As we saw before,
the spirit of God could nor rest due to sin of man. The
spirit was moving trying to find someone on whom He could rest. As the scripture says,
"all have sinned and come short of the glory of God", it is sin which did
not give rest to the spirit of God. Finally He could find a person, a sinless one,
on whom He could rest and that was JESUS CHRIST. The scripture says, "He knew no
sin, and in Him was
no sin" He was conceived of the Holy Ghost "And the angel answered and said unto
her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee: therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son
of God" (Luke 1:35). He was led by the Holy Ghost and that was the only Person who
had the holiness if at all the Holy Ghost could rest.
Before going further, let us illustrate this fact from the Old
Testament. Let us go back to the familiar story of 'Noah's Ark and the Flood'. "And
it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he
had made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were
dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were
abated from off the face of the ground; But 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. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
And the dove came into him in the evening; and lo in her mouth was an Olive leaf plucked
off: So Noah knew the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven
days and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more"(Gen 8:6-12)
To begin at the beginning, Noah's very name foreshadowed the
Coming One. Noah means "rest". He was regarded as the one who should be the
rest-giver. "Come unto Me all ye that are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest"(Matt 11:28)
Leaving out the details of the story, let us concentrate of what
happened after the great flood which killed every living except those who were in the ark.
The 'great Flood' is a type of the 'great judgement' which due to sin should punish every
living thing on earth. After the Flood, Noah wanted to come out of the ark on the New
earth. But he did not know whether the Floodwaters were abated or not. So he decided to
send a 'raven' to find out the fact.
The 'raven' was not a suitable bird. It leads a double life. It
eats Good and dirty food. It has a tendency to eat dead and dry flesh. So what happened?
It went and came back and was going and coming- a wanderer but could not make Noah
understand anything. Isn't it true of some Christians who lead the raven life? They are
saved but they are not useful to God because of their lust for flesh, They are saved but
they are not useful to God because of their unsteady nature. They still love the world,
the flesh and fall a prey to the devil. "I wrote unto the church: but Di-ot-re-phes who
loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not" (III John verse 9)
So Noah knew that nothing could be understood through the
'raven'. So he chose a second bird and that was the 'dove'. The dove is a clean bird and
is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. When he let out the dove for the first time, it found no
rest and returned unto him. Because all around the ark were the dead and putrefied
corpses and the 'dove' could not stay there. Similarly, when man sinned, the 'Holy Spirit'
could not rest because all men have sinned, dead in trespasses and sins. So the Holy
Spirit was moving over sinful humanity unable to find rest.
After seven days, Noah sent the 'dove' again. This time it
brought forth an 'Olive leaf'. And Noah knew the waters were receding but still not dry.
It so happened in the fullness of time, God sent a message, an 'olive leaf', a
message of peace, through the Holy Spirit for the whole world. "And there were in the
same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
night
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for ,behold I bring you
good tidings(news) of great joy
Unto you is born this day
a
Saviour
" (Luke 2:8-14)
JESUS was born as a Saviour to the whole world. The 'olive leaf'-
the message of peace- the Son of God became the Son of Man. "God So loved the world
that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever beleiveth on Him should not
perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)
Then after seven days, Noah sent the 'dove' again, which
did not return unto him again. The 'dove' had found a resting place.
JESUS was born and grew up and when He was thirty years
old(fullness of time) He went to be baptized by John the Baptist. "And Jesus, when He
was baptized, went up straight way out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto
Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and
lighting(resting) upon Him" (Math 3:16). Finally, the 'dove' could find ONE MAN,
JESUS and came and rested upon HIM. Glory to God!
After Noah saw that he stepped on to the NEW EARTH. "SAVED
NATIONS SHALL WALK IN IT"