Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #7 of Genesis, chapter 8 and we are going to read Genesis 8:6-12:

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. Also 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 in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that 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.

I will stop reading there. This historical narration is sometimes unusual and sometimes we wonder what the point is in telling us certain things, but the children of God know that the point is to teach a deeper, spiritual meaning. I will acknowledge when I came to this section I was confused for some time. I did not see how a spiritual meaning carried through from one verse to the next in this passage; it appeared very difficult. What was the deeper spiritual meaning of Noah opening the window of the ark and sending forth a raven that went to and fro and of sending forth a dove that returned to him? Then he sent the dove forth a second time and she returned with an olive leaf and he sent her forth a third time and, finally, she does not return to him anymore.

Someone suggested something in regard to the sending forth of the dove, since the dove can represent the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel accounts we read that the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. In the Book of Jonah, we found that Jonah’s name means “dove” and God used Jonah to portray the two outpourings of the Holy Spirit. The Lord sent Jonah to Nineveh the first time and then the Lord sent him a second time. Jonah went twice to Nineveh, which pictures the world and the Bible teaches that God sent forth His Holy Spirit into the world two times unto salvation. So someone suggested, “Could Noah opening the window of the ark and sending forth the dove typify the sending forth of the Gospel in the various times and seasons of God’s salvation program?” No, it does not represent that and, for a while, I did not know what it represented, but I think I have now have a better idea of the “dove” or the role of the Holy Spirit in what is going on with Noah, a type of Christ. We saw Noah as a type of Christ as he entered into the ark with those with him; we saw that God always emphasized Noah because he was a picture of Christ who gives “rest” to His elect.

So, Noah built the ark like Christ built His spiritual house. Our verse said, “Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made,” and Christ built up His spiritual house comprised of His elect. Everything in this statement points to Christ. Noah is a type of Christ. The window is a type of Christ. The ark is a picture of Christ and the deliverance He brings for His people. Everything revolves around the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before we talk about the sending forth of the raven and the dove, let us look at the “window” a little bit more. The window identifies with Christ and even though the window is open, it is not pointing to ongoing salvation or further salvation for some that are without the ark. We know that the ones in the ark are a picture of those that have become saved, but the opening of the window when the water are still upon the earth caused some to think it is connected to ongoing salvation, but that is not in view. No living creatures of any kind came through that window and, certainly, no people came onto the ark through the window. It did not happen, historically, and if it did happen, the Bible does not have anything good to say about those that try to enter in through a window – it makes you a thief if you enter another way than through the door. So salvation is not in view and, therefore, the sending forth of the dove is not tied to the evangelization of the world or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 33AD that began the church age. It is also not connected to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Jubilee Year of 1994 when God saved the great multitude outside of the churches and congregations. It has no tie-in with evangelization unto salvation because we see no fruit. There is no evidence of anyone becoming saved, not even in the slightest, like someone managing to enter the ark and escaping the waters of the wrath of God that destroyed everything with the breath of life. There is not the slightest hint, so the dove does not represent the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Let us just look at the “window” a little bit more. I have been saying that it is related to Christ. For instance, in the Song of Solomon it says in Song of Solomon 2:8-9:

The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

Again, with a window you can look out through it, like Saul’s daughter Michal when she saw David dancing and playing when the ark was brought into the city and she despised him. She looked out a window. It also says in Proverbs 7:6-8:

For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,

This person is looking out the window of his house through his casement and he saw a fool that was following after a woman who was loud and stubborn, but it is really a picture of someone going after “another gospel” to commit spiritual adultery or fornication. In regard to the one that is looking out the window of his house, the house represents the kingdom of God or the Lord Jesus Christ and it is when we are “in Christ” and safely in the kingdom of God that we are given “eyes to see” and understanding as we look out from that vantage point of salvation. God has had mercy upon us and He has brought us into the house of God, “whose house are we,” and then we are able to look out and view the world. We can look out at other religions or “other gospels” of the Christian corporate churches and we can “see” Satan’s operation in the world. We can see the “flattering woman” that leads people astray in the broad way that leads to destruction. God’s elect are safely in Christ and we are able to look out at the world through that “window” that permits us to see with clarity the direction in which the world is going. That is because Christ is identified with the “window,” just as He is identified with the “door.”

We find in Joshua, chapter 2 that some (Israelite) spies went to Jericho to spy out the city. They were in danger, so a harlot named Rahab took them into her house and hid them. She helped them to escape the city because the city guards were looking for these spies. The spies made a deal with her and it says in Joshua 2:12-15:

Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by JHEOVAH, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token: And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when JEHOVAH hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

Then it says in Joshua 2:18-21:

Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

Now let us notice some similarities between Rahab’s house and the ark. Rahab’s house was part of the city of Jericho and Jericho is a picture of the world. It is a spiritual picture of the destruction of the world at the end of time and that is why it is significant that the Israelites went around the city once a day for six days and then on the seventh day they circled the city seven times, for a total of 13 times around the city. After the 13th time, there was a shout and the walls of the city came tumbling down. This points to the importance of the 13,000th year of earth’s history when judgment began at the house of God (1988) and transitioned into judgment on the world (2011). It all started with that 13,000th year of earth’s history, as seen by the 13 times around Jericho.

