Mark the form of the promise! God does not say, "When you look at the rainbow and remember my covenant, then I won't destroy the earth." No! The promise rests gloriously not on our memory, which is fickle and frail, but on God's memory, which is infinite and immutable. "The rainbow will be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant."

Oh! It's not my remembering God that is the ground of my safety—it's God remembering me! It's not my laying hold of his covenant, but his covenant laying hold on me. Glory be to God! Every bulwark of salvation is secured by divine power. Even the minor towers, which we might imagine could be left to man, are guarded by almighty strength.

Even the remembrance of the covenant is not left to our memories. We might forget—we do forget! But our Lord cannot forget the saints whom he has engraved on the palms of his hands.

It's just like Israel in Egypt. The blood was on the lintel and the two side-posts, but the Lord didn't say, "When you see the blood, I will pass over you." He said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

My looking to Jesus brings me joy and peace, yes. But it's God's looking to Jesus that secures my salvation and the salvation of all his elect. For it is impossible for our God to look at Christ, our bleeding Surety, and then to be angry with us for sins already punished in him.

No, it is not left with us even to be saved by remembering the covenant. There's no mixture here—not a single thread of the creature mars the fabric. It is not of man, neither by man, but of the Lord alone.

We should remember the covenant, and we shall do it, through divine grace. But the hinge of our safety does not hang there—it is God's remembering us, not our remembering him. And hence the covenant is an everlasting covenant!