 1 Peter 3:18-22: 

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

While parts of the passage are difficult, some things are quite clear: Jesus Christ paid for our own sins, so as to bring us to God.  Noah's Ark is a picture of this. 

Noah and his family just had to be "on-board," they did not have to do anything else besides this, to be saved from God's terrible judgment.  God sealed them in by closing the door. 

Likewise, we just need to believe on Jesus Christ and embrace him to get "on-board" with him and be saved, eternally.  However, Baptism for believers is a rite which symbolizes the washing away of our sins and birth to a new life in him.

Genesis 9:19-23 tells us Noah got drunk and was naked.  While we want to avoid overdoing things, nevertheless, Noah is never criticized for this anywhere, by anybody, in the Bible. 

There are great reasons for this - see below:

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

Again, there are monumental reasons Noah is never criticized:  Wine symbolizes Christ's innocent, atoning blood, which provides substitutionary atonement for our sins, and is the basis for God's offers to us of the gift of eternal redemption, or salvation. 

NOTE:  A gift must be accepted for the transaction to be completed. 

We must receive or take, this offered gift. 

Likewise, God offers forgiveness for sins and eternal salvation for those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith, as Savior. 

But, this gift which God offers, must be accepted by each individual.

We are told Noah was naked inside his tent.  This is not inadvertent either, regarding this object lesson.

Genesis 2:25 tells us of Adam and Eve: 

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. 

As soon as they disobeyed God, eating of the forbidden tree, they then, knew they were naked (Genesis 3:7): 

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

As Christians, our shame is completely taken away because we are, as Revelation 1:5-6 says, washed: 

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.

Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

No doubt Noah was not ashamed at being naked, since he was "under the influence." 

As Christians, possessing the Holy Ghost (spirit), we similarly are "under the influence."  However, we are still supposed to wear clothes, normally.

See my other pages for more details:

They Came to Jesus

They Have No Wine

God Was Manifest in Flesh

The Apostle's Creed

Satan Accuser of the Brethren

The Bridegroom and the Rapture Question

Warning the Rapture is Near

Resurrection! --Jesus Christ Died!  God Raised Him from the Dead!

Walking in the Light - 1 John 1

RED WINE ONLY AT CHRISTIAN COMMUNION.