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A Raven, A Dove, and a Flood:
Where the Dove Flew
Noach "Rest"
Genesis 6:9-11:32
Isaiah 54:1-55:5
Psalm 29
Romans 11:1-12
Let's find out just where that little dove found the olive leaf.
Noach
sent out two kinds of birds. The phrases in bold are important:
Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made
;
and he sent out a raven, and it
flew here and there until the water was dried up from the
earth.
Then
he sent out a dove
from him
, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land;
but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark
, for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark
to himself
.
So
he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. The dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. (Ge 8:6-11)
The poor raven doesn't get many attaboys for all his effort, does he? The raven is something we skip over to get to the comfort bird and her symbol of peace. The raven is even demonized as something evil in literature. No sense in demonizing a bird that is doing exactly what he was created to do, though. He's a messenger. A clue of the times. Specifically, the exile of Israel.
Which we're in.
If we are part of Israel.
Let me repeat. If we're Israelites, and we're not in Israel, we're in exile.
That doesn't mean we're sinning! It means we're in exile. For some Israelites, circumstances brought about by the Holy One prevent us from returning. For others, the door is open. It's not an easy place to live, but then again, check the U.S. news (once you get past the political insanity). Nowhere is safe.
The dove was sent out "from himself." She was very close to Noach. Some traditions say this was not one of the pairs of sevens, but Noach's personal pet. It was like sending himself. The dove returns at the erev, or evening. From creation, the day begins at evening, "there was evening and morning...," and when a ritual immersion takes place, it will remove the impurity at the evening. New day, new start. When the darkness and light mingle are key times in Scripture. Separation is coming, which is "tov." Sabbaths in Israel are still called "Yom Tov," or "Good Day."
Shachor means "dark," but it is the first
morning light is the bookend of
Erev
, the time when evening mingles daylight and dark. On
Erev
Shabbat, the preparations conclude. Only when the sun sets is there rest.
Erev
is from
arav
:
עָרַב
-to
become evening, grow dark
From the same root is the raven,
orev
:
עֹרֵב
The
raven found no rest when
Noach
released it
. It was not safe to come out. The "nations" still roared. Judgment was not complete.
The "rest" for the earth had not quite arrived even though the ark itself had come to rest. The life of trees was still hidden to
Noach
. Garden trees. A famine is a reverse flood. The raven shows up in the reverse flood as well:
Now Elijah the
Tishbite
, who was of
the
settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely
there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word
."
The
word of the LORD came to him, saying
,
"Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook
Cherith, which is east
of the Jordan.
It
shall be that you will drink of the brook, and
I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there
."
So
he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook
Cherith
, which is
east
of the Jordan.
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land
. (1 Ki 17:1-7)
Elijah, it's not safe to come out yet. That's where the raven works. Exile.
"East of the Jordan" is how Israel had to approach the Promised Land to conquer it. Even though Israel had spent a significant amount of time within the tribal boundaries during their 40 years of finding no rest, the entering in had to be accomplished by crossing the Jordan, which means "descending." Yehoshua-Yeshua the Messiah was the one who descended from Heaven to lead the Israelites over to their spiritual inheritance, not just the physical Land.
Likewise, the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot on her first journey.
The raven represents the exile, yet so does the dove, who at first found no rest in the Land. These are prophecies of Israel's return, not just to "dry land," where another mingling exile may occur, but to the Garden, the permanent inheritance.
Tradition says that the olive leaf was plucked from the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Eden. Therefore, the dove did not return on the second trip.
Kan
Tzippor
, or "The Bird's Nest" is the traditional name of the Palace of Messiah in the Garden. The raven and the dove are both prophecies of Israel:
"Among those nations you shall find no rest, and
there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot
; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul
." (Dt 28:65)
On the Fifth Day of Creation, the birds flew over the waters, where the fish were hidden below. These are Fifth-Day creatures, symbols of the resurrection which occurs on the Fifth Feast, Yom
Teruah
. These are twin symbols, the upper birds (spiritual man) and lower fish (natural man). It is the natural man drowning in the rumbling waters. The spiritual man can find comfort and be drawn forth from the waters, like Noach, and like Moshe (Moses), whose name means "drawn forth," and he was, from the waters of the Nile.
The nations are only "
like
the rumbling of many waters," where the Harlot sits (Re 17:1). She is the voice of the natural man, bound by the soul to his earthly, lustful desires. Sarah is our mother, though, from above. The Ruach HaKodesh is described as descending "like a dove." No coincidence that Yeshua was immersed in the Jordan River, is it? He descended to fish out that natural man from below, to enable him to cross over back into the Garden above.
