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Window 2 - The Dove and the ChurchDoves also were used as messengers. “Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land;...And the dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf.” (Genesis 8:8~12) The dove in the Palestinian setting could be seen flying to the windows of a house seeking entrance, or fluttering in great numbers above some peasant’s roof (Isaiah 60:8). They signify the presence, which is constant and close and desires admittance. So the Spirit of God seeks an abiding home in the heads of men bringing peace and contentment. The dove is a bird of mourning. “We mourn greatly like doves” (Isaiah 59:11). Jesus taught, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4) Paul addresses this same quality in Romans 8:23, 26, when he says, “We who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves...we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groupings which cannot be uttered.” The dove was identified with the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism: “Jesus went up straightway out of the water, and lo the heavens were opened unto Him and he saw the Spirit descending like a dove and lighting on Him.” (Matthew 3:16) Jesus exhaled His disciples to be “harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). The dove is a gentle bird, meek, and unable to resist. It can only “fly away, and be at rest” (Psalm 55:6). So, like a docile dove, the Holy Spirit endows the Christian with a love which “suffers long, is kind, ...It bears all things, believes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4~7). It seeks peace and pursues it. (Psalm 34:14; 1 Peter 3:8~11) The nature of the dove identifies with the par-excellent fruit of the Spirit, which is love, and love breaks down into a multiplicity and variety of moral virtues and qualities (1 Corinthians 13:4~7) |