Genesis 8:6-12. 6After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside. 10After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. 11This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. 12He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.
After 40 days of no rain, Noah’s ark finally rested on top of a mountain. Noah opened the window and sent out two birds to test whether the waters were receding (that means they were going away). First, a raven, then a dove.
Why did Noah send these two birds out of the ark? The ark had come to rest on top of a mountain, but clearly Noah couldn’t see much of the world around him. The birds would let him know when the land was habitable (do you know what this word means? Habitable means the land can be lived in). Noah can’t let all the animals out of the ark until he knows that they will be able to survive.
The raven: The raven is known to be a dirty bird, a scavenger that picks at the dead animals left behind by the flood. Gross. But the raven let Noah know that the flood waters were receding and that these dead animals were there for the raven to eat. Again, gross.
The dove: The dove is a small bird but a powerful flyer. Unlike the raven, the dove is a clean bird that will need plants to survive. It eats plants and nests in trees. It makes its nest from twigs on the ground. The dove’s three flights told Noah that the waters were receding even more, to the point where the trees were exposed and the dove could make a nest in them.
All throughout the Bible, the dove is considered to be a clean, gentle, and even holy bird. Years later, when God tells his people what birds are bad and which ones are good, he says that ravens are bad (unclean) and doves are good (clean). You could sacrifice doves to God but not ravens. When Jesus was born Mary and Joseph sacrificed two doves at the temple for their new baby boy. And when Jesus was baptized the Bible says that the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus like a……..that’s right a dove (not a raven).
Yesterday, we said that Jesus is our ark, our place of safety from God’s punishment for sin. When Jesus came at Christmastime, he came to be our ark to protect us from sin. When we trust in Jesus, we enter the ark of his love and eternal life. But then, just like Noah sent the dove out of the ark, Jesus would send the Holy Spirit out from heaven.
You see at Christmas we don’t just celebrate the advent of Jesus; we celebrate the advent of the Holy Spirit too. Because Jesus came to Earth to save us, the Holy Spirit can come live in our hearts, nesting like a dove inside of us making us clean and holy like Jesus. We no longer have to be dirty and gross like ravens, we can be gentle, kind, and powerful like the dove.
Questions: When you trust in Jesus you get the Holy Spirit too! Can you see the Holy Spirt making you more and more like Jesus – gentle, kind, loving, having “clean” thoughts and actions?
TLICfamily 