“and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him”
(Luke 3:22, NKJV)
As part of the examination of the two prototypical gardens through which you and I, as part of the Bride of Christ, need to walk, just as Jesus had done, we are still discussing the garden of Gethsemane where we are learning about the anointing of Christ in this olive garden, and what it can mean for us.
For our argument regarding the type of anointing that Jesus received through his baptism with the Holy Spirit, it is important to note that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit through John the Baptist is described as “like a dove.”
In the previous teaching we looked at the Biblical symbolism of the dove, to find out why it was specifically chosen as the manifestation. The single reference of Jesus in Matt. 10:16: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” was examined, in particular thinking about the notion of “unmixed.” We also looked at the dove as a sacrificial manifestation. From Isa. 60:7 the dove becomes the sign of the dispensation where glory fills the house, and the earth (Hab. 2:14). This is the first indication where the dispensation in which Jesus as anointed Christ increases Himself through the Spirit of God. In this regard it is very important that the dove specifically points to the testimony around the start of the revelation of the Christ.
Before we have a deeper look at this mystery it is perhaps important to point out the anatomy of the dove’s body as heuristic manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
The dove’s two wings each have nine feathers, firstly a sign of the nine gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7-10), and secondly symbolic of the nine fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). The five tail feathers point to the gifts of Christ – the fivefold ministry (Eph. 4:11). With these spiritual tail feathers the Body is kept balanced for flight, just like the dove. This perspective sheds more light on the statement made in Luke 3:22, namely that “the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him”. The spiritual symbolism of the dove is of much greater significance than the physical form of the dove.
If earlier we noted that the dove represents the revelation of the Christ, the first appearance of a dove in the Bible is of great importance. It is often the very first instance of, or reference to, an aspect in the Word that bears the key to its symbolic or typological value in the Bible. In Gen. 8:1-14 the last part of this miraculous story is recounted: “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore. And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.”
This anchoring episode of a new era on earth (“The end of all flesh is come before me …” – Gen. 6:13, ASV) is clearly prototypical. In this way both Peter (1 Pet. 3:20-21) and Jesus (Matt. 24:37-41) refer to Noah to make particular typological analogies. The word Peter uses in referring to this narrative, antitupon, “evolves into the English word ‘type’” (The Criswell Study Bible).
Despite the fact that the ark symbolically points to the salvation process that Jesus brought about for humanity (like Arthur W. Pink has beautifully pointed out in his book Gleanings in Genesis, pp. 103-109), we can also read the ark as typological of the Christ. In the story of creation of Man and Woman the woman is taken from man’s side. The door to the ark, notes Gen. 6:16 (ASV), “the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof”. Obviously this also points to the event in John 19:34, when Jesus was crucified – “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
This is a symbolic release of the Bride of Christ from Jesus’s side (like Woman was released from the side of Man), and also points out how the “wife of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7; 21:9), the Christ, has been taken from the side of her Bridegroom (John 3:29). Clearly “the wife of the Lamb” is not an individual person, but a collective. With reference to the substance of “water and blood,” 1 John 5:6 is in this regard of great importance: “This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.”
It is undeniable that the ark points to Jesus the Christ.
Furthermore – it is interesting that Gen. 6:14 notes that the ark, made from gopher wood, had to be covered in pitch. According to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible, gopher wood has the root meaning of “Brimstone: A rock of sulphur that burns.” In earlier teachings we extensively wrote about this. A short quote to refresh your memory: “The Lake of Fire and Brimstone signifies a fire burning with brimstone; the ‘brimstone’ or sulphur defines the character of the fire. The Greek word THEION translated ‘brimstone’ is exactly the same word THEION which means ‘divine.’ Sulphur was sacred to the deity among the ancient Greeks; and was used to fumigate, to purify, and to cleanse and consecrate to the deity; for this purpose they burned it in their incense. In Homer’s Iliad (16:228), one is spoken of as purifying a goblet with fire and brimstone. The verb derived from THEION is THEIOO, which means to hallow, to make divine, or to dedicate to a god (See Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, 1897 Edition). To any Greek, or any trained in the Greek language, a ‘lake of fire and brimstone’ would mean a ‘lake of divine purification.’”
The pitch with which the ark had to be covered also has typological significance. The Hebrew word for this is kâphar, which means “to cover, … make an atonement, make reconciliation” (BDB). Obviously this points to the atonement that Jesus offered us on the cross (Rom. 4:7 – “Blessed are those … whose sins are covered,” but certainly also to the at-one-ment with the Body of Christ in the third dimension. [Also remember – the design of the ark was meant to represent three dimensions – “You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.” (Gen. 6:16).] The third dimension’s at-one-ment points to the process of the incarnation of Jesus in the Christ.
Covering of course also points to the spiritual authority with which Christ was clothed, and to glory (1 Cor. 11:15 – “But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”) With this in mind it is absolutely clear that this new beginning for humanity that comes into being with Noah, is fulfilled in parallel terms in Hab. 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Selah!
That which we find in Gen. 8:4 is also important for our argument: “Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.”
- Throughout Scripture the number seven is linked to the idea of completion, completeness and perfection. In this history of Noah it is specifically of importance, as God made the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh (Gen. 2:2-3). In addition to this, Noah’s name also means rest. The entire history of Noah culminates typologically in his Godly identity which brings humanity to rest – this was already prophesied over him before his birth, by his father Lamech: “This onewill comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.” (Gen. 5:29).
- In Scripture the number seventeen symbolises complete triumph and resurrection. In his book The King James Code Michael Hoggard notes that “the number seventeen overwhelmingly represents the completion of time and change or transformation”. The number is also linked to the enigmatic number 153 about which we wrote in an earlier teaching, as 1 + 2 = 3 + 4 + … 16 + 17 = 153. The gematria of number 153 points to “the sons of God” (John 21:11), in other words the Bride of Christ.
- And then – according to BDB the name Ararat means “the curse reversed”!
- The place the ark finally rested was on the highest point of the mountain, which points to the final position of authority – see how succinctly Eph. 4:8-10 presents it: “Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’
(Now this, ‘He ascended’—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)”
Although we took various detours in these three teachings, as part of the unfolding revelation of the anointing of Jesus during his baptism, it is of very great importance that we understand these various related tangents. It deepens the mystery of Scripture in Luke 3:22 that we are currently studying: “And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ’You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’” In the next teaching we will discuss the dove that is released from the ark.
- Selah: Do you understand the “at-one-ment” in the first and third dimensions?
- Read: 13-21.
- Memorise: 16:3.