Rahab’s house is a part of the wall of Jericho and part of the city itself and, yet, because of the pact that she made with the Israelite spies it became a place of refuge. Everything outside of her house in the city of Jericho was destroyed. The entire wall came tumbling down. God does not get into detail, but I have no idea how her house could be built on the wall and the wall tumbled to the ground, but there was no destruction of Rahab’s house. If the house had been destroyed Rahab and her family would have been killed, but they were not, so God miraculously caused the entire wall of the city to fall down and spared the house of Rahab. It is just like how God destroyed the entire earth and all with the breath of life with the waters of the flood, but He spared Noah, his family and the animals on the ark. Rahab found refuge inside her house, like those on board the ark found refuge from the destruction of the flood.

Rahab had a window and the ark had a window. We see in this account that Rahab tied a line of scarlet thread in her window. The “scarlet” would relate to blood and it would point to that house being covered by the blood of Christ, in a figure, just like the ark was pitched with “atonement.” Remember, we looked at the word “pitch” and it was the same word for “atonement.” The ark had a substance applied to it, but it was a picture of the atoning work of Christ covering and protecting the vessel. Likewise, the scarlet thread was in the window, signifying that the blood of Christ covered the house. It was like the picture of the lamb that was slain at the time of the Passover in Egypt and the blood of the lamb was applied to the posts of the Israelite houses because the people of God had the covering of the blood. The scarlet thread was in the window, marking the house and the wrath of God would not come upon that house.

Again, the window identifies with those that are delivered or those that are “in Christ” or in the kingdom of heaven. We find it is a place where you can look out, as it said in Proverbs, and you can see the foolish activities of the world, the corporate church or other religions. It is a place of discernment.

In the Bible some people fled through a window as a method of deliverance. David fled from men that King Saul sent to take hold of him. His wife Michal let him down through a window. In the New Testament, we read of the Apostle Paul in 2Corinthians 11:32:

Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

The window offered escape from enemies. In the case of Paul, he escaped the governor of Damascus. We read of people escaping out a window, but we do not read of anyone escaping into a window. That is a big difference that we need to note. To escape the destruction of the flood there was entry into the ark through the door. No one escaped the flood by coming in through the window. God has made a point to highlight that it is not a “good thing” to come in a by a window. If you want to enter the sheepfold, you go in by the door. Only thieves go in by the window. However, there is escape from an enemy out a window. When we take in all the information in the Bible regarding windows and, by the way, there is another reference to a window in Acts. When the Apostle Paul was preaching until midnight, it says in Acts 20:8-9:

And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

There is spiritual meaning to all this and I am not sure I understand all of it. There was preaching by Paul until midnight and this young man named “Eutychus,” which means “well fortunate,” had fallen into a deep sleep and he fell from the third loft. That is where the window was and the third loft would identify with the “third heaven.” Historically, Paul was preaching in some type of building where there was a third floor and Eutychus was positioned in the window. Apparently, one had to be careful because you could fall all the way to the ground floor and he did so. There is a spiritual picture in view in regard to who Eutychus represents, but the “third loft” does point to the “third heaven.” The “third heaven” would be the kingdom of God. There is the “first heaven,” where the birds fly. There is the “second heaven,” which is deep space and the “third heaven” points to the kingdom of God and that is where the window was located. When we become saved we are seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. From that perspective we can see out into the world.

Again, the “third heaven” has a window and it identifies with those that have been saved and delivered and they are inside the kingdom of God and their citizenship is in heaven. How could someone fall out of heaven, like Eutychus? We are not studying the Book of Acts at this point, but there are a couple of possibilities. One is that he may represent Adam or he could be a type and figure of Christ.

However, the “third loft” points to heaven and there is a window. There are a couple of places where someone looks out a window and it is in a negative context, like the evil man’s mother that was waiting for him to return from battle, but he had been slain. She looked out a window as she waited. But, overall, when we look out a “window,” it identifies very well with the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, of course, there was a window on the ark. Noah, a type and figure of Christ, opened the window of the ark which he had made. Christ built his own spiritual house. Something is going on in the time of judgment in which there is a change that is going to take place. Up until this point the ark had been sealed up and there had been no opening of any kind, but now it is open and it says in Genesis 8:7:

And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. ** We do not have time to look at it in this study but, Lord willing, in our next study we will look at the raven and what it might represent. Understanding the raven is much more difficult than understanding the dove, so we will try to understand what we can about the sending forth of the raven. I think we will have a good understanding of the dove and why it was sent forth to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground.