Listen to this articleThere is a story that I always knew was significant, but did not understand the meaning until this morning, when the Holy Spirit revealed it to me .
Its the significance of Noah sending the dove three times to see whether the ground had dried up. But first, let me give some background, share the scriptures, then the explanation.
Background
We have all heard the story of the great flood of Judgment that came upon the whole world. In this flood, God saved one man and his family of 7 people. God asks Noah to build an ark, through which his family and several animals would be saved. After the flood has ended, it takes some time for the waters to recede and this is where our story begins.
The Scriptures
Genesis 8:6-12 (WEB)
6 At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, 7 and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth.
8 He himself sent out a dove to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, 9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned into the ship to him, for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship.
10 He waited yet another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ship. 11 The dove came back to him at evening and, behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth.
12 He waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; and she didn’t return to him any more.
The old testament is full of types and shadows through which God communicates his plan of salvation in a hidden way. As we come to the new testament, we meet the dove. And this time the dove finds a place to rest.
Matthew 3:16 (NET)
After Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on him.
I could always tell that there was some significance here, but could not fully grasp it until today. From the new testament, we see that the dove was representing the Spirit of God.
In order to understand the message being communicated in Noah and the dove, we need to be aware of a second judgment that came with the flood.
This was the Judgment of God’s Spirit.
The Judgment of God’s Spirit
When God began His work of creation, His spirit was living on earth.
Genesis 1:1-2 (NET)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.
So the place of residence of Gods spirit was on the earth. And I believe during the six days of creation, when God would release his word, his spirit who was on earth, would bring forth the manifestation of that word.
But when the human race was polluted through unnatural mixing with heavenly beings, God decided to destroy all life on earth, and at the same time he pronounced a judgment concerning his Spirit.
That he was going to take his Spirit away from among man, and man was being given only 120 years until judgment.
Genesis 6:1-3 (NET)
1 When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 3 So the Lord said, “My spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.”
The fact that God is saying that His spirit will not remain among man, means that before the flood, God Spirit was living among man.
It is at the Flood that God removed his Spirit from the earth.
NOW.
At the end of this teaching, We will briefly look at the work that the Holy Spirit was doing on earth before the flood, but first lets get back to the significance of the dove.
THE DOVE SENT THREE TIMES
We know the dove represents the Spirit of God. Noah represents God the Father. From the time of Noah there are three covenants that God makes with three prophets as mediators. But it is only the third prophet’s covenant that brings down the Holy Spirit to rest on earth again.
The First Covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant. Abraham is the first person after the flood to be called God’s prophet. This is the first window, that God sends out his spirit.
But the Spirit of God could not rest on earth under his covenant.
……….
The Second Try
The second time that Noah sends out the dove it comes back with an olive leaf. The olive tree represents the anointing, this is the tree that produces oil.
Ex 35:28, 1 Sam 16:13
The second covenant that God initiates with a prophet, is the Mosaic Covenant. God sends his spirit again to the earth. And under this covenant the Spirit of God could not make a home on the earth.
However, under this covenant man becomes anointed by the spirit into the offices of the King, the priests, the judges and the prophets. And Olive oil is used to symbolize that anointing.
The Third Time
When Noah sends the Dove a third time, it does not return to him. This is when Christ comes as the last prophet. Under his covenant, the Holy Spirit finds rest on earth.
So this is why when Jesus goes through the baptism, which is a type of Noah’s flood. As he comes out, the dove lands on him. It is under his covenant, that the Spirit would return to the earth.
The Spirit Before The Flood
So what was the spirit of God doing on earth before the flood. God tells us, that his spirit was STRIVING with man.
Genesis 6:3 (KJV)
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
The word translated as STRIVE, is Adiyn Dun from where we get the word Adoni, which means LORD.
We can get a better sense of what this means by looking at other places in the bible where it was used. It is mostly translated as to Judge or to minister judgment. And is used here:
Psalms 9:8 (KJV)
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
So the Holy Spirit was ministering judgment within mankind. The word is also translated as to Plead the cause
Proverbs 31:9 (KJV)
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
The spirit of God was pleading the Cause of the people on earth. And so this gives us a good idea of the work that The Spirit of God was conducting on earth before the flood.
Conclusion
I pray that this teaching has blessed you as it did me.
Stay Blessed.