The true voice of many waters comes from Heaven:
And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps
. (Re 14:2)
His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters
. (
Re 1:15)
How do we know the seas represent the nations among whom Israel is exiled?
"Alas,
the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters
!
The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, but He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, and be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, or like whirling dust before a gale. At evening time (
EREV), behold, there is terror!
Before morning they are no more
. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us and the lot of those who pillage us." (Is 17:12-14
)
The raven says judgment is still rumbling in the waters outside the ark. The exile is not quite over. The work of the raven may be over when something important appears in Zion:
"She weeps bitterly in the
night and
her tears are on her
cheeks; she
has none to comfort
her among
all her lovers
. All
her friends have dealt treacherously with
her; they
have become her enemies
.
Judah has gone into exile under affliction and under harsh servitude; she dwells among the nations, but she has found no rest
; all
her pursuers have overtaken
her in
the midst of
distress.
The roads of Zion are in mourning because no one comes to the appointed feasts
." (La 1:2-4)
But what if...what if...Judah is returning to the appointed feasts? And what if...what if...all Israel is beginning to return to Zion for the appointed feasts? Even in exile? Well, kosher hot dog and a bag of chips, it's happening! Right now!
There is a reason Judah needs to return to Israel. The sages put it this way:
"There is no Torah like the Torah of
Eretz
Yisrael
, and there is no wisdom like the wisdom of
Eretz
Yisrael
." -
Bereishit Rabbah 16:4
In a Divine plan of mercy, the Holy One sent fishermen and fisherwomen to the ends of the earth. Sadly, the vision has begun melting due to distortions of the Gospel message. The Gospel is a return to the Land, the Covenant, and the People. Yeshua made it possible and is making it possible.
Unrepented sin multiplies where there is no vision of the Garden, resurrection, and judgment. If we make the Anointed One (Mashiach) out to be something other than a judge in the Kingdom, casting him only in the role of grace, judgment will come to the world. The Gichon spring is where kings are anointed in Jerusalem. It is a boundary, and without repentance, one cannot cross the Gichon River of Eden to see the midst of the Garden.
By removing Israel and Jerusalem as the faith destination, by removing the festivals and sabbaths, the circle destination of the appointed times has been destroyed. The Torah is so clear:
"Knowledge of 'The Sabbaths of the LORD' (Le 23:38) and 'The Festivals of the LORD' (ibid) depends upon the Land that is called 'The inheritance of the LORD' (1 Sa 26:19). This Land is also called 'His Holy Mountain' (Ps 99:9), 'His footstool' (ibid), and 'The Gate of Heaven' (Ge 28:17). This is the meaning of 'For out of Zion will go forth the Torah." - (Lichtman, p. 25)
Israel has been largely history or semi-mythical to Christians, a spiritual place only to be embraced after death. The Torah, however, establishes return to a physical Land as preparatory to inheriting the spiritual Land still there, yet concealed to the physical eye.
Sadly, Jews also hesitate to return in spite of the 1/3 decimation of fire to their population. Although they have great centers of learning outside Israel, "
For every soul that they save, ten are lost and assimilated.
Their entire spiritual existence is like someone who builds a magnificent palace on ice: when the sun gets hot, it melts away. (Lichtman, p. 25)"
Oddly, there is a Jewish tradition that 1/3 of the population was destroyed by a "pre-flood," a warning of the Great Flood. When there was no repentance, only more violence, the Great Flood came. In Revelation, those same 1/3s are judgments of fire and burning. If there is no repentance after the 1/3s are destroyed, then...
The concern of the nations is the nations; the concern of Israel is Israel. Restoring Israel as the learning center for the nations is a key sign of the times. When Israel is among the nations, Torah study declines:
"Her kings and her officers are among the nations; there is no Torah." (La 2:9)
When Israel is restored, the proper order is as well:
"And
many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the
Torah,and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem
." (Is 2:3)
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the
Torah shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem
. (Micah 4:2)
Mount Moriah is considered the "
navel
" of the world. It represents the place (not an exact physical center) that separates Israel below from Israel above. Israel above is the 3
rd
Heaven, Paradise, the Garden of Eden. The upper and lower merge on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. This is why Isaac was offered there.
