6And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
7And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
9But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.
12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
Noah has been sitting in the ark through the storm. He had gone through this for 40 days and now things had calmed down a little bit and he decides to check things out. He sends out a raven and a dove and in this we see an interesting thing.
The raven would be a picture of the flesh
- He is black
- He searches and devours the flesh.
- He represents the work of the flesh.
The dove has always been a picture of and represents the work of the Holy Spirit.
The dove is peaceful, the raven is restless
The dove found no rest for her feet so she returned to Noah. The Spirit of God is looking for people. The Spirit is searching and sometimes He does not find rest. Why because we won’t give Him room.
Is there room for Him in us?
Christians have the Spirit. We are indwelled with the Spirit but does the Spirit have us?
He could have sat there and waited. He could have proclaimed “well I am open and ready so if you want to land on me then that’s ok!”
Have we done that? Have we been that way? Have you ever said that? I have.
“Well God, I am right here. I am waiting for You to give me the Spirit. I am waiting here so if You want to work through me go ahead. I’ll just set here and wait”
Noah didn’t do that. He reached out and he pulled her into him.
God wants our action. He wants us to participate with Him
All through Scripture, God commands, He tells His people to choose, to listen, to obey but it is up to them as to how much blessings and curses they want in their lives
Luke 11
9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
The Spirit interacts with mankind in three ways
John 14 – The Spirit is with us – before salvation
15If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;
17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The Spirit is with us, along side of us, telling us “You need salvation, you need Jesus Christ!”
The Spirit is within us – indwelling us – He has come to us and we are saved through Jesus Christ
22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
The Spirit is upon us – Working through us
Acts 1
1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
3To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
We see some more interesting things as we look deeper into our subjects.
Noah’s name means “comfort” and we know that the Holy Spirit is called the Comfoter by Jesus in the Gospel of John.
In the episode here we also see a picture of baptism. We see Noah, surrounded by water much the same way we are when we are baptized.
We also see what baptism represents.
We see a dying to the sin around us in baptism and salvation and we see him waiting on the Lord for 40 days.
There is another Old Testament character who was surrounded and submerged by water.
His name was Jonah, and his name meant “dove.”
Jonah was swallowed by a whale because he was running from God because he didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites.
In his episode we also see another aspect to what baptism represents.
A dying to the selfishness within us.
Of course we know that Jonah did end up doing what God had told him too and he preached that judgment would come in 40 days.
Both these episodes lead us to yet another Person, Jesus Christ!!!
Matthew 3
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”
15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He[c] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
He came out of being submerged and surrounded by water and we see the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove. The Comforter had come down and lighted upon Jesus.
Then the Spirit lead Him into the wilderness to be tempted and put through trials for 40 days.
But we see something wonderful here. We see ourselves being submerged and surrounded by water in baptism. We see our dying to the sin around us and to the selfishness with in us.
And just like Noah and Jonah, even though we have done these things we still see sin creeping up.
Noah died to the sinful world around us but this sin came back, so to speak, the raven came back and he messed up by drinking.
Jonah, who is a picture of dying to the selfishness within, had preached to the people in Nineveh and they were all saved, but anger still crept up into his heart and the old nature came back.
Jesus Christ did what these two could not do. He was submerged and surrounded by water. He was baptized by John and as He rose from the water we see the Godhead being displayed. The Spirit descended as a dove upon Him and we hear a Word from God , “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
He came to this earth and He emptied Himself for us. He became a man – a God-man in order to die on the cross and to completely save us from the sin that surrounds us and the self that is within us and it is through His sacrifice that we hear the same words directed toward us
“This is My beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
Reach out and grab the Spirit today. If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – let Him have rest in and on you today. Open up that window and let the Light shine in!!!!!!!!!
Walking by Faith 