The Gentle Dove

A symbol of God in the third person of the trinity of the Holy Spirit is a dove.  Doves are known as beautiful, trusting, easily frightened, and gentle creatures.  They are wild and untamed yet were a symbol of love in the Song of Solomon and used for sacrifice in Leviticus. 


Firstly, The Spirit of God is looking for a place to Choose.  The appearance of the Spirit as a dove is recorded in Matthew 3 as follows: 13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,^c and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,^d with whom I am well pleased.” The appearance of the dove was God's "stamp of approval" that Jesus was His Son.  It was a sign to the people watching that this was God's chosen one and that God was pleased with Him.  In our churches today, there is much done in the way of religious activity but the movement of the Holy Spirit in the middle of the church or in the middle of a person's day is a sign that God gives of His choosing and approving of that place and person by honoring them with His presence.


Secondly, The Spirit of God is looking for a place to Rest.  The Dove was used by Noah in Genesis 8 as a test for the readiness of the earth and ground to land the ark and settle and rebuild their lives.  This chapter says 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. A raven was first used to test the waters.  Ravens are considered unclean birds according to God's law and are scavengers that feed on dead flesh.  Many commentators believe that the reason why the raven left the ark is because it found many dead things floating on the waters as a result of the sweeping judgment God had sent. 


In contrast, the mild sweet dove was identified as a clean bird and would find greenery to regurgitate to its mate or young for nourishment.  When this bird was sent to find dry earth, it could not find a clean place to land so Noah waited a week.  The second time, the dove returned with an olive leaf which has become an international symbol of peace.  However, the dove still returned to the safety of the ark, so Noah waited seven more days.  At the third release of the bird, there was no return, so Noah removed the door of the ark and saw the ground had dried and they were able to disembark. 


Matthew Henry compares the vastly different flights of the raven and the dove to the soul of a Pagan and Christian looking for comfort and consolation. He observes: The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, which finding no rest for its foot, no solid peace or satisfaction in this world, this deluged defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes up with the world, and feeds on the carrions it finds there; but return thou to thy rest, O my soul, to thy Noah, so the word is, Ps. 116:7. O that I had wings like a dove, to flee to him! Ps. 55:6


Today just as the Holy Spirit looks for ones on whom to rest, we are longing for One on whom to rest.  God has given us this soul-longing that only He can fill.  The believer finds their satisfaction in Christ while the world is left still hungry landing on other places that bring emptiness.  Let us never follow their lead but cling to the security of the Father's arms.


As the song Still by Hillsong beautifully states:

Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know His power
In quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father You are king over the flood
I will be still, know You are God

There is a difference in a clean and unclean bird by its habits in the same way, a person is known by their doings to be clean or unclean.  An unclean person or spirit will devour and feast on dead things, occupy dead places and bring ruin and destruction wherever they land.  The pure Holy Spirit rests only on places purified.  It finds trusting hearts to replenish with nourishment and comfort.  The name Noah means rest.  After the great time of judgment and death from the sins of the nations, God looked for a man to save and to bring rest and renewal to the earth and found Noah.  As it says in Genesis 6 "5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

      9These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. 


Noah was a righteous man who walked with God.  This was the one God chose to Rest upon and to bring Rest to a sin-sick and sin-rocked world that could not find peace.  What a beautiful picture of the believer in today's world.  As we are cleansed by the blood of Christ and living righteously with His righteousness, we provide a resting place for the Holy Spirit dove to land upon and bring nourishment and nesting.  We become a symbol of peace and rest for those lying dead around us whose lives may be resurrected by the Spirit of God just as ours was.  Let us therefore feed only on the green pastures the Shepherd takes us to and live in a pasture the dove will lovingly enjoy and cherish with us.


Paul in Ephesians 3 gives a great description of what it means to be clean or unclean when he speaks of the wickedness of the lost and then says 20But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22to put off your old self,^f which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and give no opportunity to the devil. 28Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.  Paul exposes the attitudes of human scavengers and instructs the godly to be different-- truthful, not easily angered, forgiving, honest, hard-working, clean in their language, and kind.  These Christ-like attitudes invite the presence of Jesus through the peaceable Holy Spirit to come in the midst of a situation, conversation or home whereas the opposite dispositions (division, strife, and deceit) can drive Him away.

Thirdly, The Spirit of God is looking for a place to be Wooed.  Solomon calls His beloved a dove in Song of Songs 2.  He sings 13The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along!'" 14"O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret place of the steep pathway, Let me see your form, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your form is lovely."  The dove was elusive and wild yet so lovely.  Solomon compares the woman he loved to this beautiful creature.  It was love that drove Solomon the chase after this woman and call her with compliments; all the while entreating her to come near.  We can imagine as the King ran into the wilderness calling for the shepherd girl that she began to show him glimpses of her face, lead him to places where she stayed, and tell him more about herself.  This is how God wants us to pursue Him: with the passion of a first-love that cannot get enough of Him!  As we spend ourselves in worship to Christ, we cry out for His Holy Spirit to come near to us.  Our love for God's presence should be so passionate that we beg to see where He is, to be where He is moving, and to hear what He is saying.

Finally, the Spirit of God is looking for a place that is mourning.  Matthew 5:4 declares Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Isaiah 59 gives us a picture of mourning for sin in relation to the low soulful coo of the dove.  He says:
11We all growl like bears;
we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:

This crying of a dove is a picture of the Holy Spirit as well.  The Spirit of God is very sensitive and calls out to mankind for the wickedness of their sin and beckons them to find their healing in the Savior.  A mourning dove calls when it is attracting its mate, sending a warning or drawing its mate to nest.   Likewise the Holy Spirit is gently and continually inviting us to Himself however many are too occupied with the careless, carefree noise of the world to hear this low, repetitive lover's call.   The Spirit looks for those who are sad about-- not celebrating--sin.  He wants to comfort those who come to Him in their brokenness by bringing them His wholeness. He finds us in our lostness when we do not have it all together, and if we will let Him, He will put us back together.  Today the Dove is looking for a place to land.  Will you be that landing place? 

I close with another song:

There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place
And I know that it’s the Spirit of the Lord
There are sweet expressions on each face
And I know they feel the presence of the Lord

Sweet Holy Spirit... sweet heavenly dove...
Stay right here with us
Filling us with Your love

And for these blessings
We lift our hearts in praise
Without a doubt we know
That we’ll have been revived
When we shall leave this place