In the Garden of Eden was something called bdellium (bdolach in Hebrew). Its root means
to
divide, such as the bad, pants the Levites and priests wore. A kind of holiness. Bdolach, a divider, had the appearance of crystal.
The manna had the appearance of bdellium, or crystal. It fell around (savav) the Israelite camp each night toward morning. When darkness and light mingles. Likewise, the rivers of Eden savav (encircle) the Garden. When the Israelites woke up each morning, they saw a crystal sea. Sound familiar?
Yeshua was the Bread of Heaven. He came from the Garden. Outside Eden, manna
melts
when the sun fully rises. It is designed for Kingdom light, and only intersects natural sunlight. There was a brief mingling of dew and substance, then separation, like matzah. No
chametz
. What is happening in the exile? For every "saved" person, ten are lost: "when the sun gets hot, it melts away." This is the exile. Melting manna.
Likewise, even though the Israelites journeyed within the boundaries of the tribes for 40 years, they had not "ascended." They experienced brief morning intersections with supernatural Bread of the Garden, the Third Heaven.
In Genesis Two, the Land of the Garden was called Good Gold. It represents at least three important things:
1. The Torah, the Tree of Life, her wisdom, which is "more to be desired than gold, yes than much fine gold."
2. Jerusalem of Gold. The city of the appointed feasts.
3. Israel refined by Gold. No longer in exile, no longer "east" from the Garden.
I believe the restoration of the natural nation of Israel in her Land and the increasing rate of Torah study among young Jews there is a sign. Jews outside Israel are "melting" into assimilation. Torah is returning from its exile. So are the Father's People. Jerusalem is full of learning centers for Torah. A place is being built in Judea for the nations to come study with Jews. Is it any coincidence that a pair of eagles, which were almost extinct in Israel, has returned to that study place in the Judean hills?
Perhaps it is changing from the appointed time of the raven to the appointed time of the dove. No mixtures. No chametz. The raven fed us in the exile, but that's not a place to rest the soles of our feet. It's just a place they are.
IF THE SPIRIT LIKE A DOVE HAS BROUGHT US A BRANCH FROM THE LIVING TREE IN THE MIDST OF THE GOOD GOLD GARDEN, CAN RESURRECTION BE FAR BEHIND?
Another reason for not including the Bereishit teaching is that was a deeper level of investigation into the Rivers of Eden. It is not for a beginner, but perfect for someone already familiar with all the feasts of Israel. If you'd like to attend this deeper layer of Genesis Two teaching, I'll be presenting it at the Creation Conference with Brad Scott, in Cincinnati, May 1-5, 2020. You may also study the lesson in the workbook, which gives the charts and Strong's references necessary to decode the Hebrew hints to every feast in the Garden: Bereishit
Spotlight on Israel
Put Sukkot 2020 in Israel on your calendar!
We're already planning the Sukkot 2020 study tour! The tentative dates are September 30-October 12, 2020. As soon as a registration page is available, you can put down your $500 deposit to hold your place. It will take several weeks to develop the itinerary and final package price, but it will be varied so that our return students can enjoy new
Scripturally-relevant locations. There will be an opportunity to march in the Parade of the Nations. Observe Shabbat and high sabbaths in a place designed for the soles of your feet. Rejoice in Jerusalem!
Do you enjoy reading the testimonies of those who have visited Israel with us? If so, let us know, and we'll feature more.
A New BEKY Book!
Click Cloudy to order the paperback version of the new BEKY Book. The resurrection explained where it begins: the Torah portions! The second section addresses the question, "What happens when we die?" Finally, a simple Biblical correction to the modern "rapture" theory that anyone can understand.
LaMalah Children's Centre
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Thanks to your generosity, the congregations of Kenya and the children of LaMalah were able to enjoy Sukkot. Here is a note from Brother Ndungu:
Shalom in the Name above all names:
We had a wonderful feast together with our children. We thank Abba for His providence and steadfast mercies. People came from many locations, some from as far as Uganda. And we all had enough to eat. People slept well. All were happy and full of joy throughout the feast. We pray Father will continue to bless , lead and guide. You really helped us have a feast worth the Name.
Thank you very much indeed and Shabbat Shalom,
Peter
If you would like to donate to the Children's Centre or other Torah-based orphanages through The Creation Gospel, click on the Donate link below. It will say The Olive Branch Messianic Congregation on your receipt. Our local congregation is the non-profit covering for our ministry. Checks or money orders may be sent to:
The Creation Gospel
PO Box 846
East Bernstadt, KY 40729
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