THE DOVE (8/1/2006) In the beginning God create all things (Genesis 1).  Birds were created on the 5th day according to the Bible (Genesis 1:20-23).  Of all the birds that were created by God the turtledove or dove was probably the most beloved.  Why?   Consider the role the dove had in God’s plan through the ages.  It is no wonder that the dove is a perfect symbol of peace and a perfect depiction of the Holy Spirit of God! Did you know that the dove was sent out just after the raven in Genesis 8:7-8 to help Noah determine the extent of the flood.  The first time the dove returned to Noah to show him that the earth was not yet ready to be replenished.  After seven days Noah again sent out the dove.  This time the dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its mouth.   Finally after seven more days, the dove was sent out again and did not return.  What a great messenger the dove was to Noah! When God made His covenant with Abram to give him a son so that all the nations of the earth could be blessed through him, the sign between God and Abram included…I’ll give you a guess!... You are right; a dove.  The covenant between God and Abram was sealed with an offering of a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three- year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon (Genesis 15:9).  The other animals were to be split in half so the presence of God could walk between the halves.  However, the dove and the pigeon were left whole. According to God’s law to the Israelites turtledoves and pigeons were the only birds God accepted as offerings (Leviticus 1:14-17, Numbers 6:10).  God said that this offering was “a sweet aroma to the Lord” (Leviticus 1:17).  We find that Joseph and Mary, Jesus’ parents followed the law of Moses when they came to Jerusalem to present Jesus to His Heavenly Father.  Because they were poor, they offered “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” (Luke 2:22- 24; Leviticus 12:8). We find that Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out those who made His Father’s house of prayer into “a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:12-13).  Some were taking advantage of the poor by buying and selling doves. When the Psalmist David was so very troubled he said, “My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.  Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me” (Psalm 55:4- 5).  Do you know what he wished for?  He prayed to God, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (v. 6).  David knew about the dove.  Just think about all the time he spent in the fields as a shepherd boy. Isaiah quoted King Hezekiah who spoke about his illness which was unto death until God intervened and gave him 15 more years.  Hezekiah said, “I mourned like a dove; my eyes fail from looking upward.  O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me” (Isaiah 38:14).   Haven’t you heard that mournful cry of a dove, so lonely, yet so lovely.  Such is the cry of every child of God in sorrow, or pain, or confusion, or distress, or loneliness.  In the end we are like Hezekiah who concluded his thanksgiving, “Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness, but You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption.  For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.  For Sheol cannot thank You.  Death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.  The living, the living man, he shall praise You.  As I do this day; the father shall make known Your truth to the children” (Isaiah 38:17-19). In all three gospel accounts we find the story of Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1: 29-34).  In these accounts we find that the dove plays a very important role in the witness of Jesus’ divinity.  When Jesus came up immediately from the water, the heavens were opened to Him, and the Holy Spirit descended “like a dove” upon Him. In Matthew 10 Jesus sent out the twelve apostles to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  He told them to preach saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (10:7).  He warned them about some who would harm them saying, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (10: 16).  This is a statement of truth to us today.  We are the “salt of the earth” the “light of the world” the “city that set on a hill” (Matthew 5:13-16).  While we are at work in the world being salt, light, and a city on a hill we too must be wise and harmless just like a dove. So the next time you walk outside and notice a bird with smooth-feathers, camouflaged, walking slowly lowly along the ground, and hear a mournful, almost sorrowful sound, think of these wonderful stories of the dove in the pages of the Bible, God’s word.